Associated Press writer Calvin Woodward rode a bicycle from Washington, DC to southern California, a 3-month journey at 12-15 miles per hour. He talks about the trip, the people he met, and the towns along the way in this article:
If you’ve got the time and the astounding lower-body strength, this is certainly a cheap way to see all of America. The total cost of his 3-month trip was $4500, not including the $1200 bicycle. He stayed in small hotels and camped some of the nights.
If you’re interested in touring the US on a bicycle, Adventure Cycling offers detailed bike maps of many cross-country routes. If you’re not interested in a 3500-mile ride, they have shorter ones, like the Utah loop, a mere 287 miles.
I am sitting in Mo’s Grill in Salt Lake City, on West Temple. I’ve never been here before. Once, while we were waiting in line at Port O’Call across the street, my friends walked across the street to Mo’s Grill. When they came back, we asked what they did, my friend exclaimed,
“We had a Flaming Mo!”
It was the famous drink that Homer Simpson invented in Moe’s Bar on The Simpsons. We were awed and we wanted them to stand in line for us while we went over, but we were so close to the front of the line, we didn’t get a chance to go in.
My belly is warm from my Flaming Mo right now. It tasted like cough syrup. The waitress was reluctant to set it on fire for me. She said,
“Most of the time the fire just goes out. Either that or it goes down the side of the glass and sets your hand on fire.”
I was willing to have an Unflaming Mo in order to remain unscathed. We ordered burgers and enjoyed the quiet night at the bar. It’s a Thursday night, so there are only two other groups of guys in the bar. There is an unattended pool table, a pinball machine and two video games (2005 Golden for Tee and Deer Hunting USA). The televisions are showing the LSU football game. I’m not much for sports bars, but my city has the famous Mo’s Grill. I can’t leave it unvisited.
The food is slow in coming and I order my favorite drink that tests whether the wait staff is snooty or stupid. I order a Kamikaze with the rest of the glass filled with club soda. It’s the kind of thing that either breaks their brains or makes them turn up their noses. Neither happened with her. She replied,
“Do you want the normal Kamikaze or the Blue Kamikaze?”
I’m floored and ecstatic, “The blue one, of course!”
By the time the burgers come, I’m a little tipsy. The burgers are fresh off a flame-grill; they have that perfect charcoal flavor and not too crispy. My cheeseburger is delicious and Mike’s barbeque burger is excellent. The French Fries have a seasoned salt on them, giving them extra flavor. We continue eating, even though we are both full because they taste so good. The clientele is excitedly talking about the most recent movies and ignoring the football game.
They have a wireless network that my computer connects to, but I can’t get past their router. I don’t need a password, but it doesn’t work. I ask the waitress about it and she laments that they have had trouble all day, but that it usually works. Oh well, I work offline just as easily as online. One of the regulars brings in his iBook. After a few moments, he tries restarting the router, to no avail. He seems surprised that it doesn’t work, so her story about it usually working checks out.
No one notices when I take pictures of the inside of the pub and flash pictures of my food. I waited until our waitress was out of sight, though. Aside from the two waitresses, I am the only female in the room. The rest of the people in the pub are men over 35 years. One of them is giving his friend in-depth descriptions of all the latest movies and the preferred physical attributes of the female leads. I smile to myself. It feels like Cheers in here, except the waitress is nice to me.
Our bill came to 28 bucks, which covered the two burgers and fries, a soda for Mike and the two drinks for me. I tipped the waitress 20% (typical for Utah) and left full of good food and happy for the visit.
If you’re in Salt Lake City, you need to try out Mo’s Grill, it wasn’t named after the bar in The Simpsons and I don’t think this is the bar that inspired it. It’s a great place to relax and type on your laptop for a while. Just don’t let the Flaming Mo set your hand on fire.