In Clearwater, I found a leaflet that spoke of Cape Canaveral, where they've got a launchpad that would send people to the moon. Rather than having to spend millions of money on buying parts which will be destroyed afterwards, much like what they still use in Europe, they use ways to shoot planes into outer space directly, much like an airplane leaving the grounds to fly in the sky. Bottom line is, buying a ticket here to go into space is a lot cheaper here in America, than it is trying to buy your way into a ship in Europe. That's why I'm on a bus right now on my way to Cape Canaveral.
Once there, I didn't hesitate to buy myself a ticket. However, since there are many people who still wanted to go to the moon, and this is something of a busy season, I can only go to the moon by the end of the month, August 4th to be more accurate. No matter. For one, other than the States, I was hoping to get to Australia, then to the more eastern countries of Europe, then slowly make my way back home. In other words, I now got exactly twenty-six days to see the rest of the States, only to come back here and go to the moon.
Meanwhile, as I'm writing this, I'm on the back of a pick-up truck, which is on it's way to Georgia. Hopefully, my journey will run a little smoother from her on in.
Wednesday, July 2 2008:
In Georgia, I managed to charter a small plane that took me to North Carolina. When I say "small", I do mean small, as there was hardly any room in there for me to breath, let alone even trying to write anything down. Also, the city I ended up in was quite impressive to look at. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was New York City, but I didn't recognize any of the buildings, plus some passer-by pointed out to me that this was Metropolis. So if I get this right, somebody built a metropolis city and decided to call it Metropolis? Then again, when I planned on this journey, and tried to find the town of Springfield, upon which the well-known TV-show was based, I found there are over 30 cities by that name. I guess that whoever built up this city wanted to be original, wanted to be sure that his name was unique, etcetera.
On a side note, since I couldn't find Springfield, I decided not to go there.
Right now, I'm in a hotel room, in another city, just one hour driving from Metropolis. Gotham City, I think this one is called. I must say, this night has been quite an adventure.
I was on my way to find a hotel where I could stay, when I suddenly noticed a disturbance going on in a nearby cemetery. I didn't hear any guns being fired, so I didn't think there'd be much, if any trouble if I were to take a peek at what was going on. I sneaked onto the cemetery grounds, got as close as I could, but still didn't see much. That is to say, I saw a group of men fighting another man, but from where I stood, I missed much of the action. I tried climbing into a nearby tree, hoping that from a higher angle I could see more. Which I did, but I still couldn't believe what I was seeing. The men attacking the one men were all dressed to look like clowns. As for the one man, I couldn't be sure, but I could swear he had pins on his head and wore a dark cape. This guy trying to look like a bat or something?
At some point, the fight stopped and the clowns retreated. Hoping that I wouldn't be seen or heard, I tried to sneak away. But I forgot one thing: I was in a tree, upon a branch which could break with every wrong move I made. Which it did, causing me to fall down, hard, on some rich man's grave. I say rich because this man could obviously afford to buy more than just a standard tombstone. The grave in question belonged to a Bruce Wayne, who lived in 1910-2003. I remember myself thinking "Damn, that guy got old", when that bat-guy stood near me and had me by my shirt's collar. He asked me who I am and what I'm doing here. As a reply, I mumbled something in my own language. The man then thought he didn't have much use for me, so he tossed me aside and left the area. I didn't think that being foreign of origin would help me get out of this sticky situation.
It wasn't long before I finally found a cheap hotel. In this hotel, I found a young couple, who like me were just passing through the city. They were on their way to West-Virginia. It's not on my list of places I want to go, but from what I heard about that state, if you like nature, it is thé place to be. Well, I suppose it's time for me to get out of the big cities and into the wild.
Note: since the "Simpsons" tv-series always opens with the family coming home from their daily routines, sitting in front of the TV and (apparently) watching their own show, I consider what happens in the opening sequences as canon to this universe, and not what happens after that.