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No dirigibles please! And no its not for me to get over for the Laugharne weekend either. We are, however, looking for plane tickets for artists appearing at the Left Coast Eisteddfod in August in Portland Oregon. Any members got any tips? Any travel agents out there want to sponsor?
Let us know, email americymru@gmail.com
Less than a week to go! Today's exciting trip news (reproduced with permission) from the Coast-2-Coast USA team - a bunch of brave dads/uncles/brothers/friends of children from the UK, cycling across the southern continental United States from Oceanside, California to St. Augustine, Florida to raise donations for the Children's Hospital for Wales and the Noah's Ark Appeal . Show them your support with pledges and, if you're on their route - especially at the end in St Augustine, Florida - turn out and welcome them, put them up or feed them or just buy them a beer! Previous days entries here:- March 19th , 22nd , 23rd , 24th , 25th , 26th , 27th , 28th Interview with Americymru member and Coast2Coast rider Gareth Evans:- here . Listen to Coast-2-Coast USA's Richard Belcher on Radio Glamorgan with Peter Cox!
Stoneys in New Orleans.again
After a few days arduous cycling (yes, me cycling every day) in various climates and road conditions, we landed in New Orleans. We awoke in Clovis to snowy conditions (again) so delayed the off until later. Enough time for Dyffers and Chatsy to get everyone into the hot seat for interviews in front of the cameras. They even made me say a few words in Welsh for the second time on the trip.
As the snow wasnt clearing, we set off for better climes, although this did take a few hours!!! When we finally started cycling in the afternoon, I joined Bear and Pork Pie for a stint on another hot seat and this one was even more uncomfortable. However, the cycling was brilliant. Henry continued to drive the campervan. I think he finds it safer when Im in the co-pilot seat or on my bike.
Another great cycle on Saturday, apart from Phil repeatedly getting punctures (the second one was just in front of me and I thought that someone was shooting at us!!!!!!!). Austin was a bit of a disappointment for me, because we were all too tired to check out some of the local bands. At the end of the day, were here to cycle across America, so we can leave that until I return with Eileen. We did, however, eat at Applebies. H had been raving about this chain since we landed in LA and, in fairness, it was fine fare.
Next up was Houston. The cycling there was, to say the least, scary. Bumpy roads. Speeding cars. Interchanges. Noise. And hills. I thought Texas was supposed to be flat. This was also accompanied by a soreness to the crown jewels. Pork Pie had the audacity to take a photo of me rubbing some cream into my bits to relieve the pain. Not a pretty sight.
We arrived at Ian and Jackys house, where we were met by a cameraman from ABC News. We were asked to cycle towards him for the news. Id had enough cycling by then, so H climbed on board the Look bike for a Brad Pitt shot instead!!!!
Straight into the pool (again with all my cycling kit on) then Ribs and Corn laid on by our kind hosts. To be fair, Andy must be a good mate of Ian and/or Jackie must be a saint. Who else would put 11 people up in their house, in various states of dishevelment!
After a great evening in The Red Lion, where the landlord (an Englishman from Bradford named Craig) laid on the food and the Guinness (my first of the trip) as his guests. OK we did have to sing for our supper. This time we sounded better. It could have been the Guinness making me imagine this, but the locals seemed to like it.
After a later than planned start, we set off to New Orleans. The journey itself became a nightmare. We had to drive through rush hour Houston (I should say Henry and Onslow had to drive) followed by a stint on the Interstate to Port Arthur, where the boys started cycling. After two legs of leap-frogging and a journey through the desolation of various recent hurricanes, we embarked on a ferry crossing. I decided it was time to get on the bike. Bad move. Brick wall head winds!!!! They were so bad, it affected the navigational and common senses of the back up team in the car, who promptly took the wrong turning and we didnt see them again for about 60 miles. No. I didnt inflict any form of injury on them. I controlled myself, as I have done for the whole trip (although we had to keep cycling, because there were 7 of us left in the campervan and only 5 were allowed to drive in it).
