Transmitting live from a stolen internet connection from one of my neighbors on my newly acquired laptop which I got "brand new" from dell.com "outlet" section, which basically means I only spent $350 for a brand new laptop that has a couple of scratches on it which took me literally 15 minutes to find, and also the fact that it won't shut off with out crashing, but hey, it's microsoft vista. I have finally returned to the great white north of minnesota after over 3 months on the "west wing" of my nationwide road trip. The beard is in still full force, haven't shaved it since early may. It doesn't seem like its grown until I look at pictures from a month or two ago. It's not as noticeable of an change going from 2.5 inches to three then from 1/2 inch to 1inch.
Spent 3 months in Seattle which wrapped up with me seeing U.S.E. about 5 times. Also almost got a D.U.I. . After a late night at a bar ending with me telling one of my long time friends to go fuck himself, I proceeded up I-5 and into lynwood where after peeing on the dumpster behind an Arco gas station, began to pull back out to the main road to find a foot high divider preventing myself from crossing the street onto the right side. I then decided to go for it and unknowingly did not come across a safe place to cross back to the right side of the rode until about a block latter, and yes I did pass an oncoming car in the left side of the road. To my luck I was pulled over instantly and had a conversation with the officer to which he could see I had been drinking, and also reeked of beer given I had just made over 10 gallons of beer earlier that day. I honestly felt fine and knew I would blow some level on a breathalyzer but did not imagine I would end up blowing almost twice the legal limit (my score was .13 for those keeping score at home). I honestly believe that my willingness to participate and not give any bullshit to the cop is the reason why he let me park my car on the road and call my parents at 2:30 am to pick me up and drive my car home. A DUI is one of those things that I always thought I would be smart enough to keep myself out of that type of a situation, but now I realize that .08 is not really drunk driving, it is lightly buzzed driving for us seasoned drinkers.
After that evening, I was pretty contempt with getting the hell out of Seattle. I installed at trailer hitch on my subaru and attached my grandfathers boat which included a foosball table, lazy boy, weight bench, chain saw and much other junk which resulted in an excessive overweight limit on my cars towing ability, but I did it anyways. I was only going over the Cascades, Rockies and about 2000 miles all together.
First stop was Spokane, stayed the night with Paul Knowles. Nothing crazy happened, but just wanted to give a shout-out to my hommie PK (halla, ca ca ca coooooo) Second stop was Yellowstone to where I began to realize that my summer vacation had lasted too long given I was starting to drive back in the snow. Yellowstone was what you expect, lots of animals, almost ran into a bear and if my car insurance asks, this was where the damage to my car door occurred: I believe the story is an elk knocked a boulder into my car door, and not where it actually occurred in the redwoods when I ran into a boulder.
A couple days later I made it back to my house to which no one had checked on it for me for the entire 3 months. All was good except for the fact that one of my trees fell over and ripped the power lines out of my house. Good news/Bad news - don't know how much it will cost to fix, but at least I have some firewood for the winter!
After multiple hours to go through three months of mail and paying multiple bills that were past due that I was not even aware of, I decided to go on another vacation. Seattle Sounders were playing in Kansas City and this would be the last game I could go to. After pounding a 24oz of Steel Reserve in the parking lot, the first half was pretty fun being a hooligan in an opposing stadium. We successfully attempted the "Seattle...Sounders..." call back from across the stadium by having three guys stand on each side of the stadium. There were only about 10 die hard fans that showed up. After the game I traveled 3 hours up to Omaha, NE to hang out with an old friend who got too drunk at the Cornhusker game that day and therefore I was left to find a hotel at about 2 in the morning. Could have scored with the night attendant at the Motel 6, but let's just say she was a little too round for my likening.
On my way back to Minn. I ventured back through South Dakota to where I went on my typical killing spree with a shotgun in the middle of the prairie. Given there was no snow on the ground and the corn was still uncut, there was too much cover for all those tasty furry animals. I was able to get a pheasant to which I shot it at 3 pm, and had it frying for dinner by 6pm. Dinner is dinner when you have to dig out your on shotgun lead.
Next adventure is Halloween back in Seattle for a friends wedding. I think I'm going to implement my facial hair and be a lion for the after party.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
The Fourth Corner
After almost 15,000 driven miles since the 6th of June, I have completed the main objective of the journey: travel to the four corners of the contential United States. I do want to add the oddity that the last corner I traveled to was the one that I lived within a days drive for over 20 years of my life.
