TravelStream™ news feed for member klompjes-krautz on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/klompjes-krautz en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 08 Nov 2008 04:18:34 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1226123520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1226123520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1226123520/tpod.html Sat, 08 Nov 2008 04:18:34 -0500 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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San Francisco, California, United States

Death valley was,... you guessed it right, pretty dead! The temp only came up to 93F or 34C for our European readers. Stunning views and smelly breaks pretty much sums up our trip through the valley. After the valley we headed through some very uninhabited places until we hit the 178. A very winding road that took us through Kernville and past Lake Isabella to our deserted campground in the Sequoia Natl. Forest. We set up camp while being attacked by thousands of bugs. After we had dinner out of a can and saw a raccoon walking by at 6 ft distance it started raining and that made this so far crappy camping experience a really crappy experience. We packed all our stuff in the car and slept in the tent. Next morning we found out that our $40 tent held up pretty well, that is, on my side, cause Krautz did have a wet spot on his air mattress (Krautz insists on mentioning it was located at the foot end!!). Next morning, we tried waiting out the rain, which didn't really stop. So we packed up our tent in the rain, sucks, sucks, sucks!We hit the road and made our way to the Sequoia Natl. Park, it was raining off and off and there was a lot of low clouds, but it did make for some spectacular views. We arrived at the visitor centre a bit late and walked a trail past the humongous Sequoia trees, which was very cool. We saw multiple bears while driving and walking through Sequoia. Saw one of the most impressive sun downs ever from beetle rock(if you have a chance, do it!) After this we had to get out of the park, didn't make it before darkness, some interesting winding roads to drive especially at night. Arrived in Oakhurst and stayed in the Days Inn. Tried to go out for dinner and a beer (by the way, note that it's Halloween evening!) and found that the only place open still open was Jack in the Box (beuhh!) and no bar!...Not One!Next day! Set out towards Yosemite and it was still kinda cloudy and rainy. We still decided to drive through the park and saw some amazing views, but would have been nicer with some better weather. We drove through to Napa in Napa valley. Arrived there late and got a motel. Skipped dinner that evening because we had an awesome late lunch at a Chinese place, had the best Sesame Chicken ever and ate way too much(he nearly finished his meal!)Next day the weather was actually fair. So we headed through the wine country, Napa valley, Sonoma Valley and passing plenty of Wineries. Had some difficulty finding our way to Pacific Highway 1 but finally found the right way. This road took us forever, it was about 35 miles extremely winding and twisting roads and either steep grades up or down, our average speed was probably 20 mph and an average fuel economy of 8 mpg! And of course all this with brakes that where smelling a bit funky. The coolest moment was when we were almost at the Pacific. We were driving through a forest and we were going over a hill and all of the sudden we saw the Pacific Ocean - November 3rd at 3.30pm. Super awesome, from there on we drove down Highway 1 which is absolutely beautiful. We made plenty of scenic stops and finally arrived in San Francisco. Checked into our pre booked motel which was located close to Russian Hill. We went out for some great Italian food at Frascatti. We felt that we were pretty much ahead of budget so we decided to have some more luxurious dinners during the last days. After that we found a great Irish bar (somehow, Irish bars are usually good fun!) and had some brewsky's. We walked back to our motel and went to the 2nd floor, room #219. Before we could enter our card in the lock, the door opened and there were three teenagers in the room. There were also two black guys walking up to the same room, so it got real busy all of the sudden. Krautz and I immediately smelled trouble and asked them how they got keys for the room. Krautz walked in and didn't see our stuff in the room. We were about to take em down to the desk and find out what's going. At that point I saw the stairs to the next level and realized that we were actually staying a level higher in #319... We turned around and walked away, yapp, just like that in the middle of trouble we turned around and left. Back in our own room we laughed our asses off and realized that we probably just totally freaked out some teenagers who were about to buy some illegal substance or something like that. Go DEA Busters Klompjes & Krautz!So  the next day, we woke up still laughing shitless about the wrong room number  from last night, got up and going,  as usually around noon, we are lazy tourist, aight?! So we hat Breakfast at small corner place headed to the waterfront. It was at little cloudy and windy but we figured raingear is overrated and not our style and paid bitterly for that.When we arrived at the waterfront and saw the harbor and ....rain, of course! We went into a Museum, more out of necessity than interest and tried to wait it out. After we looked at everything we went to buy raingear one hat for German and an umbrella for the gir....Dutchman.  Now, supplied with industrial strength raingear we decided to go ahead through the city. Unfortunately the Alcatraz tours were already booked and we then decided to go back to the hotel and wait out the rain there.Since, we are sometimes cheap, this time to cheap for a taxi, we walked to the hotel....How bad can it be to climb up the streets of San Francisco  will rain is coming from all 3 directions possible.  