It was perhaps by luck that the handsome
Uncle Paul (See Patrick Swayze) was travelling back from Vermont by way of
Montreal and as such had to come past New York. Even luckier, he offered to come right into
Brooklyn to pick us up.
Paul 'Swayze' Kirwan
After a four hour drive we arrived at the
family home of the American Kirwans to a warm welcome. This was to be our base
for finding the truck that would take us on our journey.
It's a hard life at the Kirwan's
It was to be a search fraught with dangers
and booby traps, that’s what I said, booby twaps.
In our minds we were looking for a Toyota 4
Runner. An SUV we could both sleep in should the need arise and known for
reliability… kind of. The search began with some absolute lemons. One thing we
did grasp was the vastness of this country. What looks like the next town is
often a 50 mile drive. Uncle Paul came with us on the first day, I think to
make sure we didn’t do anything stupid. After that we were on our own.
We finally settled on a 98 4 Runner that
drove pretty well and had it checked out by a local mechanic. All signs pointed
to yes and poor Trisha, the lady that owned the car had called the house. Only
after we’d left to take the car to the mechanic did she realize that she hadn’t
checked our ID’s… she didn’t even know our names.
Jessie Dog giving her approval
Trisha needn’t have worried, the next day
we paid her for the truck and even named it after her in homage. Only two days
later the engine light came on. Something about an evap flux capacitator
cleaner filtration thing. Nothing Glue, duct tape and a bit of wood couldn’t
fix. My most manly moment to date (the engine light has since come on again).
Some new Yokohama Geolander tyres, an oil change, a locking gas cap and she’s
good to go.
Fi and Trisha
We have also spent many a night trawling
malls and mainly Walmart to get gear for our trip, which we decided to buy
mostly in America.
(FK) The rest of our time in Washington we
got to spend as tourists learning the finer points of US life and the American
dream. Highlights included Aunty Pia’s cooking (ribs, mash and beans, surf ‘n’
turf and cookies galore), a night out with the young ‘uns in a cool hipster
neighbourhood culminating with Neil ‘hanging like a bat’ on the metro home
(always keen to impress with his tricks and brawn), going to uni with Selina
and Neil (Rex Kwon Do) teaching the self defense class (it came with the caveat
of “I’m more about attack than defense” and a trip to Barack’s crib.
Washington
was a really impressive city, they sure know how to build memorials. Having
walked the Mall, the WWII and the Vietnam tributes were not only beautiful but
very sobering and I had a little tear in my eye. The mood lifted though after
me, Neil and Nick had a sit down at the Abraham Lincoln Memorial and looked out
over the Reflecting Pool, we reflected and then I did my best ‘Jennie’
impression. Yes, Forrest Gump has featured quite heavily so far in our trip and
that along with Neil’s love of porches will no doubt continue as a theme!
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| WWII Memorial |
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| Barack's Crib |
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| Reflection Pool |
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| The Memorial, at night |
As Paddy and Debs thought we would never
leave the comfort of Dyson Grove, so too did the American Kirwans perhaps think
the same as we settled into life with our own suite complete with cinema room.
But the bright morning came on the 19th September, our own Independence Day was
upon us. Off we went with our larder of delicious left over dinners to see us
through the next couple of days and boy were we pleased we had them!
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| The Kirwan's waved off |
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