Just cleaning up and posting some old unfinished posts.....

My toes were in the Pacific this morning.  A little over a month ago I was watching the sunrise in the Florida Keys.   The warm, clear, blue water of the Atlantic at my feet. In between these two oceans were: mountains, friends, family, the kindness of strangers, not so kind strangers, long lonely roads, roads I hope to make it back to, self acceptance, gratitude, wonder, and a herd of buffalo. 

I've come full circle so to speak.  I got back a few weeks ago and started back to work. Broke as hell!!!   And though it all seems surreal as I sit at my desk sorting through old email, it's familiar.  It's consuming.  It's thrown me back into a state of uncertainty about what to do next.  Best to take action in those moments of clarity because they don't usually last very long!! 

This little adventure was not what I had expected.  When I planned my 'escape' it was with thoughts of exotic places, and foreign languages.  Lofty ideas of traipsing around the world.  It turns out that wasn't what this trip was going to be about.  That said....experiencing the US was more of an adventure than I had thought it would be. And I am grateful to have had the opportunity.  When I left it was with so many things left unfinished, and tidying things up a bit took longer than I thought. Lining up those damn ducks just seems to elude me......one of these days those ducks are going to be in for a big surprise which ends with a big dinner.  Of course I've learned...over...and..over...and over again that you can plan all you want but.....well......you've heard all the the sayings. And though I know that....I still try to plan....silly sarah....but I have learned with traveling, as with most things to try and check the expectations at the door or else I end up in a world of hurt.  I still fail miserably at this on occasion but, not so much with this trip. And it's always later, usually when you least expect it, that you find out the significance of your experiences.  It has been a strange journey.  

Plans shot to hell.....again

With my acceptance to UNR a slew of considerations have cropped up. The most pressing being the out of state tuition.  When I applied I had hoped to be classified as a Western Undergraduate Exchange student.  If I had been I would pay 150% of UNR's per unit fee.  But, at this point I am classified as a straight non resident which means I pay the per unit fee plus a $5,200 fee per semester. Big, huge, ginormous difference in affordability. What has happened is that there is a  minimum cumulative gpa and I am .037 grade points below it.  F#^#%$^!  I am so frustrated.  

what to do, what to do.  My thought is that if I take 8 semester units somewhere this fall, and get A's, it bumps my gpa up over the limit and they have to include them in my transfer gpa. But do they have to?? (I have emailed the question to the admission folks but no reply yet) Because Fall semesters have started, and I'm in Florida my options are limited to online or correspondence, and UNR has independent learning classes through their extended studies. 

Besides where to live, work, money, length of time there.  what am i even doing??!!

Feelings...nothing more than.....feelings....

A couple of weeks ago I got on the computer to check my application status for UNR. I logged on to my little admissions web page but the stupid thing just said 'we have received the materials needed in order begin reviewing you application, please allow 5-7 days for processing. I waited a couple more days to check again but it was the same message. Just to see, I followed the links that said 'already admitted'. I entered the info they asked for and lo and behold I was assigned an email and I could sign on to their 'epaws' system.  BUT..... no update on the admissions page, not a letter, nada.  I thought that I must have gotten in, they had my transcripts and all of the courses that transferred figured out, but I needed something in black and white, something that said yes or no. Finally, when I got back here and there was still nothing, I called and left a message..... no response. Then I emailed and when I checked the admissions page the next day, it said this instead: Congratulations you have been admitted to the University of Nevada, Reno.

WOOOHOOO!! HOLY CRAP!!!

Just thinking about it makes the corners of my mouth pull up a bit. It just feels like the right thing. I looked at so many different options: MSWs, teacher credential programs, Geography MA's, Environmental Science MS's, Applied Anthropology, Environmental Anthropology,  and they just weren't quite right.  I could get accepted to them, I could complete them, but I just couldn't commit to them.

Plus, it's taken me a while to be okay with leaving my very decent paying, reliable, comfortable job/career  to pursue something completely different.  It's been okay doing what I've been doing. I love working with the kids, and I've felt good working in a position that's contributing to society in a very real way. Even if  it wasn't my ideal, doing something that I deem meaningful is very important. (if not, what's the point?) And, given some of the things that have happened during these last couple of years, it seems I was exactly where I needed to be. 

All that said, it's also time for change. 

 

St.Augustine and Fay

This is the third time that I've started this little update. It's just been so long now it's hard to even begin. And then I managed to delete an entire section which made it that much harder to begin; knowing I have to rewrite.  Sometimes I wish I was a little more methodical, that I could write and rewrite these things so that they flow and are minus the mistakes. But no, that's just not my way.  Instead I blather on and on.  And on that note I better actually begin to recount.  

Well it's raining, again, still, here in FL.  This time it has a little something to do with Tropical Storm Fay. She's still trying to make up her mind whether or not she wants to go for it and become a hurricane....I'm hoping she does.....I know the damage blah blah blah but she'd only get to a category 1.  It's so funny I've met a few people who have been like 'you're from ca, aren't you scared of earthquakes'.  UMMMM You live where there is a threat of major hurricanes every year and during the wet season you have to run inside every time there's thunder because you may get struck by lightening.......and you're asking me about earthquakes.  Not to undermine the great force of an earthquake and the potential for harm, but come on.  (Who's gonna have the last laugh if I get home and 'the big one' finally hits!!!)

