EPISODE 2: JIM AND NATE DO AMERICA

Episode 2, in which our champions explore Yellowstone National Park and its environs. They have a bit to say about the National Parks Services and their National Forestry Service brethren.

EPISODE 1: JIM AND NATE DO AMERICA

It starts!

Follow Jim and Nate as they depart for Washington State and begin their transcontinental journey. This episode is brought to you by the number 3, the letter H, and a seal:

Jim and Nate Do America: TRAILER

It was exactly three years ago that Jim and Nate were on their way across the U.S.A. We're finally ready to share the tantalizing footage of our trip.

Here's the TRAILER for your favorite new reality TV show:

The Full Route

Here below is the our full route across the country:


View Larger Map

Full Slideshow

Full photos of the trip available below. Or, click here to see them mapped across the country!


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

The Finish Line

Must begin this post with a big word of thanks to the Bliss family for putting up two smelly biker dudes last night. It was great to be home. And what a meal! Thanks, guys!

At about noon today, we maneuvered our hogs into a very hectic Kenmore Square and happened across a road sign with prophetic meaning for our trip--US20 End! That's right folks. We made it. I know many of you loyal readers thought we'd have killed ourselves before we even left the west coast, but through not a little good luck we completed the quest.

We drove another few miles to Everett to teaching huge Harley dealership where Eagle Rider has set up shop. And then, after 4,500 miles clocked, we bid farewell to our road warriors and left them in the trusty care of Brad, the east coast counterpart of Seattle's Claudio. (nice folks at the ole Eagle Rider.)

Then it was a jaunt on the T to South Station where we hopped a Chinatown bus for the last (and arguably most dangerous!) leg of our trip.

We'll be in touch with some final commentary and words of wisdom (or attempts, perhaps) before we sign off for good. But, a hearty thanks to our readers and to all the wonderful folks we've met or have given us great advice on this trip. We owe ya!

Next stop: NYC!

We made it to Massachusetts!

The Toronto crew!

The Toronto crew!, originally uploaded by nate.bliss.

Having graced so much of the United States with our stinky selves over th past 13 days (12 states as of today), we decided it was timr to visit our northern neighbors for a change of perspective. Oh, Canada, you treat us so good.

After a morning visit to Niagara Falls (American side), we brought the hogs over the bridge and convinced the nice fellow at passport control that we were not bringing any weapons into the country, and then made our way northward on Canada's largest expessway--the QEW.

After a quick fill-up in Hamilton (which shares many of the struggles of the other steel town we've driven through, Gary), we ditched the expressway and took a nice drive up Lake Shore Drive all the way to Toronto, passing some pretty lavish mansions and estates as we headed north.

Soon, the twirling windmills and landmark CN tower came into view. We took a stop at the waterfront to take in the scenery, and then headed downtown to try to grab a beer (only to get stuck in our third big traffic jam of the day as revelers packed into the local stadium to see the Steelers play an exhibition game--the first ever NFL game on Canadian soil!). We finally ditched the bikes in a pricey downtown garage that said "no motorcycles" (oh well) and stumbled our way to a local watering hole called the Loose Moose. Delores, our lovely bartender, read our out-of-town-ness on our faces and gave us the good ole sales pitch on why Toronto rocks while serving up some local brews (canada has a lot of them!).

Soon thereafter we met up with the righteous brother, mr breydon himself. We strapped him to the back of our bikes for the quick ride to his abode in the coolest urban neighborhood you've ever seen--Toronto's little Italy. So many young people, bars, and authentic old Italian folks--good stuff.

After we dasterdly maneuvered our bikes into B-dogg's backyard and unloaded our gear, a steady stream of good people started flowing in, all Korea alums who knew Bisbee from his teaching days. A night of unchecked revelry followed in a series of local spots.

We could go on and on...but the long n short of it is that Toronto rocks, and that the dudes who go by names like Brewhar, Spankie, and Johnny Mullaly are some of the best you'll ever meet.

We were a bit sad to leave toronto (and almost didn't this morning when Nate couldn't find his keys) but the road beckoned and we pushed on.

Thanks for the good times, Canada. We'll be back.

Back in the U.S.A.

Just crossed the border outside of Kingston, Ontario.