We finally arrived in New Orleans at 8pm. H had driven all the way and was absolutely shattered on arrival. We found that the campervan was too high to park in the hotel, so I had to go and find somewhere to park it. The hotel staff sent us to a car park, that didnt accommodate such vehicles, so it was a case of driving around until we found somewhere suitable. We finally arrived in the hotel and I was astounded to find it was the same one as I stayed in 18 years ago!!! We did manage a drink at Pat OBriens and took in two bars with live bands, but it was definitely time for bed. Look out H and Onslow. Ive got my serious snoring head on tonight!!!!!!
A message from Cross Inn, Laugharne
Less than a week to go! Today's exciting trip news (reproduced with permission) from the Coast-2-Coast USA team - a bunch of brave dads/uncles/brothers/friends of children from the UK, cycling across the southern continental United States from Oceanside, California to St. Augustine, Florida to raise donations for the Children's Hospital for Wales and the Noah's Ark Appeal . Show them your support with pledges and, if you're on their route - especially at the end in St Augustine, Florida - turn out and welcome them, put them up or feed them or just buy them a beer! Previous days entries here:- March 19th , 22nd , 23rd , 24th , 25th , 26th , 27th , 28th Interview with Americymru member and Coast2Coast rider Gareth Evans:- here . Listen to Coast-2-Coast USA's Richard Belcher on Radio Glamorgan with Peter Cox!
Gar's #10
Austin - Houston, Texas; day 10
Personally, the least enjoyable day on the bike for me, for various reasons. The conditions of the roads weren't the best today. Constant bumps and unsmooth roads playing havoc on saddle rash and aching joints. There also seemed to be a very strong wind early on, making it very difficult to get into any rhythm. There are some bloody idiots on these roads too, although some drivers probably say the same about us. On numerous occasions on our first leg, it felt as if some Texans were trying to play 'cidior cymro' on bikes. Not a pleasant experience being pushed ever and ever closer off the road. The roads were the equivalent of the A48 without a hard shoulder, so it was some relief when a hard shoulder appeared later on. Chance for a break, until it was time to cross over exit slip roads, and the 'cidior cymro' continued!!
The weather has brightened up no doubt, it's about 70-75 degrees, which means we can all at least work on our cyclists tan!! Rich felt it today also, there was no 'gettin on the bang today'. It goes to show that although it was a relatively short day, how much we've put ourselves through in the last 10days. Quite possibly the best part of the day was myself and pirate stone letting off some steam with a mini tirade of 'abuse ping pong'. Probably did us both good to let off sone steam. Stoney probably had the last laugh, especially when he receives a Phone call from my mother saying that some woman called Denise had found my mobile in the back of an Austin cab!!
It's off to an old mate of Andy's tonight, Ian Cross, who's kindly putting us up for the evening, and tomorrow we leave Texas and head for New Orleans and good ol' Louisiana. 5 days to go. Today gave the first real signs of fatigue, there wasn't quite as much 'oomf' left in the legs, shoulders and wrists are really startin to ache, and as for the saddle rash...you don't want to know about that. What have we got to moan about though? When you hear some of the stories from the people we've met along the way, and think of who were collecting for; a bit of saddle soreness and pain Is a small price. 5 days to go; a lot can happen in 1 day, let alone 5.
Big hand for Chatsy tonight who dropped the usual 'cheeseburger please' and went for the fish asks chips. Another week, and he'd have progressed onto chicken dippers.
Rich's #9
When I awoke today it felt like it had all the ingredients for a great day. The sun was shining and the big plan allowed for reduced mileage as we were to stay with a friend of Andy's.
We were all in high spirits as the C2C team had worked like a well oiled machine the previous day.
The lower miles facilitated a late start and the opportunity to visit Mellow Johnny's bike shop; owned by a certain Austin resident by the name of Lance. A few $ lighter and we were ready to go.