Back to Fay. She has mucked up my plans a smidgen.  I had been up in Northern Florida. I spent the week camping. First at Alexander Springs in Ocala National Forest, then Flagler Beach and finally Anastasia State Park. This is not the best time to be camping in Florida. It's sooooo hot and humid, it rains nearly every day; and wet equals mosquito season. Besides the mosquitoes, who love me, there are so many f$#$%@ bugs it drives me crazy, and it seems like they all bite. Not to mention some big spiders. Huge. Banana spiders. They like my car.  I don't like that. The picture does not do the creepy little thing justice!!  

  

Eventually I ended up in some crap motel for a night in St.Augustine.  St.Augustine is the oldest continually occupied European settlement in the continental U.S and it's a great place to just wander around. You can tour several of the buildings, some of which date back to the 1700's, and there's also a fort that was built by the Spanish in the 1600's. If you're in the mood for museums there are several large and small.  What's really interesting about many of those earlier buildings is that they are built out of blocks of coquina (sedimentary rock made of shells) so you can see and feel all of the shells that make up the walls...very neat.  

After a day in St. Augustine, while staying in the crap motel, I checked the weather and there was Fay so instead of heading straight down to the Everglades and the Florida Keys I'm back at grandpa's for a few days. At this point I'm not sure what I'm going to do next.  I'd like to head down to the keys and scuba dive, maybe take the advanced open water course.  It's been so long since I've been I'd like to take a refresher first, not to mention my apprehension about my 'buoyancy'.  I wish my dive buddy was here : (    I was certified originally in Australia where it was cheap and awesome!!  It was two days in the classroom and three days liveaboard where we did nine dives including a night dive.  And after all of the things that I've done, and places I've been, diving on the great barrier reef  is still one of my favorite experiences.  

*update 8/21/08 Tropical storm was very wet but never upgraded to a hurricane. Here in Port Saint Lucie lots of flooding in places but not in the vicinity of the house.  It's actually still windy and rainy and will continue to be the next day or so.  

I love me some caffeine

So this past week I've been trying to give up caffeine.  I figure I'm an anxiety ridden mess as it is so it was time to end my unhealthy chemical dependence in an effort to calm my frazzled self down. Plus my tolerance is so high that I have to drink a ton to feel anything and then I can't concentrate anyway, and then I crash.   The plan was to slowly eliminate in order to avoid the headaches, lethargy. I was doing okay, cup of tea instead of coffee. Half of a soda. I did eat chocolate which was two strikes with the caffeine and the calories.  But for me, still pretty good.  UNTIL NOW It's about 3 in the morning. I went to go see Mama Mia and didn't eat dinner before I went. I resisted the popcorn even though I had coupon for a free one...the smell is torturous when you can smell it and it seems like everyone in the theater has it, and you're hungry. The only reason I didn't end up caving is because I didn't want to lose my seat. Anyhow, after the movie I stopped at Taco Bell and ended up getting a soda.  I guess I must have been adjusting to less because here I am watching sci-fi, cooking tomorrow nights dinner, and can't sleep.  

*Update on 8/17/08.......I'm still drinking less, caffeine that is, but I totally caved with soda.....who can resist a refreshing carbonated beverage when it's a thousand degrees outside...

blah blah blah

Still in Florida house sitting.....being incredibly, pathetically, lazy.  Adding to my inability to do anything:  my inner clock has been reset to vacation mode. I stay up way too late......like almost all night. I don't know how it happens....I watch something on t.v. and then I look at stuff on the computer which leads to more stuff and pretty soon it's 4:30 am.  By the time I get up the next morning the clouds have rolled in and the thunderstorms begin. And though the storms are pretty amazing in their own right the whole 'thunder and lightening thing'  doesn't make for ideal beach weather.

Been to the movies several times, most recently to see Dark Knight.....which I think lives up to the hype.  And Heath Ledger brought the Joker to a whole new level. And albeit a darker and creepier joker then we're used to he played up the subtleties in a way that brought him out of the comic book realm and grounded him in reality.  It's the same way that Anthony Hopkins plays Hannibal, it's that whole 'real' monster thing replete with the warped and twisted idea of humanity.

 I have also found the mall, where I have bought and returned several items.  I really want to go on a spending bender....not for anything in particular, just stuff. Perhaps the philosphy face wash that I like, and shampoo...I love the healthy sexy hair pumpkin spice.....oh and the $100 snorkel set, and the $120.00 dollar hiking shoes that are soo comfy...and Oh My God I have a problem!!!!  The problem being that I have no income. *sigh*

Not that I should be complaining, and I'm not going to. What it comes down to is that 'relaxing' isn't really relaxing for me, because the only way for me to feel relaxed is to be doing something. Damn those Puritans!!!  

I haven't been completely without purpose.  I applied to University of Nevada-Reno and University of Montana-Missoula. Whatever inspired me to apply to Montana??  It was a total whim.  But it turns out it does have a few features I like; the size, the mountains, the proximity to Glacier & Yellowstone, the apparently developed, yet still evolving, intellectual and art scene. And who doesn't want to live in area that was once a ginormous glacial lake? So we shall see.  In the meantime I still want to put my apps in for a couple of CA schools but they don't start accepting them until August.

I have also picked up some Algebra and Trig refresher books and have been studying my math.....yay for numbers. Not exactly the most exciting thing to do with your time off but a necessity for the numerologically challenged to succeed in the sciences.

Did I mention the most exciting thing I've done?  I bought a ticket to Peru!!!   Killer deal: $209.00 total from   Ft. Lauderdale to Lima.  I don't leave until Sept 23rd and I get back on Oct 22nd.  I have a few ideas about what I want to do.....Machu Picchu for one......a no brainer.  I wanted to hike the Inca trail but it looks like I may be out of luck for the permit so I've got to check out the alternative routes. If anyone is up for backpacking around Peru......