After drving and hiking out to Cape Falttery (NW point) I found an illegal camping spot about 15 miles down the road. Probably one of the worst nights sleep I've ever had given the cold, rain, and given my tent was once again only feet from the crashing waves of the ocean, I was awoken consistently by either crashing waves (flashbacks of San Diego), rain, cold, or a semi roaring pass. Given I could not sleep for more than 30 minutes, I was packed up by about 7:00 am and had plenty of time to adventure around the Olympics. I went to the Hoh rainforest and the Olympic hot springs before returning to Bremerton to party into the night until 3 am to which again I woke up in the morning and could not find my pants for about 1/2 hour. In this instance of loosing clothes after a night of drinking, I could only conclude to that in the middle of the night I woke up to probably take a leak and randomly went to sleep in someone elses bed.
Spent some time out in the San Juans at the lot that my parents recently purchased to put a beach/vacation home on. One of the highlights of the night was given this property is at a pinch point in the path of the Friday Harbor ferry which allowed to moon the passing ferry within about 200 yards, I video taped this for documentation purposes. Another cool moment was at night with a campfire and although all I could really see where the stars, I could here seals/otters slapping their tales in the water, Whales coming up for air, and a deer walking up behind me within 15 feet. I would also recommend that you see a ferry in the dark of night with no other lights around. The green glow and the reflections of water with the stars in the sky is quite the memory.
I went to a Seattle Sounders soccer game recently and partaked in the festivites by wearing a team scarf and wearing my green shirt on top of my head while marching to the stadium with the band and hooligans, and Drew Carey. After discovering where the hooligans sat in the stadium I purchased a ticket second-hand to be in that section for the next game. After the first game we were driving through town and drove past a bus stop, I backed up and yelled out "does anyone need a ride to West Seattle" and Mia, a 19 year old girl who works at Target and grew up in Germany, said yes. As many nights have ended in the last 3 months, many beers and good conversations with people I've known for years or have just meet within the last 24 hours.
Last month in Seattle has been great and have caught up with a lot of old friends and concerts and although almost every week has been great, most of the activities don't warrant documentation, but will be remembered. So, I will end this entry, here.
After drving and hiking out to Cape Falttery (NW point) I found an illegal camping spot about 15 miles down the road. Probably one of the worst nights sleep I've ever had given the cold, rain, and given my tent was once again only feet from the crashing waves of the ocean, I was awoken consistently by either crashing waves (flashbacks of San Diego), rain, cold, or a semi roaring pass. Given I could not sleep for more than 30 minutes, I was packed up by about 7:00 am and had plenty of time to adventure around the Olympics. I went to the Hoh rainforest and the Olympic hot springs before returning to Bremerton to party into the night until 3 am to which again I woke up in the morning and could not find my pants for about 1/2 hour. In this instance of loosing clothes after a night of drinking, I could only conclude to that in the middle of the night I woke up to probably take a leak and randomly went to sleep in someone elses bed.
Spent some time out in the San Juans at the lot that my parents recently purchased to put a beach/vacation home on. One of the highlights of the night was given this property is at a pinch point in the path of the Friday Harbor ferry which allowed to moon the passing ferry within about 200 yards, I video taped this for documentation purposes. Another cool moment was at night with a campfire and although all I could really see where the stars, I could here seals/otters slapping their tales in the water, Whales coming up for air, and a deer walking up behind me within 15 feet. I would also recommend that you see a ferry in the dark of night with no other lights around. The green glow and the reflections of water with the stars in the sky is quite the memory.
I went to a Seattle Sounders soccer game recently and partaked in the festivites by wearing a team scarf and wearing my green shirt on top of my head while marching to the stadium with the band and hooligans, and Drew Carey. After discovering where the hooligans sat in the stadium I purchased a ticket second-hand to be in that section for the next game. After the first game we were driving through town and drove past a bus stop, I backed up and yelled out "does anyone need a ride to West Seattle" and Mia, a 19 year old girl who works at Target and grew up in Germany, said yes. As many nights have ended in the last 3 months, many beers and good conversations with people I've known for years or have just meet within the last 24 hours.
Last month in Seattle has been great and have caught up with a lot of old friends and concerts and although almost every week has been great, most of the activities don't warrant documentation, but will be remembered. So, I will end this entry, here.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Oregon "part deux"
So after well over 10,000 miles of a roadtrip to Seattle for which I plan on staying at for about a month, within the first week, of course, I decide to go on another roadtrip which takes me out of the state for 4 days. The destination was a couple of art shows for which my friend Dave (whom were traveling the east half of USA at the beginning of this roadtrip) is selling art that he creates. The first night was a block-party type show in a portland neighborhood. We then traveled to Corvalis or Salem or some city where the Oregon Ducks are at (I don't know, I don't give a shit). We didn't make it to a friends place till midnight. Of course we can't go to sleep right away, so it was almost five hours of drinking and B.S.'n until we realized we had just drank about 10 beers each and with the sunrise approaching, we decided to hike to the top of a hill (similar to Sehome hill for all my Western brothers) to see the sunrise. If you've read any of my previous blogs you know that a scene of nudity is fastly approaching. After a long day of near 100 degree weather, it was nice to be in the woods and close to 65 degree weather. I brought up a sleeping bag and therefore decided to see the sunrise with only what Muhammad gave me.