Gareth and I were first up and feeling good I asked to increase the initial stint to 30 miles. We started out on a busy road, bit with a wide, smooth hard shoulder. I was wondering if this was the influence of Mr Armstrong, when suddenly the hard shoulder ended.
As a result we found ourselves cycling along a dual carriageway trying desperately to hug the side of the road as cars and lorries zoomed past. Gone was the tooting of horns in encouragement to be replaced by more hostile "get off my road" horn abuse.
Twice Porth encouraged us to pull in, but we ploughed on until finally I'd had enough and we stopped. This was the most scary 10 or so miles we'd ridden and I was glad to call it a day. We got in the car and caught up to the point that Andy and Phil had started their stint from.
It wasn't long before the hard shoulder returned but when Gareth and I resumed the hard shoulder was dreadful and made the course of Paris - Roubaix look like polished marble. The road remained very busy and felt like riding along the M4.
By now my mood had changed and gone was my early morning enthusiasm to be replaced by disenchantment. I've been homesick on the trip but today as we trudged along I would much rather have been at home, playing football in the garden , being attacked by light sabre wielding boys or fighting it out with Jeni for 3rd place on the wii (Sam and Thomas are amazingly good).
As we stopped Gareth said you have to laugh or you'll cry. I did neither but I was a damn site nearer to the latter. I haven't had a more miserable cycling experience since a car door opened on me as I zipped along the streets of Cardiff and I broke my ribs as I hit the ground.
On our 3rd stint the gravel on the hard shoulder had gone and the roads were bare concrete. This had the affect of magnifying the sound of the passing traffic. Gareth wanted to "chain it" but my heart was no longer in it.
Each time we saw the support car I wanted to stop and call it a day, but as Gareth cycled past I followed.
The day has, however, been saved thanks once again to the warmth and hospitality shown to us by our hosts, this time Ian and Jacky.
In addition to arranging food and lodgings we arrived to a cameraman from ABC and later watched Andy doing his thing on the 10 o'clock news.
Gar's #11
Houston, Tx - New Orleans, Louisiana- day 11
After the fantastic hospitality of Ian, Jackie and Bevan, and the free supper and bar at the 'llew coch', Louisiana was our next state. We made a swift exit from Downtown Houston, and headed for Port Arthur, the Texan equivalent to Port Talbot. The air was rancid. Anyway, after crossing a ma-hoosive bridge, we found ourselves on some man made land, aptly named 'pleasure island', and were heading east, towards New Orleans. What laid in store were some mental cross and headwinds, which made the miles difficult to rack up. Again, following yesterday, the arms and shoulders were in bits, bit the legs seemed fine once they got going.
Good time was made as we cycled alongside Johnsons Bayou and Holly Beach, two areas that were devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, today the strong winds meant that we only just missed the ferry that crossed Lake Calcasieu. No panics, Andy and Phil will continue until we get there.
A couple of chats with some people on the ferry crossing, and we were literally 20mins behind the van, we had the support car for company. As the ferry docked, quick discussion between crews, and off sped the Toyota to hunt down the other two. This was at about 1pm.
4 hours later, and after battling the strong winds for what seemed like an eternity, the support car was still nowhere to be seen. With us travelling through the Louisiana Bayou, surrounded by gators, the excitement in finding one sunbathing in the centre of the road passed the time by, but unfortunately, we only saw them bathing in the roadside canals.
5.30pm and we finally meet just south of Lafayette..starvin marvin. By now, there'd been a bit of blue language in the van, but this was over by the time skipper Cooper and Phil van Morrison treated us to the first 9 verses of the official tour song.
Were currently on our way to the hotel, the French quarter of New Orleans. A quiet night and food at the hotel...no chance says pirate stone as we must all try the local cocktail, aptly named the hurricane!! We'll see what happens.
