New York, New Jersey, United States of America

Tucson, Arizon

My lovable hosts Mike and Lands

Mud Adobe homes, cool and cosy at the same time!

Desert lush with hundred year old Saguaros cacti

After an, as always, interesting overnight greyhound from San Diego I eventually arrived in glowing orange Tucson at sunrise. My kindly hosts Leander and Mike pulled up in their 1937 Crysler and I jumped in for a ride back to El Barrio, the old part of Tucson where they live in their Adobe abode. I lived with Leander in Brisbane before she moved over here to start a new life. She, like so many other people living in Tucson who are drawn to the outer rim of North America have instigated the rubber band effect for all those who have migrated from east to west, bounced back from the commercial California to the more alternative Tucson. Although what makes this city the interesting place it is comes manly from the 80% or more Mexicans living there.

We jam packed the first day there with 8am spanish mass, swapmeet (a market with everything and anything on offer from 1980s scuba diving gear to machetes), a fancy dress bicycle day in the city on a tandem, drove Leanders combi van into the desert for sunset and then ate far too much fine" mexican food, the cactus tasted sweet. I hung out in interesting cafes and book shops when the guys worked on Monday. , Tucson has one of the biggest Universities in the country so its full of life and lots of creative stuff on. I can definitely recommend Tucson if you are looking for beautiful colourful skies and even more colourful characters.

I got my plane ride on time, I hope my part will be fine..... fly down to Mexico oh, doo ndoo ndoo

San Diego, California

Barber shop, Pacific Beach

Ian Denham and Sister

One of many examples of American Pride

Seals human watching, La Jolla

I don't know I don't know oh where to begin, North America

... So Ian Denham moved to San Diego which was a good excuse to check out southern border of California. After a fun ride down from Sacremento with a Californian amigo Jac and her big beautiful dog Agi we chilled out on the coastline which teems with wildlife (and humans) and caught a sweet sunset. Apparently when the sun dips below the sea a green light appears and shoots across the horizon. Even after several surfers exclaimed "dude, did you see it?" I failed to believe in seeing the invisible line!

Ian lives in Pacific Beach, a pulsating stretch of the coast no matter what time of day or night and holds all extremes of American culture from sport junkies (slot Ian in there), to obese burrito eating...junkies. It was so fun to kick back with him and splash around in the engrossed San Diego lifestyle for a couple of days; biking, jogging and beer drinking. Last night of debauchery was fun and with $2 beers and $3 daquaries, Jac and I had no problem sumo suit wrestling infront of a packed bar full of loud and loaded dudes.

Its a strange thing sitting so close to the border of the radically different Mexico and South Americas only a couple of miles away, it sure will be interesting to go from this epitome of Western society to the more extrinsic south...

Lake Tahoe, Nevada/California US

Sacramento

Life Now is sweet potato pie and 20 inches of snow fall since arriving to friends at the Economy Inn, Heavenly Village, Lake Tahoe; and although my boarding isn't improving all that well, it is most certainly a most radical starting point to this next chapter. Lying on the border between Nevada and California, Tahoe has the opulence of America's natural beauty, and the underbelly of casino/consumer driven Americans!

The tricky bit will be driving through that snow later today to get to San Francisco!