We didn't realize this is an easy 14 Block walk uphill and arrived home dripping wet. My glasses got actually wet from rain dripping through my hat (baseball cap). So far ...how bad can it be!We dried, chilled and checked out a place to go for dinner and felt like undercooked water critters, starch pills and hope full bottles(sushi, rice and beer) and went to highly recommended Sushi bar and had an awesome Dinner  and since we were cheap earlier with the cab, we now went all in and had a feast! After that we went to the Irish bar again and extended our feast! Go Feasting.Presidential Election Day... a day full of hope for the country we learned to love.It stopped raining and the sun came through and we walked to that curvy road ....( Lombard!?) and headed then towards the Cable Car Station near Fisherman Wharf. These things are awesome, not really practical, or fast, or something, but they are cool. No way that something like that would ever be allowed in Germany, standing in a moving vehicle, maybe, standing in an open moving vehicle, only at walking speed, standing in on a 4 inch wide step on the outside of a moving vehicle up and down really steep hills close enough to pull in the belly because of passing trucks....now f#@+ing way, but it is awesome! So we drove up and down on the cc and went to the harbor again, made pic's from the Golden Gate and Alcatraz and went back to THE Lincoln drive it out of SF. Not only out of SF but back and forth over the Golden Gate to take pictures with me, my Lincoln and the Golden Gate Bridge....a very sentimental moment for me...GO Sunglasses!So we did all that, made a ton of pictures and left south towards Montgomery and tried to check in a nice enough hotel and went out for Tapas, heavily over priced and actually just "fair", we watched on the side the "I lost Speech" from McCain and listened to Parts of GOOOOObama  speech as well.  After that a tricky part of the evening began...how to fuel the fire! We drove around with a cab, so much about being cheap about a taxi, and had a hard time to find a store that still would sell beer. We wanted to celebrate and that's how we do it. So we spent $20 on a cab and $20 on Beer we headed back home and  had two more each and went to bed...... ... ..  That makes the beer more expensive than the fresh drafted import beers in a Zagat Rated New York bar!The next day can be wrapped up short: We drove out to Santa Barbara along Highway1- my absolute favorite road in America- and had Lunch at the Rock View Café on the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean... awesome views and okay food. W e arrived in Santa Barbara in the afternoon and checked in the Alamar with beach view.  Chilled in the Room and went out to Dinner at Holdren's ....if you go through Santa Barbara, enjoy their steaks, the Lamb is great and the wine list is good too. After that we headed back home and called it a day.The next day we tried to sell the Lincoln....that saddest day of the Road trip (the day we left doesn't count; we weren't on the road then).  You can't separate Ying and Yang, there is not light without shade and there is no beach without water! And so there is no Philipp without a 93' Lincoln Towncar Cartier....It may sound silly but I love my car and I am going to miss it terribly, but it hurts the most to realize that nobody wants to buy it, dented, too old, engine to big, gas guzzler...so?! It got character, was/is reliable, took us all across the country without anything and was shelter and oven, storage and showoff cruiser, through desert and jungle, over mountains and valleys, comfortable and strong...and never in a bad mood!It is hard to see great friend being rejected.I am going to miss it really bad.Finally, we met up with a friend from Germany who knows a lot of people in Santa Barbara and she will sell the car for us, hopefully in good hands. So we dropped the car of at her workplace(Trader Joes) and walked back towards State Street and had dinner at the Bay Café and Fish market,  really good food, but I was not in mood for a good party, but in the mood for beer....plenty of it....(See the scheme, mike?)It was a nice evening and we went after dinner to the Santa Barbara Brewhouse, had two beers and went home.The 7th  November 2008 , aka the last day of our vacation, day 38, after 7192 miles across America, we walked away from the hotel and picked up the Rental B*tch, a nervous, rough suspended, new, smelly, Chevy Impala...piece of..car.( Come on, I can't like it).....at the end an OK car the best( the mpg was worse than my ...THE Lincoln). We loaded the car and left towards Camarillo Outlet mall and shopped till we dropped on the last day and headed for the Double Tree at LAX. Had dinner at a highly recommended Burger place called In'N Out Burger, I have never seen a  burger place soooo busy, a drive through line around the block, lines inside,  and order numbers to pick up you order after aprox.15min...crazy...but the cheeseburger with onions is good, fries are not, but you don't go there for fries. No blogging and hoteling...for the last time...We would like to thank everybody who supported, helped, suggested, warned and believed in us to do a trip like this. We met a lot of great people and we will value the experiences and memories of the last 38 days for the rest of our lives. We hope ya'll enjoyed it, we sure did, in 5 hours the alarm is going off and we leave the country.Thanks again, bye ya'll,Krautz and Klompjes(Philipp & Robin)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225758960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225758960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225758960/tpod.html Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:13:16 -0500 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

