80 Days in America

Today was the first day of the long train ride. I asked for a chair next to the window and got a seat on the first floor what gave me a nice view. As expected there was more to see on this ride: swamps followed by wide fields and small villages. There was a very friendly man sitting next to me and we talked from time to time during the ride. Later I also got in touch with the people sitting behind me and we spend a lot of the ride talking and taking pictures of the landscape together. Read the rest of this entry »

Today I joined Lydia to her church. For some kind of reason I expected a gospel church here in New Orleans, but it was about the same kind of church like last week. It’s sad to say that I can immagine why churches like these don’t really attract young people. I don’t want to criticize other churches to much, but I think it just doesn’t fit in this time anymore. Anyway, the service was quite short (about half an hour), because of the summer, so after that we went back home and decided to take the streetcar to downtown. Read the rest of this entry »

Waiting, trying to fall asleep, changing your position 100 times till you find some kind of a relaxed pose, listening music, reading a book, doing some work on the computer, watching a movie, looking outside, getting of the train some times at stops to get some fresh air and more sitting and watching outside till you reach your destination. Read the rest of this entry »

While it’s so hot here in North Carolina, my days are getting more and more slow. Fortunately the weather seems to be a little cooler at the west coast.
Today I did some work at home and also packed my bag again. In the afternoon we went downtown to hang out and drink some coffee. After we said goodbye in the evening and I got my train tickets, I had to wait for about an hour at the train station what gave me some time to think. Read the rest of this entry »

While Christina was going to her work today I booked myself some train tickets and made plans for the next coming days to travel. That really helped me getting some new perspective for my journey. Tomorrow night I travel by train to New Orleans where I’ll stay a couple of days before I continue traveling to the west coast, LA. Read the rest of this entry »

As I already expected the other day was leaving my friends in Washington DC really like leaving home again. Today I took a five hour bus drive to North Carolina to visit another friend of mine. During the ride I watched a nice movie (thanks again bro for placing all those movies on my iPad!) and relaxed a bit. When I got of the bus I realized that now I was quite in the middle of nowhere, in a small place in North Carolina called Durham / Chappel Hill. Fortunately my Dutch-American friend Christina was waiting for me with open arms. Read the rest of this entry »

Today was a relaxed day again. After Rick brought Elma to her work, we both went to the kitchen table with our laptops to do some work. I planned the trip of the next day, uploaded some pictures and did some administration that needed to be done. Someone asked me yesterday if I missed the Netherlands. It may sound funny, but what I miss sometimes is just a regular workday at home. So today I did a small part of that before I went to the city again. Read the rest of this entry »

The 11th day of my journey started early in the morning. Around 04.30AM we woke up and after a good breakfast we went for a three hours drive to a tiny place called Swoope in Virgina for a horseback riding trip.

When we arrived at the range, we really found ourselves in a dream location. The cowboy (he really looked like one) that took us for the ride lived in an old house made of wood with a huge porch, located in the middle of nowhere. There were 20 horses at the ranch, but today we made a ride with six people including the cowboy. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning I joined my friends to their local church which was quite different than I’m used to. I think the average age of the church was about 65 years and we were by far the youngest people there. The songs were just as old as the most people there, but the preacher had a good message and it was an interesting experience.

In the afternoon we went shopping in the local mall. I didn’t visit an American mall so far, but I can tell you now: they are really huge. I scored an extra pair of Allstars and they were in discount 🙂 Read the rest of this entry »

New York is huge and impressive, Boston is nice and cosy. Washington DC is none of them. From what I’ve seen so far it’s really not as nice as New York and Boston.

This morning I started the day in a coffee place to upload new pictures and do some work for one of my Dutch clients. When that was ready I went to the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History. But that was quite a disappointment. Although there was a lot to see, it was nothing compared to the American Museum of National History in New York. Read the rest of this entry »