Decorah is an unusual town, and you will like it, but not sure how
much a high school age girl will like it. She will like it if she
has fun with the teammates and locals, I guess. Decorah has a high
percentage of Norwegians, and the downtown reflects that. It is also
home to Luther College, founded as you might suspect, by the Lutheran
church.
In theory, 2 hours should be enough for customs, but who knows. Have
a a plan B.
NY to SF by train is unimaginable to me. I would go part way and get
off for a day, then go on. The train doesn't really go to SF. It
ends at Oakland. Chicago to Oakland is a very interesting train
ride. Breaks at chicago and Salt Lake city would help, so you can
get some food and a real shower. Travelling across the country by
train or car will give you an appreciation of the diversity of the
country.
A car gives you the opportunity to meet people in the small towns
along the way. That is the real USA. I like to travel and AVOID the
big cities, because it is easier and you get to meet real people in
any country you go to. I have spent maybe a total of 12 weeks in
europe, and I can probably count the cities I have been in on my
fingers. The only ones I really liked were London and Munich. But
the small towns and countryside are great. I'd opt for Decorah over
NYC hands down any day. So you can see my bias!
Hi All
Hendrik's wife - name is Fay - here. Thanks for all the responses,
greatly appreciated.
We have our LA 4 day stay sorted. We have allowed 2 hours to get
through customs at LAX - is that enough time?- and have booked a
shuttle service to Anaheim as we are staying there for 4 nights.
I got cheap flights with American Airlines to Chicago & have found
that it is a ninety minute train ride to Milwaukee from there.
Have been on Amtrak website & we can go from Milwaukee to La Crosse
by train - 3 hour ride.
The main reason for train travel was to go from Chicago to New York
- but that means we have to go back to Chicago from La Crosse.
From New York I have looked at traveling by train to San Francisco.
Then driving to Las Vegas & then back to LA.
If anyone has any better suggestions please let us know - Hendrik
would prefer to drive & would love to do part of Route 66 from
Chicago to Las Vegas - however this would mean backtracking twice.
Our daughter & her team buddies are having a home stay in Decorah
Iowa before the conference in La Crosse.
They are all flying to Minneapolis/St.Paul as the Decorah people
have offered to pick them up from there.
As a back up if anything goes wrong I am trying to find a bus
service for them & am having trouble.
Is it Rochester buses that service that area?
Your smoking laws seem to be as strict as they are here in South
Australia, doesn't vary much from state to state here.
Rail travel is also really expensive here, depending where you want
to go it can be unaffordable for the average person.
Thanks all
Fay
Redghost wrote:
Schedule two weeks for this tour. Maybe you can head to visit
Kaleb and purchase a car in his name, then sell it to him at the
end of the trip. Or, I would love to purchase an SDL and lend it
out for a fee, then buy back.
Rent the car. The train is akin to 1942 Nazi rail cars to Poland,
packed with future Auschwitz residents. Private berth will cost as
much as a fair condition used car with a family of four. The car
tour allows you to see a bunch more and you can make stops to visit
the locals and really take in the ambiance. Smoke as much as you
desire and visit all the Walmarts along the way.
Plan a loop tour instead of the criss cross you have laid out.
Less doubling back will give you a better chance to see things.
Try LA to SF up the 101. Then get on Interstate 80 to ChiTown.
Three or four days at 80mph. Do the competition then head east to
NYC. Go down I-95 to Washington DC, then on to SC until you hit
I-40 and do the South and Southwest until you get to the turn to
Vegas. Back to LA.
There is no real public transport anywhere in the US unless you are
in Boston or NYC.
Just my $0.02
On Feb 21, 2010, at 12:56 AM, Hendrik & Fay wrote:
Joy to the world the mouth of the south will be coming to your
little backwater.
OK so my hand has been forced, my daughter and some school mates
(buddies in your language, which I must learn) entered a secondary
school based competition and gained second place in the national
finals. Which means they have been invited to compete in the
international finals to be held in La Crosse Wisconsin
http://www.fpspi.org/International%20Conference.html from June
10th - 13th.
Anyway we figured that we might as well all go (Me, the missus,
daughter and son) and have a gander at the US.
Seeing all I know about the States is what I have learnt from
Bruce Willis movies and he doesn't mention much about the nuts and
bolts of traveling around the states, especially since 911.
The original plan was to stay in LA for a few days and then fly
over to Chicago and buy a cheap car (preferably with a star
hanging off the bonnet (hood)) but looking into this a bit more
has revealed that registration and insurance is a nightmare to get
without a permanent US address, so we have shelved that idea and
gone to plan B which is the choo choo train.
I love train travel but apparently the anti smoking Nazis have
been busy in the US and apparently now you have to row three miles
off shore in order to light up, well perhaps not 3 miles off shore
but I am led to believe that Amtrak has a no puffing in their
cattle trucks policy and you can only smoke when the train is
stopped and you are in a designated smoking area on the platform?
Has anyone here used the train lately? Is it any good or is car
rental a better option?
For instance we plan to travel from Chicago to Milwaukee to visit
the HD museum and a couple of breweries, there is a train service
between the two but then we have to get around Milwaukee as well,
spose they have public transport.
So any hints on traveling or anything will be appreciated, our
itinerary at this stage is LA for a few days - Chicago - Milwaukee
- New York across to San Fran, down to Los Vegas (my 9 year old
Son requested this one =-O ) and then back up to LA, with a few
stops in between I guess.
I'll probably have more questions for you later, so pay attention :-)
Hendrik & Family
who really only wants to see a big Walmart (maybe make it onto the
people of walmart site) and a huge Gunshop (sort of like this
http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/gunvault.asp )
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Clay
Seattle Bioburner
1972 220D - Gump
1995 E300D - Cleo
1987 300SDL - POS - DOA
The FSM would drive a Diesel Benz
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_______________________________________
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For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
_______________________________________
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For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com
To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/
To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to:
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