Back in NY.

Camping in the adirondacks tonight.

Oh, Canada!

We crossed the border and took the hogs to Ontario. We just did the entire length of Lake Shore Drive, and are just a few km outside of Downtown Toronto.

Data roaming charges are kicking in so no updates until I can find some wireless.

Peace!

We're in New York!

We made it to Buffalo last night.

And then the phone promptly ran out of batts.

Giving her a charge now...

...and then, we check out Niagara.

We're in Cleveland! Stop at West Side Market

We're in Cleveland! Stop at West Side Market, originally uploaded by nate.bliss.

poor signage in Cleveland led us to a few wrong turns off 20. But we happened across the West Side Market where we stopped for a cofort station break.

Damn suburbs r making for some slow moves today...

Lake Erie!!

Lake Erie!!, originally uploaded by nate.bliss.

If he's not sneezing, he's blind. Young mr. Bliss forgot his clear goggles in Chicago which caused all sorts of problems when it got dark. In fact, pretty much all of yesterday was a hairy situation. Chicago's roads were riddled with tank traps, indiana needs a complete overhaul, and much of Ohio is dangerously strip-malled. Rolling down a four lane highway with a center road for turning, in the dark, sans appropriate eye-wear, and dodging idiotic cagers does not a relaxing night make. But now we're on lake Erie where the local high-school waitress claims "ain't nuthin to do." let me tell you, towns where there ain't nuhin to do are my kind of towns. Some names from the past two days: Kelton (worked at denny's...could't understand a word he said), john (groundskeeper at campsite...awefully jealous), meijer check-out woman (couldn't understand why we were doing this), billie, phyllis, leah, and megan (sweethearts at the Port-n-Starboard who are claiming the town shuts down at 9). To all the humans who make this trip fun.

Maumee Bay State Park

So...our late start and slow road goings did in our plans for Put-In-
Bay, but we've made do at a nice state campground in Oregon, Ohio.

We're cooking some dogs and drinking some brewskis. We'll check in
wit y'all in the morning.

We made it to Eastern Standard Time!

We made it to state 10!

In Indiana amish country

Wondering if we're gonna make the last ferry.

The Chicago hosts

The Chicago hosts, originally uploaded by nate.bliss.

Daaaaaaaaaaaan imnida there. Jimandnatedoamerrca there too. Dan the man. Danimal. Goddanit. Thanks to one of the original mules for showing us Chicago. Granted the noodle was hurting this morning but nothing a little denny's couldn't fix. Muchos gracias as well to his lovely roommates and various friends. (how someone like danny wound up living with two competent, kind, and above all, clean girls is beyond my reckoning but god bless 'el for hosting our decaying carcasses.) so Chicago was a hoot. We're now fully in the east, complete with mobile gas stations, windy roads navigating terminal moraines, and fully populated towns. On dan's suggestion we're going to stay on some island in lake Erie tonight. Then it's upstate ny and niagara falls tomorrow, toronto Thursday, somewhere in new York Friday, and then beantown Saturday. Pull you socks up friends, we're going to be kicking you in the cubes before you know it!

Ferry across the Mississippi

Ferry across the Mississippi, originally uploaded by nate.bliss.

a bit of a report on Day 8 before the memory fades...

So, the day began with the creature comforts of ye olde Holiday Inn and breakfast at iHop. But the road beckoned and we took to it, through mostly boring Iowa cornfields. Our little US20 turned into a divided four lane expressway for most of the state. That's not fun riding (nothing particularly magical about holding on for dear life at 80mph while getting blasted by semitrailers and the occassional bug clowd).

We ditched US20 for a while, taking a parallel side road that was a bit more manageable, although similarly flat 'n boring. It took us through some cute towns, like Independence, IA. The road then took us to that famous Iowa town of Dyersville, where they shot Fields of Dreams. We stopped at a local watering hole called the English Pub. (we've lived on a balanced diet of bar pizza and beer recently)

In Dyersville, we took a left and headed north to Millville, where we turned onto a dirt road, crossed some railroad tracks, and were suddenly at a dirt ferry landing on the Mississippi.

