Posted 2:47 PM by Gobbler
Another little bit of blog

off we went to the olympic national park. i learnt a few things on this trip. for example, did you know that it is possible to have a rainforest just adjacent to a glacier? in fact several glaciers. we're not talking tropical rainforests here, but we are still talking rainforest. this forests got truly huge fir trees of several varieties. all about twice or more the size of the paltry english varieties. plus in this bizarre forest there is moss hanging of the branches everywhere. as if some punter had come along with a huge old tree and draped shed loads of moss on the branches instead of leaves. there it was, everywhere, just hanging, swaying gently in the wind. I dont understand why either it doesnt just grow on the ground like every other place in the world or moss doesnt grow everywhere up to about 50 feet like here. I suppose there is so much moisture in the air there that the moss can prosper, but the climate is too cold to allow any other flora to get a hold.

Whatever the reason, it looked fantastic. I imagined i was walking through something from a fairy tale or fantasy as only in such stories are such bizzarre sights described. Its been years since i read the lord of the rings but it reminded me of one of those dark forests (not mirkwood but the one with the spiders, or was that mirkwood. James/dan/ anyone else, if you please) where some dark creatures inhabit the dark nooks between the moss and the decaying fallen trees.

so we tramped through this. we folloed the course of a glacial river on the first day. A gorgeous grey blue mountain river flanked by grey pebbles and rocks. the stuffs quite tasty although the grey colour never goes away. We purified it some i can only hope that the grey colour is good for me or at least harmless. still alive at present. 10.5 miles on the first afternoon, which brought us within 7 miles of the glacier.

unfortunately, some unsound cooking practices led us to destroy our stove on the first night: we had melted the plastic parts by letting the stove getting too hot. i had always assumed that stoves are supposed to get hot but not so apparently, not with this sensitive piece of kit. We got one hot meal out of it, the thing was jammed in the 'on' position so we just kept on cooking and hoped that it didnt blow up, which it didnt. Without the ability to boil our water we would have had to turn back but fortunately i had brough along purification tablets and although anna was somewhat suspect about the whole affair she decided in the end it was better than turning back.

12 hours sleep later we trucked off up the mountain to the glacier. It was on this day that i realised that she might in fact be an agent of the ever naughty and tricksy Dr. Octagon. Because you see, i ahd received a tip off from 'a friend' that there was a secret entrance to Polygon City at the glacier which would lead me right to the very (cold) heart of the Icy Core, where a final showdown could take place between myself and the dr. But my accomplice began to 'feel ill'. Kajerrr! I think she suspected that i knew the dastardly truth about the entrance and was determined to stop me. So, about a mile and a half from the glacier, after climbing solidly up about 2,500 feet for three and a half miles and with only 1000 feet up to go, she comes up with all manner of medical condition preventing her from continuing the climb. It was quite amusing how our progress slowed. It reminded me of trying to drive up a steep hill in a really cruddy car. we started off at a fine pace but gradually slowed until we were inching along, coughing and spluttering as the engine overheated. We took breaks every 15 mins, then every ten, then every five, and then the engine just stopped altogether. in fairness to anna she didnt look too well at all so, not wanting to kill her or make her too miserable, and not wanting to go on alone, we u-turned and gently trapsed the 6 miles back to our camp. Dr. Octagon narrowly escaped.

The 10.5 miles back to our car the next morning were quite evil. got up at half 7 and set off about 10 to 9. feet delivering considerable pain to the senses, couldnt be arsed with the scenery and last mile was quite grim, but finished
by 1 and hot-footed it to the hot springs for some rotten egg smelling hot water fun. then took in grandma thus procuring a free meal, mu ha ha ha, chatted away for a bit about thailand she'd been there in 1974, back in those wacky hippy days when tourist hotspots such as Koh Samui and Koh Phan gan were just being discovered. she said that she had planned to go to cambodia but it was 'a bit dangerous we thought.' given that pol pot came to power in '75 and promptly shot all foreigners in the country (as well as a few of the locals) i'd say she had a fair point. Makes my tales sound decidedly bland.

Well i'm being bugged by punters to go and be sociable, so i'd better do as i'm told.

