On the Road Again

Billings and Bozeman!

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 16:05:24 -0400

Oh dear oh dear oh dear I was really bad at this, wasn’t I? Well, let’s see how I do at updating now. Probably more picture heavy than before!

I think I left off after my harrowing bus stop adventure in Laramie. Let’s see. Got to Denver to transfer, watched my stress level get higher and higher as I watched the line for my next bus get longer and longer as I waited to check my bag, finally got in line, waited and waited while the bus was delayed, got annoyed at other people in line, discovered that the guy standing behind me in line had a packet of papers from what seemed to be a 6 month sex offender treatment/rehab program he was on his way home from, then finally boarded the bus just in time to watch a stunningly golden sun set behind the Rockies on the way out of the city…while simultaneously discovering I had chosen a seat near a very loud/rowdy group of adults making inappropriate jokes, one of whom had a Chihuahua service dog named Mr. Winky Winkles. I kid you not.

The pictures don’t really do it justice, but the sunset was so beautiful ohmygahhh.

The only money I had at this point was about $5 in change and 3 $1 bills, since only some ATMs work with my scratched debit card, so despite the fact that we made a few meal/bathroom stops (at which I was informed that Mr. Winky Winkles went many a “tinkle-tinkle”), I wasn’t able to get much to eat other than a very small, overly greasy egg roll…and since pretty much all I’d eaten that day was pancakes, trail mix, and a fruit leather, I wasn’t feeling too good about that situation. Needless to say, by the time we reached Billings, MT early the next morning I was very ready to find a non-finicky ATM, get money, and go buy myself a real breakfast in my 4 hour layover. Buuuuut of course when we pull into the terminal the bus driver tells us to “go directly inside, do not wait around outside-this is not a safe place to be at this time in the morning.” Okaaaaaay…odd. Come to find out there was a violent mugging right outside the bus station a half hour before we got there. And multiple other recent crimes in the area. Soooo…no wandering around town to find food after all. Between the hunger (okay, I wasn’t actually going to starve, by a long shot. But I just wanted some real food!), exhaustion (I hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in an actual bed in like 3 nights), and stress of bus travel and potential muggings, I was just a little cranky. And lonely. And homesick. I think the real low point came after I boarded the next bus when I actually started crying while watching the beautiful young French couple sitting adjacent to me break into a fresh, hearty baguette and top it with thick slabs of cheese and apple or nutella. It looked like heaven. And God, I wanted some.
Luckily, after that things started looking up. The scenery out the window was getting progressively more gorgeous and we stopped at a little roadside coffee shop and I got coffee and a banana (yeah caffeine and fresh food!) and there was a train going by with the mountains in the background:
(again, not good representations of what it actually looked like. But there were mountains. And big sky. And rivers and endless fields with beautiful beautiful horses and giant hay bales and those weathered barns that are so Montana. And it was wonderful.)

Then we made it to Bozeman! And I was super nervous about finding my way to and meeting my next couchsurfing host, but then I did and the free downtown area bus was really simple and I didn’t have to walk as far as I thought and it was gorgeous. And my host was fantastic! The first thing she did was give me my own key, show me to my own room with a big, wonderfully comfortable futon, and tell me I could come and go as I liked, just so long as I didn’t lose my key. Excellent! Then she gave me free rein of the kitchen and shower, told me how to get to a grocery store, and left to go to work-I had a house with internet and a bed and a kitchen and a shower in a beautiful place all to myself! Even more excellent! Then I showered and rested and walked downtown and found an ATM that worked (even if I DID have to walk to the drive-through one) and discovered a quirky little food co-op with delicious fresh food and I bought myself a SALAD and sat outside in the beautiful mountain air to eat. The most excellent!!
The view from the end of my host’s street.
From there, things continued to be pretty good in Bozeman. My host, Nakai, and I met up after she got out of work and walked downtown together for “Music on Main,” where the town shuts down a portion of Main St. for a few hours every Thursday in the summer and there’s live music, food and drink vendors, lots of people, and general gaiety. Or, as N called it, “a big drunken party on the street with some weird bands playing where everyone gets wasted during and afterwards.” I didn’t think the band was all that weird and I didn’t get wasted, but N, her boyfriend, and I did enjoyed the music for a while, ate some delicious felafel, and then ended up bar-hopping around town the rest of the night, sampling some local drinks, meeting some interesting local folks. The night ended with heart-to-heart conversations in the chilly night air on our walk home and a contented sigh as I collapsed, exhausted, into my real bed for far too short a night’s sleep before my adventure to Yellowstone the next day.

