Kerouac and Cassidy

Last

2009-12-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

Let me start my last entry by saying owls. Apples and owls. Yep. Allow me to elaborate. In Texas, when we cleaned that older woman's apartment, there were more owl whatnots than the average person could fathom, then, a few doors down, in Savannah's grandma's apartment, there was an owl calendar and figurine; In New Orleans, we saw owl jewelry and decorations and one day I was walking to meet savannah and we both had something to show eachother which we'd found in the few hours we had spent apart: we each had a picture of an owl; there were seven owls in the bedroom we stayed in in New York, and more in the living room and on the balcony; we got to michigan and saw one or two at Meredith's in movies and on t.v., then we got to Craig's and on his firont portch the first thing we was as we pulled up was a broom made to look like a... yes. We got inside and what was on the stereo? Yeah. A band called Owl City. Owl effing City!
Now, apples. All we ate in Vegas were apples, we ate jam made from "cactus apples" in Texas, we woke up in the New Orleans mornings to Fiona Apple, then we drove to the "Big Apple" where we went dumpster diving and made off wit a backpack full of apples. We traveled to Ann ARbor where we found two perfect apples on the ground, one for each of us, and ate apple pie as we listened to Owl City. I have no statement to make about this, I'm just observing.
On a far more pertinent note, like Lynzie, I have comprised a list of lessons learned:
1. Just like my cousin said, you should trust most people.
2. The harder I try to look good, the less pretty I feel; I need to just feel beautiful the way I roll out of bed.
3. No matter how hard you try, you will lose all your bobby pins. All of them.
4. Make sure the people you have arranged to stay with know you are coming.
5. Karma is effective.
6. Being prepared for anythign is good, but arrying all of that preparedness can be heavy; mabye there's nothing wrong with picing a few things up along the way as the necessity arises.
7. You can easily steal most anything, but don't.
8. Impulsive tattoos are always a good idea.
9. Clean your kitchen EVERY day.
10. Self discovery is never ending.
11. I can have anything.
I will be famous in three months. Yep. I won't last in Oregon. I learned that I can have what I want and what I want is to live off my music and New Orleans. And so I will have this and if I'm not practicing, PLEASE do me a favor and guilt me 'til I cry or practice or both. I love EVERONE!

The Dog

2009-12-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

The moment I sat down on the bus, I panicked. I couldn't breathe, I felt like I was going to puke, I felt so clausterphobic at the idea of going back. Though yesterday I wanted nothing more than to be in my parents' kitchen, today I want to run back to New York where it's new and busy and exciting or home to New Orleans where the music is ceaseless and the sunshine is vibrant and warm. Today, I don't want to unpack my backpack.
But, I'm out of money and some hot food sounds lovely. I am excited to share my stories and pictures and music and souveniers. -my pack is so very much heavier than when I left-
My mom graciously put some food money in our account so we spent the last bit of cash we had on pizza. It was so perfect, getting off the bus to eat pizza in a bar in Chicago as the bulls played on t.v. We've done so many quintessential things, so tourist-y, you'd think we weren't American :)
We pushed furthur North and everything began to look powdered-sugared. We passed silos and dairy cows and old farm houses all looking prestine in their snowy dusting.
I can't help but daydream about Christmas. To be warm inside with my family. It's funny how even though it's only been a month I miss my family like it's been years. When I was little it was the tradition to bake Christmas cookies with my mom and it has broken my little heart to miss it the past few years. Well I missed Halloween this year, so I'll be gol-darned if I miss frosting those little rein-deer or Santa Clauses! I can't wait to see the whole Mizell clan! I'm going to eat until I feel like I'll burst, and then I'll eat some of Aunt Mary's pie. Ooh! And I want, no, we need to have another family jam session.
Well, after six straight hours without a stop, a hoard of people on the verge of a nic-fit poured off the bus into Fargo. This town is painfully cold. The skin on my face stung and my nostrils burned as I breathed. The last thing I had anticipated was to be glad to be back on the dog, but these things have powerful heaters!
I broke out the guitar to practice and I'll tell you, a girl cannot have a guitar in her hand without an audience forming. Jewel seems to be the consensus. Everyone has someone to compare me to, but Jewel is the one I get the most. That actually became my nickname on the bus. I had always wanted a nickname and this trip has delivered. I've been dubbed Jewel, the barefoot something-or-other, #36, and my personal favorite, Chastity Sunshine!
Well, we've made our last c onnection an dnow we're headed South. I don't know how to feel. I'm so excited to be off the bus, but the last thing I want is for my adventure to end.

