The flight from Manila,
Philippines
dropped us into Hawaii, gave us a roller coaster ride in storms over the
Pacific, crossed over the international date line and finally landed Braz
& I into Los Angeles. We had no Visa and Braz was interviewed as
a potential illegal immigrant! They let me in with no problem. After a wild
time in L.A.; being befriended by some bizarre characters, we headed for
Mexico. Braz stayed on in
Mexico
whilst I returned to the States. A Greyhound bus took me from El Paso, New
Mexico to LA, California via Tuscon & Phoenix, Arizona. Took the
unique Green Tortoise service to Seattle; the coach is carpeted with
mattresses to hang-out for journey. Most of the passengers would be
classed as 'hippies'. Enroute we travelled along the beautiful pacific
coast, breakfasted at a commune in a Redwood park & spent day in San
Francisco. Claire met me in Seattle and on my birthday we headed for her
home;
Canada.
A jolly courtesy of Rolls-Royce; the 3 day PDM conference in Orlando
coincided with the long Whitsun bank holiday. I flew into Miami and
picked up a hire car; I just survived learning to drive an automatic
whilst navigating out of Miami. Spent 2 days exploring the Everglades
national park; a wonderful place full of wildlife. The mosquitos were
too common and voracious. Drove upto Orlando via the west coast.
Stayed in the enormous World Centre hotel. The UGS conference went
well with great entertainment including a night at Univeral Studios;
the 3D cinema was absolutely stunning.
Another jolly. The reason for the visit was to
escort Mark Bass and Mal Gahan, Royal Australian Navy, who were to
brief the US Navy on how wonderful their PLM capability was. Before
they arrived I spent a few days exploring Washington D.C. The weather
was perfect and I was so pleased to see this great capital. Most of my
time was spent in the 2 Smithsonian Air & Space museums. UGS
hosted us and one night a limousine gave us a midnight tour of the Mall.
To have the Lincoln memorial to our selves was something special. We
then flew to Fort Worth, Texas to visit Lockheed Martin. Mal & I
spent a night in the Stockyards chatting to cowboys and cowgirls.
A jolly courtesy of Cochlear. I was presenting at a conference in Orlando and also
visting Cochlear's Offices in Denver. Over the weekend I drove the 10 hours, over the Colarado mountains,
to visit Monument Valley and the Arches National Park in Utah. Both were well worth the drive. Whilst in Orlando
a conference treat was a night at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter; the 3D roller coaster ride was magic!