Nostalgia and wishes

Sun, 28 Aug 2011 01:28:32 -0400

The wind through the blinds and the soft city sounds make me miss Denmark that much more tonight. <3 Chi-town—you’re no Copenhagen (or Berkeley), but you do have good friends (and delicious food, though that takes less priority than the friends), and that’s important.

Good luck as Irene approaches, east coasters. I hope you get plenty of excitement and little real damage…mostly I just hope everyone stays safe. Definitely kind of wishing I was there to experience it though!

More real updates soon…I’m working on Billings through Bozeman and on photos!

Laramie, day 2, and adventures on the way to Bozeman

Sat, 27 Aug 2011 00:13:29 -0400

Writing this on the long long long bus ride from San Francisco to Denver-no WiFi, but I have the double seat to myself for the time being, so I figured I might as well work on typing this up a bit until my computer battery gets too low…plenty of room to spread out, and I certainly have the time, since I’ll be on the bus for another 26 hours or so. Originally I’d planned to cut this trip into two parts by stopping overnight in Cedar City Utah, but I’m plans have changed quite a bit from what I originally planned-stayed a lot longer in Berkeley, didn’t go to Salinas/Monterey/Big Sur, and I moved my flight earlier, so now I’m headed straight to Denver for one night (really only part of one night at that) then catching a flight back to Chicago early Saturday morning. While I’m not getting to see all the places I wanted to, ultimately I’m so so much happier with this decision-largely because of things that became more clear starting on my second day in Laramie…

So here we go-Laramie, day 2:

Woke up from a marginally restful night’s sleep (the “couch” that S had for me to sleep on was actually a large recliner-very comfortable to sit in, but not great for spending the night on) to a beautiful morning in Laramie. S had offered to continue to show me around town a little, so after breakfast (S made us some very yummy pancakes) I asked her to take me to the site of the old Wyoming Territorial Prison just outside Laramie. It ended up being a really interesting place to tour-this was the prison where a number of famous criminals of the old territorial west-like Butch Cassidy and others-were held, so it was kind of cool to get a little taste of the “Wild West” while I was there. Over the years the prison experimented with various ways to make use of the inmates, so I could also tour the old broom factory where some prisoners had worked at the site.

[[[SIDE NOTE: sitting here on the bus riding through mountains in eastern California- SO BEAUTIFUL! It’s a gorgeous day, there are hawks and other big birds soaring across the brilliantly blue sky, and these mountains are different from others I’ve driven through so far (very rocky). Also interesting to see what must be old fire damage and the new growth coming back. Okay, back to Laramie.]]]

After wandering leisurely through all the exhibits (self-guided tours are great like that-I got to spend all the time I wanted reading things, snapping photographs, and taking it all in) I met back up with S and we headed back to the apartment for some quality time on the internet. I felt really bad to just sit and work on my computer instead of talking with S or going out to explore more, but by that point I was feeling pretty tired and a little awkward around S-she was really great, and we got along well, but, like I said before, it just wasn’t easy, and at that point I really just kind of wanted some time to myself. Plus I really did just need to use the internet. It was about this time that a little nagging worry about my plans for the rest of the trip started to grow-I still hadn’t found places to stay in Salinas/Monterey, Cedar City, or Boulder, I was exhausted already, and-more than anything-I was kind of lonely. It was incredible to be in such a new and different place as Laramie, and in many ways it felt really good to be on my own in this new place, figuring everything out for myself, but in all actuality I was spending more time missing the comfort and ease I’d had in Chicago with M than enjoying where I was. So that was more than a little frustrating.