TOM: RING ME PRONTO. Should communicate telephonically sharpish. Ring me on my mates phone 360-280-4651 ro discuss transport plans.
tulsa hilton: oh, i forgot to say: no its not raining really. had a little drizzle in the mountains but otherwise no. although i must concede that its not exactly bright sunshine at the moment.

Posted 12:05 AM by Gobbler
Tulsa Hilton: investigating flights good idea. will ring ini next few days to say hello. hope all is well tulsa-side! Hockey Rich: ah mate, its all about the beaujolais. nothing quite like a bottle of the stuff after six or eight hours of the usual usual. i'll be there for saturday, booked my flight direct to your house already just send methe details old boy pukka pukka pukka. doing my best to become even more obese than i previously was. consumed 26 burgers today and 9.3 kilos of beef jerky. its all about the jerky. of course dr o is planning something dirty, he has a perverted and quite frankly filthy mind. i'm thinkin that the dirty thing he's thinkin is some kind of bomb. call me crazy. El Benjito: oh, tis you tis it? i am not a trucker, i do not truck. i am a traveller, i travel. this is why at the cafe the other day in the good ol' u.s. of a. i had a 'travelers breakfast' this consisted of pancakes, bacon, sausage and eggs oh and coffee and orange juice. I did not have the truckers breakfast (coffee, balony and beans, coffee, coffee). thats just crazy talk. furthermore i recommend installing air con or a very large fridge. no news is good news with the bad doctor, believe me. how is betty anyway? Laura: thanks for the tips. shohuld be hitting vegas 14 or 15th. personally i'm really rather up for staying at the Luxor Hotel. luxor is close to cairo and cairo, as any self respecting and all knowledgable human being (such as Mr Stephen Horatio Whiteside BA Politics 1st class R.V.V.C.) will testify, is the best city in the world, alongside Las Vegas. The two greatest places on earth. if you dont know why now you'll never know. so if i satyed at the luxor hotel (been to luxor once or twice, nice place, good ruins, interesting beggars, tough looking bodyguards with intriguing teeth formations) i would feel like i was somehow basking in the glory of both cairo and vegas. plus theres a pyramid there and giza is even closer to cairo. how marvellous. I'm most impressed by your inside knowledge about the drinks. I had thought that, being a clean living and upstanding memeber of the 1st class hons fraternity you would have left such senseless pastimes behind on your racy road to riches.(tho clearly not at vegas - they must be waiting for me to get there before they pay out bigtime.) I am exeedingly grateful for the information, athankyou. as for lakes and celine dion, well, all i can say is that i saw a lake yesterday on the way to see a glacier. it was called elk lake in the olympic national park in washington state so there. lake shmake. and as for celine dion, well, dear George W. once publically debated sending troops there (i believe he believed he was talking about sierra lione - easy to see the confusion poor victimised soul) so shes out. keep the comments acomin and let me know whats happening at home. that goes for all you punks out there...

Right, past 12 now ion the pm. got up at 7.15 or so this morning to do last 10.5 miles of our hike in the park. all very beautiful and exciting. And there was lots of hanky panky. (actually to be honest there wqas none at all but its always good to maintain an element of raciness.) Time for bed, talk about it all later.

Posted 3:22 PM by Gobbler
ah now what was it that i was in such excitement going to say before i logged on?

this will be the last entry for a couple of days as im off tomorrow for a spot of camping. just like back during those wacky d of e days with my dear friend mr 'nottobenamed forthesake ofhisreputation' advising us to stop and eat some mars bars before our blood sugar levels reached life threatening lows. 'Blood Sugar levels! Blood sugar levels! Guuuyyys!' was the cry as he sank further into the distance, stumbling along. the boy-genius who planned the route for the day took us across a swamp and a reservoir. the swamp was interesting. some of us were nearly lost in the murky steaming depths as we toiled on, foot by stinking foot. We had only 200 yards to go yet it took us about half an hour, possibly days i cannot remember it was such a grim time. we reached the reservoir and realised that there was no bridge. anywhere. it would have meant another couple of miles of swamp circumnavigating the reservoir, so we turned back across the aforementioned 200 metres of bog fun.

the very same boy-genius who had planned the route was now considerably less popular and our blood-sugar level fellow was now in all sorts of bother, assuring us that if we did not stop forthwith for blood-sugar related sustenance we would shortly crumble. i do not recall taking too much heed of his warnings

we detoured through a town where we knew there would be a path upon which we would be able to walk, and picked up the pace as we now had to cover a couple of extra miles and make up for an hour or so of wasted time. Mr Blood-sugar level faded once more and after about another half an hour collapsed against a lamp post on the pavement, apparently quite unwell and a little low on the old blood-sugar. As we bumbled around wondering what to do with our casualty a bus load of school kids turned up. it did not take them long to spot us.