I still have a month between the time I finish my  house sitting gig until I have to be back in Florida for the b-day cruise to the Bahamas.  I was hoping that a friend of mine, who shall remain nameless, was going to head up the east coast with me but alas, I may be on the lookout for a cheap flight to Costa Rica instead.  

This was from a couple weeks ago...

I won a scrabble game!!! I scored two 7 letter words, the first was COUPONS,  the second was the word SEQUOIA.......I got 106 points for that one.  Honor has been restored.

I went bowling with the grandparent types. They have a group that they bowl with every Friday. Of course I was the youngest by oh.....40 or so years....and I still had the lowest scores all three games and....... I was sore the next day.  In my defense.....no....I'm not even going to try.  There were guys in their 90's that didn't even look like they could pick up the ball that got strike after strike while I barely broke 100! 

So I'm taking a walk, which was supposed to be a 'run', and I'm listening to my nano thinking about how hot it is and why I'm torturing myself. (nothing to do with the handful of chips I scarfed before I left the house)  Suddenly there's this enormous dragonfly bobbing up and down to the music right in the middle of the path I'm walking down. I get a little closer and it's actually two. Yep, humping dragonflies.......racey stuff going on down here in the south.

But Where Am I???

After I had recovered, done a little processing, some laundry, got caught in a thunderstorm, and ate at a Chinese restaurant named 'Wok and Roll' I headed into Nashville.  Checked out the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. It would have been nice if I had gone there before Bonnaroo because it included info on the roots of blues, bluegrass, and rock, which was very interesting.  Huge building. 

I walked around the downtown area, saw music row, checked out the little bars that up and comers play at.  Made a stop at Hatch Show Print, one of the 'oldest working letterpress' print shops in America. They made, and continue to make many of the flyers for performers and advertisements for products. I loved the prints, they have tons of the the old flyers for vaudeville shows, and circuses that you could buy....of course I bought one. What I should have bought was a guitar, I could have bought one used and it would have been from Nashville....but noooo, I didn't even go in the store.  

I took off the next morning for Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. On the way I stopped in some town and got my hair cut and my eyebrows waxed. Way over due for both....my eyebrows looked like some patchy catarpillars got slapped on there.  And I couldn't shake the feeling that something was living in my hair.  OK.....so the girl waxed my eyebrows while I was sitting in a shampoo chair.....ummm that was a little weird. Definitely not what I'm used to.  I go for the cheapo haircuts because if it's a little too this or that I can wear it up, or wear a hat, or whatever. But when someone's messing with my eyebrows I get a little concerned. I'm not interested in the possibility of having to try and draw them on.  Luckily she did alright.....I wouldn't go back.   The haircut was fine and I walked out feeling a little more ready to move on to the next adventure.  

Eventually I made it to Kentucky.....and ate burgers from White Castle......okay I don't know what the fuss is about because those little burgers are pretty flippin' gross. Are they obsessed with mini-shit here or what because there's another mini burger place called Krystal.....haven't tried them yet.  

Anyhow, I made it to the park and got a campsite. Then I went to see about the cave tours. Unlike Carlsbad,  they no longer allow you to do any self guided tours so you have to sign out be on a ranger guided tour. If you're an experienced caver than you can get permits for other areas of the cave but me.....not so much!  The tour I ended up getting on was for the next morning called the Violet City Lantern Tour. You actually go down with Kerosene lanterns through several of the chambers. Unfortunately on this tour you don't see many speliotherms(cave decorations), but it was very interesting. The focus was the history of how the cave was used from the Indians until today,  including saltpeter mining and the remains of 'huts' used as a clinic for tb patients. I tried to get on another tour so I could see some of the formations but they were all soldout. It's definitely a place to go back to and spend a little more time because there is so much to do there besides the caves: fishing, kayaking, biking, rafting. The whole park is a World Heritage site and a Biosphere Reserve so it should go on everyone's life 'to do' list!!!

And then......and then....no and then.( I can't say or write 'and then' without that scene from Dude, Where's My Car...it's a sickness) Then I was on to Great Smoky Mountains NP.  It felt like it took me forever to get there!!! I had made a reservation for one of the campgrounds in the park and I thought it was fairly close to the entrance/road I was coming in on.....I thought wrong and ended up not getting to my campsite until 7ish.  Luckily it doesn't take me very long to set my little camp.  I thought 'tonight I will have a campfire'. I'd bought wood in Mammoth but opted for reading by the lantern and early bed so I still had the wood. Fire, yeah it was time for a campfire.  I went and collected kindling and ripped up some cardboard to get the thing going and I tried, and I tried and I burned through the kindling and the cardboard and I thought it was lit but still struggling.....but all kept ending up with was smoke. Fire gods were not smiling upon me!!!  My neighbors came over and offered a little help and still nothing. But we started talking and it turned out that they were from CA and had thought I looked like a Northern Californian...funny how you can spot your people!!!  They're from the valley and had also lived and worked in the East Bay. They moved to TN three years ago and lived in the town I had stayed in just outside Nashville that I couldn't pronounce....at first I was like 'no I don't remember going through there' until I realized that I didn't recognize it because I had the pronunciation all messed up *Idiot*  Even with their help the fire wold not start so they invited me to share theirs. We talked a lot about their experience moving to the south and my impressions/experiences while traveling through the south. Probably pissed off a few of the other campers who were within hearing range...especially the political stuff.....oopsy.   Very intelligent, interesting, people who I crossed paths with just at the right time.  