At any rate, after sending off a few more CouchSurfing requests and doing a lot of thinking it got to be time for me to make my way back to the bus station to head on to Bozeman…and start a whole other adventure. As I think I’d mentioned before, the bus station in Laramie isn’t really much of a station at all-essentially it’s just a gas station with a ticket counter inside where the bus stops along the busy route between Denver and Salt Lake City.

[[[OH MY GOD this place is breathtaking! I know I said it already, but now we’re driving along a ridge, heading down a mountain looking over a gorgeous big lake scattered with sailboats (Lake Tahoe maybe? I’m not sure) and framed by craggy, rocky, snow-covered mountain peaks. Bahhhh!]]]

So the bus-I got to the stop a little over an hour early-the recommended time, and so far what I’d had luck with-to find that the ticket counter was closed (aka no baggage tag for me-my first worry) and everyone was saying that the bus coming from Salt Lake City and going to Denver was completely full and there was no way to get on. Not only that, the next bus wasn’t till 4:30 am (and wouldn’t get to Bozeman till 2 or 3 the next morning). And there was no guarantee I would get on that one, either. I was just a little worried. S said I could stay with her another night if I needed to which was really nice, but there were quite a few problems with that plan as well, and what if I couldn’t end up getting on the morning bus anyway?? At any rate, to make a long story short, I spent the next hour and a half trying to piece together an alternate plan with the help of other people waiting for busses (a very friendly-borderline too friendly-man and a family that was actually from Northampton-the woman teaches French at Mount Holyoke and used to teach at Smith-small world!) and over the phone with Dad which led to feeling even more helpless, the bus arriving, someone getting off who wasn’t originally supposed to, and the bus driver sneaking me on the bus without the other people waiting to get on knowing. I WAS SO RELIEVED. Oh my god.

[[[Interesting-just crossed over into Nevada, and the landscape changed almost instantly-it’s still very hilly/small mountain-y, but now they’re sort of more rolling and really covered only in dry grass and small shrubs-very few trees! And dry, dry, dry. And there are plenty of casinos already.]]]

Needless to say, the whole experience was a bit jarring, and sent my already travel-weary mind into another whole level of worries. Luckily the ride down to Denver and the transfer process there went pretty smoothly-of course there were the usual interesting characters on the bus (my seatmate was actually a really nice guy about my age, but he really wanted to talk and all I wanted to do at that point was relax in my own little world. But we had some good conversations in retrospect) and all those sorts of things, but nothing too major. The stop in Billings, MT in the morning was another story, but I’ll get to that in another entry. Time to post this (because we changed buses in Reno, NV and got a new bus! Yes yes yes! Yeah to wifi and outlets) and try to get some sleep now. Maybe try to post some pictures too, but the internet might be too slow. We’ll see. Until next time!

Photos-a brief selection through Laramie, Day 1

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:14:34 -0400

Chicago! En route to dinner with A and friends, after the GPS took us the much longer but much more scenic route.

Chocolate cake shake ahhhhnomnom. So yummy. (with a side of Maya, enjoying an even huger shake)

The famous Libby, at home with the Dickhuts in Omaha. As cute as promised.

Sunrise over a FLAT land, somewhere in Iowa or eastern Colorado.

Mountains of the Medicine Bow National Forest outside Laramie.

One of the many veryvery pretty, delicate little wildflowers.

I AM still alive!!

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 04:39:57 -0400

I’ve just been super super busy! I’m in Berkeley, CA at the moment, staying with my friend Hana and having a, so far, really excellent time. I have so many adventures and thoughts and things to update here!! Luckily I’ve been jotting things down on paper and taking lots of pictures, but it’s going to take a little while to get everything up on here-bear with me, I WILL get it done!
In the meantime, I just posted my adventures through day 1 in Laramie (right under this post). I started writing back when I was in Bozeman, then finished up a while later, so it’s altogether very much long past due. It’s also pretty detailed…in the future, I think things won’t be quite so much, just so I can get everything up here!