Texas this morning, Louisiana now, Mississippi and Alabama tomorrow, there can't be that many states left?? Roll on Friday, even though I think everyones had a great time, there are some very tired bodies and minds in need of chillout, and a break from Ian's snoring. As for the logistic nightmare today, Merv was right, we'll get it right by day 14.
Phil's Blog
Saturday 28th - Monday 30th - Texas to Louisiana(Sweetwater, Austin, Houston and New Orleans)
28th March A wheel disaster day. - Austin
The day starts with wheel problems for Gareth (Poppy) when he finds that all his spokes have loosened from all the bumpy roads and he has to try to tighten them with a pair of pliers before starting his first leg of the day. The weather has improved and the winds gods are with us and we make great miles and cover over 240 miles in the day.
En-route further wheel issues arise as first my `sexy` white plastic spoke`d back wheel gives up the ghost as Im pushing hard up a hill. I change to my spare set and we set off again to finish the leg. Within 30mins of this change pulling off from a busy set of traffic lights a loud bang is heard, Stoney almost soils himself and I find that Ive had a front tyre blow out and the tyre jams in the front brakes.
A change to another wheel and I manage to finish the leg.
We decide as we are nearing Austin and following some sterling organisational moves by the Kitten (Henry) to send one of the support cars forward to Austin and on to Mellow Johnnys (Lance Armstrongs Bike Shop) to get the necessary repairs done. However during the journey into Austin the 7 seater hire car develops serious problems with its brakes and has to go in for repairs which we have to cover ($700). Thankfully the team manage to get a taxi in to downtown Austin and Mellow Johnnys carry out repairs to both mine and Gareths wheels for free and offer a free service if we can make it in to the shop the next day with our bikes.
Unbelievably friendly and supportive and really saved the day for us.
29th March - Houston
The next day we visit the shop to stock up on goodies before cycling to Houston and a night at the Red Lion with Ian Cross and Jackie. The cycling was pretty hard as the roads were busy and uncomfortable but we made it in good time and were delighted to find that Ian and Jackie had a pool and had laid on giant ribs and sweet corn as appetizers before we headed off to the pub for a free meal courtesy of Craig (from Bradford).
We were also filmed by ABC news as we arrived at Ians and we were able to watch it on television in the pub later. We had a great night and sang Welsh hymns and songs as well as the obligatory rugby songs that Stoney and Andy churn out n varying musical keys.
30th March New Orleans, Louisiana
Today, we left Houston and Texas behind and travelled in to Louisiana. We passed many areas devastated by Hurricane Rita and I was humbled by what I saw.
A few days ago we were cycling at 10,500 feet, today we found ourselves cycling along a ruler straight road with bayou on one side and the Gulf of Mexico on the other and Andys GPS unit showing 4 feet below sea level.
Today while Ian and I were doing a leg with the RV ahead of us ready to drop off the other two cyclists, we managed to `lose` the support car for 4 hours. The `BRAINS TRUST` incl Tomos `Onslow Izzard` Wilding, chief navigational brain Andrew `The Porth` James and the film crew that are in it surrounded by maps, SAT NAV and other assorted technology managed to go the wrong way and were out of mobile signal for hours. We cycled on in very strong and tiring winds until eventually finding them approx 50 miles off course. Did they think to stop when they hadnt seen hide nor hair of us for hours NO they drove around hoping to bump into us. Stoney was ready for them when we met up but managed to hold himself together and not spill any blood. Weve now christened them `TEAM MENSA`.
Happy pedalling and good winds,
Phil (Mellow Flavoured Pork Pie) Jenkins
Tomorrow - Alabama
Walked down Bourbon Street and had a Hurricane in Pat O'Briens. Caught some soul bands in various pubs. Got a Greek gyro from a little take away. Merv wanted his change instead of paying the tax. Great night but we must get back on the bike in the morning and head for Mobile, Alabama.