So we left you guys updated until Bryce Canyon. So the next day after a good night sleep we took an ATV tour to the north rim of Bryce Canyon. Unfortunately they didn't allow us to go faster than 20 miles an hour, but it was still a fun ride through some hilly terrain. Saw a lot of deer and bucks which was pretty cool. Afterwards we hit Bryce Canyon by car and drove all the way up. Took some great pictures of the canyon but after the Grand Canyon we were slightly underwhelmed by this Natl. Park. We're spoiled!We then started making our way back to Zion Natl. Park, since the last time drove through both our cameras were out of juice! We hit it just before dusk and managed to snap a couple of cool pictures. Beautiful park, especially with a low sun on the red rocks and sand. We went to the same campground were we stayed two days ago. This time we had a great spot right at the river. Did our usual camping ritual, wood fire roasted beans & chili straight out of the can accompanied by some beers. Next morning we packed and hit the road back towards Vegas. We arrived in Vegas around 3pm and went to our pre booked hotel on the strip. Hotel & Casino New York, New York, which is a pretty impressive replica of the New York skyline. After checking in and tugging our luggage straight over the casino floor (gotta love the way they design these places) and finding the elevator to our room, we hit the strip. We walked from our hotel on the south side of the strip all the way to the Stratosphere at the North side. Obviously we catched a cab back to our hotel. We then hit the Irish Pub in our hotel (the hotel itself is like a small frigging city) and enjoyed some good Pyramid Heffenweizen brewsky's.We then hit the strip by night to see the real Vegas. Definitely impressive, we had some beers in different spots along the way and then hit the Coca Cola store so Philipp could give in to his addiction and buy half the store. Had a pitcher of beer in the Hooters casino, totally overrated!! Tired by that time we made our way back and hit the sheets.Next morning, all bright eyed and bushy tailed, first thing we did was get tickets for the comedy Stop at the Tropicana. We then had some great pizza for breakfast and jumped in a cab. "Where you wonna go" The Gun Store please. Woohaa! At this place you can actually shoot a fully automatic gun! Off course we had to do that. So I shot an M4, Krautz an AK-47. It's expensive and over in minutes but totally awesome! In the pictures you notice they put the targets upside down, that's because you tend to start low and then go high because of the recoil. Walking outside feeling a bit shaky and very awake we took a cab back to the hotel. We checked out the other side of the strip, the Luxor (pyramid), Mandalay Bay and Excalibur Casino. During the evening we decided to have some good dinner and went to the Treasure Island Casino. We just missed the pirate show so we decided to have dinner at Social Club. A great Japanese restaurant overlooking the location of the Pirate Show. This was definitely the best Japanese food I've ever had. 6 Courses with yellowtail, ahi tuna, Kobe beef, scallops, lamb & sushi all prepared perfectly. At the end of our meal we saw the Pirate Show which was great (thanks for the tip Bill!). We made our way back to the Tropicana for our Comedy show. Great show! Better than the one we've seen in NY. Afterwards we decided to gamble a bit, decided we can afford to lose a $100, I played with $70, Krautz with $30. Krautz was done after three rounds of Roulette. I actually managed to double my $70. Guess what, should have stopped right there but instead of course wanted to play some more and...lost it again! But all good, moved on to the Irish Pub and had a fun evening there.Next day we checked out and drove to the old part of the strip which is really not that great. The casino's are older and so are the showgirls and that's about it. Leaving Vegas and onwards to Death Valley!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225060920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225060920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225060920/tpod.html Mon, 27 Oct 2008 00:44:56 -0400 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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Houston, Texas, United States

Houston & San AntonioOn the 15th we arrived in a cloudy Houston. First impressions, Crazy traffic! 12 Lane Highways and lots of exits. We had a general idea where to go and some basic directions. Took us a while to get to our destination but after asking a UPS mail dude we made it. Mike (Phil's former boss) was so kind to let us stay in a apartment of one of his relatives. It was in a retirement home, so we felt slightly out of place. We set up camp in the living room and then headed out to the Galleria. An enormous shopping mall, we actually managed to get lost in the mall. After following my gut instinct trying to find a way out we decided that if I think it's left it is usually actually right and vice versa!We made our way out and went to local Mexican restaurant. Had two pitchers of margarita's (in our defense, they were really weak!!) and some really good food. Made our way back to the apartment and called it a day.Next day we decided to follow Tracy's advice and explore Houston. We took a cab to Rice Village, very nice shops and restaurants but probably better to explore during the night. So we then spent the next hour trying to get a cab again, not the best area to get one. So we ended up walking towards some main streets where we could find one. During this experience we figured out Houston is not a very pedestrian city, you instantly feel like a hobo when you are walking here. We managed to get a cab and made our way to downtown Houston. There were still some results from the hurricane visible with some office building that where boarded up completely on one side. From downtown we took a cab back to the apartment and chilled for a bit. Around 10 we went to Mai's (thanks for the tip Trace!) where we had some great Vietnamese food. After that I didn't feel to good so we went back to the apartment. I then spent the rest of the evening being really sick. I think it was food poisoning from lunch earlier that day.Next day, after sleeping in for a while we decided to go through to San Antonio. I got in the car, popped some Advil's and passed out for the next two hours.  Woke up a lot closer to San Antonio and feeling a lot better. We found a motel and spent the rest of the evening there.  Ordered some Chinese food and soup for me. Had a great night of sleep and woke feeling great and very hungry. We went to the River Walk found a nice restaurant there where I worked down a delicious Bison Burger. We then walked around the River Walk for a bit and then went to the Alamo. We decided not to go inside, cause there was a really long line and it looked a bit over rated anyway. We did walk around the grounds and read about the history of the Alamo. We then jumped in the Lincoln again (which still works great!) and headed out for Austin & Round Rock. We'll write about that in our next entry.Till then!Krautz & Klompjes
