Okie from Muskogee

Greetings from Muskogee, Oklahoma. Yes there is a song about this one-lane town, "The Okie from Muskogee". Good grief.

The Southern style nite club (see photo) is a shady bar located next to yesterday's Super 8 motel in Pryor, Oklahoma. I asked Mr.Patel at the motel what it was like and he laughed saying there's lots of fights. Good times. As I was sipping on my bud at the bar I asked a local and the bartender what there is to do in Oklahoma. "Nothing. Drinking. This place is a hole" they both agreed. Renea said, "On weedends there's lots of fights, you know, a couple of guys fighting over some two hundred pound girl." The bar's ceiling used to be covered with lots of dollar bills but they took them all down in order to buy the pool she said. I looked behind me at the pool tables. Then she walked over and began dancing around a pole in the middle of the dancefloor. Ah, poll ... not pool. As soon as her DUI charges are cleared, she has a hope of getting out of there. Good luck Renea.

What can I say about the midwest other than it reminds me a lot of Alberta? Lots of pick-up trucks and people that look like they dress at old navy. Gun pawn shops, baptist churches, KFC-Taco Bell, liquor stores, and Walmarts are in no short supply here. It might be the middle of nowhere but the people are nice. I think Oklahoma should be renamed Purgatory. It's not a complete hell yet there is nothing really special about it either. But I am enjoying the fall driving when I get on a smaller highway.

Along the way I made a pitstop at the Amish Cheese House in Chouteau were a couple of young blushing Amish laddies made me a swell sandwich and the cashier said, "God bless you." Thanks man.

Ok in OK

Yesterday there was a line up at the Peace Arch border crossing while I was driving to the Sea-Tac airport. My rental car had Washington plates. A border guard came up to me with the smile of a used car salesman and asked me for a favour. He waved what looked like a towel wrapped in a clear plastic bag and said, "Do you mind if I put this bag of marijuana on your car?" They were training a drug sniffing pooch. "You work for US Customs, right?" I asked. Sergeant Sanders sure did. So I agreed and in the end doggie got his bag of dope. When it comes to helping out on the war on drugs, maybe next time I should just say no?

I had called from the Denver airport to confirm my hotel room at the Tulsa airport Super 8. When I finally showed up at the hotel late at night they gave me a smoking room. I asked for a non-smoking room but as Amber at the front desk said, "We're completely sold out because of the gun and knive show". Luckily I'm always armed with incense and scented candles.

It's freakin' cold here too. My first impression of the people in the midwest is that they all look like they shop at Old Navy. Although some people around here act a little slow, most are instantly friendly and man do they love to talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. Did I mention they love to talk? Well, maybe we could sit down and talk about that? I have yet to see a living tree and I had to go out of my way to find a grocery store to find some food that is not processed, fried, or laquered in sugars.

Tool Time

I forgot to mention on this blog that I got to see TOOL in Camden, New Jersey and I was sixth row on the floor! I missed them in Hamburg by three days this summer. You forget how many morons show up at rock shows. But what was interesting was to see some very hot girls singing along. Imagine a ridiculously fit blonde girl in a mini-skirt singing word for word, "I'm praying for rain and I'm praying for tidal waves, I wanna see the ground give way, ma please flush it all away ... I sure could use a vacation from this bullsh*t three ring circus sideshow of freaks here in this hopeless f**king hole we call LA" Good times! Very odd. It was a great show.

Turn left at the Wawa

Turn left at the Wawa. Heard that twice on this trip. I can’t help but laugh when I hear that one. A Wawa is a convenience store with somewhat healthy food in it. It’s a Jersey thing. The other night I managed to find a decent restaurant in the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City. Cuba Libre is (obviously) a Cuban restaurant where I had one of my best meals since possibly Zurich. I started off with a warm duck salad with mild Cuban spices in a citrus dressing which was quite possibly the best duck I’ve ever had. Although I do say this whenever I have a good duck. The entre consisted of two huge tuna cubes speared with sugar cane and tossed along with a king crab leg. On the side was some bread with mango butter, very yummy. Very satisfying.

I’ve now completed the New Jersey leg of my VRX World Invasion Tour 2006. 29 properties in 34 days with over 35GB of images, two travel days and one day off. Maybe I should make up a t-shirt like they sell at rock concerts and put all the towns on the back? If so it would read as follows ... Vineland, Hammonton, Pleasantville, Abescon, Wildwood, Bridgeton, East Windsor, Cherry Hill, Brooklawn, East Brunswick,
Mount Laurel, Atlantic City, Egg Harbour, Wrightstown, Bordentown, Freehold, Gibbstown, North Brunswick, Neptune, Bellmawr, Uncasville CT, and my fave, Voorhees. Hoorah for Voorhees.

The American tour will take a short hiatus and begin its Oklahoma wing on the 21st of October in Tulsa, Oklahoma. More tour dates and information posted soon. Check back for details and backstage passes ladies. Yeah, right.