America, Land of the Free

This page has most of the pens I bought on my epic cross country journey of 1991. I left Connecticut on the 4th of July, and spent the next 18 days or so on the trip to Los Angeles.

My old college roommate and I hit quite a lot of sites. These pens will tell the story.

Sadly, there are some tourist sites that have yet to offer float pens. Let's hope they get their act together soon.

 

 

Hare Krishna Palcae of Gold, West Virginia

This is in that funny little spike at the top of West Virginia. Very difficult to find - even one of the local mail carriers didn't know where it was.

What is it? It's the Hare Krishna Theme Park. There are statues of gods and animals, and a palace with a golden dome. It was under construction when we were there, and it probably still is. But it wasn't so backwards that they couldn't come up with a decent float pen.

For some reason I really wanted a cheeseburger for lunch that day. Needless to say, I didn't get it at the Hare Krishna Palace of Gold.

 

Loving You

Little Elvis

The King of Rock and Roll

Guess where these came from? By this point in the trip, the purchase of float pens was so high up on the list of priorities that even beer sometimes had to come second.

There are a few places in the world where the purchase of float pens is mandatory. Graceland is such a place.


Stone Mountain, Atlanta

My friend (let's call him Jon) and I stopped in at his long-lost cousins, and we went out to Stone Mountain to see a laser show. Stone Mountain is the place to go to see the heroes who lost the Civil War carved into the side of a mountain.

 

Texas

What did we learn driving through Texas? Don't stop. That's what we learned.

 

Utah

All I could find was this pen about skiing. I don't ski. Neither does anyone else in Utah in July. I was unimpressed with Utah for trying to foist themselves on me in that manner (I was hoping for a rocket car racing across the Salt Flats). Onwards to Monument Valley and Zion.

 

 

Las Vegas

 

By the time we got to Vegas we were broke, dirty, smelly and thirsty.
The car wasn't much better, and concern about the car actually making it was high. The car was a 1982 Dodge Station Wagon (which actually lasted another 2 years on the mean streets of LA).

Anyway, we didnt want to stop in Vegas at all. My entire life was in the back of that car, and I had already lost my clothes hangers under suspicious circumsatnces back in Texas. What more could I afford to lose?

We stopped at Circus Circus, played a few slots, waited for the afternoon sun to drop some more, and hit the road not too long after.

 

 

Nevada - California border

We stopped for gas, 25 cent beers, and a look at the Bonnie and Clyde Death car. No pens reflected this, but I got this one in between the beer and the Death Car.

 

We have arrived

Crossed the border at sunset and settled into one of Barstow's finest motels for the evening.

All the commercials on the California stations were for skin care products and accident lawyers.

I was still thinking of turning back.

 

Los Angeles at last

We finally made it to the coast. We were glad to see, if the pens were any sort of guide, that all our stereotypes that we held were true - LA is nothing if not babes in bikinis, surfer dudes and fun on the beach.

Float pens are better than pictures.