The next morning they were moving on and I had planned to hike. But suddenly I was struck with lethargy.....I didn't want to do anything!!!  I forced myself to drive to the Clingman Dome lookout to do the short, but steep trail to the observation tower.  The view  is well worth the hike.  After making it back to camp my plan was to eat lunch and spend a little time on the loop trail that began in the campground.  Well, I ate and then it rained, and rained and continued to rain for three hours.  And while waiting out the rain in my tent I decided I was done for a while, I had been on the road for four weeks.  It was time to get to Florida and take a little break. As soon as it stopped raining I packed up my campsite punched in the address to the gps and was on my way.  

I drove until 1am, stopped overnight and continued on down through the Carolinas, Georgia, and finally Florida.  I was about two hours away and stopped at a rest stop ran in, okay I walked in, then went to the vending machines, and as I walked back to the car I got that sinking, oh crap feeling because I realized I didn't have my keys. Sure enough, there they were hanging from the ignition. Resisting the urge to jump up and down screaming obscenities I made yet another call to AAA (thank god the cell phone was in the pocket) and after about 45 minutes of roasting in the Sunshine State's heat the guy showed up, and in about a minute and a half he was in, and I was back on the road.

That was Sunday evening. These past few days I've spent getting my ass kicked at scrabble.....they're ruthless around here!!! (Seriously...last night my grampa made two seven letter words in one game....that's just not right....and they know all of the two letter, oddball words) Helping with the pineapple harvest....quite an operation my grampa has going on. : )  Painting porches.....which ended up being the wrong color!!!  We've also hit the movies...saw get smart....and Taco Bell where they get a senior discount.  I'm house sitting for them for about a month starting July 10th so I'm free to move about the country until then but I don't have anything planned yet. 

For now I'm just enjoying visiting, the pool, and the thunderstorms.   

Bonnaroo.....or Bonnarip-off....I don't know yet....

 It's been over a week since I left Bonnaroo. That Monday I was up at six, packed my very wet, bug infested tent...seriously....bugs everywhere!!! I found some big black beetle in my tent.....thought it was a roach at first...and then couldn't stop laughing at the the thought of a tent that had roaches...terribly funny stuff.  Especially when you're tired and over stimulated from rubbing elbows with nearly 80.000 people, that is three times the population of South Lake Tahoe on a  600 acre farm.   

I drove for maybe an hour after I left and stopped in Murfreesboro, TN (good luck pronouncing that I had it all wrong!!)  one of the first places I came to.  All I could think of was a shower and washing off  four days of funk, and making sure the bugs hadn't gotten me. The thought of ticks and chiggers...whatever a chigger is...plagued me the entire time.  Did I mention the heat, humidity, rain, and dust.  I just wanted to be inside, no people, no bugs, no light, ac, and a real toilet!!! Let me just say port-o-potties used by thousands of people, simmering in the sun does not make for a pleasant experience.

So how was Bonnaroo? Let me start by saying if I ever went again, and that's a big IF, it would be with a group....even one other person so even if you check out different shows you can come back and share.  And instead of the straight camping thing an RV.  You have a place to be, nap, defunk,  and hang out,  etc.  Plus the R.V's are in a separate section where you have a little more space and the crowd seems little older.  

The real reason to go is the music, and the music was great!!!  Pearl Jam was amazing, Chris Rock was hilarious, Kanye f*&#@ed up, Death Cab sounded great but lacked charisma, Tegan and Sara were adorable, Aimee Mann needs to eat something.  I saw so many different people perform but it usually ended up being 15 min here and there, I rarely stayed for a full set at the smaller stages    I'm going to have to consult my notes about some of the other people 'cause I can't keep 'em all straight!!!  Got to see BB King  and Willie Nelson!!! Somehow, and I could be wrong here,  I don't t

hink that there are many places you could go and see the likes of those two playing the same venue. I really dug the sound of the Raconteurs, I associated them with alternative rock but they have a real blues/bluegrass sound as well.......kind of  next generation rockabilly.  I missed Metallica and My Morning Jacket which sucked.  It was nine something and it was Metallica (who I'm kind of ambivalent about) and then My Morning Jacket.  It was raining,  and MMJ were supposed to play from 12-3 so I thought I would go back to my car grab food, a hoodie and umbrella.  Uh, Yeah, by the time I made it back to the camp I was feeling pretty tired, and suddenly the tent looked very inviting, and dry, and I said I would just take a little nap then go back, watch the last part of Metallica, and then stay up for the late shows. Right. Best laid plans eh?  I did hear most of  Metallica from my tent. : ) 

Walking around, especially in the camping areas, reminded me of spring break with some hippies sprinkled in.  Girls in there bikinis, beer swilling frat types.  It was not my thing.  When you arrive, after going through a car search and ticket check, you are guided in and parked.  Row after row of cars and depending on your spot you have either the 10 feet in front of you or the 10 feet behind you.  I had the 10 feet in front, but not, because I had some group of 20 year olds that ended up having a huge tent on one side, and on the other side some older guy who was there by himself who also had a huge tent. The guy seemed a little off, might be going out on a limb here but.......I think it had more to do with a few too many drugs when he was younger.  He ended up hanging out with the little 20 year olds.....ummm....eeeewwww.  I'd rather be alone than seek out the company of some drugged out little kids.  All they did was talk about the drugs that they were on, or planned on being on: x, shrooms, acid, pot, opium....whatever. And  there were people selling every type of drug you could possibly have a hankerin' for including balloons filled with nitrous for five bucks.  I know that because I was alone, and sober,  I was hyper aware of what others were doing, and the drugs, and their effects. But it's just such a different world than I'm involved in, or interested in.  It's never been my thing, and I think working in the field that I've been in for several years now it puts me squarely on the other side of the fence. Not that there aren't sw who do, or have, gone through their experimental phase, but usually at this stage of the game the drugs are prescription!!!!

