Wash them hands

Our friends at Thumbs Up Johnnie are promoting good hand hygiene as a key to winning the swine flu, which is plaguing the world at the moment. We are doing our part as well and we have bought hand sanitation lotion to keep the germs at bay. So everybody hosting us will be greeted with fresh handshakes.




jonas

It's all in the moment

It's starting to sink in for the both us that we are leaving in less than a week. I've been thinking about the books I wanted to have reread before the trip but haven't. Two of them are 'On the road' by Kerouac and 'Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance' by Pirsig. Great books and essential in more ways than one for this trip. The blog being a 'continuous scroll' for one, Pirsig's trip lasting 17 days another and living in the moment being essential for both books.

Living in the moment will truly be one of the most essential feelings for us. There are three parts to this journey - there's us, the car and the road. A set beginning and end, and that's it. Whatever in between is up to us. I can't fix the car if it breaks down ( I could if we were doing the trip on my motor bike) but we will sure be more confident in each other and any mutual challenges we might face in the future.

jonas

In the sewer

The dollar hit a five month low this week. I was counting on it happening but I was not really sure where we were heading around the time of the stock market surge. They're printing money as if it were a game of Monopoly and there are now even rumors of a downgrade of America's credit rating.

I'm kind of ambivalent to this trend. One the one hand we will save a great deal of money when the VISA bill finally arrives sometime in August but on the other hand we're talking about a possible meltdown of the leading currency. And with an ever more expensive euro Finland's export figures are starting to look pretty grim.

This is by the way one of the most discouraging things concerning the economy I've seen in a while. This is one of the most encouraging.

Jonas

Blazing through the US

If we didn't mention it we are making the 5000 km (3107 miles) journey in a Chevrolet Trailblazer. It's supposed to be a pretty solid ride and by the looks of the video below it can be driven anywhere, be it desert, asphalt or ice. I'm going to do daily updates on how it's performing. Being somewhat new it should last the ride right...?

jonas

This is by the way what Wolfram Alpha had to say about the distance. 0,77 of the Amazon River or 1/8 around the world. Really, wow!

iPhone going down

There is a chance the combination iPhone and AT&T might become cheaper than ever before. And that perhaps before the end of May. Good news, since we both have been planning on getting iPhones AND we need a 3G subscription in the US to do the updates to the blog, flickr and twitter. Let's see how this works out. Yee.

Shopping

With only two weeks left it´s time to start thinking about what we want to do in the US. One thing every female person who has ever been to America tells me is this, Shop. Shop till you drop, more like it. You might just want to take some extra bags with you to have room for all the stuff, one said.
Well we´ll see how much time there´s actually going to be for shopping, but this place kind of cought my eye any way. We´ll just have to make time I guess.

Anna

Our common heritage

We are visiting relatives in Washington DC who are descendants of Finns who went to America in the early 20th century. This is part of what makes America interesting - the only native inhabitants are Native Americans, the others being settlers and immigrants who for one reason or another left for the great land in the west (and east, north or south for that matter). The only Finnish heritage I can find in the chart is up at the Canada border but the chart shows majority ancestry. If I'm not mistaken, my grandmother stayed in the same region in the 1920' after not being able to enter New York and continuing to Canada.

Many Americans I've spoken to find it interesting that we are from the Nordic region as so many left the small countries in times of need seeking better fortune in America. In some places the traditions run deep and the interest in our common heritage is still strong. In the end we are all one and the same in this melting pot so we need to stop bickering and start cooperating. That is what we need in these troubled times.

A friend of mine made a documentary on the 110 year old newspaper Norden (link in Swedish) in New York edited by Rune Erik Hermans a few years ago. I couldn't find any links to clips but the article on him is an interesting read on a passionate soul.

Jonas

Up down and all around

Ok, so let's summarize the situation so far. We have a spreading swine flu (for a lack of a better word) and many companies soon filing for bankruptcy in the US. Both Avis and United Airlines are predicted to merge with other companies in 2010 to avoid bankruptcy and these are our two traveling partners. Joy! These are strange times we live in.

But the Colorado Avenue showing in Telluride is confirmed, we have most accommodation fixed and the euro-dollar ratio is still strong. So the odds of this being a trip of a lifetime is on our side.

Here are two very interesting documentaries to keep you warm - I.O.USA and Inside The Meltdown.


Jonas