Read the Alcemi catalog:- HERE (PDF)
Read our interview with Penny Simpson HERE
From the Alcemi home page:- "Alcemi believes in publishing success stories, kept on a human-scale. Editor Gwen Davies has deep experience of developing new fiction writers such as Richard Gwyn, Rachel Trezise and Tristan Hughes, who have gone on to make their name worldwide with publishers like Doubleday and Picador, while Alcemi has already had a taste of prize-winning, with Gee Willliams' Salvage being shortlisted for the prestigious James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Gwen's tastes are for literary fiction; genre only if it has an intelligent twist; not so much fantasy as magic realism; not so keen on historical as retro; definitely surrealism, black comedy, sex. Urban, yes; but also rural voices which avoid the romance of Wales.
She doesn't mind a touch of exotica. She likes complex, well-handled narratives. Gwen loves narrators that are naive, vulnerable or excluded, where irony manipulates those gaps between a narrator's and a reader's viewpoint. But she will read unsolicited manuscripts with an open mind if the writing is stylish and authentic.
Gwen is also a literary translator from Welsh to English, and will be looking to support translators and authors create adaptations of the best contemporary Welsh-language novels. "
"The Banquet of Esther Rosenbaum" and Chris Keil's "Liminal" are amongst this months Americymru Book of the Month selections.
Less than a week to go! Today's exciting trip news (reproduced with permission) from the Coast-2-Coast USA team - a bunch of brave dads/uncles/brothers/friends of children from the UK, cycling across the southern continental United States from Oceanside, California to St. Augustine, Florida to raise donations for the Children's Hospital for Wales and the Noah's Ark Appeal . Show them your support with pledges and, if you're on their route - especially at the end in St Augustine, Florida - turn out and welcome them, put them up or feed them or just buy them a beer! Previous days entries here:- March 19th , 22nd , 23rd , 24th , 25th , 26th , 27th , 28th Interview with Americymru member and Coast2Coast rider Gareth Evans:- here . Listen to Coast-2-Coast USA's Richard Belcher on Radio Glamorgan with Peter Cox!
Gar's #9
Clovis, NM - Sweetwater, Texas ; day 8
There was something in the air last night. As we took a jaunt from the hotel to our diner for the evening...the rib crib, all was peacefull on the texan border. An hour later and after a good feed of ribs and catfish, we walk outside into a storm; no rain, just winds that you struggle to stay upright in. We did however invent a new game for the SCW and it's 5x60 officers, tumbleweed dodge, it's like dodgeball, excePt they tend to sting a little more, and sizes vary.
This morning, it's a whiteout. The winds have brought snow, another indication of our altitude and how quickly mother nature can put a hold on things. It would be interesting to see who'd come out on top, mother nature or our pal, chuck norris.
Meeting over breakfast, and its decided We wait at the hotel to get all the radio interviews done. It'll be safe to leave at around half ten, says the judge Stoney. Thankfully, he's refering to the campervan, cos if we cycled in this, we'd get blown to Chicago. According to the weather channel, we've been caught in the worse spring storm for years, the weather channel have actually named it 'the epic storm'. Towns in missisipi have been blown apart by tornados, it's ok, we don't hit mississipi for three days!!!!
Who knows...40miles or so, and the weather might settle. At this moment in time, it's so exciting, Rich has downloaded a spirit level onto his iPod and is measuring the 'flushness' of the walls in the room...I now understand what you saw I'm him Jenny!!! A chat with Jonesi for Radio Cymru, and away to go.
Away to Wal-mart, and after getting lost in a store the size of Pontweli, we finally hit Texas. Unfortunately, not on a bike, and after interupting the local 'happy hour' at a run down burger shack , we head towards Lubbock.
