DATELINE: Chicago, Illinois
After three relaxing days exploring, imbibing and dreaming at waterfalls in Portland, we parted ways with Rachael, our native guide and superstar driver, to catch the ‘Empire Builder’ train back to Chicago. It’s been emotional. And tiring. Mostly tiring. 50 hours in transit does funny things to your brain.
Our cab to Portland’s train […]

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DATELINE: Los Angeles, California
Yesterday we took a few blissful, super-indulgent hours out of the trail to visit the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Watching the CNN debates had been like a towering plate of stinking, over-boiled cabbage, and the zoo was our ice cream sundae reward at the end of it. We were still looking for […]

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DATELINE: Fort Stockton, Texas
Some fun facts about Texas: it was a Republic between 1836 and 1845. It only joined the Union on the conditions that it could secede whenever it felt like it, and that it could divide itself into five smaller states whenever it felt like it, like some kind of constitutional Hydra. These […]

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DATELINE: Houston, Texas

Obama cleaned up in South Carolina last night. Most of the mainstream media’s talking heads will spend the next week prattling on about the significance of the black turn-out, and whether Obama’s success will be replicated in states with smaller African American communities. Please ignore this prattling.
“It’s not about colour, it’s generational” said […]

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DATELINE: New Orleans, Louisiana
A week before we hit New Orleans (correct pronunciation: ‘N’orlins’), I got an email from a concerned British friend saying the following:
“I cannot emphasise how careful you should be - stay in the French Quarter, do not leave it on any account! And even then be really careful. It’s not just ‘haha […]

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