Campervaning
in the USA.Campervaning
in the USA.
In
the US they are "RV's" (Recreational Vehicles), to the rest of the
world "Campervans".
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“The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.” - Herman Goering (second in command to Adolf Hitler) at the Nuremberg Trial
Part 2 Starting off - in the wrong place!
- Vancouver BC - Only a stopover.
- Greyhound Gets my Goat - Saga of stupidity.
- US Immigration - You get 6 months.
- Payphones - danger to your wallet
- American Hosts
- Looking for an RV in WA & OR
- Initial Observations on America
- Travel Insurance (Don't leave home without it)
- Buying our RV on Ebay
- Dollar Parity - What your A$ buys in the USA
- A Century of American Dupes.
5/3/2002 We departed Brisbane on Japan Airlines to Tokyo for an almost 24 hour stopover. Notably JAL were using a very old Boeing 747, lacking the more modern in flight data display and individual in seat video displays common on the more modern Singapore Airlines fleet. Never the less the service and the main meal food was satisfactory, although the second snack meal was distinctly Spartan and mean in quantity. At least the flight was on time.
We had bought our tickets six weeks in advance from Flight Center, who we have found usually seem very competitive, for A$1620, partly because we had been led to believe that seats were quite limited. Bullshit obviously. The only thing that was limited was the number of seats allocated to the agent, at that time, for that price. It seems that to get a truthful appraisal of the position, ancient Oriental methods of torture are required.
In fact the plane was less than half full, and we also found out from another passenger that he had bought the same ticket only three weeks before the flight for A$1300.
Clearly JAL had brought out lower fares in February. Obviously both the airlines and travel agents engage in misleading practices when it comes to telling you what seats are available. As we had no particular requirement to leave on a certain day, and have found the same empty plane syndrome on a flight to Bangkok last August, after similar bullshit about limited seats, my advice to any one in a similar position would be to not buy seats any more than a week or two in advance of departure.
The JAL stopover of almost 24 hours includes only breakfast, and a late checkout of the hotel. As almost anything is outrageously expensive in Japan, we took a box of sandwiches for an evening snack and lunch the next day. They even charge for coffee in the room you make yourself, although they do provide hot water facilities, so take a few coffee bags and use the free hot water.
Breakfast is an excellent all you can eat buffet with a wide range of Japanese, Asian and European style food, served from 6AM to 10AM. So this can be made a main meal, and lingered over.
The Hotel provides a free shuttle bus in to Narita town, and it helps to fill in the time to go window shopping, and browsing through the JUSCO department store. There are many small restaurants in the shopping complex where you can buy a lite meal for around Y800, or even get a boxed Japanese snack in the Jusco Supermarket for around Y300-500. These prices are a small fraction of those that apply in the hotel if you are silly enough to eat anything there, except the free breakfast.
The flight to Vancouver Canada was notably similar to that of the previous day, reasonable meal, inadequate snack, adequate wine and drinks. Being adventurous, for a drink I tried the Japanese Sake, (available in both sweet and dry verities) perhaps some may consider it an acquired taste, but I found it a pleasant change.
Note about Canadian Customs and Quarantine.
Canada seems to have similar restrictions on the import of food to Australia, and we handed over some of our small food stock consisting of fruit, cheese and some salami sausage and boiled eggs that had not been consumed in Japan, no doubt due to lingering over the marvelous breakfast buffet.
Vancouver BC
We phoned several hostels and hotels from the airport and opted for one we had seen on the Internet in Eastern Downtown Vancouver that charged C$59 including tax for a double room. They quoted $49 plus tax as things are in Canada, when I asked for a "Standby Rate", although their Internet site says $59+Tax.
The Internet site made the hotel look much better than it was in reality, being old, run down and in a distinctly seedy part of town. I don't recommend the downtown east side of Vancouver BC at all. But as it was only for one night, so we suffered it. This part of Vancouver is really the pits. I suppose there are more attractive parts, but after browsing the tourist Internet sites for the city I had already concluded that there was little in Vancouver to want to make us stay, particularly at this time of year. In fact I now think we would have been better off to have immediately taken the Greyhound bus to Vancouver Washington, as we had arrived at the airport at 9.30AM, and not stopped there at all. Yes the city is surrounded by mountains often featured in promotions, but at this time of the year is cold, and the part we stayed in is a sleazy depressed dump inhabited by mental defectives, drug addicts and homeless. My already clear belief that the cities of north America will hold little of interest for us was here underlined in the extreme.
You have to learn to be very discriminating in what you believe in tourist literature. Every town and city is trying to promote the most innocuous piece of historical trivia, or minor geographical feature as being "tourist attractions".
We walked to the bus station on Thursday about noon and bought tickets for the next day. Freezing cold wind, my ears almost froze off. We found a Subway shop where we bought two salads for dinner to have with a tin of salmon that has escaped the Customs seizure. We were not going to venture out of our room after dark in this sleazy part of the city.
Walking to the bus station we spotted a backpackers hostel that had also advertised on the Internet, and which we had considered using. From external appearances I could not imagine a more depressing run down, seedy, sleazy dump this side of the black stump! If it was no better inside than the area and the outside of the building suggested it would have been a true rat hole!
Immigration
We were to cross the US border soon after leaving Vancouver BC, and here to find our first hard facts about US Immigration.
We have nominally dated return tickets for 25th September, although that is flexible, as our tickets are valid for 12 months.
We were unable to obtain approval on our form I94 for more than 6 months in the US, despite asking for 7 and explaining that we had return tickets for September 25th. They would only grant approvals for either 6 or 12 months, and the latter only where there were circumstances such as a person coming to the US to work on another class of visa. If there is any discretion in this matter, the officer concerned was not going to budge. This confirmed the experiences of other potential RV tourists reporting on the Internet
They charge $6 to process your entry application, despite already having paid A$84 each for the visa. In 25 years of travelling this is the first time I have ever been confronted with such a fee. Maybe the US government does not really want tourists?
