Where Are We?

Sunday, 28 November 2010

Baby Grand

(We have absolutely no photographic evidence of any of the following)

With stats complete, we went in search of the first bar we had sampled on our original NYC visit, but without a clue as to its location we gave up and dipped into a tiny little establishment on LaFayette and Grand St. named Baby Grand! It was smaller than our hotel room (literally) and our presence alone forced a 'one in, one out' door policy.

Within minutes we were talking to the lovely bar maid, Adrienne. We enjoyed her pleasant demeanour and great conversation, and without the distractions of things like other customers or the space to move anywhere else in the bar, she soon found herself stuck talking to us!

She revealed her immensely diverse personality, with a passion for shoe and fashion design, which was firmly influenced by her other major interests of origami, mathematical patterns and psychology.

Before too long, the bars owner, Mike arrived. A huge Tottenham Hotspurs supporter and connoisseur of football in general, Mike had a wealth of intellectual pursuits himself. A qualified lawyer/ keen video gamer/ bar owner/ football player, Mike discussed the football scenes back home with Tom, before unleashing a host of theories on the evolutionary roots of competitive sports and the inherent beauty of efficient design. We were smitten with both of them.

With the bar to ourselves, Adrienne suggested we get some food in. We called up the local pizza place - the world renowned Lombardi's, and tucked into the finest pizza on earth with our new friends. We then whiled away the hours drinking Earl Grey and taking part in an impromptu origami workshop - not your average night out! We were shocked into the realisation that we were not in our own private bar when a couple of punters had the audacity to walk into the bar, but one was a professional UFC fighter so we didn't complain. With an early start ahead of us for our flight the following day we bid a reluctant farewell to Mike and Adrienne, armed with some custom made origami. Meeting these two fascinating characters in such a cool setting was the perfect last night to cap off an unforgettable 3 months.

This is not the end...we are writing this from Waterloo, back on UK soil, having endured a rigorous sleep deprived 28 hours. We will post up a final verse with a few poignant thoughts once we've had a few days to mull it all over. And sleep. But, this is the end of the American Verses...we hope you've enjoyed our self indulgent flights of fancy as much as we have!




Traverses – Fact!

We returned to NYC and checked in to the very first hotel we had ever visited in America: Sohotel. In keeping with our theme of symmetry, and still feeling warm inside from our Wayne visit we had booked the room the night before. Déjà vu washed over us again as we hit the reception desk and checked in. We dropped off our bags and began dissecting the stats we had collected from our trip. We aim to do this a greater service eventually with our film/book aspirations, but for now stat fans, here are some little facts drawn from our data:

Green Machine Facts:
147 Gallons (556 litres) consumed
3851 miles covered
26.19 MPG (7.1 MPL)
9.7 miles per USD average

Spot Facts:
479 Gallons (1811 litres) guzzled
7533 Miles traversed
17 MPG (4.5 MPL)
6.4 miles per USD average

British Airways Facts:
6918 Miles flown
6.3 miles per USD average

Total "Team Traverses" mileage: 36,604  { The Earth's equator 1.46 times }

Gas Expenses (US)
$1573 = 11384 miles
Equivalent trip in UK:
1573 USD = 4080 miles

Spot:
Price: $2357
Healthcare: $294
Sold: $300
Total Expense: $2351

Dietary Facts:
$242 spent on Breakfast
$1068 spent on Lunch
$4892 spent on "Dinner" (Alcohol)

30 of a possible 50 States Traversed

Total Spending: $22,765



Au Revoir, old friend


Well keep this blunt, mainly because it brings tears to our eyes just to think about it, but also because were writing this entry from a JFK airport bar, with mere hours before take-off and a strong conviction to have this blog finished before we hit home soil.

We shot out of NY and back to Daves Automotive dealership in NJ. He gave us some cash and we left Spot forever!




Spot was the icon of our trip, his kind ways and positive demeanour got us through 7533 miles of faultless travel. He kept us warm in the coldest of nights, and dry in the wettest of... nights. He was home away from home. We shall miss you dearly old friend. x