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225071120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225071120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225071120/tpod.html Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:36:29 -0400 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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Flagstaff, Arizona, United States

Going through New Mexico, Arizona and arriving in the Grand Canyon!So we left Round Rock rather sad than happy, but there is so much more to see...Leaving through Fredericksburg and seeing a lot of German places out there made me feel a little homesick but only as long as it took us to drive through. Sights were awesome, but we soon hit I-10 again and we floored it towards El Paso...which we unfortunately didn't make that day so we camped out in the Desert at Balmorhea, TX. Nice place, 11.5 mil gal. Pool and Coyotes howling at night, the sky in the desert at night is unbelievable beautiful.The next day started with a strong wind that nearly blew our tent away- I left Robin to handle that, while I paid the park- after I stopped laughing and helped Robin with the tent so we could leave for El Paso, were planned to have lunch. Unfortunately we both didn't like El Paso at all, sorry Bill, and so we hit the I-10 again and drove towards Tucson, AZ. We had a boring day in the car without any bigger incidents, but this one: Does anybody know Fanta Apple? It is totally awesome and super nice.  We arrived late in the outskirts of Tucson, had dinner at Denny's and got a room in the Red Roof Inn.  Unspectacular day, as I told you.The next day was about to be as boring as last one so I wrap it up here real quick: Tucson to Phoenix, passed Phoenix, headed over I-17  towards Flagstaff, nice town,  got Camping gear(Cans of Chili and Lentil soup, Beer, Fire Wood) some Comedy CD 's and left Flagstaff again towards the Grand Canyon Camp Ground "Desert View". We arrived late, and the darker and higher we got, the colder it got outside. We still camped since we had a tent and sleeping bags...heck yeah, we camped out....boy, did we not know about cold mountain nights....well more about that later. Just once again the skies are awesome, no light pollution at all, one word: totally awesome!The next morning....  It is an early morning, sunrise woke me up at 6.44am and since I was still wearing Jeans, Socks, Shirt and Sweater, because it was sooooooo fricking F*#@ing cold- we have proof it was 25F/-5C (please take note that my sleeping bag is made for temperatures down to 40 only!) I got up and watched sunrise...Everybody who knows me, knows how much I love to get up early, but sunrise was worth it. We left soon and checked out the Grand Canyon, unfortunately without a shower since National Parks do not provide them (well what is one day without a shower, so we thought....).So we started driving through the park and pretty much hit every other scenic view. Absolutely amazing! Although I've been here before it was still great to see such natural beauty. We spent about 3 hours driving through the park. We then moved on to Tusayan where the airport is and went to Papillon Helicopter Tours. Very expensive, but since we probably won't be back here again it's worth it. So we took the 50 min tour. After watching the safety video together with a bus load of Germans we went outside and waited for our Copter. We were in a group with just four people (they weigh you and then distribute the weight accordingly over the Copter, so I guess we where kinda heavy..) so we had relatively a lot of space. After takeoff and flying at the height of the tree tops we narrowed in on the edge of the canyon. The pilot started a very dramatic (imagine apocalypse now when they blast that music from there helicopters) tune and then all of the sudden from tree top height you are sitting over a huge gap! Awesome, we flew around for a while, the copter descended a bit so we could really get close to the action. Somewhere halfway through my camera battery was down. So we used Krautz camera that was also running low, but made it through the flight. After landing we hit this little tourist town where Krautz insisted on buying some tourist crap.From there on we drove out towards a camp ground at Lake Mead just past the Hoover Dam. We ended up hitting the dam at dusk, but it was still very cool to see. We got through the police checkpoint without any trouble (we were expecting to stand there and having to unload all our crap). Then drove over the dam and hit Albertsons in Boulder City for some much needed firewood, chili & beans, lentil soup and beer. Then drove out to the Lake Mead campground. It wasn't the greatest spot ever, but since we have our camp routine all worked out now, within 20 minutes we had the tent and sleeping gear setup and a nice fire going while the cans of food where sizzling away in the hot cinders and we were enjoying a cold brewsky. Around 10 one of our tent camping neighbors started snoring like a frigging ox. Next day we packed up (funny detail was that the snoring neighbor asked if were leaving because they were too loud..) and headed out to the dam to see it by daylight. We did the dam tour which was really cool. Of course couldn't help but make a lot of lame dam jokes (when does the "dam" tour start..). After this we flew through Vegas and headed up on I-15 towards Zion Natl. Park where we spent the evening camping out again. At this point we haven't showered for 3 days and starting to wonder if our flip flopped feet are really that tan or just dirty... Feeling like a hobo we had another classic camping experience with me (Klompjes) eating chili & beans for the 3rd day in a row and Krautz luckily stepped off his lentil soup routine (let me just say that ain't good for the air quality) and had some Mac n Cheese & Sweet Corn.Next day we were in dire need of a shower, so we zipped through Zion, which is beautiful. And are now in a Best Western right outside of Bryce Canyon Natl. Park. Never knew a shower can be that good! So after scrubbing of the dirt and change into clothes that don't smell like camp fire we are now spending about 4 hours updating our blog (Yes we were very behind!). So please enjoy our stories and pictures and keep on giving us those great insider tips!Laterz! Klompjes & Krautz.