We would have to apply for an extension of stay he said, saying that it would only cost us $6 by going out of the US to Canada or Mexico and then re-entering. He seemed unaware of the fact that to apply for an extension from within the US is a much more expensive process (fee of around $125 according to the INS website) plus the need for a mailing address, and a delay of some weeks in getting a response.
Now will this work, I am of the opinion that he may have been talking through his hat, and that we will find that it is not right. Dealing with the US government agencies has so far been a very confusing experience. No one seems willing or able to give an authoritative opinion, and they just want money even to talk to you.
7/03/2002 Vancouver BC.
Breakfast before boarding the bus was at McDonalds at the bus station, well there wasn't anything else handy.
While the buses are comfortable enough Greyhound ain't the most salubrious way to travel. We chose it because the times of departure were convenient, and it was much cheaper than air, also we wanted to see a little of the country along the way.
Greyhound gets my goat! A long rant about stupidity in security! This may not happen to you, but if you really want to read about it. Click here .
Payphone Charges - Exorbitant
During our delay in Seattle we needed to call the person who was to pick us up in Vancouver WA, to tell them we would be late. We used a pay-phone in the bus depot. It cost US$3.00 for a call lasting 30 seconds over a distance of maybe 150 miles. Minimum 3 minute charge, no change given. This underlined the advice elsewhere in this report, NEVER USE A PAY-PHONE in the USA. Charges are outrageous. A 30 second "long distance" call cost more than a 45 minute international call from Australia!BUY A PREPAID PHONE CARD. Deals vary but none of them are any where near as big a rip off as pay-phones. Also you can go to http://www.net2phone.com/home.html to set up a phone card account over the Internet that provides competitive rates and gives access from a wide range of locations in the USA. You can also get details of various other phone card deals at http://www.full-timer.com/ particularly suited to RV tourists. YOU CAN ALSO BUY THEM AT SUPERMARKETS.
A good deal is the Sprint Phonecard which gives 480 minutes for US$20. This works out to about 4.2 cents per minute. If you call from a public payphone you are also charged a 25 cent fee, (apparently applies to all phonecards and is set by federal regulation) which deducts 6 minutes, in this case from your credit, as well as the time you spend on your call. If you call from an ordinary phone you just pay for the time you use. The Sprint card (and some others) can be recharged by calling a service number and charging your credit or debit card.
A better place to start your tour - Phoenix AZ
For someone contemplating an RV tour of the USA this way of entering the country, via Vancouver Canada is not logical. We only came this way because of personal commitments to visit relatives in Vancouver Washington.
Browsing the RV market on Ebay http://listings.ebaymotors.com/aw/listings/list/category6727/index.html the city where the most RVs are for sale is Phoenix Arizona, and this is my recommended starting point.
Americans are extraordinary hosts.
After all my complaints about experiences so far, I have to say that, as expected, most Americans have been wonderfully friendly, and it seems that they genuinely, like Australians. The hospitality extended to us by friends and family of my wife's very elderly and frail aunt, who were really strangers to us, but who have accommodated and entertained us has been absolutely overwhelming. Most Americans are individually very nice people.
We have been accommodated in an RV belonging to our hosts, a 1998 31 foot 5th wheel, with two slide outs. We call it the Hilton! The luxury of American RV's is incredible, with every conceivable system on board, two TV's, and two CD players, one in the lounge room one in the bedroom. A home away from home hardly does it justice. I now have a better appreciation of why they call it primitive camping if you don't have full electric, water and sewerage hook-ups. Not that I don't prefer the simpler and less ostentatious Aussie style of camping.
American TV seems to be every bit as bad as its Australian counterpart, perhaps even worse, so despite having two television sets, we haven't watched much. Apart from the generally poor selection of wall to wall sport, ancient movies, old westerns, and Bonanza, yes Ben Cartwright, Hoss and Lil Jo are still alive and kicking on the screen in the USA, I was struck by the inanity of some of it, a quiz show, and they ask a grown man, what is 7 times 6? Seriously, and he agonizes over the answer, true! Talk about the dummying down of society, well it must be in full swing here! The NWO rolls on!
Classical FM radio is alive and well, in Portland Oregon at least. 89.5FM, a listener supported station. May we find more of them.
Looking for a Van around Vancouver & Portland
As we were staying in Vancouver WA and our hosts very kindly offered to drive us around to look for an RV, we took up their offer and visited many dealers and pursued privately advertised RV's almost full time for four days. It all reinforced my existing view of the market gained over the Internet over the last 12 months. Value simply was not to be had in Washington or Oregon compared to the vehicles auctioned on Ebay or for sale in Phoenix. Dealers were generally overpriced, as expected, and most of what we saw offered for private sale was in poor condition.
The main difficulty is in finding smaller vehicles. I have had to revise upwards what I will look at, to 23 foot vans. There just are not many smaller ones around.
I feel that if I buy at auction on Ebay that there is a better chance of being able to resell the RV at the completion of our holiday without too much of a loss.
As we had enjoyed no success hunting for an RV in Vancouver and Portland areas, I again started browsing Ebay and found a suitable very low mileage (26,000) 1986 vehicle for sale in Phoenix, no reserve auction by the same repossession dealer that I had previously communicated with. As he had very good feed back, (comments by customers that had dealt with him in the past on Ebay) and offered a money back guarantee of satisfaction, I decided to bid on it. But curses, it was not to be, I was gazumped at the last minute even though I was watching the end of the auction, revised my maximum bid, and tried to do so again at the last minute, only to be told the auction was finished before I could key in an even higher bid. I had revised my bid to $9515, after getting up in the early morning to watch the end of the auction and try and ensure that I won the vehicle. I figured that it was worth paying over the market to avoid the need to go into a motel in Phoenix for a week or two while I look around there for a van. It will cost us at least $700 a week for a motel (with self catering kitchen) a hire car and food, not to mention the delay in getting our holiday started. I am really disappointed, I guess I should have bid $11,000 and made really sure of it, as it will now probably end up costing me a lot more overall anyway. Damn, blast and botheration!