Ann Arbor

2009-12-02T15:23:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting because I didn't want Jimi to track me down, but he did anyway. It was unsettling and enlightening and the reason we got on the bus two weeks early. But! Aside from Jimi, it was wonderful to be in Ann Arbor, again. Though the outside air was frigid, inside I felt cozy, nestled into a cucoon of familiarity.
Eva's Czech accent makes her sound cold, but she has a heart twice the size of my head! We slept a few nights in her living room, eating cereal and talking coffee and travel. Meredith spoiled us with a spot on her futon and her husband spoiled us with pancakes and vegan McMuffins. Craig, well, I'll giggle to my friends about the time spent at his house, but his girlfriend graciously offered up her bed to us and in return I broke her Sandalwood Vanilla candle, 'cause nothing says thank you like glass in your feet!
The friends of my friends who we knew for an evening (be it line dancing in Ypsilanti or drunk in Craig's living room) felt like companions I'd always had and filled in any bits of homesickness.
- Home, what a strange term that has become. No, I am a citizen of the world. I am not from any place and I refuse to live in a particular place. I have learned freedom.-
We were fed and entertained (and I was made to feel dizzy) and Kaleigh drove us to the bus station. Goodbye, Annie!

11/24

2009-11-24T15:14:00.000-08:00

The ride to Michigan - Everything went off without a hitch. Mostly. Our ride picked us up, after we grabbed a handful of free pancakes from the hostek and luck us, one of the people our ride was supposed to pick up was ill, so Sav and I got the backseat of this spacious SUV to ourselves. The friver wound up actually being a man who I had met at Beaner's on several occasions! What a small world! The woman we picked up used to be a D.J. but now does music for movies and for radio commercials.
We were all set to go, when the engine began to steam. Our driver had to borrow a pair of pliars to pull a tiny wire which would pop his hood, because the handle was gone. We just parked and let it cool down, and once all was well, we headed East.
It was a perfectly uneventful ride, filled with daydreans of NOLA and Nora and catching favorite songs on the radio interspersed with aweful Christmas music (because aweful is the only kind of Christmas music). We passed through Scranton as we faded in and out of sleep and I wished we could stop, but the two up front were too involved in conversation and I was ready for a real bed.
Then we were there. It was positively surreal. For years this was my home and almost nine months had passed since I'd seen this city's face. Sure, nine months isn't a long time, but when you've only been alive for 21 years, that's a good chunk of time.
Eva and Steve welcomed us with open arms and their miniature dogs welcomed us like two tiny car alarms. We spent a good three hours catching up and positively passed out. It feels good to be back.

11/23

2009-11-23T15:01:00.000-08:00

Her name is Nora, and she is an angel. I just dropped my notebook on the ground and knocked over a beer bottle, I looked up and she was smiling at me. -our conversation earlier tonight drifted in the direction of oreintation, but I never got an answer out of her- We met last night in the common room, but she was quiet.
We're having one of those eye conversations across the room. She's expressing that the girl next to her is smelly and we agree that every word that comes out of this female"s mouth is crap.
Nora has no idea what my mouth wants to say.
*sigh* What a day. We began it with a genuine New York bagel and ended it with more free food than we know what to do with. Savannah and Nora and I went trapsing all around fifth and then Park Avenue. We git a back pack full of apples and a pretzle, some fruit cups, and even a pair of boots!
We learned the most fantastic German game! When someone burps, you put your hand to your forehead in a particular way and say "Schultz." The last person to say it gets hit on the head. Also, fun tidbit, Nora says that in her country, if you step in dog poop or a bird poos on your head it's good luck. I really don't see why it wouldn't be. I mean, ya look at how many humans there are and how much space there is that is occupied by no human at all, it really is a wonder that you get shat on! We talked about the word "anus" for god knows how long, one bad pun after another, and sang some Johnny Cash. Our new friend was even brave enough to ask a man at a food stand if he was feeling generous for some broke, hungry kids and he handed us falafel! We downed our chickpea awesome-ness and dragged our tired selves back to the hostel$ three and a half steraight hours of dumpster diving will take it out of you.
We're back in the common room now and Paul is here, again, sober this time, and with hardly a recollection of me$ I have one night and I will never see this girl again, and the sad part is that I'm not even brave enough to ask for one kiss.

