Aitch's US Tour

[ozover50]

Lock up your grog cupboards and hide your grannies.... Aitch is coming!!

The plan at this stage is to arrive in sunny Cali-for-nia mid August and be out of your hair some time in late September or early October.

The itinerary (without a lot of planning to date) is San Francisco, SoCal (hopefully to be present at any RIC 75th events), Vernon (Canada), New York, Chicago and Minneapolis/St. Paul. I've thought about Nashville also.

What I'd like from the members is some suggestions re: other places worth visiting, places where you don't want me to go (saves you the trouble of having to leave town), inexpensive places to stay, methods of transport and other such things.

I'll be travelling solo and would obviously like to meet lots of members and see plenty of Ricks.

I'm also planning on putting together a tour T-shirt and maybe a stubby holder, so any cool ideas on designs would be gratefully accepted.

Over to you, guys and gals.............

[lshaia]

In San Francisco, don't forget to visit Alcatraz, it's really worth the trip out. Not that you would be interested in such things, but Napa Valley is right there and is lots of fun. In fact, I'd rent a car and drive from LA to SF (or vice versa) along Highway 1, spectacular scenery with lots of wineries in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo.

If you're going to Nashville, you could zip over to Memphis to visit the King; while you're there you could tour the Gibson factory. My brother has been on the tour and found it very interesting. Then you could drive up to Chicago via St. Louis and stop by Springfield for horseshoes and beer along the way (!). Not quite Napa, but it's here.

There's the Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Washington D.C., Boston, etc. Lots to see in a month.

[nattiep]

Ooo ooo come to Phoenix! I'm moving there early next year! I'd love to meet ya Aitch!

[melibreits]

Aitch, You've got mail!

[jps]

I hope the GRC is not before mid August! I'd say go to Yosemite Nat'l Park, but that time of year is pretty crowded and the waterfalls are but a mear shadow of what they are in the Spring. A month will not be enough time to visit all of us and see all our Ricks,but if you do nothing else but that you just might manage to do it.



Remember the immortal words...

[jingle_jangle]

Aitch, you know we'll take good care of you in SF. Sonoma is nicer than Napa these days, and it's a bit closer, too. Lindsay is right about Alcatraz; it's quite a sight, and of course, SF is one of the best tourist cities in the USA.

August is a good month to come, although it's one of the foggiest here. Still, scenery and climate is spectacular.

I'll be going down to SoCal for any RIC festivities as well, so maybe we can drive down together in tandem. "Route 1" in fact, runs for only part of the way between the cities, and in August it's jammed with caravans and motor homes going 20mph. It's better to take 101; it's a nice compromise between a three-day trip (1) and a five-hour trip (boring Interstate 5).

Lovely wine, good microbrewed beeyahs, and the food is incredible. We'll have a Brasilian-style BBQ one weekend at my cottage here in Mill Valley, in yer honor, Yer Honor, too.

Then of course, there's the Rickenbacker/Gretsch shootout, too.

Seven to ten of each brand to tickle yer fancy.

[ozover50]

Reply sent, Melibee!

Nate, I'd love to meet you too. I'll have to get my atlas out and work out where all these places are. One of the things I'd rather not do is spend a fortune on domestic air travel - I hear it's pretty expensive in the US. I'm also a nervous LHD driver (in the cities, anyway), so we'll have to see about that too. Perhaps if I do a solid bit of driving early on in the trip I will get my confidence up.....

[jingle_jangle]

Wait a minnit--she's the wife of that sleazy Illinois congressman who took her to those s** clubs and then she divorced him and the sleazy press splashed it all over the front pages...and...then they drafted that other character (conservative black talk show host) to run against Obama and he lost miserably, and...

The USA is filled with inneresting stories, Aitch.

I'll even take you to yer first Guitar Center if you promise not to buy anything. Then there's E*Guitars in San Rafael, which always has some interesting vintage stuff...

[jingle_jangle]

That you in the Noddy car?

[ozover50]

The trip is actually going to be 6 to 8 weeks, so there should be plenty of time to see a fair bit and catch up with a fair few.

[shinynewtoy]

I'd be a happy man if you'd come by our place in NY. I'll have the fridge stocked for you!

So... which guitars are you bringing?

[ozover50]

I figured you'd make sure I wasn't left in SF with nothing to do, Paul. Alcatraz is a definite - just to see where the bird man lived and where some of those movies were made - "Do you feel lucky, punk? Well do ya??".

The other thing I have a fascination for is buildings, bridges and other large feats of engineering.

Yep.. that's me in the car - LHD and all!

Wine, 'beeyah', food, good people, Ricks and Gretsches... all sounds great to me. The dribble's already running down my chin at the thought of a Brazilian barbie! Should I shave for that one?

[ozover50]

Sounds good to me, Bob. NY has been on my list since day one. I planned to go there in '02 but chickened out after 9/11.

Chicago is in the mix because there's a chance I might be able to hook up with Anthony Carey. A Pom and an Aussie let loose in the windy city - the mind boggles!!

[nattiep]

Well if you have 6 to 8 weeks.. visit me for a couple days! Lol. By the time you get there I'd still be new to phoenix, so we could explore together.

[jwilli]

Howard, check out our new bridge. Charleston, South Carolina. Great restaurants, hotels and beaches abound too!
http://ravenelbridge.net/