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225070880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225070880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1225070880/tpod.html Sun, 26 Oct 2008 21:32:21 -0400 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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Round Rock, Texas, United States

Austin & Round RockWe were driving into Austin on Saturday and instantly noticed the busy traffic and everybody being dressed in orange (Go Longhorns!!) and tailgating around the stadium. We decided to hit the Interstate again and make our way to Round Rock where we would be staying with Cathy & Bill. Philipp knows Cathy from 7 years ago when she was his host mom for two months in Spokane, WA (writer changed). So, we finally arrive in Round Rock check in with a gas station to find a place that sells flowers( I swear she blushed when I asked her, but I don't know why, well it is Texas, maybe a question like that is ...inappropriate?!)  Her answer sounded like "Tshibi", since she seemed to be a little embarrassed I left it with that and we looked for a store that sounded similar, and we found H.E.B. Boy, what a twang she had. After driving around Round Rock for another 30 min, we finally called Cathy again and she guided us, on the phone, through the "vast suburbs" of Round Rock. It was really nice to see her again, and her husband Bill is really nice, too. We had a great dinner, sweet potatoes, beans and NY Strips from the BBQ. We chatted along the whole evening about what happened during the last 7 years. We then got invited to a Sunday-BBQ at her daughter, Michelle's place the next day.  So, on Sunday, we left Bill and Cathy for a few hours and headed for Austin to check out downtown, the Capitol (bigger than the one in D.C) and the main road "Congress". Nice town, but since it is the capital from Texas I would have expected more...show, show-off and drama...you know: Everything is bigger in Texas.That night we met Michelle, which was awesome because I haven't seen here since she was thirteen and now we could have a beer together and meet her longtime Boyfriend Collin, very nice guy even though a cop, (; and a few of their friends Tom, Chris and Rachel. All really nice people. The next Day, Cathy and Bill were so gracious to let us stay another night...plus 1 more, we checked out the Premium Mall in Round Rock and made the super duper purchase: I have good Flip-flops again! It is like being new born.  After that exhausting shopping trip Klompjes and Krautz invited C&B for an early Dinner at a great Brazilian restaurant Sampaios! Try the coffee rubbed pork with cherry sauce or the Orrechiette with the salmon from the dinner menu and while you are there have a great Caipirinha or Mojito with Basil....I mean while you are there! Delicious!We then went home and enjoyed a homey evening and said good bye since Cathy had to leave the next morning very early.  We had a last night in Round Rock in the house of old and new friends, who took us in as we all would know each other for way longer.The next morning we said good bye to Billy Z - if anybody needs a Tube amplifier, he is the man! - And left towards El Paso via a few back roads with spectacular views. We needed an oil change and we got one, not by Morris but THE LINCOLN seems to be fine. The guy told us that something is not perfect with the Alternator but it doesn't need to be fixed right away, could be good for another 3000 miles or more...everybody keep your fingers cross in 3...2...1..now! Thank you!Klompjes and Krautz
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1224179100/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1224179100/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1224179100/tpod.html Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:15:12 -0400 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

We hit New Orleans Sunday night, cruised through the French Quarter for a bit and found our destination, the Best Western, surprisingly effort less. Krautz hit New Orleans a couple of months ago already so he was kind enough to show me the fine nuances that New Orleans has to offer. So obviously after checking in we went out to Bourbon St. OMG, even on a Sunday night there was a good buzz going on down there and it didn't take too long before we had a buzz of our own going on. We spent the evening walking up & down Bourbon St, watching people and the interesting scene and sipping on our hand grenades®. After 4 of those we got a chilidog from the street vender, which (at that time) was the best chili dog I ever had.Next day, woke up and decided to extend our stay for another night. Today was going to be Laundry day, WooHoo! Found a laundry place close to our hotel. Really nice place, used to be the first recording studio in New Orleans. Since we brought all of our quarters (which we didn't need because they work with some kind of smart card) instead we used the quarters on the jukebox and pacman! Had a good time there and with clean clothes headed to town, it was a bit rainy, but nothing to bad, gave us the chance to experience the French quarter. Then spent about 1,5 hour shopping for new flip flops for Krautz, since he lost