I am reminded of our experience in London in 2000 when we spent three weeks combing the city for a van, and were getting despondent of ever finding a suitable one, before settling on our Ford Transit.
Miscellaneous observations on America.
Not much new to us, but they confirm the accuracy of what I had already learnt from the InternetLOTS of fast food is consumed, and it's pretty bland and high in sugar salt and fat. We are looking forward to having our own van and being able to cook for ourselves. We really are looking forward to catering for ourselves and having a lot more fresh vegetables and fruit.
A lot of people cook very little at home, and what they do cook contains a high proportion of partly prepared and packaged food.
Food additives, MSG, sulfides, preservatives, coloring etc, are widely used in both fast and packaged foods. I suspect to a much greater extent than in Australia. I tend to have a bad reaction to sulfides if I drink even a moderate amount of alcohol, headaches, aching teeth etc. I found I couldn't have my customary couple of nips of whisky at night without getting a chronic low level headache, and I suspect it is all the chemicals in the food.
The devastating health effects of the poor dietary habits are everywhere to be seen, rampant obesity, even in the young, on a scale scarcely dreamed possible until you see it first hand.
They have charity shops here which can be useful to outfit your campervan. Two thrift chain-stores we have seen are "Goodwill" and "Value Village" , but as we soon found, better buys are available at smaller independent thrift stores.
Religion plays a big part in the lives of many Americans. Almost a "Give me that old time religion" kind of literal faith, that is no longer so common in Australia. This is one of the aspects of society that is such a dramatic example of America as a land on contrasts, the old fashioned just plain "goodness" of the people, contrasts starkly with the global export of the most rank cultural pollution by the mass media, that no more truly represents the views of real Americans, than our Australian media reflects the majority views of Australians.
Conversation is not a strong point with many Americans, it is very much a TV society.
Australian's are both liked and regarded as something of a curiosity. Foreign accents are something of a curiosity. She said my name "real kool" commented one of the junior third cousins twice removed, or whatever he was. Perhaps it is a reflection of how really isolated from the rest of the world a lot of Americans are.
I am beginning to see why Americans generally have little idea of how, or why, their country (it's government's foreign policy at least ) is perceived critically by some foreigners, particularly there is little or no comprehension of views critical of America, as their own national image is one carefully crafted by their mass media, which is notably narrow in its views, reflecting only the "official" American view of the world. Apart from the very official view of the war in Afghanistan, much of the so called "news" is trivia and sheer drivel.
But its not all like that. Today a young man, related to our hosts, who had served in the US Navy a number of years, and visited Australia as a teenager, showed some considerable insight into the problem. I guess they see us as arrogant he said, and lamented the recent statements of President Bush hinting at the possible use of nuclear weapons against seven so called terrorist countries. Travel broadens the mind, you start to be able to see yourself as others see you.
17/03/2002 Vancouver WA.
We both have come down with the flu, severe sore throats, body pains, coughing, Sharon is vomiting, I feel like death warmed up. We were due to fly to Phoenix tomorrow but have canceled our tickets, thankfully for a full refund, thanks to America West Airlines.
It seems that this sort of thing is almost inevitable when you travel to a new country, as it has happened to us almost every time. Although very seldom sick at home, we have had to endure this sort of illness many times at the start of long holidays or overseas jobs.
Pricing of air tickets is anything but straightforward in the US, with wide variations in cost depending on how long in advance and with whom you book. After searching over the Internet we paid $233 for tickets from Portland to Phoenix, but at various recent times I have seen prices on the Internet ranging from $157 to $570 for the same route. Shopping around is very important in the US.Discount shopping and supermarket specials are also more complicated matters here. Some supermarkets advertise specials, but the special price is only available if you have a membership card. Generally you can enroll for these cards on the spot, free of cost, and take the benefits immediately, and it can be really worthwhile. I paid for our host's groceries at one supermarket, discounts of around $8 applied on a $27 bill, bringing it back to $19. If you don't have the card you are charged full price even on advertised specials and two for one offers. Yes I know it's weird, but that's the way it is in the US.
There are also some store "membership" schemes that charge an annual fee. (e.g.. Camping World's President's Club) In some other stores (e.g.. Sam's Club, Costco) the store won't even let you in without the paid membership card, or unless you are the guest of a member! The solution to this for Australians is to stand outside and ask a customer about to enter if they will take you as a guest.
Cash back offers on purchase of major items are also common. My new computer has two, $50 from Toshiba and $100 from Circuit City, that have to be mailed off separately. They hope customers won't bother. They are only available to American addresses, so make sure you have somewhere to get it sent, even a mail forwarding agency would do, if you have no friends or relatives here in the USA. Not confined to major items, you even get cash rebate offers on $2 items !
18/06/2002 Vancouver WA.
My concerns about food in America are even more heightened now that we are here. Even what people think is home cooking is 80% packaged, canned, frozen etc, heavy on fat, sugar and salt, and it all seems to be heavily laced with preservatives and chemicals. People here just think it's "normal".
Normally I don't take vitamin supplements. I don't believe they are needed with a proper balanced diet, but Sharon brought a bottle of multi vitamins with her, and I have made sure to have one every day here!
These things highlight one small aspect of the cultural gap that thankfully still separates some of us in Australia from the US. The danger is that it is narrowing under the influence of cultural imperialism, if you wondered why I said earlier that I love Americans, but fear America, here is yet another reason. People are seduced by the plastic culture, into abandoning their own traditional values. For what? For the profits of callous corporations bent on profit at any cost, cost to your health, to your lifestyle, to your very existence.
It seems to me at this early stage of my visit to this country that the good people of America have no understanding of these things. They have been so far conditioned and manipulated down this path that they no longer realise there are other ways.
19/03/2002 1.30AM.