11/22

2009-11-22T23:46:00.000-08:00

I'll tell you, unless you've had people react to you this way, I don't know if you can understand where I'm coming from. The way folks respond to my music just blows me away. I have had more positivity in regards to my art on this trip than I think I've witnessed since New Girl ;P I was playing in the lounge room of the East Village hostel we checked into (I had only intended to practice, but a New Zealander girl demanded that I play) and everyone melted. I couldn't believe it! There was an English boy named Paul and an American bloke, who happened to be from the Northwest and they both were crazy for it! Paul asked if he could take me back to England with him, said that if he hadn't already fallen in love tonight, he'd have fallen in love with me. He said he'd stick me in his suitcase: its quite roomy and I'm quite petite! Haha! Everything is fantastic with an accent.
This is such motivation for me to pursue my music like I never have, before. But! More importantly, both the American and Paul happened to be missing the tip of a pinky finger! The two hadn't met until this very room this very night, and each had the same strange defect! What a tiny world... .My New Zealand friend, Rhiain, forced me to play more music (though I never put up much of a fight) and eventually we all disbanded and wandered off to bed.
Now, why we are in the hostel is the fun part! About a million and a half miscommunications transpired, and savannah and I wound up without a place to stay for tonight. Well, we wound up walking for three and a half hours to a women's shelter in Brooklyn. It was incredible. There were women here from all oveer the world! We sat next to a woman from Italy who had come to America to gain custody of her daughter and bring her back home with her, and on the other side a girl who had followed her mother here from Jaimaca. We downed our free pasta, signed some papers and were ready for a shower and some sleep when they realized that we were in the wrong place. Aparently we needed to be at a particular shelter back in Manhattan, so they handed us each a subvay pass and sent us into the night. On the way to the shelter, more issues with Sarah's cousins arose and blaj blah drama long story short they ended up giving us a ride to this fantastic hostel! These places are the most interesting to me! They feel so cozy and friendly and not so sanitary and cold ad a hotel. I love it and could certainly live out of hostels if I had the money.
Well, I told you how the rest of the night went and now I know that I am exhausted and ought to go to bed, but I am so high off of performing, even the quasai concert I did downstairs, I don't know how I'll sleep.

11/21

2009-11-21T22:41:00.000-08:00

I'm just basking in the afterglow of today. Savannah's on the computer, Michael is watching anime while simultaneously playing video games, the parents are asleep... The city glows outside as the crappy overdub drones on...
It was like a scene from a movie. 40's tunes playing over a loud speaker as Savannah and I glided hand-in-hand in circles and circles. It was positively surreal, ice skating in the heart of this, the immortal city.
We took off our skates and strolled the cold, busy city sidewalks into a tattoo parlor... I think I'm developing an addiction (oh, how funny, I didn't even realize but I think "Addiction" is the name of the shop). Michael and a friend met us at the shop and made us swear not to share what transpired on the promise that his mother would have herself a very, very, VERY late term abortion if we did ;) The friend was a lanky boy who refused to discuss anything but epic battles throughout history and graphic novels. He disappeared to the bathroom to change for a show he was going to see, and he came out in a pelted mini-skirt and 300 dollar corset. I cannot think of the last time I had misjudged someone that poorly. I was so sad I wasn't accompanying this guy to Rocky Horror, but we had sugar to consume.
We got ourselves the best desert in New York and hopped on the subway, "home". We wound up alone in a car, so we all sand "I Got A Feeling" and hung from the bars you hold onto when the car jolts. On the walk from the underground to the apartment, Mike offered Sav a ride on his shoulders, but she refused, so I took him up on the offer instead. Okay, keeping mind here that Mihcael is 6'4" this made for one magnificent shoulder ride. People stared as we walked by and I felt sorry for them all for not having anywhere near as much fun as I was.

11/20

2009-11-20T20:53:00.000-08:00

I saw the Statue of Liberty!!!
Okay, just saying, everyone was so wrong. It was absolutely beautiful, today, just stunning! We were told so many times that we were crazy to come to New York this time of year, that we would be up to our stretched earlobes in snow, and it's gloriously beautifully sunny!
We caught a ferry out to ol' Lady Liberty and Ellis Island and basked in the sun and sea spray as we finally got a clear view of the city in it's entirety. It was overwhelming and beautiful in it's own sickening way. Glass and cement and is it an accomplishment or an abomination?
Well, I snagged a fab souvenier for my folks at the statue and though I should have been crushed by what we saw and read at Ellis Island, Savannah started talking in the Paul voice and I lost it. Paul is Cody's obese cat with an affinity for knockin gover his watr dish and some strange skin condition on his nose. Anywho, people talk for him in this magnificent nerdy voice which can only be described as so perfectly Paul.
Well, we rode back into the city giggling the whole way and strolled our way up Park Avenue for some second hand shopping.
We cam e"home" to pesto and after dinner I went out on the balcony and breathed fire! Michael had stolen some 100 proof alcohol from the lab and found a lighter... Even in New York you find time to make your own fun and get yourself in to precarious situations.
I have composed a list of goals:
Daily:
-be a raw foodist
-eat a rainbow a day
-drink eight glasses of water
-stretch in the morning and at night
-bum exercises
-practice music three hours
-learn a new chord/power chord
-write a song a day
-look at the sky
By Winter Term:
-become a mentor
-get in touch with Akol and involve myself in the fight for Sudan
-begin to study Judaism
-get Taglit underway
-do research on Americorps and sign up
-be 111 lbs.
-be playing one gig/open mic a week
-know every word to every Coheed song
-own and have read every Coheed comic
-Fight Club tattoo
-switch out blue banker for silver one
-pierce eyebrow
-reade one 60's or beat book and one educational book per week
-get four track
-be an Emerald City Roller Girl
-be in the burlesque show at John Henry's
-throw out all my clothes and only own five shirts, one pair of jeans, and two dresses
By the End of Winter Term:
-no chord repeats in all of my songs
-have demo recordedand sent around
-pay off debt
-have a girlfriend
-wings fixed

P.S. They have a bidet!

