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. :(