After not going to bed till 8 am and waking up at 2 pm, we decided to go up to a hotsprings before heading out to the coast for a couple of days. The hot springs were really cool, except for the 10 completely naked old guys of all ages. Similar to a YMCA or Gym where somehow its acceptable for old guys to walk around naked, I guess that is understandable, but there were also a couple of families their where the mother, father, 15 years old son and 10 year old daughter we're all walking around nude. One mother was breastfeeding in one of the pools (all together, it was just fucking weird). On our way back to the car, we came across a situation where a person went crazy on meth, jumped off a cliff and swam out to an island in the middle of the lake. A sheriff was standing there and upon asking him what was going to happen, he stated that a boat was coming and this guy was probably going to get tazed. Sure enough, after a 1/2 hour of him yelling at the top of his lungs about how everyone was going to die at midnight and his fingers where weapons of god, three sheriffs came upon the island and tazed him. I have video of the entire thing if you want to see it.
The next couple of days were spent on the oregon coast, which was cold compared to the mainland, so I kept my pants on from here on out. The two days were filled with hanging out on the beach in a kick-ass vintage sweater, a 3-D kite that is a Pirate ship, and hanging out with art sellers that ranged from a guy who was pre-med but decided to make potery instead, to a guy that was selling a book that was a western-vampire-comedy.
After not going to bed till 8 am and waking up at 2 pm, we decided to go up to a hotsprings before heading out to the coast for a couple of days. The hot springs were really cool, except for the 10 completely naked old guys of all ages. Similar to a YMCA or Gym where somehow its acceptable for old guys to walk around naked, I guess that is understandable, but there were also a couple of families their where the mother, father, 15 years old son and 10 year old daughter we're all walking around nude. One mother was breastfeeding in one of the pools (all together, it was just fucking weird). On our way back to the car, we came across a situation where a person went crazy on meth, jumped off a cliff and swam out to an island in the middle of the lake. A sheriff was standing there and upon asking him what was going to happen, he stated that a boat was coming and this guy was probably going to get tazed. Sure enough, after a 1/2 hour of him yelling at the top of his lungs about how everyone was going to die at midnight and his fingers where weapons of god, three sheriffs came upon the island and tazed him. I have video of the entire thing if you want to see it.
The next couple of days were spent on the oregon coast, which was cold compared to the mainland, so I kept my pants on from here on out. The two days were filled with hanging out on the beach in a kick-ass vintage sweater, a 3-D kite that is a Pirate ship, and hanging out with art sellers that ranged from a guy who was pre-med but decided to make potery instead, to a guy that was selling a book that was a western-vampire-comedy.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Once again It's been almost two weeks and I have traveled and experienced a lot, so here's the skinny (pun on a below bullet point).
- California kind of sucks. It's nice on some levels, but really sucks on other levels. Let me explain:
Too many people. Too many people that don't know how to drive. I've never driven down a 6 lane road with people going the same speed in all 6 lanes.
Hippies. Normally I like hippies and even gave $10 to one that did not have enough gas to get back to camp, but since they have overran all public parks in Cali, there are no places to camp or explore that doesn't cost a fee (to keep the hippies out). Therefore, everything is all touristy and you really loose what makes being in the outdoors great, getting away from other people and signs of civilization.
- San Diego. First day I went to a park/beach called "Border Park" which is obviously/litterally right on the U.S.A./Mexico border. The US side is a desert/swamp land with a nice beach and on the mexico side is wall to wall people, hotels... As you walk down the beach torwards the border, you notice that the US fence stops about 50 feet from the ocean whereas the mexican fence continues into the water, expect their are only a couple of telephone type poles which people can walk through with ease. There is border patrol all over the place and this is what keeps the mexicans on their side, but after sitting about 20 yards from the border for 20 minutes, I saw two mexicans running up the beach into America. I knew they saw me with my camera and thought they were going to mug me, but they simply ran by saying "hello", to which I replied "Hola" and they continued running up the US beach. A couple minutes later two other mexicans came running by me, within about 20 feet and once again were very nice and simply said "hello". I turned around and noticed that the border patrol SUV had left and therefore allowed for the mexicans to cross the border without notice. Fearing a free-for-all, i began to walk back up the beach and then saw about 10 border patrol agents (helicopters, SUV's, ATV's...) all emerging on the mexicans and saw them arrested up the beach about 1/2 mile.
