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Eric TimmermansEric Timmermans
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Living in: Ghent, Belgium Read more Ghent, Belgium
  • TravelerEric does America
    Day 6

    Driving with a hangover...great idea :-\

    April 21, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    I am never drinking again.... not with Mississippi hillbillies anyways. The cinnamon whisky, Miller Lite, caramel Schnaps, and let’s not forget the crawfish and sausage were not very nice to me the next morning. After waking up at 10 in the morning, I literally grabbed my stuff together and hit the road as soon as possible. What seemed like a great evening yesterday (which I truely believed that evening), could also be described in a more sober/ realistic way: Totally racist, drunk trailer trash people carrying knives and guns... So not to to tempt faith too much, I took off as fast as I could.
    Don’t get me wrong, it was a great experience, but somehow some voice in my head said that this could have ended a lot different....
    But.. We survived once more, and now I am heading into the sunset again.
    I decided that I had seen enough of the swampland, racist hillbillies, and apparently there was more to come when i would go down south even more.. So I desided to leave Mississippi, and head east towards Texas. I didn’t drive far, and found a nice quiet campsite where I would stay for 2days just to recover from driving I had done all week. Too bad not many people were around to talk to, but somehow I did not care. just needed a good night sleep, get new provisions, and clean the septic tank... yes one of the better jobs when traveling with an RV.

    Warm regards, and talk soon!

    BTW here are some random pictures, as this day photography was not on my to do list...    Read more

  • TravelerEric does America
    Day 6

    I took a right turn.........

    April 21, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    I took a right turn. The campground that I was aiming for was closes, and the next one was about 1,5 hours driving, in the middle of the Missisippi bajou. Not knowing where to go, i drove back to the main road, despiritely looking for a place to boondock ( stopping in the middle of nowhere without power or anything), After driving for about 20 minutes, i saw 3 or more campers parked on the right side, and within a split second, i would take a turn to the right, which would change my evening completely.
    I drove up on a big field with docked fishing boats, being welcomed by a 60 year old woman, who told me i could stay here for the night.
    After making friends with her schitzu dog, more people arrived. They brought 40 pounds of crawfish and were going to make an original creon soup with it and had plenty of beer to share!. This meant taking a big pot, fill it with water., mushrooms, potatoes, unions, herbs, and ofcourse the still alive crawfish. When iit was ready they told me to take off the head, and suck the juice out of the head..... I did, and it tasted amazing! Ofcourse the meat was extremely tastefull.

    So be it, because of that right turn I made, I ended up having a amazing diner locally prepared cooked potatoes and crawfish ( huge schrimp kind of animals), with a big bonfire, beer, clear sky, and good company!
    These people were absolute local people, which aparently means they use the N-word a lot, and shows that racism is still a big thing here in the state of missisippi, but lets put that aside for a second, and not lose the moment....
    After everybody went to bed, because they are going fishing tomorrow, i wet down the fireplace, which also took away the only light source in the vicinity, and watched the stars for a while.... Its just amazing how a decision of 1 second to make that turn made this into an amazing evening.....

    Now i am going to bed at around 02:00 in the morning and will see what the next day will bring!    Read more

  • TravelerEric does America
    Day 3

    Down the Great River Road!

    April 18, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 12 °C

    Yes! The sun has finally found its way back to Illinois. It’s a comfortable 20 degrees, and that’s all we need in life!
    This also means that i can have actual water in the camper!! No more craving for coffee in the morning, and don’t even ask when the last time was that i had a shower :-).
    Today my goal was to drive to Memphis, but somehow the last 4 days of traveling were finally catching up to me, so i did not travel as far today.
    After a good breakfast, getting fuel (110 dollars ) and some provisions ( Chex mix, coffee ) i hit the road again. This time i followed part of the Mississippi River, which by the way is amazingly huge, as our good friend Mr Trump would describe it. In the beginning it seemed like there was not a lot to discover, but when i got more down south I entered the actual swamp land area. Just as i imagined. Unfortunately i could not really stop anywhere safe, so no pictures... After a good 3 hour drive i kind of felt like hitting a campsite a bit earlier than normal, so i could relax a bit longer.
    In the evening i actually tried to take some night pictures of the Mississippi River, for a first try i think not too bad. And for the people who want to know how its like to drive in a RV, i actually managed to take a video while doing some driving!

    Tomorrow i will decide if i will continue going down the Mississippi River, or take a turn to the west in Memphis.... maybe just let the dice decide!

    See ya later alligator!

    Eric    Read more

  • TravelerEric does America
    Day 2

    On the road !!!