his somewhere along our trip.. Had some good lunch at the River Edge Café and went back to the hotel to chill out from our exhausting day.For the evening we had booked a Haunted History Tour. This is not some kind of Halloween rip off tour where actors jump out and try to scare you. It was a 2.5 hour walking tour through the French quarter and stopping at various buildings with interesting history. Our guide would then tell us about the history of the building. And then give some examples off eyewitness sightings and other experiences on sight. Now I (Klompjes) am not at all into all that ghost stuff, but this tour was really awesome. The guy had story after story and there were some very disturbing stories about the history of certain places. After the tour we had some more questions for the guide, so we bought him a beer at the café where the tour ended. One beer came to another, and we spent the rest of the night with the guide, who also took us to another local bar, since Bourbon St (according to him) is not where the locals go. Very awesome evening and met some interesting people.Next day, woke up just before check out time. Jumped in the car and on recommendation of Chas went to Port of Call. A local café that serves the most awesome burgers. After 2 Mushroom & Cheddar Burgers served with a baked potato with the works we were ready to head out to Slidell, just East of New Orleans. There we went on a swamp tour with a small boat. Off course we hadn't made any reservations so we were lucky to get on the tour because to people didn't show up. The guide took us for a 2.5 hour tour through the Louisiana swamp. Very awesome how he steers his boat through the narrow passage ways and while talking manages to spot wildlife way in the distance. We saw lot's of alligators, all kinds of birds and even some snakes. Also passed by some homes, and the guide told stories about how some of these homes where rebuild after Katrina, then hit by Hannah this year, cleaned that up and where then hit by Ike. You gotta have some will power to live there!After our tour we decided to go camping just North of New Orleans. Driving down some back roads we managed to not find both campgrounds that were supposed to be there and decided to drive on towards Baton Rouge. When we entered Baton Rouge and drove through downtown we weren't really impressed so decided to go further West and have less hours on the road the next day when going to Houston. When we hit Lafayette LA we wanted to get a motel. Instead only found motels/ hotels with no vacancy and got lot in Lafayette. This evening sucked so far! Finally found the Interstate 10 again (I'm not gonna bore you with how long it took us to get there, Lafayette sucks!!) and headed out West again. In Rayne LA we found a Best Western and spent the night there after chowing down some well deserved Burger King.  Was kind of a crappy motel, overpriced, room felt kinda damp, business centre computer didn't work and we got a call at 9am if we were gonna check out today while housekeeping was driving up and down the hallway with a loud vacuum cleaner!!But all is good, hit the road for another 3 hours and made our way to Houston. But we'll tell you about Houston next time cause we are both hungry and wonna hit town.Arrivederci!Klompjes & Krautz
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223827200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223827200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223827200/tpod.html Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:14:32 -0400 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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Memphis, Tennessee, United States

So here we are in Memphis, checked in at about 1pm and after sleeping , showering and manscaping we are ready to get some breakfast, since we haven't eaten at all so far we are getting quite hungry.After walking around so called Main Street for about 20 minutes, with only closed stores and restaurants, we found something that caught our interest: Beale Street.We found an Irish Pub, with live music, and we sat down to eat, drink and enjoy sun and music.  Some 2 hours later we were tired again and went back to the hotel, for blogging, napping and replying on emails. Some 3 hours later we are ready to hit Beale Street again. Beale Street is a little bit like Bourbon Street in New Orleans, less commercial, more live music and less flexible cops. There are barricades at intersections and the beginnings of the street where cop tells you either to finish or throw away your beer (really?!...I mean REALLY?!)  or simply turn around. So we turned around watched a few acrobatic guys doing FlicFlacs down the street, about a dozen in a row,  and decided to finish our beer and hit another bar on the way back to the hotel.Since Beale Street does not have public restrooms and every bar has a minimum coverage fee, this stop was quite necessary. Blue Fin Sushi on Main Street with its lounge like atmosphere, friendly service and maybe not perfectly rolled but perfectly flavored sushi. Our Tip: Red Bird: Softshell Crab, Sweet and Sour Sauce and a Vegetable we both forgot, but liked. After this more than awesome midnight snack, we headed back for the hotel, watched some tv and got some rest. The next dayGRACE LAND! The King lives, we heard, so we went to check it out.Incredible $27 for a self guided tour with dorky earphones and restricted access ( nor his airplanes, cars, private rooms), but since we are probably never going to come back to Memphis, we bought the tickets, got our tour guide around our neck and waited for the trolley.In Graceland we saw the living room, the dining room, the kitchen, the jungle room, the guest room, the tv room in the basement, the Pool Billiard table, the jungle room again, then the garage where his dad had his office, the racket court, the pool and finally the graves of Elvis and other family members. It was nice to see it, but it is overrated, to pricy and smaller than expected. Still I am glad to have done it and know now what Graceland really is.After that we left to find a Campground around Jackson, MS . So we hit the Interstate again and steered THE Lincoln south(by the way, forget all your bets about where it is going to break down...it is just not going to happen! Ha! GO LINCOLN).  