A trip across the country

My friends asked me to help them move across the country. I had the time, so I of course said yes:

 

A house’s worth of stuff, trundling across the country:

 

When I’m not driving, Huey and I are enjoying the wind through our respective furs:

 

We stop ad dad’s house for a few days. Besides all the normal shenanigans, they have frogs causing all sorts of ruckus:

 

We left first thing sunday morning, and we were done unpacking the truck into their new apartment on thursday afternoon.  By the weekend the boxes are all unpacked, and the only thing left to do is hang pictures. We have dinner with Chris’ brother, wife, and son who are down from New Jersey. We stop in DC for a few hours, but it’s raining and so we aren’t really into it.

 

For the next five days I teach Chris how to be a man of leisure (since I’ve now had nine months of practicing this fine art). We drink coffee, we work out, we play tennis, we eat at local restaurants, and explore his new home. We turn off the GPS and get lost, and find back ways back to his place through the lusciously green landscape.

 

Thursday rolls around and it’s time for me to hit the road again. Chris drops me off at the greyhound bus station, and from there it is a long trip back to AZ. My cell phone battery runs out on the first day, which means no familiar voices to talk to. Since the phone is also my MP3 player, it means no tunes. I read books, but those run out by noon on the second day. So I talk to all the strangers around me. I get glimpses into their lives, as they get a glimpse into mine. Some are friendly, some are not. Some snore while they sleep, and others sleep not at all. Some are coffee addicts, and others are heroine addicts. Some are just hooked on universal love, and some are hooked on the road.

 

I arrive to phoenix on the third day, 54 hours after leaving my friend. I’m a total space cadet, I haven’t slept much, and the road has turned my brain to mush. Courtney picks me up with a friend, and we all go to get coffee. We run a few other errands before heading back home, where I promptly pass out. Another cross-country trip is done.

 

Now it’s time to figure out what’s next.

And then some random

Martin Prihoda shoots photos in India. Lots of good stuff on his blog. Today this came through, just look at those awesome pics.

Prescott slackliner

There is a growing theory in my life. This theory states that if you spend enough time at a park, you will invariably run into awesomeness. Sure enough, as I was sitting around eating lunch at Granite Creek Park in Prescott a few weeks ago, I see a guy setting up a slackline. And so I did the only sensible thing I could think of… I asked if I could take pictures of him.

 

His name is Brenden. He is a gymnast who happened to run into some slackliners a few years ago, and he took to it like a fish to water.

 

But he doesn’t just walk on the line like a lot of folks. He does crazy acrobatic jumps, flips, and dives:

 

He also knows the slackliners I met in Austin, which I thought was pretty neat. And so he did tricks as I shutterbugged away:

 

Until we both had to leave.

The joys of parks.

Not dead, just crazy.

Sorry ‘bout the long absence.  I helped my best friend and his wife drive a moving truck across the country, hung out with them in the DC area for little over a week, and just got back this weekend from a 54 hour greyhound bus ride home. I’ve got a week or so in Prescott before I head over to Jerome to live with my sis for a while and do some work in the vineyards of arizona. I’m excited, tired, and still lost. But I’m having a good time, so all is well.

 

Hope all is well for you out in the blogosphere, hopefully I’ll have something more interesting to post in the next few days.

Now what?

I’ve decided that the road trip is over. I’ve asked Courtney to be my gal, which is something she deserved a long time ago. There is still a lot to figure out.

 

For one thing, I leave Monday for Virginia. My best friend and his wife are moving out there, and since I’m not working yet I told them I would help them drive out there and get settled. I’ll catch a greyhound bus back to AZ in a few weeks. And then I need to start working. My sister tells me that she will be able to get me work in a vineyard, I’ll plan on living with her. None of this is definite, and if it doesn’t work out I’m not sure where it leaves me. The money is nearly gone, and when it runs out there is no emergency backup fund.

 

It’s all in flux, but I’m feeling pretty good about the direction everything is heading. It ‘feels’ right.