I apologize for the lack of updates. I have been quite busy traveling around. Here are some photos of my time in Southern California. This included the drive in through Indio and Palm Springs, Santa Monica, LA in general, and San Diego. Much more to come as soon as I get some more internet connectivity.
One of the few necessary stops along my way was Tucson, AZ for my friends wedding. I had planned on stopping here since the beginning of my trip and was happy to arrive in the desert once again. My time in Arizona involved a lot of drinking, seeing old friends, and a really nice wedding.
One of the best parts of my time in Tucson was the sunset that (UPDATE:) my friends and I saw from atop ‘A Mountain.’ It was the best sunset I have ever seen. Just as I thought it wouldn’t get any better, it just got more and more beautiful until the sun was finally gone behind the mountains.
After all the excitement of the wedding, I dropped everyone off at the airport I headed towards San Diego…but was twarted by another car problem. I slowly made my way up highway 85 towards Phoenix where I was eventually towed into Avondale (just outside of Phoenix) to a Subaru dealership. Turns out I needed a new LEFT front axle (after already replacing the RIGHT front axle in PA). Luckily, they had the part and I was out of Arizona after only one night in the unbelievably depressing QUALITY INN. Anthony Bordaine kept me company all night as I learned much about Russia and South American culture & cuisine. Thank you Anthony…where ever you are.
In the morning, I cut across the lonesome desert of western Arizona and made it into California just as the sun was setting over Indio & Palm Springs. I got into Santa Monica as it got dark and met up with my friend Greg, whom has been nice enough to let me stay at his place. So far so good…if nothing else, I made it all the way to California.
I met my good friend Adam Yeager in Austin, TX (as I mentioned before) and headed westward across the great and immense state of Texas towards Tucson for our friend Brian’s wedding. We hiked through Guadalupe Mountains National Park, explored Carlsbad Caverns, and saw Roswell, New Mexico. Roswell was one of the most depressing places I have ever seen in my life, but was worth the experience. I also enjoyed my drive through New Mexico more than any other state so far. It was gorgeous. We hit a lot of bugs on the way through texas..and a bird. We almost hit a huge rattle snake and a Coyote once it got dark. All in all, we got to see a lot of the desert wildlife, even though half of it ended up all over my bumper in liquid form.
I almost made it across the desert without having car trouble…but need ANOTHER front axle (a left one this time). I am stranded in Phoenix for the time being and will hopefully be in California by tomorrow assuming they can fix the ole’ dirty bastard Subaru by then. I was just getting excited about my car because it made it to 111,111 miles….sigh. The good news is that I am slowly becoming immune to the mental stress that comes with car problems. It seems that it is just part of the trip.
At any rate, thats the way she goes…and I will post pictures of my time in Tucson in the mean time. Enjoy.
Let me first say, that this was one of the best places I have ever visited…
Thus far I have mostly just shared my photos, but this particular place I visited deserves a little explanation…
I got a tip from a woman in Charleston, SC that there was a Hostel in the woods somewhere in Georgia. I had nothing better to do, or anywhere to go, so she printed out directions for me, and I was off. All I knew was that the Hostel had ‘tree houses’ that you could stay in and that it was about an hour south of Savannah…
There are too many details to remember, so I will just include some of my journal…
I arrived at bumpy dirt road and followed it back to the parking lot and went inside. I was greeted by a spindly little human that is named ‘Skye’ appropriately enough. This Hostel is basically 3 Geodesic domes that serve as the office and dining area, etc. There are tree houses scattered all along the fanned palms and wooden walkways connecting the different tree houses and parts of the land. There is also a lake apparently, which turned out to be very nice.
I got the tour of the place, got shown my tree house and kind of got mentally settled. I was really impressed with the place and felt a really good vibe as soon as I got here. It was one of the few places that I arrived and felt amazing about immediately. Most places take me a bit of time to warm up to. Of course, most places aren’t a hostel in a swamp, in Georgia, run by hippies.
They make you a full vegan meal that is included in your $25 room fee. I was pretty excited for some dinner because I haven’t really been eating anything very exciting since I started this trip…and a good meal was well past due. So…..for dinner….the menu consisted of Chick Pea Salad, Fried Okra, Bread Spaghetti, & Peanut Butter Cake…
Bread.
Spaghetti.
STFU… Thats some hippie shit right there.