And there's the thing, is it an outlet to experiment, a safe community where you can seek out those experiences surrounded by people who understand that need to feel narcotic induced trips, the extreme highs and lows. Is it about enhancing the performances your watching? When your bombed out of your mind does that really get you engaged in the music, for me, watching any type of live performance is a give and take, how much are you giving back to the performer when you can't focus......or stand.  Or has this venue become an an outlet for depravity?? What intrigued me was that most of the kids were very savvy when it came to the drugs.  They knew what to look for, how to do them, reasonable prices the whole nine; even instructed the old guy next to me on the best way to breathe the nitrous for maximum effect. They seemed frighteningly informed.  God, I barely know how to smoke a bowl, and I couldn't roll a joint to save my life..........what have I been spending my time doing?!

Like many things there were positives and negatives but it was a new experience and I'm glad I went. I met lots of people, shared a moment with some dutch guy while watching Pearl Jam, won a t-shirt, saw some huge-ass bobble heads, checked out all kinds of little crafty things, took naps in the shade, bud light never tasted better, contemplated purchasing a hula-hoop,  paid way too much for food, finally finished reading Lamb, and have a renewed appreciation for indoor plumbing and bathing.  

Keep on Keepin' on

They put the green beast back together again....and then I high tailed it out of Louisiana!!!  I don't know if they were just jerkin' me around at Wally World  or what, but I swear to god by the time I left I wasn't sure if my car was even drivable.   I drove it anyway, but every little bump or rattle caused my whole being to tense up in anticipation of another blown tire....or worse.  But on I went, I made to Hattiesburg, Mississippi and stayed in yet another cheapo chain motel that had that combination of stale cigarette, and musty funk that makes you want to bring your own sheets. And then I pull out night stand so I can plug my laptop in to charge and I find a condom wrapper......nice.  The next morning I saw a man cleaning the rooms.......'splains alot eh? 

Hattiesburg was cute, ate some chicken fingers at the place next door....I liked the name......Raising Cane's.  With a population of 50,000 it's the 4th largest city in Mississippi and home to Southern Mississippi University.  MS was soooo beautiful. Because of it's climate/elevation it's got that mix of the needle leaf conifers and the broadleaf deciduous that gives it a variety of texture and color. And the sky!! I tried to get a picture as I was driving of this one area where light was breaking through the clouds but the picture doesn't do it justice. And there are also these Mimosa trees that have these little pink clusters of flowers all along the highways throughout MS and Alabama....I like them, I like them alot

I didn't spend a lot of time in MS or Alabama.  : (

In Alabama I stopped in Moundeville and looked at well.....some huge mounds of dirt.  It's a native american archaeological site....it's neat but here's the pics you can hike up the stairs to go to the top of the largest mound:

      

It was getting late so I followed some signs to a state park and ended up staying the night: Tannehill state park.  As always, the woman checking me in looked at my license and asked in that supportive 'go girl', but also quizzical....what's your deal kind of way, if I was traveling alone. "Well I have a fairy in the car" I wish I had said that but nooo.   Then she showed where where the sites were and where she was......"just in case I needed anything" I do have to wonder though if there had been some problems of some sort at that park because you had to have a key to get into the bathrooms, and that's the first time I've come across that.  Which was a pain

 because the next morning I had no idea where I had put the key so I was frantically searching while doing the dance!!! 

 

It just strikes me as funny getting questioned all the time about traveling alone.  It never even crossed my mind that going on this kind of trip by myself was such an unusual thing, there are positives and negatives for sure, but I hadn't thought of it as being especially out of the ordinary.....evidently it's quite curious to some.

So I left my little campsite in Alabama and had thought my little gps was guiding me up north through Birmingham but it actually took me east and by the time I was aware of what happened it was too late so I'm going to have to go back on my next little loop. The gps is a very handy little tool, but I'm learning to check my routes because the thing would have me getting everywhere asap but not seeing anything!!! Kind of defeats the purpose. The highlight of the drive today was the little turtle trying to cross the highway......the thing was trying but it's a turtle....they do their best but sometimes it gets you squashed.  Not this time though!! This little guy was so close and as I'm passing in one lane the big rig.....whose flippin' passing me....comes up on the turtle.....and that lucky little turtle is in the right spot on the road because the truck passes right over him.....I looked back and could see his little head come back out of his shell and he just kept on 'truckin'  

I made it up to TN, I'm just outside Manchester where the music festival is and will be there for the next four days.  I decided to go, though I had thought about selling my ticket.  For one thing I'm ready to be in one place veggin' out for a few days, and they have a cinema tent where they're showing movies 24-7 so I'm good.  