Days 7-8, Cont.

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 04:39:47 -0400

Let’s see…where did I leave off? Right. Kate’s house. Yeah, so K made it home from class around noon, and we headed off to explore Omaha a little. As I discovered, the Big O isn’t actually all that big-bigger than Hartford, but more spread out-but isn’t a bad place by any means. There has been an increase in crime in recent years, but it also won an award for something like the “best value place to live” or something like that. At any rate, after catching up over lunch at a great little burger joint, we headed out to the Omaha botanical gardens. It was great to stretch my legs a bit and get some fresh air as we walked around the relatively young, but very pretty and growing gardens. Once we decided we’d had enough of the heat, we got back in K’s little yellow VW bug to drive around the old market area of Omaha (a neat historic downtown area with shops and restaurants and things), then headed back to relax in the air conditioning at K’s. While K went to her evening class I was able to take a much needed shower and catch up on a few planning things, which was definitely a good thing. The rest of the evening was just really chill-K made a delicious pasta, basil, and goat cheese dish for dinner, which we ate while vegging out watching 30 Rock on Netflix. Eventually it was time to say our goodbyes, and I boarded the bus for my adventure to Laramie. Overall, a great day full of much-needed relaxation-it was so good to see K and catch up a bit…and plus I got to meet the famous Libby!!! =P

The bus ride from Omaha to Denver, CO, where I transferred, was actually pretty good-I got two seats to myself, so I could actually get relatively comfortable and sleep some, I watched a beautiful sunrise over the very, very flat prairie and corn fields of Iowa/Colorado, and then watched the towering Rockies rise up out of the flat flat land.

****************************************

Alright, picking back up now that I have a little time to sit down and write. It’s been a while, so things might be a little less detailed, but I’ve been jotting some things down as I go along, so I think I can piece things together pretty well. Plus I have lots and lots of pictures and memories!

Anyway, where was I? Right-the bus from Omaha to Laramie. I had a pretty long layover in the Denver bus station, which wasn’t particularly enjoyable, but I made do. This station did have the kind of luggage lockers I’ve been on the lookout for that I could’ve left my stuff in if I’d wanted to go walk around, but the machines only took $1 bills, which I had none of, so I decided to save my money and just sit around. Ultimately this was a fine decision, but it did lead to some interesting, more or less unwanted, interactions. I was sitting around, reading through a magazine I had with me, when a woman came up to me, obviously upset, and launched into a story about how she’d been stuck in Denver for 3 days and just needed $14 more to buy a ticket home and the police had told her to go to a shelter but it was full of drug addicts and drunkards and she was terrified and she was the only blonde person there and so she ran and now she was back and she didn’t know what to do and could I help her? Of course I’m always suspicious of people asking for money, but it was hard to ignore how visibly upset she was, so I did what I don’t usually do and gave her a little money. Not enough-all I had was a $20 bill, which I needed, and some change-but I gave her some quarters just to help out. Yes, it could have been all an act, but I figured that hopefully she wasn’t lying, and even if she didn’t use the money for a ticket to Albuquerque she looked like she could use it for something.
Of course, then she decided we were buddies and asked if she could sit with me for a while because she was scared, but it was okay. If she was telling the truth, I would have been scared in her shoes, too.

The ride from Denver to Laramie wasn’t too bad-comparatively short, really beautiful, and I ended up sitting near a German girl who was also traveling around and couchsurfing along the way. She was pretty cool, and there were interesting conversations about perspectives on distance and cultural differences surrounding humor. Mostly I just really enjoy talking to Europeans.

