I’ve had the best. (Changi, Singapore)
Should I do Minneapolis tonight?
Nah, I am starting to get a little too old for this kind of travelling “experience”.
I will get an inexpensive Motel by the airport and get some work done on the computer.
Update: My buddy Dave Adlard found a free room for me as he has in the past. Thanks Dave!.
Sleeping in Airports – Gadling.com
» next travelogue post on this trip – want your corpse posed and displayed?
Catching a plane in Los Angeles I was asked to arrive 4hrs early for a domestic flight.
Right.
I stayed close to the airport at a widely publicized hostel called the
LA Adventurer Hotel to reduce the total airport transport time.
It’s a nice space though a jet blasts close overhead about every 3 minutes during the day.
Staff are young people from all over the world saving for a plane ticket home. Service is interesting but not particularly good as you might expect.
The closest hostel to LAX actually does something cool I have never seen before. The cheapest dorm beds are only available if you are under age 30 and have a foreign passport. Nice touch.
» next travelogue post on this trip – St. Paul, MN
Most places I happily travel without a vehicle.
California is a notable exception. It’s nearly impossible to get where you want to go in this gorgeous State without your own wheels.
I listen to nutcase right wing AM talk radio with the occasional break of AM sport radio. And I enjoy the fantastic weather.
» next travelogue post on this trip – noisiest hostel in the world?
I coached 3 weeks at Woodward in 2005.
This summer I stopped in for 3 days, a goodwill ambassador from Cirque du Soleil.
It was great to get reacquainted with so many of the same coaches and camp staff from the previous year.
Woodward West is a HUGE camp, half boys, half girls. They offer gymnastics and cheer, as well as some trampoline, tumbling and acrosport.
The Action Sports offered: BMX, mountain biking, skateboard and in-line skating.
It is one fantabulous place!
Details on the Woodward West website
» next travelogue post on this trip – driving California
I, Ricky Bobby, first visited Indianapolis (pop. 2 million) in 1991 for the World Gymnastics Championships and had a great time. This time I am here representing Cirque du Soleil at the USA Diving Championships.
White River State Park and the Zoo are sprawling green spaces adjacent to IUPUI (Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis) — Dan Quayle is an alumni.
The Indiana University Natatorium is host of the Championships.
A lovely canal system winds through the parks near the venue.
Indianapolis is home to USA Diving, USA Gymnastics and the NCAA Headquarters. More important to Hoosiers is The Brickyard, home to the Indianapolis 500. (I am in town during the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard – the NASCAR Nextel Cup.)
The days of the Klan ruling ‘Naptown’ are long gone. But Indianapolis is back on the map — like Brockway, Ogdenville, and North Haverbrook — because they have a monorail.
It broke down during a heat wave, the day I arrived, cooking some hospital patients.
» next travelogue post on this trip – Woodward West Sport Camp
I was ride-along shotgun on a hiking / biking trip with George Novak to Yellowstone National Park. It truly is a fantastic destination, much improved (I feel) by the forest fires of 1988. The park is open and bright. There is a real feeling of renewal.
It’s famous for geysers, hot springs, and other geothermal features and is home to grizzly bears, wolves, and free-ranging herds of bison and elk. We saw a lot of wildlife.
Photos and video clips I posted on besthike.com. See those by searching besthike for “Yellowstone”.
This is the last post in this travelogue. But you can find photos & a video clip of Grand Teton National Park on my hiking blog.
On advice from friends in Missoula, we took the scenic route to Yellowstone via Lewis and Clark Caverns.
Explorers Meriwether Lewis & William Clark passed close but never actually knew the 50mi+ of limestone caves existed.
The tourist experience walking through stalactites and stalagmites is recommended and entertaining, as it most often is in American tourist attractions.
more details from the National Park Service
We heard that Lewis and Clark were gay — not that there is anything wrong with that.
» next travelogue post on this trip – Yellowstone National Park
I finally got to visit Mismo 4-years after I first met unforgettable Head Coach and owner Kelley Durbin. It’s a great gym in every way.
Kelley and Morgen gave us a tour of the facility and program – then took us to dinner at the Iron Horse Brew Pub. Great grub!
I’ll meet up with Kelley at the USA Gymnastics Championships in August.
» next travelogue post on this trip – Lewis and Clark Caverns
One of my favourite events of the year is the HPTC camp in Idaho hosted by Dave Adlard.
At the end of camp all coaches are lined-up against a wall in front of a firing squad of gymnasts. Contest winners get to “pie” any coach. Here Bobby launches a sneak attack at Dave. It was brilliant.
Check out over 80 pictures of camp on Flickr.
Video clips of coaches getting a pie in the face.
» next travelogue post on this trip – Mismo Gymnastics, Missoula, Montana
Not for the gym camp. But all the grilled lamb chops I can eat!
More photos of Dave and Lisa Adlard’s restaurant on Flickr.
I finally got a US$25 Flickr Pro account. After years of hosting my own photos, it’s time I moved to a web host. I will add more photos to this set over the next couple of weeks — easy to do in Flickr.
» next travelogue post on this trip – gymnastics camp photos
Rick McCharles 