A "quick" lunch at a "Cracker barrel" later we left the Interstate for an hour to find the Campground, which does not exist, saw Cotton fields and some rather interesting areas of the - I guess - Midwest. Not pretty, no pictures.Back on the Interstate we realized that it is just another 100 miles to New Orleans. Unnecessary to say that we floored the right pedal and arrived short 90 minutes later in New Orleans to check  in the Best Western French Landmark(very nice hotel) and prepared ourselves for the rest of the night: BOURBON STREET and HANDGRANADES ! Those who know will smile, for the rest, come to New Orleans and experience it yourselves. That's it so far, more about the big easy later,Krautz and Klompjes.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223749860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223749860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223749860/tpod.html Sat, 11 Oct 2008 20:59:50 -0400 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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Nashville to Memphis, Tennessee, United States

What's happening Ya'lls!Aight, so we survived our night in our motel in Nashville and headed out to the town center. We spent some time walking around the down town area and hitting the tourist spots. Really nice town, lots of contrast with the old buildings and enormous high rises in the back ground. We ate some BBQ for brunch and then decided to head out to Lynchburg Tennessee, cause that's where the Jack Daniels Distillery is at. At Jack Daniels they gave us a great tour of the place, very nice guide, allthough his twang was a bit different then we're used to so we really had to listen. Unfortunately the distillery is in a dry county, so no 'tasting' was involved, but it was still cool to see.   We then headed out towards Savannah, TN to do some neccesary grocery shopping for going camping that evening. So we finally hit Savannah (it was dusk by then!) and first thing we see is Walmart (which we both yell out at the same time, we where relieved, gotta love Walmart), so we head inside. Buy a new camp light (cause the other one we bought is garbage) and a hatchet (thanks Ryan, yeah you where a little bit right, we needed one). Then moving on to the food part, cans of Chef Boyardee's ravioli, sausages, beans & soup. Yes we are very sophisticated campers! Then on to the beer.........where the frick is the beer section. At the cashier we found out it's not a dry county but they're next to a church so they don't sell beer, but she was kind enough to redirect us to the local provider of liquid gold. Go Walmart!So we finally arrive at our campground, Pickwick Landing State Park TN. After a long winding road we get to the gate and there's a guy standing there who says; "help ya?" (with lots of twang, lots and lots of twang,maybe more twang after all). After we figured out he didn't just burp at us but was actually there to direct us, we found our way into the campground. Have to say that compared to our first campground this one was a lot crappier. Small spots with not a whole lot of level ground for our enormous (sleeps 4-6) tent. Anyhow, we found a spot with a sloping spot that would not have us roll of our airmatrasses. It was dark by then. So while Phil set up the tent (while mumbling german curse words(well, i was not always mumbling)) I was building our fire and setting up the beverage station (read: cooler). By 8.30 the first cans of beans and ravioli where sizzling away in the fire while we where busy keeping the huge forest spiders of ourselves. Chilled around the fire and called it a early evening to get some much needed sleep. Only to be woken up around 6am by kids with way to much energy who where playing. We packed up our stuff and left without a shower (which is overrated anyway) and headed to Memphis. Got premium gas for $2.99 per gallon on the way there, that's definately the cheapest we've ever seen in 18months! And we just arrived in Memphis, checked into a downtown motel and as soon as I finished this, we're gonna be hitting town for some sight seeing and brunch.I'm hungry now, so that's it for today! (;Hasta Luego!Klompjes & Krautz
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223610420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223610420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223610420/tpod.html Fri, 10 Oct 2008 02:00:48 -0400 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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Ashville to Nashville, Tennessee, United States

So, we did all that camping in Bear infested wood, survived the cold shower(one of us did) and headed through the rain to Ashville, stopped in a Luxury and totally pimped out hotel(four point Sheraton, roomrates about as much as looking at one of the PBR Cottages) and arrived late at night in Nashville...but lets start at the beginning of the day: Waking up at 7.30am because someone (none of us) set the alarm and then napping, showering, blogging and finally at noon( latest check out so far) we went to get some good THC - food....Tupelo Honey Cafe.After getting lost again in the town, we found our way around the town towards the Great Smokey Mountains and past a shopping centre: one military surplus store, everything seemed used and at least dented. I wanted boots and Robin bought a Jacket.This is now a little off the daily happening, but just to show everybody how big THE Lincoln is: I - Krautz - lost my Flipflops, size 13, so big enough to bring about two cuban familys over to Miami, somewhere in the car. We emptied the trunk and checked everywhere, but they are so far nowhere to be found....Thats how big the car is: GO Towncar.Right after this short emptying of the car, we hit the road again and headed for Cherokee. It was quite a sad view to see how this place looked like, closed motels, many trailers, few