 

There she blows...out that is

Evidently picnic table wood doesn't do the trick when you knock on it.   I had a tire blowout on the Westbank Expressway this morning as I was leaving New Orleans.  Just as I was coming up on the toll boothes to cross the Mississippi river I heard the loud boom and immediately the kathunk, kathunk and the near loss of control.  I was in the left lane and there was no way to make it over to the right hand side so I was stuck!!  Luckily I was close to an HOV exit so I kathunked on as far as I could before it sounded like I was pushing my luck on the rim.  It put me off to the side far enough to be out of the main lane of traffic.  I was pretty shaken up but it could have been so much worse!   Eventually a copcar stopped behind me, and both the cops got out....probably didn't know what the hell I was up to hanging out on the side of the freeway but a quick glance at the tire and they were as nice as could be.  They waited with me until the tow truck showed...which took forever....AAA....gets a FFF for today.  When the guy finally showed it only took him ten minutes tops,  and good thing too because right as I was pulling away it started to rain.  

I was still feeling a little disconcerted by the whole thing as I continued on I10.  The guy had put on the spare which is a brand new tire and the other ones are pretty worn so I decided to stop at the next walmart, pickup  1 more new tire so I would have at least 2 matching tires, and then put one of the worn ones on o the rim the spare was on and remount it as a spare underneath.  Makes sense right? Plus I'd have them do the oil change and check all of the fluids etc. hoping that it would up my confidence about all the driving I still have ahead of me. 

It didn't quite work out how I'd planned.  3 and half hours later I'm sitting at the starbucks across the parking lot because they didn't do what I'd asked....and when I called them on it, they said that they're not supposed to mount used tires (meaning the spare) and they should have told me that when I got there.....which would have been fine if they had in fact told me that I would have just gone somewhere else...no big deal.   And the new one that was mounted on one of the matching rims was all messed up, no cover on it, no 4 wheel drive thing.... It turns out that the tow truck driver had removed it when he mounted the spare but the walmart guy says it's not supposed to come off. So I don't know how jacked up my 4 wheel drive is,  but I do know that 4X4 repairs tend to be pretty costly!!!!

So here I wait, I'll be going back there in just a few minutes to see what they've actually done to my car, but I'm about done for the day.

By the way.....I tried to get pics of the Armadillo but it was dusk and he just kept blending in with the grass!!!! Plus I know nothing about the little armored beasts....do they charge, bite, carry exotic armadillo diseases????

'You only pass this way once'

I was just outside Houston, TX visiting my cousin and her family.  It just so happened that I turned up a couple of days before her birthday so I stayed a little longer so I could celebrate with them. It feels strange to stay somewhere more than a night or two......the third night is pushing it!!!  We made a birthday trip to the mall  and when we came out 4 and a half hours later it was sunny, windy, rainy and hot all at the same time.....there's a little saying about the weather when it's that way:  the devil is beating his wife.....welcome to Texas!!!  They have four little people there, all adorable of course, but trying to keep track of them is quite a job. A very rewarding job, especially when they say things like 'you can't leave, you have no house', but oodles of work.  They also have a beautiful house but omg do I see the merit in having a smaller house when you have little kids. Only because in a decent sized house, by the time you track down what one is getting into, the other one (or two in this case) is/are getting into something else on the other side of the house. (Especially when they're 2, 3 and a recently turned 5 and mom is trying to take care of a two month old at the same time!!!)  I'm so happy that I got to visit.

I left Houston on, what day was that, this is what happens when your on an extended vacation from the daily grind....feels good though!! Friday....I left Friday afternoon and made

 my way to Sam Houston State Park in LA. to check in with the alligators.  While I was there I met some old guy

 (72)..........sorry gramps;) .....who was interesting to talk to at first. He had lived in Concord in the 70's, and had done a lot of moving around and eventually landed in Fort Mojave where he's a 'yard dog' for some contractor and where he rides his dirt bike all over the desert

t.  He's currently on his last 'big go around' of the US. Says it's on his 'bucket list' so

 he's riding his motorcycle around the perimeter of the country.  He was has been shocked and pissed off repeatedly when people ask questions like 'what's that' or 'where's that' when he tells them what he's doing.  I'm telling you the geographic literacy of the US population is appalling......what's more is that they don't know what perimeter means.

Anyhow, I tell him what I'm doing so we talk about that for a bit, and how hard it is to do something different. Now, I've met people like him before, and while I do believe you 

shouldn't put things off that you want to do because the opportunities aren't always there,

 I do not want to end up old and completely without attachments....relationships with others are too much a part of the human experience to chuck out the window so that you don't have to be accountable to anyone.  In his case he has had over 100 jobs, including cleaning portable potties, managing tire stores, and setting back odometers.  He has an ex wife, and an estranged daughter who he has tried to make peace with in the past but refuses see o

r talk to him, and that evening he had received a voicemail from telling him she didn't want him in her town, on her street, or in her house.  He 

says she's full of

 hate, and blames him for all kinds of things.  "You can't carry around all that with you, it just eats you up and touches everything around you."  Interesting because it turns out

 he's a f*&%$#@ racist.  We went around and around, and I know when someone's that set

 in what they think you can't change their mind but holy hell.  I have never met anyone that blatant and he says 'there are alot of us out there that feel this way'.  I'm not so naive to think that people like that aren't out there, and I recognize that it's there writhing around still having a profound affect on individuals and society as a whole but this old guy just took me 

by surprise. After, all I could think was "hopefully he'll die soon".    

I left that campground Saturday morning and headed to the New Orleans area.  woohoo!!!  It took me longer than I thought it would....I kept making all kinds

 of little stops....plus I took 90/49 instead of I10 which goes a little further south and bypasses Baton Rouge. Eventually, after stopping at my first piggly wiggly, I got to Bayou Segnette State Park.  It's about 20-30 minutes outside of New Orleans.  It's sooo hot and humid......and there are lots of bugs...I itch everywhere....yes I did put on bug spray....but not enough!!!!  I

 complain about the bugs but last night I was able to leave my rainfly off of my nifty

 little tent (I love this tent, definitely worth the last minute purchase) and while I was falling asleep I could feel the breeze and watch the fireflies light up the bushes around me. 