"F***in' Campers!! F***in' Campers!!!" With two fingers raised on two raised hands the local scoolkids heralded us. for about five minutes. In due course we got an ambulance which bore Mr blood-sugar away to hospital, where they tries in vain to find anything wrong with him. evidently his blood sugar level was ok, but he was a little cold.

the point of this little tale is that 1) welsh schoolchildren have little time for campers.

Also, i'm off camping tomorrow to the temperate rainforests they have around here. theyve also got galciers. i did not know the two come in combination but apparently so. so i'll be off for a few days. i wonder if i can locate the fabled northern secret entrance to dr. octagons Icy Core when i'm there. time will tell.

talkback replies next time.

Posted 3:51 PM by Gobbler
some days ago, in fact on the twenty eighth of july, some of you may remember benjita, in a talk back, referring to the 'usual'. i quote: "Bad luck on the wallet front, you daft chimp - still, it''s another adventure to pluck out over a good whiskey and a cigar someday (perhaps even a ''usual'')." ah, the heady days of the usual. it was back in the land of the scots back in the day last summer last year. many beverages were consumed. multiple beverages. and it was such an effort to go to the bar all the time so one clever chap came up with the perfect solution: the "usual". a remarkable invention. very useful indeed. The ingredients: Two pints of lager a double scotch and a villager cigar. keeps one going for at least half an hour and quite ofen longer. i dont know why i suddenly felt the urge to enlighten the world as to the details of the usual but there you have it.

still hanging around in seattle area. i went to a Cer-Razy house party last night with some of these wacky yankee types. not quite the schools out for summer hollywood american pie style party fever, but not half bad. and the hot tub was a novelty.

kind of going into old man slipper mode at the moment, cos i can. its going to be very busy again once the road trip to l.a. via vegas kicks off on the tenth. vegas is an interesting diversion considering it takes us 100's of miles out of the way, but then this is america honey.

so ive been enjoying leisurely cultural activities. a couple of days ago we drifted around olympia town and ended up painting a plate (as you do) and the day before yesterday we took in an absolutely splendid glass museum. yesterday nothing much bar sleep occured, due to unfavourable sleeping conditions the previous night. its all a blur and i'm blaming it on the jet-lag.

did anyone read the brandon mafia story? its published a few blogs ago. quite long but worth the effort i assure you.

going to seattle tomorrow, then off east for a spot of hiking then west for a spot of log cabin-ing and then the road to vegas. that'll be a story and a half but i dont know if i'll be regularly able to blog it, probably too busy. not exactly sure what the plan is. hiring a car is expensive, buying a banger is risky (we dont want to break down in the middle of the nevada desert as its about the same size as dear old blighty and might be the end of us. tis a grim business.

this crystal-ann character who i was trying to cadge a lift off up to seattle from san fran now wants to meet up in seattle for a coffee. how interesting, its a bit like i met her over the chat lines. at least i imagine so ive never actually done that. i reckon that it would be highly amusing to meet up, lets face it, she has got a marvellous name, and all this email chat has made her something of an enigma. but there again i may not have time.

arf to the movie theadre this afternoon. might even go to a real theatre for some more culture action. blogged out for now.

Sue: but i made thousands of labels! i'm devastated to hear that supplies are out, theres just no justice in the world. i'll see what i can do. how was robbie williams? hope he appreciated the nickers... Tom: Sue-Ellen indeed. i went ot a roadside cafe the other day for breakfast (paaancakes and caaarfee) as a kind of test run; it went splendidly. been advised against buying a banger as i mentioned above. how much will hiring cost? also looking at driveaway but its a slim chance. could just banger it and hope for the best. i too know precisely bobbins about cars. Mum: thanks for letting me know, keep me posted. card in production. Everyone else: anyone got a postcard yet? punkometer inoperative at the moment so i dont know how much punkishness is out there. you're off for today. Ben: so you escaped from bethany eh?