Eventually we made it to the fairly small town of Laramie, where I got off to meet up with my first couchsurfing host, Sandra. I had been pretty nervous about that- I mean, here was this completely random stranger I was meeting up with who I really knew very little about and whose couch I was all of a sudden supposed to crash on for the night. I had no idea what to expect, or what she expected of me, or what we would talk about, or really anything. And again, as with lots of things on this trip, this really isn’t the kind of thing I do often-I’m generally just not that outgoing, always-bubbly person!
But, regardless, there I was, making the phone call to meet up with S despite my worries and the many hotels I could have escaped to had I chickened out (and wanted to spend a lot more money). It turned out she was a pretty cool person, after all. She grew up in New Jersey, went to college for geology at Oberlin in Ohio, then moved to Wyoming to do conservation work and is now in grad school at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, studying counseling.

After we met up at the bus stop, S and I walked back to her apartment where I dropped off my stuff before heading downtown to grab coffee. S brought me to her favorite coffeeshop-a little, Northampton-esque place called the Coal Creek Coffee Company that went by the slogan “Home of the edgy cup of coffee.” Basically, it was a pretty cool place, and sitting there at a table on the sidewalk outside I decided Laramie seemed like an interesting town. The people walking and bike-riding by all seemed like interesting types of people who I might like, and S seemed to know practically every other person that went into the coffee shop.

After coffee we headed back to the apartment to relax a bit before driving a short way up into the hills and low mountains for a short hike (me) and trail run (S). This was absolutely perfect. Exactly what I needed and wanted to do. It was so, so breathtakingly beautiful, there were wildflowers blooming all over, it was a perfect temperature with a light breeze, I got to take lots of pictures…pretty much I was in love. Mountains really do make my heart sing.

Once we’d worked up an appetite through our exercise, we biked back downtown to a fantastic little vegetarian restaurant for some delicious food and drinks. Over dinner S and I chatted a little about Laramie and the surrounding area. I’d been particularly interested in what it’s like to live there; it seems like it would be a pretty conservative-type place, but the vibe I had been getting so far was that it was a lot more sort of “edgy” and “alternative” than I had expected. As it turns out, I was pretty much right in my expectations, but that there is this cool sort of counter-culture type section of the town, which is where Sandra tends to hang out and had been showing me.

Overall my first day of couchsurfing went really well-S was really nice and showed me around, I got some exercise in a lovely place, we ate delicious delicious food…all good things. The whole thing definitely wasn’t 100% comfortable and easy, though. As awesome as S was, we didn’t automatically click and weren’t able to just talk really easily, and given the very small size of her apartment, there really wasn’t much in the way of any sort of privacy. At the end of the day, I was really glad just to crash-poor quality sleep on the bus two nights in a row, a full day of exploring Laramie, and, most importantly, the stress of being constantly “on” in a new situation definitely wore me out.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Okay, that’s all I’ve got at the moment. More real soon, I promise. For real this time!!!

Whew!

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 20:49:00 -0400

Last few days have been an adventure, for sure!! Lots of ups and downs (literally and figuratively) and I’ve been very busy and not had much internet access, so unfortunately not much updating on here. BUT I’m currently in the great little city of Bozeman, MT, in much better spirits than last night and this morning, and basking in the incredible beauty of mountains and big sky country. I’m about to head out for music, food, and drinks with my Couchsurfing host, but hopefully I’ll be able to update for real later tonight or tomorrow night.

Days 7-8: Omaha & Laramie

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 00:26:20 -0400

My apologies if this post isn’t 100% perfectly coherent and well-written…my body thinks it’s real late, even if it’s actually only 10 o’clock here, I’m semi-sleep deprived, aaaaaand I’ve just come back from dinner and drinks in Laramie, WY. So I’m a little out of it. BUT! I want to keep caught up on everything, so I’m writing regardless.