Today I went in to New Orleans!!! I started the day off with the 'must do' stop at cafe du monde for cafe' au lait...iced...and the little french donuts called beignets. It's basically

fried dough with powdered sugar on top.  They taste like what our family calls 'doughbo

ys'.  Then I just walked, and walked, then I took the St.Charles trolley to the garden district and walked some more.  I was trying to see the Lafayette Cemetery#1 but it just so happe

ns it's closed Sundays. But because I'm an Anne Rice fan.....was until she went uber-conservative christian....it was cool to see all of the houses and be in the areas she talks about.  I didn't hang around to take to the Vampire tour, or the Ghost Tour which is kind of a bummer. They didn't start until

 6 or 8 and I was just done for the

 day.....I also

 missed the Voodoo

 Museum...because by the time 

I found the parking lot I had parked in, I had already paid 14 for parking and just wanted to take a break.  It would have been different if I was staying the area, I could have taken a little rest in a nice air conditioned room and  been ready for another round!!!  

Maybe if my landlady had sent me the deposit check and I had more than like a hundred bucks in my account I would have gotten a room somewhere for the night!!!! On a brighter note; my mom sold my car tonight! I got a smidgen less than I was hoping but I'm just so hap

py it's done!!!  Thanks mom!!!!  Of course, now that I've gotten rid of my reliable little Honda this truck will probably give out tomorrow!!! (I'm knockin' on wood for that one....picnic table wood) 

If the thing starts in the morning I'm going to start heading up to TN.  I'm just going to  drive until I can't and then find a place to stay.  I'm still a little uncertain about this whole music festival thing. If someone had been able to go with me, that would have been one thing.But I don't know if I want to spend 4 full days at something like that alone. I'll be alone either way but I know that being in a crowd like that can make you feel terribly lonely. 

Although there is a cat that's shown up at my campsite who I call LuLu perhaps she'd like to see a concert. An armadillo also stopped by this evening...it's the first time I've seen one alive....I saw several dead ones on the side of the road....their little legs sticking straight up. In 

fact,  I have seen alot of dead critters on the side of the road on this trip and as I was driving across Texas there were tons of deer out on the side of the road just munching away, I was so scared one was going to leap out right in front of me my knuckles were white. On that happy note I hear my air mattress calling....I'm currently in the car so I have to make a mad dash to get to the tent before the bugs get me again.  

I dig caves....not literally

You know what I hate, I hate it when places advertise special rates and then you get there and they don't have those rates and try and get you to pay twice as much when the whole reason you went there was because it was the best deal.  The Howard Johnson in San Antonio can bite me. 

It's midnight here in good old San Antonio Texas and I have just gotten in to the Econo Lodge.  I'm waiting for the room to cool down so I can sleep. It's midnight and I'm sweating,  that's no good, I can't imagine what it's going to feel like tomorrow during the day while I'm checking out the ALAMO..... which I know very little about but after tomorrow I should be an expert eh? 

I drove from Carlsbad after I checked out the Caverns. They were amazing....there with the amazing again...... I was in absolute awe the entire time. I took one of the ranger led tours to an area called the "kings palace"(not a spelunking one this time but a definite for next time)  Then I took the elevator back up and turned around and hiked in through the natural entrance. The descent in to the caverns is quite an experience.  The trail is  a little over a mile and very steep,  but it's a nice paved path with handrails and it should not be missed!!! Unfortunately I left my camera in the car so I don't have any pics to share. :(  

'I've been everywhere man'

I keep starting this post but then don't have time to finish and then I have to add more!!!! Hopefully this time I'll get 'er done'! 

I'm in a hotel room in Carlsbad, NM.  I was going to camp at the state park but it's 109 degrees  and I just didn't want to be outside!!!  Tomorrow morning I'm going to check out Carlsbad Caverns and then on to Texas, then Louisiana and then up to Tennessee for Bonnaroo. 

 

Today, besides a few hundred miles of driving, I stopped  in Roswell and went to the Alien Museum and Research Center.  Okay, the fact that I got to go through Roswell did play the teeniest role in my decision to drive down this way!! It's so funny, there's aliens everywhere on Main Street.....even the street lamps!!!   It's a really nice little town which has embraced it's quirky reputation which overshadows its title as 'dairy capital of the world.'  

I was in Santa Fe yesterday and spent last night at a KOA just outside of the city. On my way to Santa Fe from Albuquerque  I stopped  at a rest stop (they have great rest stops that have the visitors center in them and free wi-fi)  and just happened to catch one of the old guys who worked/volunteered there while he was on his break it turns out he was from Foster City.....and still a niners fan. but he told me a few stories about people who stop in and questions about this and that and I just have to share one: a man came in and asked "What's the attitude of Santa Fe?"  "Do you mean altitude?" he asked the man "Oh, yeah, that's what I meant" he replies, "Santa Fe sits at 7000 ft." he tells the man, then the man asks "All year?"   he he he

Santa Fe was cute, small but not too small.   I walked around the artsy little downtown area, checked out the La Fonda hotel, St.Francis church, ate lunch in the little square and went to the Georgia O'Keeffe museum. The museum was the highlight for me because though I knew her work I didn't really know much about her and learning more about who she was, and her story was very inspiring. 