11/19

2009-11-20T20:37:00.000-08:00

This city smells like hot dogs and mini-cigars. The lights look like a fire works show frozen in time. We crossed the cathedral-ic Brooklyn Bridge to fold some pizza in half, as grease dripped down our arms.
Miss Savannah and I wandered the city in every direction from the 23rd floor apartment where we've been staying with Subarubahs' cousin and his parents. This little family is SO New York. The way Michael and his mom bicker with thier accents and unreasonable volume. Love it!
Sav fell asleep and I got to know Michael. He brought this strange new notion to my attention: we think of people in labs as these introverted nerds who while away their stiflingly dull lives working out equations and making compounds and whatev are actually adventurerers and adreneline junkies like the people you see playing with deadly snakes or extreme ironing. See, the folks in these labs ae taking their lives into their own hands. If they breathe one molecule of this whatnot, get one drop of this something on their skin, it can kill them or seriously fuck a motherfucker up! Lab work, rather than bunji jumping, is the truly extreme pass time.
We decided to find a fountain to jump into. I found out on the bare foot walk there over wet pavement that Mike had been struck by lightning, twice! He had been stabbed, yes, but he also was one of those kids who spent his school year in Manhattan and his Summers in their other home in Pennsylvania, so, maybe it all balances out ;) We got to the fountain, only to find that it dry, but the night was not lacking in new experiences; Michael just pickeked me up and carried me across a street! I've nevr felt so light and downright petite! Like Fiona over Shrek's shoulder.
We grabbed some sorbet and fought sleep in the living room for a while, while discussing the tattoos we someday want.
I fell asleep dreaming of NOLA and of what wonders the next day in NYC would hold. I love Savannah cuddles...

The Drive to New York

2009-11-20T20:31:00.000-08:00

I woke up in Maryland where the fog hung low and the trees looked like creatures sprung from Tim Burton's imagination. I woke up in New Jersey and saw a sign for a truck stop which sold trucks. We passed a billboard in Pennsylvania which read "Hell Is Real" across the freeway from a yellow and black Adult Shop sign.
You come to find things out about yourself when you drive for seven hours straight in a car of sleeping people - like that you really want a motorcycle -.
Our ride to New York was a musician (his fingernails gave him away). He also lives by Fight Club and even let me hit him... on the condition that he could hit me back! I really respect this; I get so sick of being told by males that they won't hit me out of respect or some crap, when it's actually completely sexist!
I ate so much gas station crap that it made me sick, but I made two new friends! We all ate crap food and sang Bohemian Rhapsody as we rolled along North.
Clinton (driver) and Richard (passenger) dropped us off along some railroad tracks in New Jersey (where I'm pretty sure we saw Puff Daddy) and we jumped a train into the city.

New Orleans

2009-11-19T19:48:00.000-08:00

I wish I would have written every day that I was in New Orleans, but I was busy falling in love. This city has my heart and has opened my eyes. I'm making some discoveries about myself and about life and it's all jumbled up. What I do know is that we made two dollars playing music in the street!
I've written so many songs in the past few days I just don't know what to do. This city absolutely pumps creativity straight into my veins. I think you all will like the changes in me and my music when I come back.
What to say about my time in this glorious city? This whole place smells spicy but from time to time you'll catch the sweeet smell of this particular flower...
What did we do? It's all this magical blur of waking up to Fiona Apple with morning light shining through Dallas' bedroom window and bowls of fruit over soft conversation in the kitchen. We saw Opera on Bourbon street -though I was more interested in the company- and dipped our toes in the Mississip. We walked into the French Quarter in the sunshine almost every day yet somehow never could get it through our heads how cold the walk home would be.
If you're wondering why I've stopped postring pictures I lost my camera chord in Dallas' bedroom (but I wish I'd have lost something else).
God! There's too much to say at one point it poured rain harder than a shower (haha! Harder than the shower we've been using) and we danced and sang Panic! At the Disco "Take a chance take your shoes off dance in the rain, yeah we're splashing around."
Oh! And you should have met Cody! Her cats are named for serial killers (eh, Ruthibald?). Yes. Wonderful person.
And how strange: we met a kid from Oregon. He gave me a ride on his motorcycle and now I need one. There's so much more, but I just have to cut myself off.
Today we all exchanged boodbyes and I'm both high off my experience and crushed to leave it behind.
Does anyone have "Oh Suzannah" stuck in their head?

11/?

2009-11-16T22:04:00.001-08:00

New Orleans is awesome. The end.

11/10

2009-11-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

There's just too much to say about today. See, I didn't sleep, so today really starts yesterday. Savannah met a guy named Mike, and we joined him and some other friends he had made on the train for card games and music making. There were about ten of us, total, and we all came in pairs - Savannah and I, of course - Mike and Tzil met in a bus stop a few states back and happened to wind up this train together - Sky and Laura were the cutest little organic couple, traveling from somewhere in the midwest to work on Sky's dad's little organic farm - Brittnay and TG knew eachother from grade school, and had been sitting talking to for hours before recognizing that they knew each other - and Melody didn't need anyone but her crazy-beautiful self!