Four hours later at Southwest Washington Medical Center, and after an examination, chest X-Rays, ECG, blood tests and a lifter of intravenous saline, she looks alive again, and the doctor tells us the strange turn was due to triggering of her Vegas nerve response, in reaction to her nausea and vomiting from the flue. This reaction if triggered shuts down the body's peripheral functions and temperature, as circulation is concentrated toward the brain and thorax. Other than that she had no major complications of the flu, and with some cough medicine, additional anti nausea pills and a prescription for antibiotics to be used if needs be, she was released about 6.15AM.
The service was very thorough, if rather too slow, but this is one of the busiest emergency rooms on the US west coast we are told.
We still don't know what all this will cost, and this being America it won't come cheap. However the hospital did not require any formal identification, beyond asking for a name address and phone number, and next day still can't tell me the bottom line. This even though I told them we are tourists about to become itinerant RV travellers, they still can't organize the bill in less than about a week. They must get a lot of bad debts.
Maybe the bill is so astronomical it takes a week to add up!!
Travel Insurance.
In any event the above incident underlines the need for travel insurance. We have ours by buying our airline tickets on a GOLD MASTERCARD, which provides free travel insurance. Thomas Cook Global Assist providing the worldwide contact and backup. It all seems to work OK and we should have to pay only the first A$200 of the costs.
This short stay, about 2 and a half hours, in hospital could easily reach to A$2000-incredible as it seems.
Facts found April 2002. In fact the bill came to US$1039, largely due to overservicing, commented on by an employee of Zurich Insurance in Sydney, who are picking up the bill under our free Mastercard travel insurance. Apparently it's normal in US hospitals, you go to a hospital with even a minor problem and they perform every conceivable, even remotely justifiable test, and them charge you the earth for what a reasonably competent GP could have diagnosed in ten minuets, and advised you to take an aspirin and keep warm.
So be warned. The hospitals in the USA aren't run by doctors, but by criminals called accountants, whose concern is to empty your wallet first, and treat your medical condition second.
You need travel insurance in the USA, because it's like paying protection money to the Mafia!
I am assured that I can either forward medical reports back to the underwriters in Australia and have them pay the bills, (provided they accept the claim on receipt of the paperwork) or if we pay, claim a refund on return about October 2002, as the claim is already notified and on file.
Our host had recently spent 12 days in hospital here having surgery on a complicated broken ankle, the cost US$56,000 that's around A$110,000, or almost A$9,000 A DAY.
TRAVEL INSURANCE - Don't leave home without it!
On our last tour to Europe on 2000 we paid over A$600 for travel insurance which provided similar benefits, so provided they pay up with no hassles, getting free insurance with the MasterCard is very worthwhile. However you may sometimes have to pay a premium on your tickets, as we did to Flight Center on top of their cash/cheque payment quoted price.
20/3/2002 Vancouver WA.
As we proceed with our holiday we will be deciding, probably in about 4 months, if we are going to sell the van around September, or store it for another trip in 2003. Our hosts have mentioned going to Alaska, and maybe we would like to come with them, next year. We may alternatively want to tour some other parts of the US further East.
The RV we have bought. 28 foot Bounder by Fleetwood
Here is its description. as listed by the dealer. 21,000 Actual Miles, 7.4 Liter Chevy Engine, Cruise Control, Tilt, AM-FM Stereo Cassette, Dash A/C Blows Cold, Air conditioning On Roof, Hydraulic Levelers, Awning, Outside Storage, 4.0 Onan Gas Generator 159 Hours, TV, TV Antenna, Stove, Oven, Refrigerator, Microwave Oven, Furnace, Water Pump, LP Leak Detector, Inside Shower, Hot Water Heater, Electric Step, Tow Hitch, Phone & Cable Hook-Up, Queen Size Bed In Rear, Table Folds Out To Make A Bed, Tires Are In Good Condition, Spare Tire, Have All Books & Manuals, We Personally Have Driven This Coach And It Runs And Drives Strong. Interior Is In Excellent Condition. Has Some Fading On Exterior.
Checking the value on one of the Internet sites http://www.nadaguides.com/ that enable you to value RVs, gives a value of around $15,000 for this model with the equipment it has and such low mileage. I was happy to if needs be pay some premium to avoid the need to spend a week or two in a Phoenix Motel (at least $600 a week down the drain for only the motel and a car for a week) looking for an RV. The bidding was keen at the end of the auction, so it's a good buy. We hope it proves reliable.
This big V8 will only get about 8 MPG so over our planned route of 12,000 miles, plus peripheral miles driving around towns on route allowing say 14,000 miles we will use about 1450 gallons of fuel, "Gas", which is presently around $1.20 for a total fuel cost of say US$1,700 or around A$3,400.
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The Interior of our RV.
Starting our holiday in clearly the wrong place to buy an RV (the only reason we came here to Vancouver was to visit Sharon's geriatric aunt) and getting delayed here with illness has made the appeal of having a vehicle waiting for us in Phoenix all the more irresistible. Also the dealer gives a full refund of deposit if not satisfied, a claim which is backed up by his generally excellent Ebay feedback from previous customers. His Ebay name is Pat1063, you can find his listings by doing an Ebay vendor search for this seller name, or look for NO RESERVE auction listings in the RV section, it is often him.
So far we haven't actually seen the vehicle, only a lot of photos expanding on the detail of those shown above. It looks like new inside, and with 21, 000 miles only it probably still is. I never intended to do this, and said I wouldn't buy on Ebay without first inspecting the vehicle, but weighing up the advantages and risks I decided to take the chance.
In getting another insurance quote the benefits of a low miler were again highlighted as the insurance agent agreed that in his experience too, these big RV vehicles tend to require major engine rebuilds in the range of 70,000 to 80,000 miles. This is a clear risk factor that I picked up from the tour reports of several foreign tourists, confirmed from the RV news groups discussions, and also from browsing hundreds of vehicle adverts which frequently refer to engine rebuilds carried out in this mileage range. I was surprised when I first noted this phenomenon, thinking that a large V8 engine should run far longer without major problems, but everything I have found since confirms the pattern. Be warned.