    April 17, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 13 °C

    Still alive! And loving it.......
    You might wonder why i sound so relieved, but my first night in the RV was quite the experience. Some of you might remember the night we spent in a tent in Heidelberg, but this was the same experience, but then not the „ we have to keep our bodies close together so we wont die“ kind of cold.
    Short story: the heater went on strike, during the night... But i survived the 5 degrees temperature, and found a new source of happiness the next morning when the sun was saying hello, and the chipmunks watching me from a far distance (probably laughing, but I am not sure if chipmunks are capable of doing that), but i am making myself think that they were trying to tell me everything was going to be ok...
    So, my first real traveling started. I am really getting used to driving my little tank, and even had the balls to take a sip from my coffee during the drive! The roads out here are really great actually, and my fear for the big freeways are almost gone ( except for the big intersections, but other drivers are pretty nice to give me some space when i tend to get in trouble. I now completely understand how truck drivers must feel....
    I wanted to make some good amount of miles today, and after some advice from some awesome campground guests, i decided to drive all the way to st-Louis, and maybe pass it already, so that the next day the real scenic view drive down the Mississippi River starts!
    I actually drove over the original Route 66 by the way!! Until i realized that the freeway next to it was a way more comfortable road to drive, and the view was exactly the same... so easy decision. After a good 300 miles, i found a beautiful campground for less then 20 bucks, including power supply, so i am quite happy to get a good night sleep.

    Like i said, tomorrow i will head towards Memphis, on the so called Great River road, a scenic road that will eventually take me to New Orleans!

    Be sure to watch the next episode of „ Eric does America, and how he can get lost, even with GPS system“

    By guys.....    Read more

  • TravelerEric does America
    Day 1

    Home sweet home!

    April 16, 2018 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    Finally the real Journey has started! After a good attempt of fitting in with the Chicago hipster community, by traveling by Uber-taxi to the RV rental office (keywords: Creditcard fail, back to old fashion and expensive taxi), i finally got my beloved home away from home!
    I instantly realized that I must have not been drinking enough fluids today, because i did not literally piss my pants when i first saw this Tank of a vehicle. But hey, if there is a good way to die, or get somebody else really dead, this would be it! So i got in my beloved little tank, and drove off into the sunset.... not really... first get primary supplies right across the street; Basically water and beer, and some other stuff, but cannot remember ;-)
    It turns out that driving this little tank is both difficult and easy at the same time. Going straight forward seems easy, until you have 20 km/h gust winds trying to push you off the road. Combine this with no sense of road placement at all, and you have made yourself a cocktail of death.
    Fortunately my mind somehow managed to calibrate itself to the new road conditions and.... here i am on my first campsite in a town called: i don’t have clue where i am, and its in the wrong direction ( if there is a right direction in life, but lets not get philosophical just yet... )
    So tomorrow, i will get some gas in the tank, get some pots and pans so i can make coffee in the morning and see where this journey takes me!
    Hopefully somewhere warm, because this 1 degree cold and snow was not mentioned in the brochure!

    See you later!

    Eric    Read more

  • TravelerEric does America

    Nice to meet you Chicago!

    April 15, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 1 °C

    The rain has stopped! Perfect time for a walk through downtown Chicago and do some primary camera testing. I soon find out that i my freshly bought lens takes ultrasharp pictures, but if you want to take pictures of buildings, the stuff that fits on your picture is pretty limited. Damn you fixed lens! Here are some first images i took during the day... maybe tonight if the weather allows, will try some evening pictures (exciting right!)

    See ya later alligator!    Read more

  • TravelerEric does America

    From Cafe Koepuur to Chicago o Hare

    April 15, 2018 in the United States ⋅ 🌧 1 °C

    Nobody said traveling would be easy, but somehow i did not expect the excitement to start already from my bed in Ghent.
    After a great little get together in our favorite/only cafe at the faculty, setting my alarm clock, repeat setting my alarm clock, i peacefully went to bed, awaiting this great adventure which was about to start the next day. Unfortunately this idiot decided to ignore the alarm clock, and wake up at 07:00, when his plane takes off at 10:30 in the morning! Two near heart attacks later, a nice little full body check at customs and 17 hours of complete boredom on 2 airplane rides, i arrive in Chicago !
    I instantly realize why they call this the Windy City, when i get off the train from the airport to downtown Chicago. It’s about 2 degrees out here, with a -10 degrees windchill factor.... but its awesome! I of course craved for a nice cigaret, and already was 15 bucks lighter. Maybe there’s no better time than now to quit? Well see how the other states are dealing with smokers :-).

    After a good night sleep with great neighbors, which apparently have a great sex life, i am now starting my first day in Chicago, getting some breakfast, and if the rain is not too bad, check out the city a bit. Pictures will follow.

    Tomorrow will be the big day, picking up my RV and hitting the road!

    See ya later!

    Eric

    PS. Will obviously take more pictures soon, but this one is from a burger place near the hotel!    Read more

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