What a couple of days!! I’m not sure I can write everything down in the detail it deserves (or if anyone really even wants to hear ever last detail! =P), but I’ll do my best here. The bus from Chicago to Omaha started off pretty good, but ended up being a bit of an adventure-not horrible-it could have been much much worse, but still not much fun. I did get a window seat, which was great…but it was right near the bathroom (not the worst part, but every time someone went in or out the whole area was filled with an overwhelmingly perfumed horribly chemically smell), and, as I quickly realized, surrounded by some…interesting characters who talked very loudly about strange things (often to no one but themselves). Then, somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Iowa we had to pull over for a long time to help out the other bus headed to Omaha. I wasn’t really sure exactly what was going on, but eventually it became clear that the other bus had broken donwn or something and that we were picking up as many of the passengers as would fit on our bus…Needles to say, there weren’t enough seats for everyone, there were a large number of very unhappy children, and I certainly did not get much sleep. BUT then I eventually made it to Omaha, where I met Kat’s dad at the bus station and he brought me back to their house to rest for a bit while Kate was at class-pretty much exactly what I needed.

H’okay I’m pretty much asleep and no longer coherent. I’ll finish updating later!! And I’ll put up pictures sometime, I promise.

Days 3-6, continued

Mon, 08 Aug 2011 01:34:00 -0400

On the bus again, and lucked out enough to get a window seat on one of the nicer buses with WiFi (particularly exciting since I thought for a while I wouldn’t even get on any bus at all because the line was so long). So picking up where I left off-Friday. The beach trip also involved a dramatic collision of M’s skull with my eyebrow, resulting in a large bump that’s been progressively turning into my first ever black eye. I feel so hardcore. Aw yeah. At any rate, after swimming M 2.0 and I played around on her ripstik…aka, Cara made a complete fool of herself while being completely shown up by a really awesome 11 year old. Ripstiks, as I learned, are sort of like skateboards except kind of more complicated-so since I have major difficulties on skateboards in the first place, you can only imagine how I did with this. Yeah.
Eventually M and I set off for Andria’s place in the city for dinner…which should have been pretty straightforward, but turned into a bit of an adventure when we tried to detour the GPS around traffic. Whoops. It actually turned out for the best, though…we got to drive on Lakeshore Dr, which took us along Lake Michigan, past where Lollapalooza was set up, and real near downtown Chicago. So that was cool. Eventually we did arrive, and it was sososo good to see A again after so long, and to meet some of her friends and see her real nice condo/apartment. Overall, a fantastic evening spent with great company, good food, and interesting conversations. Then on the way back to Winnetka, late-night beach explorations and discoveries with M were a beautiful end to a generally excellent day.
Saturday found M and I on our way to M’s mom’s house in St. Charles, where I was introduced to the Portillo’s Chocolate Cake Shake, a fantastically delicious creation from a Chicago area restaurant chain. SO GOOD AHH. After touring around the area a bit, meeting the famous Deborah for dinner, and watching the sunset from a tower over the Fox River, M and I headed home to get ready for a night out at a club in nearby Elgin. It ended up being a really fun night, even though it always takes me a little while to get into the groove of clubs and everything, no matter how much I do enjoy them…I know this will certainly come as a huge surprise to all of you, but I’m not exactly the most coordinated dancer in the world…=P But I got into it before too long, and then we rocked out till we were exhausted and too disgusting to stand ourselves anymore.
Today was a quiet day, since M and I were both pretty tired from our late night, but I got the chance to take care of some necessary computer things, do laundry, and, of course, get another cake shake before I packed up and M brought me to the bus station. Saying goodbye was a little tough…as incredibly excited as I am for the rest of my trip, I always have a hard time leaving what’s familiar and safe, particularly when what’s next is somewhat uncertain…awesome, but uncertain. Plus, saying goodbye to a close friend with whom I share so much but won’t get to see very often anymore is never easy. I had one of those moments I’d expected would happen where I really, really just wanted a buddy to come along with me, even though I know part of the point of this trip for me was to do it alone.

But now I’m on the road again, riding across the flat flat flat midwest towards Omaha and bigger and better things. I’m nervous and exhausted and need to sleep, but can’t wait to see what the next things hold. Here I go!

(Pictures soon!)