Due to the weather conditions, we lost about 130-140miles or so, but when the opportunity arose, we went for the bang. In total, rich and myself hit almost 40miles in under 1hour twenty. Flying, and the mornings frustration was taken out, possibly went a little too hard as a little bit of the bonk stated to set in, more so because I think mentally, we were already at the hotel, and the feed of chicken burger and strawberry milkshake (which had a milk content of nil) almost came back up. Food of champions, it certainly was not. But now, we're in Sweetwater, TX; and In Texas, they do steaks...bloody big steaks. 240miles tomorrow, so it's only right we stock up.
Message from Glangwili
"HAIL OUR BRAVEHEARTS".
Don't know which is the worse, heat or extreme cold, whichever, you boys will conquer it.
As I said before, we are all very proud of you all, doing a GREAT Job. Keep up the good work take care, I just want to tell the world, how well you are doing.
Love to you all and be safe
From Mags and Brian and all the other "riff raff "around the County xxxx
Can't name them all
Pirates and Dragons - creating a Myth!
Reproduced from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog .
After last week's little tirade on the sad state of the craft market, I came back to my dragon raring to go. With all the major carving completed on the front of the spoon, this week is all about sweeping up any obvious inconsistancies, errors or annoyances which still remain.
Most of these lurk in the cutouts of the Celtic knotwork and the vines.
To deal with fuzzing of the wood, scruffy saw cuts or knicks and blemishes, I make use of needle files. These remarkable little files allow me to polish up rough areas without involving sandpapers. I find that the file (whether full sized or in needle form) saves me a ton of money on abrasive papers and even more time not having to fold up the sandpaper into odd shapes. They also have the great bonus of not leaving sanding grit behind in the wood and dulling my tools should I need to revist the area witht the knives. I don't spend a great deal of time with the filing as I will be turning the spoon over soon and working from the other side, so there will be a final opportunity for tune-ups later.
It IS however, a bit of a morale boost to have the front almost finished and to not have jobs hanging over my head before I go to work on the back.
Inevitably there are little areas which could benefit from a touch more knife work. Every time I turn around it seems like there is some aspect of this star which could be improved. I'll try to get as much as I can done now, but I anticipate spotting more on my last sweep when the whole spoon is complete. For now I go over the spoon with a nice little customized Flex cut pelican mini knife. For those of you with an interest in tools, to customize a pelican knife just like mine, simply drop it on a concrete floor while talking to some door-to-door type soliciting a sale. When the tip of the blade breaks off, you are ready to spend time at the grinder carefully trying to reshape things without over- heating the blade and loosing its temper. I should add that keeping the knife's temper is crucial...YOURS however, will be long gone!
The vines could do with a little bit of touching up too. For this I rip a couple of narrow strips of cloth backed abrasive and I then run the strips over the vine as shown in the picture. Running the paper back and forth gives the edges a nice, soft 'roundover' which gives the vines a natural look. I don't ever use anything coarser than about 150 for this process (preferably 180 or 220) so that the scratch marks from the paper going across the grain don't make a mess of things. I'm more concerned with getting the edges neatly rounded than I am about removing material.
Lastly, I give the spoon bowl another light sanding with 220 grit paper. This cleans up any last scratches and also gets rid of any accumulated dirt which has adhered to the spoon during the carving process. I know that sounds as though perhaps I am carving in a farmyard, but you would be surprised at how pencil lines, eraser sweepings, grease from the hands and metal from the tools can conspire to take the sparkle from your work. A light buff at a super fine grit like this will get rid of that stuff and get the wood looking pristine again.
Next week I'm going to flip the spoon over and have some dusty, noisy, dangerous fun with an angle grinder. Who says its all comtemplative quiet in the carving studio?
In the meantime, please consider donating to the Left Coast Eisteddfod! With every week that passes, this exciting event draws nearer and your support becomes more and more vital. I hope you will consider becoming involved in the Eisteddfod as a donor, sponsor, volunteer or ticket holder! And if you know any AIG execs who got the big payouts last week, ask them to send a couple of crumbs our way!