One of the nights I got drunk by 9 oclock and passed out sleeping in my car until 2 am and didn't want to wake the person I was crashing with so I went to camp on the La Jolla beach. The surf was out about 50-100 feet when I set up my tent at 2 am, but by 4 am waves were hitting my tent and my car was surrounded by water. I was able to get out in time without loosing my car to the pacific ocean. I went back that beach later that day and that spot that I camped was under about 6 feet of water.
- Sequoia Nat Park: Their was one mountain river that flowed down a vally where the rocks were huge and erroded smoothly. The river carved out many jacuzzi sized swimming pools through which this stream/river snaked down them mountain. Given the rock was so smooth and slippery it made for a great slip n slide effect. I could slide about 10 feet at a time in three or four different sections. If you recall back to a previous post and the beginning of this post, you may sense where this story turns to: I decide to then slide down these rocks in the nude. One caution about doing this is the result of going about 4 times faster and 10 times farther when you don't have the friction of your swimming trunks. You could imagine my instant fear when I first started my decent and fact that there were many pools which had drop offs of over 10 feet into them to which I would shurly break my leg if I slid into one of these. It is also good to note at this time of the warning signing at the pull-off from the road warning that people have died in this river. So that was what I was thinking about as I started to pick up speed and head for a couple of these pools. After doing all that I could to pull myself away from these death traps, I did make it safely to the big bottom pool which I had been swimming in. After swimming out and in a panic state for some time, I decided to do this again. It was fun.
- San Francisco: Friend of mine bailed in letting me crash at her place so I had to find someone to stay with last minute. Through Couchsurfing.com, the only person that could take me in was obviously a gay couple in a one bedroom apt. Really cool though, didn't have any problems with them trying to make out with me, but given I have a long beard now, I don't think I'm anyone's type.
- Redwood forest: tried camping one night illegally by a river and in the matter of getting stuck on the shore, backed up my car into a rock when driving in reverse. Don't have an estimate yet, but expect thousands of dollars of damage or may have to replace the car door.
- Grants Pass, Oregon: Stayed with an old friend of the family who is a dairy farmer. Came back to the farm at 10 that night to about 50 cows walking in the street/highway to which the police had been called and required me giving them my information saying I am not family of the farm I was staying at but was the only person their and had no idea to do with 50 cows out in the road.
Ok, this is too long, and more stories will require buying me a drink, or just waiting till I get drunk and then you won't be able to get me to stop telling these stories.
- California kind of sucks. It's nice on some levels, but really sucks on other levels. Let me explain:
Too many people. Too many people that don't know how to drive. I've never driven down a 6 lane road with people going the same speed in all 6 lanes.
Hippies. Normally I like hippies and even gave $10 to one that did not have enough gas to get back to camp, but since they have overran all public parks in Cali, there are no places to camp or explore that doesn't cost a fee (to keep the hippies out). Therefore, everything is all touristy and you really loose what makes being in the outdoors great, getting away from other people and signs of civilization.
- San Diego. First day I went to a park/beach called "Border Park" which is obviously/litterally right on the U.S.A./Mexico border. The US side is a desert/swamp land with a nice beach and on the mexico side is wall to wall people, hotels... As you walk down the beach torwards the border, you notice that the US fence stops about 50 feet from the ocean whereas the mexican fence continues into the water, expect their are only a couple of telephone type poles which people can walk through with ease. There is border patrol all over the place and this is what keeps the mexicans on their side, but after sitting about 20 yards from the border for 20 minutes, I saw two mexicans running up the beach into America. I knew they saw me with my camera and thought they were going to mug me, but they simply ran by saying "hello", to which I replied "Hola" and they continued running up the US beach. A couple minutes later two other mexicans came running by me, within about 20 feet and once again were very nice and simply said "hello". I turned around and noticed that the border patrol SUV had left and therefore allowed for the mexicans to cross the border without notice. Fearing a free-for-all, i began to walk back up the beach and then saw about 10 border patrol agents (helicopters, SUV's, ATV's...) all emerging on the mexicans and saw them arrested up the beach about 1/2 mile.
One of the nights I got drunk by 9 oclock and passed out sleeping in my car until 2 am and didn't want to wake the person I was crashing with so I went to camp on the La Jolla beach. The surf was out about 50-100 feet when I set up my tent at 2 am, but by 4 am waves were hitting my tent and my car was surrounded by water. I was able to get out in time without loosing my car to the pacific ocean. I went back that beach later that day and that spot that I camped was under about 6 feet of water.