The night before Santa Fe I was in Albuquerque. Petroglyph national monument is there so I did a little hiking and checked them out. I included a picture of one which makes me think that this whole petroglyph thing is a racket!!!! There are hundreds of them in the area that I hike but they say that the petroglyphs choose who to reveal themselves to....interesting....and as I was walking out I kept hearing what sounded like people behind me so I kept turning around but I was in a canyon with one way in and there was no one else on the trail.....hmmm. 

While in Albuquerque  I stayed  in a dorm room at the Route 66 Hostel.   I'm sure my face said it all when the woman at the reception said that they didn't have any single rooms available. It was pretty shabby but it came down to paying another 50 something at a hotel or 18 ....the same as camping except there's a shower, a bed and I don't have to load and unload a car. Plus I hadn't had a shower in several days and I'd hiked everyday....uh...yeah. I was hitting the point where I didn't even want to get out of the car for fear of offending someone. But I figured I'd just stay away for as much of the day as I could, so I went off to check out the petroglyphs and did laundry, etc.  

Anyhow, let me tell you about my experience at this hostel, what an odd bunch that they have there.  First off everyone there was older, which was nice at first. Evidently there was some alternative/communal living conference going on in Albuquerque but nobody seemed to know what it was about.  I didn't even talk to the conference folk I talked to the weirdos......more like the weirdos talked to me.  Besides some homeless guy that was hanging out there, there was also some 66 year old guy from Berkeley who had been there for 3 weeks who was looking for 'peace.' Fine, looking for peace, who am I to say anything......what the hell am I doing out here right? And then.....he goes on to say that after his wife died he began these relationships with women ranging in age from 36-39....but he met some 71 year old woman on the train to Albuquerque that he was really attracted to......uhhhh.....didn't really need to know that. Then he said something about hanging out this past year at people's park in Berkeley....he wasn't homeless he just liked to hang out there......oh yeah and shoot up.  Of course,  I knew it would be like this when one of the first things that came out of his mouth was how 'normal' he was.  And maybe at some point in his life he was.  And there was some other guy there in his 50's who was making appetizers for everyone who was supposedly some rich eccentric who was thinking about opening a hostel and was going to look at property........yeah...okay....

So as I was trying to leave this morning and the office isn't open until 7 so I'm hanging out in the little common area....and the homeless guy is there....asking me about my laptop and then asks if well, he noticed I wasn't wearing a ring, oh god...this is why I try not to talk to people, but you probably have a boyfriend.....hell yeah I do!!! And then he says "yeah I figured, the good ones are always taken". EEEWWWWW!!!!!!  Or maybe......they have a little self respect and don't want to be with some middle aged old homeless man on Social Security whose hanging out at a hostel trying to pick up women.  

The entire time I was at the hostel I was on my the computer trying to upload pictures and ignore everyone, it was obvious I wanted to be left alone and yet......I got hit on by a weird homeless guy and got too much information from an over-sharing 'recovering' addict.....those recovering addicts really are the worst.  People just don't know how obvious their freakiness is or how easy they can be to read.  Or that they send off creepy vibes in waves that speak directly to the little hairs on the back of my neck.  Though I sometimes question my shortness with certain people and  at times feel like I'm not outgoing or 'open' enough my instincts in these situations has never been wrong. 

Before Albuquerque and the good times at the hostel I was in Sedona, Arizona. It was beautiful and the experience of driving down the canyon from Flagstaff rivals seeing the grand canyon....okay here's the thing I know it sounds silly, and awkward to keep saying amazing and beautiful....blah blah blah.  But, until I get back into the habit of writing it's all going to sound a little contrived and generic.  

After leaving Sedona I drove east on 40 hoping to get to Albuquerque but then I decided to stop at the Meteor Crater. I stop and look around, I read the pamphlet, checked it out and and decided to take the rim tour....all kinds of bad jokes there I know.....anyhow I wait around to take the tour where the girl repeats everything the brochure pretty damn close to verbatim. The upside is that taking the tour is the only way you actually get to go out on the rim which was worth the repeat.  Plus, this is where they filmed parts of the movie Starman so that was fun little fact.....I don't know if they filmed any parts of close encounters there. And then I stopped/drove through the Petrified Forest National Monument (which also includes parts of the Painted Forest) where there's a lot of dead wood lying around. Okay, wood that's gone through that whole  permineralization process so it's very pretty, colorful rock that looks like dead wood. But driving through the park you see some gorgeous views, and the distinct, colorful layers of the sediment look, well painted. 

After the meteor and the petrified forest it was getting late so I was looking for a place to stay and there was a national forest campground in the cibola wilderness area listed in the handy dandy little directory. The description seemed nice, it was cheap and only 5 miles off of I40. I figured I could sleep in the car and get an early start the next day. The campground was at a little higher elevation and it was all pine forest...it was cool....which was a nice reprieve from from the desert.  BUT....it was empty except for one other a person and there was a notice on the board that said a big black bear had been spotted there earlier in the day. Bears....great....no bear lockers...no people...and it was getting dark so I decided to stay and sleep in the car. The minute I shut myself in 

my imagination went crazy.  Besides the thought of the bear ripping the door off to get to the cooler and box of food in the car, every horror movie I have ever seen having to do with psycho killers picking people off in the woods came back to haunt me.   Then I kept hearing noises, and everything is distorted and muffled when your sealed in a car so I couldn't tell what they were.  Obviously I survived......just a little more tired than I thought I'd be.

Holy Crap that was a long one!!!!