The Cassville-Millville ferry is one of the last historic ferry operations still active on the river. It's just a few minute jaunt from the Iowa side to the Wisconsin side. Once we made to Cassville, it was just a few miles up the road to the Nelson Dewey State Park, a beautiful campground on a bluff over the river. As the sun set over the valley, and a freight train rolled by, we realized we were witnessing a distinctly American scene.

A fabulous day.

Chi-town!

Chi-town!, inserito originariamente da nate.bliss.

We made it to Chicago! Out celebrating with Jim's bro from Korea, Dan. We're crashing with the guy tonight (thanks! esp. to your lovely roommates). Supposed to hit Cleveland tomorrow night....but maybe a detour to Indiana for some Cicc/Obama action?

Stay tuned folks...

Also to come: thorough description of our Mississippi crossing(s)!

closing in on Chicago

just a few miles to go...

Odometer fun

This thing read about 150 miles when we started....

This is our review of BBQ

Hells bells! I just painstakingly hammered out several sentences of a blog ok this confounded Jobsian futuristic interface and then lost it all!

Now my brekky has arrived so you'll just have to wait now won't you? As a personal reminder, it was about sneezes, bison, and thoaxes...or is that thori? More later.

this is our review of bbq

Nate's got the sneezes real bad here in corn country. He'll go motoring ahead for a bit, start convulsing like a bison taking a dirt bath (a little local color for you there, or at least local to 1,000 miles ago), and deaccelerate rapidly. So it was a rough stretch of road through Nebraska. Long, straight, cold, and a host of other dull adjectives. It's also grasshopper country and I've got the guts to prove it. Yellow-green guts with the odd exoskeletal leg or abdomen still attached. They sun themselves on the quieter roads and woe betide he who gets caught following too close. We put in 460 miles yesterday, half of which was just gwtttong us back from sturgis. To mark the halfway point of our trip (in days if not distance) we splurged on accommodations at the local holiday inn in Sioux city Iowa. Ne'er a more wretched hive of scum and villany etc etc. After showering off the bug carcasses, we donned our newly acquired sturgis shirts and hit the town. We first sashayed brazenly into a 1988 class reunion before enough expectant looks informed us of our folly. A touch more sashaying brought us to a nice watering hole featuring a nice bartender and an insufficient supply of Sam's summer. But there was a surprise in store. Two bachelorette parties AND a bachelor party in the same bar! Or perhaps two bachelor parties and a bachelorette party. I couldn't quote figure it out. Whatever the case there were a lot of happy people. But the best part of the night was the chin-wag we shared with martin wolf soldier outside the bar. He was either was relatively sauced or a few bulbs short of a billboard but was a righteous old mule nonetheless. He had spent 13 days hitchhiking from Chicago, trying to get back to his family in Montana. He taught us some key nakota phrases, all of which I got muddled with Korean, Chinese, French, and Spanish (damned cerebral organization) and promptly forgot. But a mule. A mule's mule with more interesting stories than a bar-full of bachelorettes. So we're properly homeward bound now with a week to go. It's been a trip. Yellowstone feels like a month ago, Astoria a year. Thanks for checking in you scallywags...we'll be stinking up your joints before you know it.

Back on Twenty!

Finally made it back to the Great Road.

A nice detour, but good to be back.

We hit US20 in a sleepy town called Merriman, NE.

Sturgis is ridiculous!

Sturgis is ridiculous!, originally uploaded by nate.bliss.

Of all great divides between the stereotype and reality, there is none wider than the chasm between biker culture ideal and reality. The tough virile men are actually old loons and the hot young women are actually more gnarled than the men. There's a lot of overlap between biker and metal culture, at least aesthetically. But what wool these jokers pull over their eyes! I wonder if anyone of these old bats has any sand to him. Sturgis seems like a bunch of posers. Although we're in valentine Nebraska and there's a real dude talking loud enough for everyone to hear him. He's a cross between an easy rider hopper and the dude himself, lamenting the decline of sturgis into window dressing. It seems that the best way to separate the wheat from the chaff is to look for those that think a look is ridiculous.ah biker culture in america, what a perverted display of sexual insecurity.

Badlands are beautiful

We camped last night at Badlands National Park. We rode in at sunset—spectacular.

Headed back to I-90 to look for breakfast and a route back to the Great Road.