- Sequoia Nat Park: Their was one mountain river that flowed down a vally where the rocks were huge and erroded smoothly. The river carved out many jacuzzi sized swimming pools through which this stream/river snaked down them mountain. Given the rock was so smooth and slippery it made for a great slip n slide effect. I could slide about 10 feet at a time in three or four different sections. If you recall back to a previous post and the beginning of this post, you may sense where this story turns to: I decide to then slide down these rocks in the nude. One caution about doing this is the result of going about 4 times faster and 10 times farther when you don't have the friction of your swimming trunks. You could imagine my instant fear when I first started my decent and fact that there were many pools which had drop offs of over 10 feet into them to which I would shurly break my leg if I slid into one of these. It is also good to note at this time of the warning signing at the pull-off from the road warning that people have died in this river. So that was what I was thinking about as I started to pick up speed and head for a couple of these pools. After doing all that I could to pull myself away from these death traps, I did make it safely to the big bottom pool which I had been swimming in. After swimming out and in a panic state for some time, I decided to do this again. It was fun.
- San Francisco: Friend of mine bailed in letting me crash at her place so I had to find someone to stay with last minute. Through Couchsurfing.com, the only person that could take me in was obviously a gay couple in a one bedroom apt. Really cool though, didn't have any problems with them trying to make out with me, but given I have a long beard now, I don't think I'm anyone's type.
- Redwood forest: tried camping one night illegally by a river and in the matter of getting stuck on the shore, backed up my car into a rock when driving in reverse. Don't have an estimate yet, but expect thousands of dollars of damage or may have to replace the car door.
- Grants Pass, Oregon: Stayed with an old friend of the family who is a dairy farmer. Came back to the farm at 10 that night to about 50 cows walking in the street/highway to which the police had been called and required me giving them my information saying I am not family of the farm I was staying at but was the only person their and had no idea to do with 50 cows out in the road.
Ok, this is too long, and more stories will require buying me a drink, or just waiting till I get drunk and then you won't be able to get me to stop telling these stories.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Las, Las, La La La...
I've never been a fan on going on and on about stories so since it's been a while since my last blog and have traveled half way across the country in the last week here's some bullet points:
- Camped illegally on the Colorado river in Utah just outside the Arches National Park.
- Camped illegally on a Indian reservation just outside of the Grand Canyon.
*** With these two camping experiences, I would like to make a sub note in the favor of nude camping. It is only when you are truly in the middle of the desert, naked, and all alone to you truly feel comfortable that you could be attacked by a wild boar and would be sure that there would be no remains. What you must first contemplate is the cost/benefit ratio of fighting this wild boar and having what would be one of the best pulled pork meals you would have ever consumed vs. the potential to walking out of the desert without your native name "walks with third leg" no longer applicable.
.... pause for contemplation ....
- Spent two nights walking the Las Vegas strip with a forty in hand, amungst many other beverages, and meeting people from all around the world. Oddest point was when I met two Irish chicks getting hit on by a Canadian guy and then turning to talk to some Californian's (pulls of Jack and Tequilla were shared) and they over heard me saying "yeah I'm just hanging out in front of the Bellagio for the next show (scence from Oceans 11, 12 or ? movie) with these two irish chicks and this douche bag from Canada"
- Vegas wasn't to bad, I was there on a Sun/Mon stint and therefore was pretty mellow, most of what did happen will be obviously labeled with the disclaimer "What happens ...."
- The water is really not that bad in the salt bed in Death Valley.
I'm currently just out side of Las Angeles and had a really cool moment when my family member asked if I wanted a lemon to go in my Corona, he simple walked to his back yard and pulled a fresh lemon right off of his tree. Also ate a lemon whole, all you need is a lot of salt.
I should be done with the 100+ degree heat, most is camping along the California, Oregon and Washington Coast, oh shit no, I need to camp one night in the dunes in Oregon, Fuck.
- Camped illegally on the Colorado river in Utah just outside the Arches National Park.
- Camped illegally on a Indian reservation just outside of the Grand Canyon.
*** With these two camping experiences, I would like to make a sub note in the favor of nude camping. It is only when you are truly in the middle of the desert, naked, and all alone to you truly feel comfortable that you could be attacked by a wild boar and would be sure that there would be no remains. What you must first contemplate is the cost/benefit ratio of fighting this wild boar and having what would be one of the best pulled pork meals you would have ever consumed vs. the potential to walking out of the desert without your native name "walks with third leg" no longer applicable.
.... pause for contemplation ....