We have rebooked with America West to fly to Phoenix next Tuesday, as we should both be fit enough then. Also the airfares drop back to US$233, one way, on the Monday, after rising to over $500 this week because of seasonal demand caused by "spring break" school holidays. The airlines complain about reduced demand after the terrorist incidents, but they have obviously cut back schedules heavily, and don't put on any extra flights to cater for the peak load this week. They prefer to exploit the situation and more than double fares. There is no sense of essential services being provided at consistent and reasonable prices here, "supply and demand" the Americans say, and just accept it as normal. They don't realize that often the so called supply and demand is rigged by collusive trade practices, and that unchecked corporate greed is the root cause of many of the problems they face here.
"Gas" or petrol prices vary considerably here. I have seen service stations on opposite corners with unleaded petrol at $1.00 at one and $1.20 at the other. Now my host says some "Gas" is better than other gas, which would imply that there is no proper standard to which petrol is manufactured in the US. I very much doubt it. I can't imagine why anyone would pay 20% more for petrol, as back home in Australia there simply is no difference between brands, which all come out of the same refineries. Perhaps here the marketing hype has been more successful and people are fooled into thinking they are actually getting something for the extra money. Personally I think its all bullshit, and will be buying whatever "gas" is cheapest. Petrol companies used to try brand advertising back in the 1960's but it largely failed and most motorists saw it for what it was, nothing but marketing bullshit, trying to coax a few more dollars out of your pocket.
It also pays to self serve. If you have your car filled by the service station attendant (usually at a special rank of pumps) the gas costs more. Unlike Australia, where you generally fill up then pay, you have to pay in advance for your gas in the US, by inserting notes into the browser, or paying the cashier, and then returning after getting your gas to get any change, or pay more if you haven't filled up enough. They must have got tired of people driving off without paying.
21-22/03/2002 Vancouver WA.
23/03/2002 Vancouver WA
A nice day, first we have had in two weeks, for a tour up the Columbia River Gorge by car with our hosts and we treat them to a Country Buffet lunch. All you can eat buffet for around $7.00, reasonable selection of hot dishes and salad, and not a bloody hamburger to be seen thank heaven! For dinner we aren't so lucky, they take us to a place with lots of atmosphere, up along the river, hamburgers and salad. After trying the highly recommended onion rings and a Mexican burger, I feel like I have eaten a mouthful of axle grease! They seem to cook things in some sort of synthetic oil substitute here instead of real vegetable or olive oil. I scrub out my mouth with my toothbrush, as well as cleaning my teeth, but even next morning I can still taste the greasy taste. Yuk!
This must be the worst country for food that I could possibly imagine. We have lived in Asia and the middle east, tried many cuisines and generally found foreign food delightful, but so far America is what I feared, a culinary disaster area.
I asked our hosts to get us some fresh chicken and an assortment of suitable vegetables, and I made several large pots of fresh chicken vegetable soup when Sharon was sick with the flu at its worst and she lived on that for several days. It is an awkward situation, our hosts extend excellent hospitality in many ways, and we certainly are not receiving anything but their best treatment, for which we really are grateful, but what people consider a normal diet here is to us so appallingly limited, unbalanced and lacking in nutrition, and heavy on almost everything that's bad for you, that we can't wait to get into our camper and cater for ourselves.
24/03/2002 Vancouver WA.
I like to think that there has been some point in so rearranging our holiday to start off here. Apart from the fact that it has added considerably to our expenses, I fear that it may have indirectly impacted badly on our choice of vehicle. Yes that would be my fault, but ones judgment is affected by circumstances, and I had misgivings about this holiday shortly before coming and nothing that has happened since has brightened my outlook. I am not pessimistic by nature but so far it has been nothing but a miserable chore made worse by illness and the dismal climate.
I am beginning to think we should just pack up and go home, and we haven't really started yet. I don't feel at all confident about the vehicle we have bought, concerned that it is too big and I won't be comfortable driving it. I worry that my judgment was flawed in bidding on it, and that I should have had more patience and waited until we got to Phoenix and could revert to our original plan of buying one there "in the flesh" instead of over the Internet Surely things can only get better after we get to Phoenix. Guess I'm a bit depressed.
25/03/2002 Vancouver WA.
Dollar Parity - What your A$ will buy you in the USA.
If you just look at the current official exchange rates between the US$ and the A$ or other currencies, you only get part of the story. Currently A$1.00 = US$0.51.
Always allowing for the exchange rate, some very few things, particularly the latest versions of technology products such as computers and digital cameras are considerably cheaper in the US than in Australia.
Petrol or 'Gas" at around US$1.30 a US gallon (3.78Litres) equates to around A$0.67 a liter which is actually cheaper than in Australia. But as American vehicles tend to use a lot more fuel, travel costs for "gas" will be higher. Our motor home will be lucky to get 8 MPG.
Where actual prices are approximately numerically equal, in US$ here, and in A$ back home in Australia, I have coined the term "dollar parity" to describe it. It applies to lots of things that have a significant US domestic cost component, such as most services, fast food (perish the thought) restaurants, and domestically produced grocery food items. So a lot of your costs will be affected in this way, and will be about double the price back home.
Motels tend to cost around US$50 - $70 a double room per night which is about the same you would pay in Oz, A$50+, so in fact to the tourist buying US$'s at the current exchange rate, are almost twice the cost of a similar budget motel in Australia. Some small Western US towns have cheap motels for $25-$30.
Camp fees are between around $5-16 for National Parks, depending on facilities, and to $15-30 for commercial campgrounds. Dollar parity and then some. No wonder Americans boondock, or free camp, wherever they can, and we will too!
Some imported items, particularly electrical goods from Asia and other low labour cost countries tend to be about the same price as you would pay in Australia, taking account of the exchange rates. That is a vacuum. cleaner that costs you A$180 can be had here for US$90, what I term "exchange parity".