Well, the whole group of us got off the train in San Antonio, and trapsed around for a bit. We found an overpass with colored lights that illuminated the dark tunnel green then blue then red... I wonder how the city agreed to fund this. I'm presuming there were a lot of murders or drug deals or rapes going on under this overpass and the board-of-whatever said "well, what kind of person could rape somebody uder disco lights?"

We all walked right through the VIP section of a Third Eye Blind concert without realizing it, gwaked at the Hard Rock Cafe and it's weird collection of useless trinquets form the amost famous, danced outside a club (because they would't let my bare feet inside), ate some beans and said our goodbyes. Four of us got on the front of the train and the others got on the back part which was to be detached and sent in another direciton.

Of all these wonderful people, the only folks to be getting off the train in NOLA were Tzil and Mike.

The back story of Tzil will astonish you. Tzil is a round, jovial, loud spitfire of a girl with curly hair and an accent that sounds more Brooklyn than Jerusalem. This incredible female has been traveling around these united states for six months, but home is Israel. Back in Israel, she was in the military and her job was to just watch over a particular section of fence. She would stare at four monitors at a time for something like fourteeen hours a day and if she saw any activity, she would call "the killers." Yep. That's literally what they were called. She saw a man get his legs shot off, she had a friend who saw a man get shot in te head... yeah, that's why she's on this trip. There is nothing that's further from her old life.

Then there was Mike. Check this out: his job was called "out door education," so he would just travel around the country, take groups of kids out into the forest and go hiking or to the ocean and go surfing or to the river and go, I don't know, kyaking! How amazing!? He's basically like a camp counselor, but he's the camp. He'd been traveling for three years, and when the company he works for calls him, he goes wherever all around the country.

Everyoe went to sleep and I found an "empty car" to play music in. I walked across car to grab some donut holes I had left in there earlier and I found Mike sleeping under some seats! Haha!

We ended up not sleeping but just talking the whole night. Aparently he hadn't even paid for a train ticket! Also, he invited me and Savanah to have Thanksgiving with him... in New York! Ha, life is grand. As the sun came up, our clan, though much smaller now, reformed and we played cards and ate home-made corn bread and tasajilla jelly as we rolled into NOLA. Well, aonther goodbye and an exchage of phone nubers and we headed for Dallas' (he's the friend my couldin Lynzie found for us to stay with). We ate some soul food and passed out.

P.S. Ruthie better be do damned appreciative of her souviner, because not only is it stolen property, but it weighs a freaking ton!

11/09

2009-11-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

I had a cat named Henry Rollins for a day. She aqueezed in a barely open window in my car, received some lovin' from me and Jimi, and slipped back out into the night. I never saw her again, but in that short amount of time, she made a real impression on my heart. I still wonder about her, sometimes. if she's even alive or if maybe she's sharing a few moments connecting with other peoiple, then moving on to the next, over and over, as I wirte this.
That's how I want to be. I want to share love with and brighten the day of the people I meet on this adventure, only to move on without a goodbye. I hope the people I meet in passing in this life remember me fondly and wonnder about me from time to time.

It's so flat here...

11/08

2009-11-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

I love the feel of Texas nights. The world lights up all burnt orange, and then the sky turns ink-black, like I've never seen before. The warm air blows gently around you and it feels just as perfectly comfortable as that lull after Christmas dinner. I'm going to be sad to leave, tomorrow, but I know I could never stand to stay.
Stuffed full of a down-home dinner and the strangest candy I could find at the gas station - two blocks up the lonely little streets of this population 300 town - I'm overflowing wtih content (gramatically effed, and I don't care) as I get lost in some Bright Eyes. I'm sorry that I can't keep in touch, but I mean it when I say I'll send a postcard. If I can't clear my mind of where I'm from, how can I gorw? I took this trip in order to learn and if I don't get what I need to, be sure I'll take off again (awight, you all know that I will anyway, but you know what I mean). You'll know I'm alive because I'll write something here, every night, okay?
For those who don't know, in exchange for an extra day with Savannah, her dad is putting us ona train to New Orleans. We say goodbye to Grand Falls, Texas at six tomorrow morning. I know they'll send us off with hugs and banana bread and I'm crossing my fingers hoping I don't cry. These people have come to feel like family in such a short time and I know I'll never see them, agian.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go watch my darling Skanky Ruthibald sing!

