Into the desert and on to the mid-west
It proves to be hard to stay on top of things, blog-wise, while on the road. Days pass without a single moment to sit down and write.
While it is a lot of fun to meet all these new friends, it can also become overwhelming and tiring to have to get into a new group every day. Adjust to a new home night after night. Add to that the long drives, and it becomes apparent that this may look like a nice holiday, it is actually hard work.
So it should not come as a surprise that between the traveling, meeting people and doing radio, not much time is left for blogging. I regret this, as writing is certainly one of my passions. And I want to go beyond merely summing up dry facts about the tour.
Anyway, I digress. Los Angeles, I have been looking forward to this. The beaches, the movie industry. It is all very iconic. We do not go there directly though, but first pay a visit to Arclight. He welcomes us in his home, where we get a brief tour of his wide array of interests. The self-built and solar-powered shed, a generator that he is working on, a collection of items found in the desert and various abandoned mines. We are hungry, but get a treat of delicious chilly. We then head down to 23b shop, our base from where we will explore the area.
LA has a lot to offer in hackerspaces. From 23b, where mechanics and electronics meet, to nullspace labs where we find a group of hardcore electronics geeks. We get a crash-course in SMD soldering, and are truly amazed by the helpfulness of the guys present. Crashspace is sort of in the middle, and is more of a makerspace. It is one of the spaces that participated in the “Take on the machine” challenge, and is just around the corner of the MGM studios.
At night, we decide to visit the Hollywood sign. What a disappointment! It is not lit at night, simply turned off. Following the satnav up the hill, we meet a gate that is full of signs discouraging people to even think of getting close to the sign. We get out and take some pictures, but not long after a security truck pulls up and we run with our tails behind our legs.
One thing I will remember (and miss perhaps) about this visit to the USA are the freight-trains. They are everywhere in the USA. As I lay down in Kansas City, trying to fall asleep I hear the distant horn blow it’s warning for those wandering the streets. The same sound as in Fullerton, Denver, Seattle, it is everywhere.
After a brief stay in the desert, near Joshua Park, we head out to Vegas. We meet up with Krux and Fish from SYNshop, a very young space in Las Vegas. The space is in the garage, but actually their whole house is one big hackerspace. A PDP-11 restoration project is on the way, and access control is already functional. They have boxes of random stuff, and we go through one of them. Among other neat gadgets we find a mysterious machine, which later turns out to be some sort of CPU-emulator. It is inspiring to see the determined enthusiasm with which these guys attack the box!
From Vegas we leave on another long drive to Park City, where we stay with Flyko’s aunt & uncle. They are very friendly and welcoming, as have all the people we stayed with. It still amazes me that in every city we so far have found a place to unfold our mats and unroll our sleeping bags.
Near Park City is Provo, and we head down there (avoiding dear and elk on the freeway) to visit The Transistor. In a loft, we find a handful of people working on a mame cabinet. They are well utilized, from heavy machinery to fine electronics. With a CNC factory downstairs, they can take on any project. This they have proven in “Take on the machine” as well.
Sadly, we have to head out early again, to drive to Denver. More on that later!