- Spent two nights walking the Las Vegas strip with a forty in hand, amungst many other beverages, and meeting people from all around the world. Oddest point was when I met two Irish chicks getting hit on by a Canadian guy and then turning to talk to some Californian's (pulls of Jack and Tequilla were shared) and they over heard me saying "yeah I'm just hanging out in front of the Bellagio for the next show (scence from Oceans 11, 12 or ? movie) with these two irish chicks and this douche bag from Canada"
- Vegas wasn't to bad, I was there on a Sun/Mon stint and therefore was pretty mellow, most of what did happen will be obviously labeled with the disclaimer "What happens ...."
- The water is really not that bad in the salt bed in Death Valley.
I'm currently just out side of Las Angeles and had a really cool moment when my family member asked if I wanted a lemon to go in my Corona, he simple walked to his back yard and pulled a fresh lemon right off of his tree. Also ate a lemon whole, all you need is a lot of salt.
I should be done with the 100+ degree heat, most is camping along the California, Oregon and Washington Coast, oh shit no, I need to camp one night in the dunes in Oregon, Fuck.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
For Ethel
Currently in a place where even the most detailed Atlas would not have any information about: 10 miles South East of Seneca, S.D. I've been here for almost a week after driving up from New Orleans a week ago. New Orleans was awesome, everything I hoped it to be. You know when you have good friends when they give you their last $20 on them to contribute to a fund to pay for a lap dance :) Took a "hitchhiker" up to St. Louis for a stop over on my way up to Minneapolis. Hung out with some hippies, had fried chicken and waffles for breakfast, went up the Arch and went to a museum where adults can play on a playground in an old abandoned warehouse.
I was driving up to Minneapolis to pick-up my parents flying into town and then heading out to South Dakota for a family reunion and the 4th. My Grandma has been in a nursing home for a couple years and about 2 hours before we got into town she passed. Therefore, the remainder of this road trip will be dedicated to my g-ma Ethel and will make note of this by noting this on a gator head I bought in the florida swamps and will fashion it to the hood of my car for the remaing leg of the trip. The reunion went well, first night ended up with me wrestling in a grain elevator at 3 o'clock in the morning. I believe the youngest kid I was drinking with that night was 16, also shared a couple of beers with the Sheriff. Another highlight was meeting a uncle I had never met before. We had lost contact with him for years and was unfortante that the passing of his mother was the only way to make contact with him.
Shot a pheasant today with a 22. not only is shooting a good size bird with a 22 hard, but also illegal when its 4 months out of season. I only note this give they have nice tail feathers and the recently bought large cowboy/old person hat for which I needed some type of bird feathers to accomodate.
I was driving up to Minneapolis to pick-up my parents flying into town and then heading out to South Dakota for a family reunion and the 4th. My Grandma has been in a nursing home for a couple years and about 2 hours before we got into town she passed. Therefore, the remainder of this road trip will be dedicated to my g-ma Ethel and will make note of this by noting this on a gator head I bought in the florida swamps and will fashion it to the hood of my car for the remaing leg of the trip. The reunion went well, first night ended up with me wrestling in a grain elevator at 3 o'clock in the morning. I believe the youngest kid I was drinking with that night was 16, also shared a couple of beers with the Sheriff. Another highlight was meeting a uncle I had never met before. We had lost contact with him for years and was unfortante that the passing of his mother was the only way to make contact with him.
Shot a pheasant today with a 22. not only is shooting a good size bird with a 22 hard, but also illegal when its 4 months out of season. I only note this give they have nice tail feathers and the recently bought large cowboy/old person hat for which I needed some type of bird feathers to accomodate.
Monday, June 22, 2009
The Big Easy...
Made way to the Big Easy last night. First stop was Bourbon street: 90+ degrees, high humidty, good jazz, gumbo and a mint julep. Spent today exporing the ninth ward, french quarter ... I would have to say that although New Orleans is one of the most ghetto city I've seen, it definately has more character than any other city.
Florida wrapped up with a gator airboat ride and jumping into another spring in Tallahassee (this spring included a lot of hicks and visually seeing full size gators swimming only a couple hundred feet away from where everyone was jumping into the water). Pulled over for going 37 in a 15 mph zone in a fuckin national park. Didn't get a ticket, but could have been really screwed.
Time to go hit up Bourbon street again, good food, good music and loose women, I'm beginning to like this place.
Florida wrapped up with a gator airboat ride and jumping into another spring in Tallahassee (this spring included a lot of hicks and visually seeing full size gators swimming only a couple hundred feet away from where everyone was jumping into the water). Pulled over for going 37 in a 15 mph zone in a fuckin national park. Didn't get a ticket, but could have been really screwed.