(I learned that ‘Bread Spaghetti’ is of course, cubes of bread, with spaghetti sauce on it.)
Now….the problem is….thats not spaghetti. I have no problem eating bread with sauce on it…but I do have a problem trying to call it Spaghetti. It was a good meal — but thats not the point. I ended up full at the end of my meal, and decided I was happy.
After dinner I ended up meeting a Polish couple, Simon & Natalia, and their parents who live in Tampa Bay but both have very heavy accents. I talked to them for a long while, and watched them play a Polish card game that none of them seemed to know how to play….the dad even said to me at one point….’its a Polish joke…none of us know whats going on, but all of us are happy.’
I ended up not taking nearly enough pictures because I was too in the moment, but hopefully you will enjoy the photos that I did manage to take before things became unbearably surreal. I would highly suggest that anyone with a sense of adventure and an ability to ignore cockroaches the size of sparrows go visit this place.
i am in Brunswick, Georgia for a while…don’t know how long…apparently I have a blown head gasket and it will take a couple days to fix. Quite expensive as well, as you might imagine. My internet connection at my hotel has been spotty at best, and…its been a bad day overall. Gunna go eat at Cracker Barrel…the only beacon of hope.
I will put some pictures up of my past couple days as soon as I am able.
So please take note of how these pictures steadily decline in excitement and overall pleasurability…That pretty much sums up my time in Abingdon, Virginia. I even stooped so low as to chewing Beeman’s Gum (actually, that was for you Tyson).
As per my previous post, I had some car troubles on the Virginia/Tennessee border. I ended up getting the golden opportunity to stay at the ever changing to fit my lifestyle, serene, and Triple AAA Approved ‘Alpine Motel.’ There are some pictures from before and after things went awry. I imagine you will be able to identify this shift quite easily.
I think I failed to mention this before, but I have been staying @ a place called Miguel’s for the past 4 days. It is a pizza & climbing shop that has $2 camping for climbers. It’s situated in the middle of some of the best climbing in the entire country and people come here from all over North America. I’ve seen a ton of license plates from Quebec to California since I’ve been here. I met some people from Toronto who taught me how to Lead Climb and let me Top Rope their climbs. I have enjoyed myself immensely, but now I am off to North Carolina. Enjoy the pictures, please.
I would like to take the time to thank Choof for the kind words and infinite wisdom. I will soon be adding flickr sets so all you readers out there don’t have to scroll through multiple posts.
I finally got this f*uckin’ thing close enough to where I want it, so it appears to be time to start putting some ‘content’ on here.
I would like to make a very special ‘Thank You’ to Matt ‘ Choof ‘ Mikuszewski. This site wouldn’t be anything it is now without his galactic, space-age guidance. Please check out all the bad-ass things he does over at darkwindmedia at your earliest convenience.
Pittsburgh, PA -- Sept 10 Harrisburg, PA New Bethlehem, PA Sandusky, OH Saline, MI Sleeping Bear Dunes, MI Pictured Rocks, MI Apostle Islands, WI St. Paul, MN Minneapolis, MN Luverne, MN Badlands Natl. Park, SD Rushmore Natl. Mon., SD Spearfish, SD Jackson, WY Salt Lake City, UT Yellowstone Natl. Park, WY Jackson, WY Oakland, CA Santa Cruz, CA Sonoma Co, CA Jackson, WY Destin, FL Houston, TX Salt Lake City, UT Pittsburgh, PA Harrisburg, PA Brooklyn, NY Harrisburg, PA Pittsburgh, PA Salt Lake City, UT Jackson Hole, WY Pasco, WA Seattle, WA Tacoma, WA Portland, OR Eugene, OR Crescent City, CA Eureka, CA San Francisco, CA Yosemite Natl. Park, CA San Francisco, CA Santa Monica, CA Avondale, AZ Tucson, AZ Roswell, NM Guadalupe Mtns, TX Austin, TX Houston, TX New Orleans, LA Baton Rouge, LA Savannah, GA Brunswick, GA Hostel in the Forest, GA Charleston, SC Aiken, SC Black Mountain, NC Boone, NC Abingdon, VA Red River Gorge, KY New River Gorge, WV Vandalia, WV Morgantown, WV Pittsburgh, PA Harrisburg, PA Brooklyn, NY -- August 09