However for clothing, most of which comes from South or Central America, China, Thailand, Caribbean countries, and some from Africa, but all low labor cost countries, we find that dollar parity applies, and then some. So clothing retailers in the US must be making an absolute killing ripping off the US consumer. Women's cloths are discounted by up to 75% at July department store sales, and only then do they become worthwhile bargains. Men's clothing is not commonly so heavily discounted, so there is almost nothing attractively priced for Australian men. Comparable items are half the price at home.
To conserve your financial resources, use services as little as possible, buy basic ingredients and cook in your van, "boondock" that is park for free overnight a lot, and don't be paying out US$15-30 a night for commercial campgrounds. This is one of the biggest savings you can make.
A Century of American dupes.
A few Americans, responding to some of my criticisms of current US policy on this site, have seen some of them as unwarranted, although at least 75% of those commenting on the site by email are generally supportive of the views I express critical of US government foreign policy..
One commented on America's wonderful role in WW2, and leadership of world affairs, and I started to delve a bit deeper into these matters. The average citizen of the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, and possibly of most of the other WW2 allied, and axis, countries knows only what their government wants them to know about their history. Most unquestioningly believe that "we" the Allies were "right", and "they" the Axis powers were "wrong". This simplistic view of "right" and "wrong" of the causes of war suits the cause of propaganda in the manipulation of the minds of the masses of "sheeple", the cannon fodder that will be needed for the next war. Coming soon, to a battlefield near you!
Of course it is really much more complex than that. The other side in any war believes the same things about themselves. The American people have in both world wars been probably the greatest dupes in history. In both cases being dragged into conflicts by their manipulative leaders, when there was with good reason a healthy isolationist movement in the US before both global conflicts.
In the case of WW2 the first "declaration of war" was made in 1933 by international Jewry against Hitler's Germany, because Hitler was removing German Jews from positions of power and influence and introducing other repressions against Jews.
The London Daily Express reported this declaration of war. Here is a picture of the headlines, dated Friday March 24th, 1933.
This declaration of war was not about concentration camps, or about "the holocaust", in 1933 there were no concentration camps. In 1933 there had been no program of extermination of the Jews, if there ever was later on.. This was not about preserving England against an invading enemy, or freedom or saving democracy, or removing a tyrannical dictator. Hitler had only recently been democratically elected and was idolized by many Germans. This was about POWER, as are ALL wars. This was because Germany, under Adolph Hitler's leadership had challenged the power of the worlds Jews.
Have you EVER heard this mentioned in all the myriad TV so called "documentaries" about WWII ? That the first declaration of war was in 1933, NOT in 1939, when Great Britian declated war on Germany. I'll bet not, because those so called "documentaries", are in fact mostly PROPAGANDA to reinforce the victors one sided view of history. They don't want you to know that WWII, like most wars, was a Jew's war.
That's what all those American GI's, Aussie Diggers, Britiish soldiers and also their German, Italian and Japanese opponents died for. Because the worlds Jews wanted to punish Germany for challenging their power. Democracy, freedom, all the other pious sentements you are taught WWII was fought for, are nothing more than propaganda slogans. The lies and propaganda will go on and on, because the real truth of the matter, these facts you have just read, were it to become widely known, would change the power structure of the world.
Lacking a Jewish state at that time, in 1933 Israel did not then exist, this deceleration of war would be later put into effect through proxies, by exercising influence over the governments of the UK and the USA. So it is an historical fact that the real start of WW2, was as a war between international Jewry and Hitler, into which all other parties were dragged by warmongering influences. Influence was brought to bear on the UK's policy through lobby groups such as "The Focus" of which Winston Churchill was a member, along with prominent English business men, including some of the wealthiest English Jews. It might be said that Russia was already a Jewish state, as communism as an ideology, and the Russian revolution, which was neither in reality Russian, but Jewish, nor a revolution but more a coup, were also Jewish inspired and executed phenomena.
The fact that the Russian "revolution" was financed from New York, by the highest echelon of the worlds elite capitalists, and that communism is not what it appears to be, that it is NOT a peoples revolutionary movement, but is in fact a means of totalitarian enslavement, inspired and financed by the global elite, is unknown to most people. However it helps to explain why America has been funding Russia, and providing every possible technical assistance, since the Russian "revolution" in 1917, during WW2, and all throughout the forty odd years of the "cold war". You don't believe any of this? Well that is not surprising. It is too foreign to your propaganda conditioned view of the world. If you look into these matters. I mean really look deeply, you will find that there is considerable evidence that it is all 100% true, and that the truth of this seeming paradox immediately begins to explain the state of the world as we see it unfolding today.
Americans were duped into the establishment of the Federal Reserve Bank to finance wars, duped about the Lusitania sinking into entering WW1, as a payback for Britain issuing the Balfor Declaration, duped again about Pearl Harbour into entering WW2, duped into fighting against an enemy armed with American weapons in Korea, duped about the Gulf of Tonkin incident into the Vietnam War, and are again in the process of being duped into another "War on Terrorism", by the stage managed 911 events. Americans must be the worlds greatest dupes. The most gullible people, good hearted individuals, but except for a small minority of intelligent and informed individuals, who think for themselves, collectively about the most easily manipulated people on the planet.
There has not been one major conflict that America really needed to become involved in, for the essential preservation of the interests of the 99 percent of common people of America, (as distinct from the ruling capitalist elite) during all of the twentieth century. And the same is true of Australia, we have been duped just like the Americans. WW2 was fought to make the world safe for Jews, not Americans, not Britons, not Australians, and now America is embarking on another middle eastern war with Iraq as a proxy for Israel, and to control oil.
Weapons of mass destruction have nothing to do with it. In any case it was the USA that originally armed Iraq, in the war against Iran, long prior to the last Gulf war in 1991.
So now if anyone talks to me about America's right to leadership of the world, I'll tell them that a nation of manipulated dupes have no right to anything more than their own enslavement by the agents of the hidden global elite who they mistakenly think are their "democratically elected" leaders. America has a right to a century of shame, not only for her current actions, but for the various incidents of evil perpetrated in the twentieth century in the name of "freedom" by millions of duped American sheeple, all thinking they were God's gift to the world. In fact no more than the catspaws of God's chosen people. What a bloody joke! Hang your head in shame America, and go home and contemplate your ignorance and evil for a hundred years. Only then might you be fit to even think about world leadership, by which time Europe or the Chinese will have probably displaced you. "The Great Satan" the Moslems call you, never a truer word was spoken.