Time to go hit up Bourbon street again, good food, good music and loose women, I'm beginning to like this place.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Gator country
Tenesse concluded with sperlunking near the smoky mountains. We went down a couple different caves, but would expect we went a couple thousand feet down and into both of them. We had to hike up to the middle of the mountain, it was 100 degrees and and almost the same level of humidity. I only make note of this given there was a 55 degree breeze pouring out of the small entrance. Besides a couple of bats and endless pits that we confirmed with a couple of empty soldiers, not much else to say, but pretty cool. Another cool find was a waterfall from a stream. What made this one cool was the 150 foot drop off and the washed out bottom which allowed you to walk around the water fall with a couple hundred feet all around. So basically you had a large swimming hole with a waterfall hitting in the very middle of the swimming hole. Just get the visual of me in my underwear with a tall water fall pouring on me. Also note that I haven't shaved for over a month.
For the last couple of days, all I can sing is "Welcome to Miami" from Will Smith. Currently in South Miami, stayed at Miami Beach last night and traveled all the way out to Key West and back today. Looking to wrestle with some gators and make way in Tallahassee tomorrow night. We stayed in Tallahassee on the way down from Tenessee. Let's just say the first night in Florida included swinging from a rope swing naked into a sinkhole/spring in the swamp. We spotted our landing area with a flashlight, this also served the purpose of highlighting a snake in the water which we think eventually moved on.
I wanted to take this time to inform everyone that the globe is wrong. You may find it commonly refered to as a point in Key West which is "the most southern point" in the united states. There is a huge monument at this so claimed point, but if you jump the barrier, their is a small collection of rocks that stick out of the ocean, it is here, only 10 feet from the monument, which is where we celebrated being the furthest south. A couple beers were consumed while showing the new jersey state bird to Cuba. There is also a military base which consumes the very far southern tip of the island which would be the most southern tip. So if this base is not included, is it not American? I believe this is similar to Git-mo. I believe Cuba actually owns this base to compensate for Git-mo and therefore would give more accuracy to the accuracy of the globe. Planning to be in San Diego in a month, so we'll see if Japan has any bases.
For the last couple of days, all I can sing is "Welcome to Miami" from Will Smith. Currently in South Miami, stayed at Miami Beach last night and traveled all the way out to Key West and back today. Looking to wrestle with some gators and make way in Tallahassee tomorrow night. We stayed in Tallahassee on the way down from Tenessee. Let's just say the first night in Florida included swinging from a rope swing naked into a sinkhole/spring in the swamp. We spotted our landing area with a flashlight, this also served the purpose of highlighting a snake in the water which we think eventually moved on.
I wanted to take this time to inform everyone that the globe is wrong. You may find it commonly refered to as a point in Key West which is "the most southern point" in the united states. There is a huge monument at this so claimed point, but if you jump the barrier, their is a small collection of rocks that stick out of the ocean, it is here, only 10 feet from the monument, which is where we celebrated being the furthest south. A couple beers were consumed while showing the new jersey state bird to Cuba. There is also a military base which consumes the very far southern tip of the island which would be the most southern tip. So if this base is not included, is it not American? I believe this is similar to Git-mo. I believe Cuba actually owns this base to compensate for Git-mo and therefore would give more accuracy to the accuracy of the globe. Planning to be in San Diego in a month, so we'll see if Japan has any bases.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Bonarooooooooo
Bonaroo festival has just ended. 3 days, 4 nights of music and (fun). May need to revise the count of days given i didn't sleep some of the nights. Overall, good people, everyone was so involved with the scene that I can't say I saw one person not having a good time. Highlights included seeing the final show of NIN in the United States, two types of Moonshine (good quote I pulled from a local Tenesse band " Moon don't shine on moon shiners". Also saw Jimmy Falon and may be in the background of an insult the comic dog Q&A.
In the last week we have gone from Minneapolis to Chicago, Rural PA and Philly (had three cheese steaks in 12 hours, yes one was for breakfast.) and last stop before Bonaroo was D.C. Dave and I had a gun pulled on us when we arrived at my friends house in rural PA at 3 am. We set up tents in his backyard and got rip roaring loaded throughout the night and into the morning. By 8 o'clock in the morning, I was drinking Jager out of the bottle and had evolved into CWK. My PA friends roomate did not know we were coming in at all and therefore upon his waking up to a guy running around singing Andrew WK and about twenty empties showing their final resting place on his back lawn, he confronted us with the second ammendment in mind. Things were cool fairly fast and then he made us breakfast. Had some interesting breakfast sausage which I recall was made of face meat.
