Saturday, May 20, 2000. 2:18 AMMile 4518, Redmond, Washington
Ryan: Well this is my final entry...we have made it to Seattle and just spent the whole day in the amazing emerald city. Some final thoughts and some advise to those who decide to travel
-- dont drink the water in Arkansas, Texas, and New Mexico. --air fresheners for the car are a must have (make sure you know how to use them, sounds like a no brainer, however even the best of us can screw it up...Brian) --hot dogs are a tasty treat but can get old quick, be creative with your food.
I bid my fellow travelers fare well and good luck on the return trip to PA. To all my loyal fans fear not I am still available for interviews at rmv113@psu.edu, and now that the tour is over for me I will be ready to start talking movie deals (of course my agent will have to be present). Farewell and good night :)
Brian: Don't let Ryan sugar-coat the situation for the sake of his self-esteem: We're dropping him from the band. It's nothing personal, he just has too many clothes and he is taking up valuable space that we will now have available just in case any European models find themselves hitch-hiking in the middle of Montana. It won't be the same without him...still, we must sally forth, into the unknown. More adventures await, and they will keep coming at us, one after another, until our safe arrival at 532-4 West College Avenue. Tonight, we rest. Tomorrow, we ride. I never thought conquering the country would be so much fun.
Daryl: Our last journal entry on the road, probably. We hope to be back in Central PA by Wednesday evening. Since our stay at Linfield College, we've driven to Seattle, and are about to spend are second night sleeping at Ryan's place. His family has treated us very well, and we've enjoyed tour of greater Seattle, Ryan style. Earlier today (Friday) we walked by the Space Needle, took the tour of the Seattle underground (the old storefronts beneath the sidewalks), shopped a bit, saw the Gameworks arcade and attended a baseball game. The Mariners downed Tampa Bay 7-6, it was a great night for a ballgame and they left the roof open at the stadium.
Seattle seems to be the caffine capital of the country -- where people work to keep Starbucks, Microsoft, Boeing, Nintendo and REI running, then stay out of the rain by congregating in coffee houses. We visited a place called Sit and Spin -- which is half juice bar, half laundromat. (Sure beats an idea I once had of starting a combination coffee shop and 24-hour copy center.)
Seattle's radio stations are also quite fun. New Eminem, Britney, Cyprus Hill, Deftones -- songs that stir people up, and we all weigh in with different opinions. But when we visited the CD Warehouse today for some music to play on the ride home, we passed up the top 40 offerings. We pulled Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and John Denver out of the discount racks.
And that'll turn the Rock-n-Roll Road Tour to the flip side and send us back east on the fastest route possible. We'll talk again in Pennsylvania.
Tim: Like San Francisco, Seattle is an interesting destination. But unlike the bay area there is a trade off, Seattle's lush green hills are a product of heaps of rain. To quote our Underground tour guide, the city's official colors are gray and light gray.
As our stay in Seattle winds down, I will surely miss Ryan on the way back. He was my backseat compadre for most of the trip. We waged a valiant battle against the mature forces of the front seats. Plus, I will lose a member of the "Big Pimpin'" request lobby. Maybe I can enlist Brian. Yet, Ryan's absence will allow for more room and better car sleep. Second thought: good riddence. Signing off for the last time...
-- Tom Swift, Fox News, Seattle