And if you think that is a bit too harsh, read the words of a US senator.
Arrogance of Power
Today, I Weep for my Country...
by US Senator Robert Byrd
Speech delivered on the floor of the US Senate
March 19, 2003 3:45pm
I believe in this beautiful country. I have studied its roots and gloried in the wisdom of its magnificent Constitution. I have marveled at the wisdom of its founders and framers. Generation after generation of Americans has understood the lofty ideals that underlie our great Republic. I have been inspired by the story of their sacrifice and their strength.But, today I weep for my country. I have watched the events of recent months with a heavy, heavy heart. No more is the image of America one of strong, yet benevolent peacekeeper. The image of America has changed. Around the globe, our friends mistrust us, our word is disputed, our intentions are questioned.
Instead of reasoning with those with whom we disagree, we demand obedience or threaten recrimination. Instead of isolating Saddam Hussein, we seem to have isolated ourselves. We proclaim a new doctrine of preemption which is understood by few and feared by many. We say that the United States has the right to turn its firepower on any corner of the globe which might be suspect in the war on terrorism. We assert that right without the sanction of any international body. As a result, the world has become a much more dangerous place.
We flaunt our superpower status with arrogance. We treat UN Security Council members like ingrates who offend our princely dignity by lifting their heads from the carpet. Valuable alliances are split.
After war has ended, the United States will have to rebuild much more than the country of Iraq. We will have to rebuild America's image around the globe.
The case this Administration tries to make to justify its fixation with war is tainted by charges of falsified documents and circumstantial evidence. We cannot convince the world of the necessity of this war for one simple reason. This is a war of choice.
There is no credible information to connect Saddam Hussein to 9/11. The twin towers fell because a world-wide terrorist group, Al Qaeda, with cells in over 60 nations, struck at our wealth and our influence by turning our own planes into missiles, one of which would likely have slammed into the dome of this beautiful Capitol except for the brave sacrifice of the passengers on board.
The brutality seen on September 11th and in other terrorist attacks we have witnessed around the globe are the violent and desperate efforts by extremists to stop the daily encroachment of western values upon their cultures. That is what we fight. It is a force not confined to borders. It is a shadowy entity with many faces, many names, and many addresses.
But, this Administration has directed all of the anger, fear, and grief which emerged from the ashes of the twin towers and the twisted metal of the Pentagon towards a tangible villain, one we can see and hate and attack. And villain he is. But, he is the wrong villain. And this is the wrong war. If we attack Saddam Hussein, we will probably drive him from power. But, the zeal of our friends to assist our global war on terrorism may have already taken flight.
The general unease surrounding this war is not just due to "orange alert." There is a pervasive sense of rush and risk and too many questions unanswered. How long will we be in Iraq? What will be the cost? What is the ultimate mission? How great is the danger at home?
A pall has fallen over the Senate Chamber. We avoid our solemn duty to debate the one topic on the minds of all Americans, even while scores of thousands of our sons and daughters faithfully do their duty in Iraq.
What is happening to this country? When did we become a nation which ignores and berates our friends? When did we decide to risk undermining international order by adopting a radical and doctrinaire approach to using our awesome military might? How can we abandon diplomatic efforts when the turmoil in the world cries out for diplomacy?
Why can this President not seem to see that America's true power lies not in its will to intimidate, but in its ability to inspire?
War appears inevitable. But, I continue to hope that the cloud will lift. Perhaps Saddam will yet turn tail and run. Perhaps reason will somehow still prevail. I along with millions of Americans will pray for the safety of our troops, for the innocent civilians in Iraq, and for the security of our homeland. May God continue to bless the United States of America in the troubled days ahead, and may we somehow recapture the vision which for the present eludes us.
Praise be to Senator Byrd. That's why I don't hate ALL Americans, there are still a few good, "thinking" Americans. May they, for the sake of the world, eventually prevail over the evil influences that at present control America.
The one sided propaganda we have all been exposed to vilifying the Germans conveniently ignores the allied atrocities that go to show that in many ways America, Russia, France and Britain behaved as bad as the Nazis. The treatment of prisoners of war is a prime example. While allied POWs were generally treated by the Germans in accordance with the Geneva Convention, provided with basic food and shelter, compare the treatment meted out to German POWs.
After WW2 millions of German POW's were housed in open air concentration camps, open fields ringed with barbed wire, with little or no food, with no shelter whatsoever and no proper sanitation. Large numbers died of this criminal maltreatment and neglect by the same hypocritical allies who were staging the Nuremberg war crimes trials. To avoid application of the provisions of the Geneva Convention, which required that they be fed the same rations as US servicemen, their "legal status" ws changed to "Disarmed Enemy Combatants", so they could be fed starvation rations as a matter of deliberate US policy.
Those Germans who fell into Russian hands fared even worse than those who suffered at the hands of the Americans. There was a deliberate American-Russian policy of mistreatment directed against the Germans, ordinary soldiers who were not members of the SS or Gestapo, were neither accused or guilty of any war crimes themselves, and who by the standards of justice and decency which the allies espoused as their reasons for fighting the war, should have been accorded the normal rights of POW's under the terms of the Geneva Convention.
You probably never heard a word about this on your TV, hmmm? With all the propaganda we have all been subjected to, most of us don't realize that our glorious allied liberators of WW2 often behaved as bad as the Nazis. Yet you NEVER hear about it, What you ever hear most about is the endless suffering of the Jews, repeated until you can recite it in your sleep.
The same tactic is now used in the "war on terrorism" to classify prisoners as "Disarmed Enemy Combatants" to hold them in communicado in the American military base in Cuba, and deny them the rights of prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention. Strange behavior for a country that holds itself out as the defender of freedom.