Days 3-6: Chicago(ish)

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 15:01:00 -0400

Long bus trip #1-SURVIVED! It really wasn’t all that bad, either. A few adventures along the way-an intensely angry/upset woman who wasn’t allowed on the bus (probably because she was starting fights? It’s unclear…) when I transferred in Pittsburg was wandering around shouting profanities with tears streaming down her face, so that was a little upsetting. Then I almost missed my bus there because they didn’t tell me I needed a baggage ticket until I was boarding, so I had to run and do that. But beyond that there weren’t really any other problems. Sleeping was…well, difficult, but not as bad as I thought it might be. Once I boarded the bus between Cleveland and Chicago I finally got a window seat, so I was able to curl up with my pillow and blanket and it wasn’t too uncomfortable. Only got about 3 or so hours total probably, but when I woke up I had an interesting chat with my seatmate, listened to podcasts of Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, and then we were there. I think that’s how I’ll survive these things. That and looking out the window-I think there will be some intensely beautiful things out there.
Back to my seatmate-he was quite the guy. From Costa Rica, going to school at NYU of Abu Dhabi, traveling around the US visiting friends, planning to backpack around South America when he graduates, had traveled all over the world, and brings at least one guitar with him wherever he goes (yeah-he sat there in the cramped Greyhound seat for almost 7 hours with a guitar between his knees). And he was only 18. He had some stories, that’s for sure. He also had the longest fingernails I’ve ever seen on a guy (maybe on anyone?) on his right hand, and the shortest on his left. That was a little strange.

Then Chicago! Maya and her little sister (we’ll call her M 2.0 =]) met me at bus station and we took the train (a double-decker train!! Finally! I was excited enough about the double-decker Megabus, but the train?! SO exciting!*) back to their dad’s house in the suburb of Winnetka, which was fantastic. It was great to get there and chill out, shower, brush my teeth, and, of course, reunite with M. Walking/rollerblading/driving around town having important conversations and blasting loud music is always soso welcome too. As are philosophical discussions before sleep. I miss that, when I’m home.
Friday was fantastic-M and I spent the day exploring Winnetka with M 2.0, which was fun-I really like that kid. Swimming in Lake Michigan was an exciting experience-you see on a map how big the great lakes are, but it’s crazy when you get there and it’s like an ocean with waves and absolutely no option of seeing the other side but it’s fresh water and it’s crazyawesome.

Okay, it’s 2 pm and we haven’t done anything yet today and I’m leaving for Omaha later tonight, so I think I’ll finish this later. So much to write about!

*This does reference something from my travels in Europe. Double-decker transportation IS exciting, don’t get me wrong, and it IS the simple things in life that make me happy, but there also IS more of a reason for this excitement. =P

Day 2 in pictures. (Side note-I hate that if you post photos as...

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:23:00 -0400

Bunniesbunniesbunnies

Blackberries!

Rachel laden with nature's bounty.

I mean just look at that face.

Day 2 in pictures.
(Side note-I hate that if you post photos as “photos” rather than “text” you can’t see the captions unless you click on the photos. hmmm)

Day 2

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 22:15:28 -0400

Spent a lovely day with Rachel outside of Philly today It was just a real quick stop there-not even 21 hours-but just enough to relax, get my feet under me, and see R’s mom’s farm, all in the wonderful company of a friend I haven’t spent nearly enough time with in the last year and a half. After a somewhat leisurely start (I stayed in bed till after 9 you guys! That almost never happens!), R and I headed off to see her mom’s farm. You’d think I’d drag my feet about this, but there’s something so much more enjoyable about spending the day on a farm when you’re doing it by choice…I actually WANTED to pick blackberries and peaches and apples! (Yeah-apples already! First fresh off the branch apple of the year-SO MUCH YUM.) Plus there were baby bunnies and who can resist baby bunnies, I mean really.
Then it was back to R’s house for blackberry-peach smoothies, showers, lunch, and relaxing time before I caught my train back to center city. All in all, a great day, and now I’m sitting here on my first actual Greyhound bus, heading into more-or-less unfamiliar territory (I mean, I used to go back and forth between home and Indiana all the time, but I feel like the 12 or so years that have passed since I did that regularly kind of cancel out the familiarity that would’ve brought about)