11/07

2009-11-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

From the time we woke up until past five we were cleaning Savannah's aunt's kitchen. Let me convey to you the state of this kitchen: we spend every waking second of today in there, we didn't even eat, and I'm still not satisfied; we just had to call it good.
In that kitchen we found a cooler full of rotting meat, three packages of little fuzzy chicks to decorate an Easter cake with (erm, yeah, 'cause most families celebate with an Easter cake?), a dead scorpion, and in a drawer of cooking utencils I found a dead mouse!
Not much else to say about today except... Yeah! I found a f***ing rattle snake!!! Oh! My! Golly! A freaking rattler! Ooh- he wwas shaking his little tail and everything... That right thar just made my whole visit to Texas.

11/06

2009-11-06T20:04:00.000-08:00

We woke up to pancakes for the second time this trip. You know, we were supposed to be roughin' it. I don't feel like this really fits into the plan :)

It was hilarious! We went down to the cafe - which was half a block away and from home and had the word "cafe" spray painted down the side of tyhe building - and damn-near every person in that place knew Kevin and Brenda by name. "BTDubs" It's still legal to smoke every place in Texas and by golly they sure do!

Anywhosawhatsits, we downed some sweet tea, then headed out to a man named Tex's place (I don't remember if I mentioned his name or not, before, but he's the uber-gentleman from Ihop). He had cows and donkeys and all the broken junk a girl's heart could desire. Ya'll should really have a look at my Facebook and see what photographic treasures I found!

After we explored the ranch a bit, Tex got serious and told us he didn't approve of this trip. but, he was young once so...

So he handed us fifty dollars each! We will have to send him one heck of a thank you card.

Oh, I almost forgot! This morning we cleaned out the guest bedroom of a neighbor. Oh, she was the sweetest old lady (aside from my gandma, of course)! Haha! The room was covred with knick-nacks. In cabinets, on shelves, really, on any surface a porcelain doll or farm-animal-shaped salt and pepper shaker could sit on! This lady had two owls made of sea shells! Two! Who needs one owl made of sea shells?! And she had to have peen affiliated with the Illuminati, I swear; she had more freaky-deaky owl crap than I've ever seen in my life. Her pack rat-ness was endearing, though and the cleaning was fun. Heck, we each got twenty bucks and a caffeine free coke out of the deal!

Skipping forward, dusty and tired, we sat down to dinner, after we got home from the ranch, and guess who was at the table? Our waitress from Ihop! I guess she's Savanna's aunt. I tell ya, these small towns...

P.S. The mouse pad says "Don't mess with Texas."

11/05

2009-11-05T21:14:00.000-08:00

Well, we woke up today so that means that Rudy isn't a serial killer (or at least he decided to have mercy on us [although, he did keep mentioning fat girls, so maybe we non-fat chicas are safe]). We took off early and watched New Mexico turn into Texas.
We drove right past Area 51 and didn't even get anally probed. -Breck sent her condolences: ''too bad; I've heard that can be fun!''-
Rudy handed us off to Savannah's dad in an Ihop parking lot and Rudy said goodbye to us, sticking to the nickname he'd given me.
I have to say, that legendary Southern hospitality is all it's cracked up to be and more! Every man'll call ya pretty thrice and leap out of his seat if a lady even thinks of needing something. The old man sitting at the table with us at the pancake house was soo dissappointed when I got up to get the Tabasco by myself.
We finished our vegetarian meals (which thoroughly boggled the waitress) and came ''home'' to the tiny city of Grand Falls, where we stayed with Savannah's grandma (yep, another one). Grandma Shirley lived on the same property as Kevin, Sav's dad, and Brenda, her stepmama. We showered and ate cookies and looked at pictures of cacti with the fam. as the dogs drooled and the fat ol' cat lurked.
Well, I better get to bed! There's work to be done and pancakes with cactus jelly to be eaten bright and early tomorrow mornin'! G'night moon!

Would you believe that I dont smoke pot?

2009-11-05T21:00:00.000-08:00

If I had my way, we'd all love each other. People don't even know why they hate each other. For instance, I'm looking down on this Rudy guy bebcause he doesnt know his alphabet terribly well or because he can't pronounce the word ''cournucopia.'' But I still play with action figures and suck my thumb. We're all different and it's useless to group us. We only wind up pitted against eachother. I wish groups could be a source of strength, and they can be, but they tend to serve more as a means to manipulalate on mass.
Oh, so you don't like Obama and you do? Guess what? It's all obsolete; we just need to manifest this truth: This is a democracy, meaning we the people are truly in control, not elected officials and our system of elected officials was only implemented because people all across the country couldn't come together to vote. Well, now we have the internet. Let's all get along.
Maybe this is just hippie-babble, but I really can't stand to see people spouting hate anymore. Today I heard a girl describing a scene of a child being hit, and she made a point to specify that the mom was black; another time, today, someone mentioned a shooting and said that weather he was Muslim or not was being investigated. Irrelevant as these details truly are, they will not be treated as such and it breaks my heart. I beseech you to be color blind and set religion aside and nation and language and love with all your heart because we only have this one life (and if we have more, there's no reason to treat this one as if it isn't your only one) and there is no justification for wasting one breath, one instant on hate. Please.