Read another article about Eisenhower's WW2 Death Camps in Germany - Follow this link.
Germany, 1945.
A US guard looks over fenced off holding areas, holding thousands of German prisoners, exposed to elements.
"Starting in April 1945, the United States Army and the French Army casually annihilated one million [German] men, most of them in American camps . . . Eisenhower's hatred, passed through the lens of a compliant military bureaucracy, produced the horror of death camps unequaled by anything in American history . . . an enormous war crime."
-- Col. Ernest F. Fisher, PhD Lt.
101 st Airborne Division, Senior Historian, United States ArmyThe Internet now abounds with revelations of the horrendous post WW2 conduct of the allies, America, the Russians and the UK, in the treatment of German POWs and of German civilians. It is a saga of brutality, murder, plunder, pillage, mass rape, national defilement and injustice comparable, in scale and depravity, with the worst the Nazis were ever accused of, or were really guilty of.
Combined with the suffering of the Russian people under the brutal Stalin Jewish-Communist regime, where perhaps as many as 20 million, or more, Russians were slaughtered since 1917, during and after WW2, I have reached the almost inevitable and reluctant conclusion, that it may have been better for humanity, and the future of the world, if "the allies" had been never been drawn into WW2, as Hitler in fact had no desire either for war with England, or the USA, and had no intention of world conquest. Germany's aims were basically the regaining of territory lost as the result of WW1 and the treaty of Versailles, and some territorial ambitions on western Russia. World conquest was never the intention, and the ultimate expansion of the war onto a global conflict was the result of Allied actions, as much if not more than those of the Axis.
Yes, this is all completely opposite to the propaganda you have been fed for 60 years. Truth is stranger than fiction. If you doubt it, research it yourself. The truth is out there on the Internet, and it is growing.
It is interesting that now that information about these "other holocausts" (Russian gulags, German starvation, Katayan Forest massacre, Armenian genocide ) is being brought to light, on the Internet, that no one is denying that they occurred. You just never were told about them, only about "The Jewish Holocaust", as if they were the only people to suffer, or that their suffering were of incomparably greater importance than the suffering of any other peoples.
Why is it so? Maybe "sheeple" are just cattle?
You want proof? You want to really know the full extent of manifest evil perpetrated by America and Russia after WW2? Even Winston Churchill, warmongering drunken dupe of Zionism, baulked at the vengeful plans of Roosevelt and Stalin, who in concert formed an evil alliance of death, misery, genocide and, yes holocaust, comparable with any crimes of Hitler. Even if the Nazis had exterminated 6 million Jews, the enormity of that well known holocaust fails to top the list of unmitigated evil in comparison with the magnitude of the Russian holocaust, lasting over 40 years, that followed the so called "Russian Revolution" (in fact a Jewish-Capitalist coup), and the numerically lesser, but equally inhumane, allied atrocities perpetrated against the German soldiers and civilians that followed WW2.
Uncomfortable to Americans to know? Read some of the following books and see what rampant evil was done in your name, while you ponce around the world mouthing platitudes of democracy and freedom.
These links are to books available at Amazon.com.
Crimes & Mercies: The Fate of German Civilians Under Allied Occupation, 1944-1950
The USA, as part of policy, starved 1 million German POWs and 10 million German civilians after WWII. But Truman reversed the policies of FDR and Morgenthau. So, by 1946, the USA, under Hoover, was attempting to reverse the horrors of FDR and Ike's policies. The numbers are sound. Backed up by US occupation government census numbers.
Canadian writer Bacque's shocking and controversial account of American mistreatment of four million German WW II POWs. Centering on American idol Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bacque's indictment strikes to the heart of the American dream, charging us with much the same kind of brutality that so incenses Americans when practiced by foreigners--allowing POWs to die by the tens of thousands from disease and starvation. In a skillfully organized, meticulously documented brief (86 pages of notes and appendices), Bacque charges Eisenhower not with neglect but with setting policy- -and charges subsequent authorities with a methodical cover-up, including destruction of evidence. The narrative is strongly detailed, beginning with an old Frenchman, accompanied by Bacque, opening an ancient, dusty box to find--nothing: missing evidence. From there we have a real-life thriller, complete with security forces bullying aged witnesses. Surprises are nonstop, beginning with a damning introduction by respected military historian Ernest F. Fisher, Jr., who speaks of Eisenhower's ``fierce and obsessive hatred of...all things German.'' There follows a jolting indictment of high American figures, starting at the top. The tone is set when Churchill walks out of a Big Three meeting as Roosevelt jokes with Stalin (recent perpetrator of the notorious Katyn Forest massacre) about exterminating prisoners. The point is driven home a thousand ways, most effectively in the knowledgeable analysis of Eisenhower's management style, which allowed subordinates to carry out policy with little paper to back them up. The general who sends military aircraft to pick up oranges for breakfast while prisoners are starving is especially memorable. Even more so is the repeated British refusal to countenance the US policy in principle and detail. Explosive and deeply iconoclastic, this book is sure to enrage many. Refutations without research as painstaking as Bacque's will lack credence.
Although some historians, who are often opposed to any so called "revisionist", that is more truthful view of historical events, criticize the quality of Bacque's research work, and deny the numbers claimed by the author to have died, or seek to make partial excuses based on food shortages in Europe, that there was immense unnecessary vengeful suffering inflicted on the looser of the war is undeniable.
Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans, 1944-1950
Most historians or the public in general do not have knowledge of this ethnic cleansing. 15 Million Germans were herded out of their homelands of eastern Germany and other parts of eastern Europe, that in earlier years were part of the German Empire. People act as if this never happened or dismiss it. Any attempt at making this expulsion known, was until now totally rejected by any mainstream publisher. Anyone daring to even hint at it, was and was immediately attacked. America and Stalinist Russia, the original Evil Empire, created the greatest holocaust the world has ever known.
"A little impatience.... Big plans ruined." - Chinese Proverb.Part 3 Phoenix AZ
Part 1 Planning
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