Philly incorporated eating a lot of cheesesteaks, jumping into the river that my friend was paralyzed from on the exact date a year ago and running up the rocky steps, and then falling down when I tried to run too fast down the steps jumping over as many as I could (alcohol was involved, it will be a good time to note that all actions posted will have the caveat that alcohol was involved)
Currenlty, I am in Crossville, TN having a post bonaroo party with the group of friends we camped with. As stated above, alcohol will be involved, but expect moonshine to be the weapon of choice and will be filling up the reserves with this particular alcohol, it may be safe to say that moonshine will play a role in most of our adventures from TN, Florida, New Orleans. The shine we've had is by far the best alcohol I've ever had, not just moonshine/grain alchohol. This stuff is like drinking apple juice, most is peach flavored. It is so finely crafted that if you were not told that it was alcoholic, let alone 90% or whatever % it is, you would think that someone is just giving you a cup of juice.
Heading for Florida tomorrow, looking to spend a night on the beaches in the florida keys. Then back up and west torwards New Orleans
In the last week we have gone from Minneapolis to Chicago, Rural PA and Philly (had three cheese steaks in 12 hours, yes one was for breakfast.) and last stop before Bonaroo was D.C. Dave and I had a gun pulled on us when we arrived at my friends house in rural PA at 3 am. We set up tents in his backyard and got rip roaring loaded throughout the night and into the morning. By 8 o'clock in the morning, I was drinking Jager out of the bottle and had evolved into CWK. My PA friends roomate did not know we were coming in at all and therefore upon his waking up to a guy running around singing Andrew WK and about twenty empties showing their final resting place on his back lawn, he confronted us with the second ammendment in mind. Things were cool fairly fast and then he made us breakfast. Had some interesting breakfast sausage which I recall was made of face meat.
Philly incorporated eating a lot of cheesesteaks, jumping into the river that my friend was paralyzed from on the exact date a year ago and running up the rocky steps, and then falling down when I tried to run too fast down the steps jumping over as many as I could (alcohol was involved, it will be a good time to note that all actions posted will have the caveat that alcohol was involved)
Currenlty, I am in Crossville, TN having a post bonaroo party with the group of friends we camped with. As stated above, alcohol will be involved, but expect moonshine to be the weapon of choice and will be filling up the reserves with this particular alcohol, it may be safe to say that moonshine will play a role in most of our adventures from TN, Florida, New Orleans. The shine we've had is by far the best alcohol I've ever had, not just moonshine/grain alchohol. This stuff is like drinking apple juice, most is peach flavored. It is so finely crafted that if you were not told that it was alcoholic, let alone 90% or whatever % it is, you would think that someone is just giving you a cup of juice.
Heading for Florida tomorrow, looking to spend a night on the beaches in the florida keys. Then back up and west torwards New Orleans
Saturday, June 6, 2009
It has begun...
It is often stated that the heart of any road trip is the beer cooler. Mine is blue and have hearby designated it with the name of "Senor Blue Balls". I have also noted that sno-cones are $1 (old SNL skit with Will Ferral). Dave Ryan and I are in Minneapolis and heading torwards Chicago today. Haven't found anyone to let us sleep at their place yet, but nonetheless, we have camping equipment and may try to camp at Buckingham fountain in the trees.
Monday, June 1, 2009
In a galaxy far far away...
Thanks to the most hated Irish man I know (Ben Ballew), I have decided to start a blog. Blogging is not really my penchant (word of the week). But I have decided to start one none-the-less given I am about to travel across this country for 2-3 months, and would expect to have some stories to share. If not, I will at least have documentation to track any run-in's that leave me at the bottom of a well requiring me to put lotion on myself. My friend Dave Ryan is flying into Minneapolis this friday the 5th and our first destination will be Penn. Dave attempted to travel the four corners of the country last year and dove head first into a river in PA and become temporarily paralyzed. So, it has been decided that this location be the first stop and continue the trip by jumping back into this river.
We are then planning on going to the Bonaroo music festival in Tennesse, Florida Keys, New Orleans and then back to Minneapolis by the 4th of July. My parents are flying into town and I will have a mini road trip taking me out to S. Dakota over the 4th to which Dave and I will then resume our cross country adventure heading down to the Grand Canyon, California and back up to WA. Looking to be back in WA by end of July. I'm looking to stay in WA for a couple of weeks before returning back to Minneapolis. That's about as much detail as I have right now, not looking to plan anything more than this, just going to meet people along the way and see where the road takes us!
Suck it,
Corey D.
We are then planning on going to the Bonaroo music festival in Tennesse, Florida Keys, New Orleans and then back to Minneapolis by the 4th of July. My parents are flying into town and I will have a mini road trip taking me out to S. Dakota over the 4th to which Dave and I will then resume our cross country adventure heading down to the Grand Canyon, California and back up to WA. Looking to be back in WA by end of July. I'm looking to stay in WA for a couple of weeks before returning back to Minneapolis. That's about as much detail as I have right now, not looking to plan anything more than this, just going to meet people along the way and see where the road takes us!
Suck it,
Corey D.
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