11/04

2009-11-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

We didn't end up riding to Texas with Doug Doug. After sweet hugs goodbye, we left my adopted grandma Barbra in a casino parking lot and got in the van with Rudy.
I suspicouned so on the phone, but he is an interesting man. He wound up being a racist, but so was Doug, so no loss there. Rudy was comfortable and crass and fun and more Roseburg than most Roseburgians I know.
He was a never ending well of funny stories. He had a friend who took his wife, kids, and mother to Mexico and while they were down there, grandma died. The wife called the embassy to find out what to do, and the embassy said ''Don't tell the Mexican authorities; they'll charge you thousands and it could take months to get her out of there. Just head back to the states and deal with it at the border.'' So, the family wrapped her up in a sheet, put her in the tent trailer, and made their way towards the border. They stopped in someplace for lunch, and when they came back out to the car, someone had stolen the trailer! He went off about the poor schmuck who found grandma all stiff as a booard. Haha! He punched out a drunk dude because the 911 dispatcher said to restrain him by any means necessary; a 70 year old lady with a rack like Dolly Parton's showed him her butterfly tit tat; his best friend got a blow job from a hot hitchhiker in the backseat only to find out ''she'' was a he!
He did go off about Muslims, but he also caled Sarah Palin intelligent, so he'd already made it clear that his opinion was to be disregarded. Anyway, he kept saying 'mortar' instead of 'martyr' and '73' instead of '72.' Although, if you didn't know how he felt about Muslims, it would have been pretty funny that he nicknamed me 38 - as in 38 out of 72!

11/03

2009-11-03T20:42:00.000-08:00

11/03

2009-11-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

Today was a near perfect day. What do I love in life? Tyler Durden, yes, but asidie from all that. I love eating and cleaning and bubble tea and Michael Jackson.
Barbara, the grandma we're staying with here in Vegas, took us out to Chinese food (where I had the best egglpant of my life) and bubble tea (where I had the best bubble tea of my life). Mmm! It was purple and tasted like the milk after a bowl of Cap'n Crunch!
Before we consumed the awesomeness, we cleaned the house (beautiful house) of the man we may be riding to Texas with, you know, instead of throwing in gas money. Guess what his name was? Just guess! No, it doesnt have anythinng to do with Fight Club. Okay, I suppose it's not the kind of thing you can guess. It was Douglas Dougdale! Doug Doug! If that doesn't make you smile you need help.
So, really, Barb spoils the crap out of us. After all of the afformentioned spoilage, she took us to Ths Is It. I think there was dairy in the bubble tea, so I was sick in the bathroom for most of the movie but, still, it was terribly sweet of her to take us and what I saw was fantastic.
As i'm writing this, with just about every Michael Jackson song simultaneously stuck in my head, thoughts of jr. high run through my mind. I remember studying Michel's videos to learn his dance moves, and sitting on the floor of school dances with Rikki singing ''The Way You Make Me Feel'' during songs we didn't like. I remember all the shit I took from students and teachers alike for my MJ fanatasism, but I also remember the little Jackson following I stirred up. I remember sitting in Xandri's apartment hypothesizing that the day Michael would die would be a day I'd never forget. I was right. I'll never forget it. I miss you Michael. We all do.

11/02

2009-11-02T15:21:00.000-08:00

Oh. My. Gosh. I don't even know if I loved it or hated it. I am so thoroughly drained. We just got ''home'' (Savannah's other grandma's house) from a night on the strip.
It was exhilirating and dazzling and superficial and commercial. I feel the way I often did after a school dance, that lingering, tingling excitement in my body, overshadowed by exhaustion, but I also feel used.
We went everywhere: The Venetian, The Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, Treasure Island, golly, I can't possibly keep track...
Savannah looked so perfect for the occasion! We went thrift shopping before hand and she found a tiny, blue, just painted-on dress along with some crazy sunglasses. That paired with her new haircut, she was an exact Lady Gaga replica.
Every guy who walked by had to make some comment at us. I will admit, my skirt was far too short, but come on now, it is Vegas.
The whole evening was a blur of sparking lights. Savannah and I were just about exhausted and trying to muster up the strrength to drag ourselves to the club we had been personally invited to (though not without being chastized for being heel-less), when Kenzie called! If you don't know, Kenzie is Logan's sister and I owe her the credit for all my favorite music; she found it and it trickled down to me through Logan.
Like any Wetherell, she was charismatic and beautiful. She called a friend to find out where the best spot to dance was, and it lead us to the very club we were invited to, earlier.
On the way to this swingin' hot spot, Kenzie pulled us into a cheaper bar and ordered herself and Lady Gaga a ''red-headed slut.'' I sipped my seltzer water and faught shooting it out my nose when Sav had to spit out a mouthful of her ''slut'' on a busy footbridge.
We all danced and drank, I drank water ;) and by the time Kenzie was ready to take us home, we could barely stand.
As we drove home, The Pixie's "Where is My Mind" (the ''you met me at a very strange time in my life'' song) played on the radio. A perfectly appropriate end to an absoluteluy strange (and wonderful) day. And all in the spirit of Fight Club.