stores, manly trough traffic and one big hotel with a casino. Sad to see that side of these always as very proud described people.Further up the road the Great Smoky Mountain National Park began and so did our climb up the mountain: seemingly effortless THE Lincoln gas guzzeled up to the peak,with an average of 8mpg up and about 84mpg down, stunning views and smelly brakes included.We drove up to 6000ft and then climbed by foot the last 600ft to the top of Clingman's Dome. Thanks to our major effort we could enjoy really awesome views.....i have never seen so much ....grey!Well, after that we past probably the longest, biggest, most repetitive road we've every seen, the strip in Glinnville (sounds about right, but could be wrong): on about 15miles to the left and to the right was a seemingly never ending repetition from miniature golf, aquarium, gift shop, steak house, go cart racing, fireworksstores, touristtraps of all kind and crappy motels and crappier "restaurants".By now it is about 5.30pm and we still had to drive about 180miles. - cut- long miles on the highway, the car is sometimes a little bit vibrating, maybe just because of the road,we will see -cut- Arrival in Nashville:We picked a nice motel in the outskirts of  Nashville: The Days Inn! Advertised with 39.95 plus tax, I am slightly scared about the car and the coconut smell in the room is...well slightly disturbing! We drove towards a Steakhouse, ate well overseasoned steak, otherwise good and headed back to the hotel, I am still worried about my car, since we realized: This is not the preferred neighborhood to raise your kids, buy a house, have a store, drive through, look at or ...park a Lincoln.Now we are blogging, listening to the sirens of cops and ambulance outside and watching Chris Rock on TV, he is awesome.So, thats it for now, we just have to upload some pic's and then it's done.Thanks ya'll for reading and sharing this awsome time with us,blog for ya'll soon,Klompjes and Krautz
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223508780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223508780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/klompjes-krautz/1/1223508780/tpod.html Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:32:06 -0400 Klompjes & Krautz on the road

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Ashville, North Carolina, United States

Hey Ya'll,I know it took us some time but we've been doing a lot and Motel wireless networks kicking out every time does not exactly help either! let me give a short recap of our last 5 days.So on the 4th we left Bluffton wich was very weird and sad too. Thanks too everyone who has come to one of our 4 good bye parties during the last week of Oct, we had a blast! So we hit the road and went straight to Clinton SC. I know, we didn't make it very far our first day.In Clinton we met up with Kenny at a Presbytarian College football game. Go (Blue)Hose!! He then told us it was homecoming that weekend and that there would be a cool party at their fraternity. As you can imagine we were not too tired off driving around and joind Phi Kappa Phi beta to their Party, which was kind of weired because everybody was about 5 years younger than us. We would like to skip the rest of the night and leave it as an interesting social event. On Sunday the 5th we then cruised to the Capitol, thinking along the way, what the original meaning of D.C. is(the closest we came for a long time was DeCapitol - Go Southerners!!). It was a long drive but we finally made it, after driving around DC, looking in the semi dark at nice suburban areas, headed towards Lincoln Memorial and getting lost again we found a motel. So on Monday the 6th we took a cab to Memorial Bridge, nearly got hit by Mr. Prez chopper and start ed  our tour to the famouse DC things: DC was absolutely awesome, but after half a day of walking around and the motel price that went up by $50,- for another night we decided to head out.So of to Harpers Ferry, which is a quaint little town on that lies on the pont where Virginia, west Virginia & Maryland meet. Walked around for a bit and lunch there and then headed out to Front Royal VA. This town lies right at the start of the Sky Line Drive through the Appallachen. That's what we did next day, we hit the Shenandoah National park. which is the Sky line Drive. Beautiful views all around and with about 68 scenic view points stretched out over 110 miles we had plenty of things to see. After we where done with the scenic drive, which took about our whole day. We found a campground, Sherando Lakes in VA. We picked up some fire wood at a local B&B and went to our site. Set up the tent for the first time, just before darkness hit. Then we built our fire because it was freezing cold. Started heating up our food, a selection of ravioli, mac & cheese, knak wurst & beans. Although it doesn't sound great, well to us it was a 4 course supermeal, sitting around the fire hearing all these noises around you. (especially interesting because we read warnings for bears). Camping experience was awesome! Although we will be picking up a hatchet before we go camping again. (thanks for the tip Ryan!).After breaking up camp next morning and having a frigging cold shower, we headed out towards Ashville NC, which took about 6 hours and it started raining when we hit the interstate and it didn't stop till later that evening. But beautifull views from the highway, even with the rain and low clouds in the mountains. In Ashville we decided to spoil ourselves after the camping experience and went to a 4 points Sheraton. Went out in Ashville for some food and drinks and had a great night of sleep. Ashville is a really nice little town with a lot of hippie like people. Lot's of beards and interesting people. And all kinds off organic stores, eco this & that and great little restaurants. Well, that's it so far, but hopefully we'll be back with an update soon. As soon as we have decent wireless again you'll hear from us! Hasta la pasta, see ya'll!!!!Klompjes & Krautz (AKA Robin & Philipp)
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