T.O.T, Day 2:
I guess this was really a thought from yesterday, technically, but regardless-I reaffirmed how much better I like Philadelphia than NYC. I mean, I’m sure NYC can be great and all, and it’s certainly exciting, but it is SO BIG. SO many people. It’s just kind of overwhelming. Philly’s big, sure, and maybe it’s just that I know it better, but it just seems so much more manageable than New York. Friendlier. Homier. Preferable.

R’s family/home makes me happy. I didn’t get to spend much time with them, but it just feels so comfortable there. I think there’s a lot that’s pretty similar to my family/home, so that’s probably why.

Purple daypack’s handle already ripped. I guess that’s what I get for spending only $15 on it. Can’t for get to work on repairing that somehow when I get to Chicago.

I’m nervous about my first late-night transfer and layover. I’ll be in Pittsburg from 12ish to 1ish, and Cleveland for another hour and 20 min at some other point in the wee hours of the morning. We’ll see how this goes.

Okay, off to try to sleep. I still have another 13 or so hours of travel left, so here’s hoping I can get a little shut-eye.

Also Also Also

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:29:53 -0400

…this whole internet on a moving bus thing is sort of strange. Wonderful, fantastic, awesome, but strange.

Additionally, the guy sitting in the seat across from me thinks he’s listening to music on his headphones but everyone can hear it because he’s actually plugged into the speaker jack. This would be horrible, but he’s actually played some really great remixes, so I’m just groovin along. Aww yeah.

Day 1: Thoughts & observations & things (TOT?)

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:04:00 -0400

Not one minute on my first bus and the woman in front of me opens her rather…pungent lunch of leftover fried fish. Something tells me this trip is going to be quite the olfactory adventure.

Carrying around my huge backpack + daypack + camera is difficult, particularly on crowded city sidewalks. I knew it was going to be, but I guess the reality of it hadn’t really been realized yet. Ohhh well…nothing I can do now!!

People watching in large transportation centers is beyond interesting. Again, I knew this, but some things need reiterating. My time in New York pretty much consisted of standing in Penn Station for a little over an hour doing nothing and, while I would have much rather been sitting, I wasn’t even particularly bored or anything. People are SO INTERESTING.

Nothing gives you the warm fuzzies like the kindness of strangers. Barely even said hello and where I was headed to the couple behind me in line at the Megabus stop, and this guy gave me almost $20 worth of Chicago transportation tickets he had leftover from just being there. Instinct tells me to be wary, and it’s not like I gave out all my personal information or anything anyway, but I can’t come up with anything legitimately sketchy about any part of our interaction. I think these were just genuinely generous and friendly people. I mean, they were coming from a conference about inquiry-based education-how bad could they be?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

On to Philadelphia. This still doesn’t feel quite real yet, but I think once I leave Philly it will. Only time will tell, I guess!

Day 1-Heading out

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:23:50 -0400

Well-rested, clean, and put together. We’ll see how long THAT lasts. =P

And I'm off!

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 13:57:00 -0400

Here we go. 31 days. 18 or so states. 10 real stops. Way too many hours on buses. 1 plane ride.
Hartford-Philadelphia-Chicago-Omaha-Laramie-Bozeman-Olympia-Berkeley/San Francisco-Monterey-Big Sur-(L.A.?)-Cedar City-Denver/Boulder-Chicago-Hartford.
Heading off in search of new perspectives, incredible sights, human interactions, old friends, new friends, natural beauty, adventure, and maybe a new place to live for a while.
I have no idea what to expect.
I’m utterly terrified.
I’m so excited.

I’ll post updates whenever I can-maybe lots at times, maybe very few at others. Photos. Lots of photos, most likely of varying qualities. Observations. Stories. Who knows what else.

LET’S DO THIS!!