11/01

2009-11-01T20:21:00.000-08:00

Eighteen hour bus ride from Reno to Vegas. There was a man behind us rambling to himself the whole time and I wrote him off as crazy face until, at some point in Utah, I realized it: how did I really think that Tyler Durden would behave? I was wondering how Lunatic McGee had figured out how to use a bus, let alone pay for a ticket, when all along he had been the real-life version of my hero.

Savanah is so beautiful. She's spent most of the day sleeping, like an angel, beside me. We didn't get to bed 'til around two and though it was our intention to be up at five, the time change slipped our minds. Of course by the time we realized that it was four something-or-orther in the morning we were already dressed so, in for a penny in for a pound, we just went early to the Greyhound station.
And what is there to say about the dog? It takes you eighteen hours to make an eight hour trip, we had the moves put on us by a couple of smooth cats, saw the insides of a lot of lonely, stale gas stations in the middle of nowhere, and I probably smell like someone else's B.O. Want to know what the strange part is? This feels like home.

10/31

2009-10-31T23:41:00.000-07:00

Haha! We had our first run-in with the police today, in fact we had two! But I will get to that later...

Mmm... Woke up to the smell of pancakes, as is the proper way to wake up in a grandma's house. We stayed our first night with Savannah's grandma, Breck (total badass {and kind of a G.I.L.F.}). Golly, this woman is 69 and she's a snowboard instructor! Also, not remotely relevant, but awesome: Sublime once played in her backyard. Yeah. Anywho, pancakes were delicious, as were the eggs, and as the sun shone through the windows we prepared for the day. We had every intention of getting a quick and early move on, but that's not how things work in Lake Tahoe. We took the dog, Charlie, for a stroll along the lake and Frank (the gilf's boyfriend) and I exchanged conspiracy theories as Savannah admired the scenery and Charlie had a coniption fit.

We packed our bags, loaded the the jalopy and headed for Reno.

Run-in 1: We weren't even out there with our cardboard "Vegas" sign for fifteen minutes when we were informed that within the Reno city limits it's illegal to hitchhike (or as lovely Eva would say "hijack"). Sad. Sad. Sad.

Well, Breck came to rescue us and we followed her around as she followed her grandchildren on their Halloween adventures. I have never NEVER missed a Halloween, so long story short, despite the fact that I abandoned my poor, lonely costume in a closet in Roseburg, Oregon I made do (see picture): -I'm like the fricking McGuiver of costumes ;) -

Well, we couldn't catch a ride or a bus, so after a school Halloween party, a church carnival, and two hours of trick-or-treating, we headed for Tahoe.

Run-in #2: I was thinking to myself that I was a little nervous with Breck behind the wheel. I mean, she's the nicest gol-darned lady, but that doesn't mean that she knows how to stay in her lane. Funny thing is, even though she was wandering wherever she pleased with her brights on across the freeway, the cop had one look at the girl in the passenger seat (our own Savannah Barksdale) and all was forgiven. Huzzah for being young and attractive!

Miss Savannah and I shared a quiet evening of bloody horror films back in Tahoe. As I sit on the floor, screams of agony and the sounds of blood splatter ringing out behind me, I'm finding that the weirdest thing is what I'm actually missing. My mind wanders to Ruthie behind me and to the alumni of Beaner's Coffee ahead. I hope my mom is watching after my ferret and fish, and I really hope I get a kiss somewhere along the way.

P.S. There are lots of pictures on my facebook!

10/30

2009-10-31T14:41:00.000-07:00

I had stayed up all night tying up loose ends and double checking checklists upon checklists, but I was riding on adrenaline. I wasn't thinking about my mom or missing Halloeen. Nope! My mind was on the road. I couldn't keep still. I bounced in place as Savanah and Tristan worked out the logistics of fitting all of our stuff and all of us into the little white Geo.
Aaahhh... Freedom... We were off like Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassidy.
Tristan was our first ride (thank you Craigslist). He was soft spoken and kind. His views were in line exactly with that of a Eugene college student -of course, I agreed with every word- Amazing, he is exactly what I want to be: he had educated questions to ask about my camera and a guitar case in his trunk. He had wandered South America and ridden his bike from Alaska to wherever (who really cares 'cause he started in freaking Alaska!?). He is the ideal human.
Every word he said could have been complete bullshit, and the best part is: it doesn't matter. See, I can tell, already, that the beauty of these ''single serving friends'' you meet on the road is that you get to have the perfect human interacton. Both sides get to present themselevevs as whatever they want to be, and then we get to part ways never having to live up to jack.
From now on, I am fearless. I am beautiful. I am comfortable. I am easy to talk to. I am god's gift to fellow travelers whom I meet or who pick me up. I am Jack's unchained soul (hmmm... just a bit corny...).