I had a phenomenal time hanging out with Pam and Amanda and Ted and Emilly. I am sort of toying with the idea of moving there after graduation. Pam tells me that Colorado is a stimulus state; thus job availability. Hopefully the economy is better when i am done with school. It is only a short 11 months from now. Wow, i haven't even started yet.
I really enjoyed the laid back feeling of Denver. It was a nice change from San Francisco and even the east bay. Sometimes its hard for me to keep with being "cool". It was also nice to be with Pam. She's pretty much one of the coolest people i know. Its like so familial when we are together. We pick up right where we left off. It would be nice to be out of the strained economy of California but still be near "family".
Due to the fact that my back was all awry, we didn't do much active stuff in Denver. We did a lot of hanging out and shooting the shit. Which is what we do best. Got to hang with Ted and Emilly before they took off to Hawaii, which was awesome. It's always good to hang out with those folks. I am looking forward to their wedding in September and the Seattle crew reunion that is gonna go down two weekends in a row!
I headed out of Denver towards Ann Arbor on Thursday. I made it as far as Des Moines Iowa. Iowa is pretty. Lots of corn. But very lush. There were a lot of big trucks too. I took some pictures of hay for my sister who points out hay by saying "Hay!" every time she sees it. It never ceases to amuse her. (Which in turn amuses me because she is such a nerd. :))
I stayed in a hotel in Des Moines. My back was a little stiff so i didn't do anything but order Mexican food from a local restaurant and then go back to my room and watch lost on my laptop. I brought my netflix with me (random). I did manage to drink a much needed beer at the bar at the mexican restaurant while they made my food to go. Ten hours in the car really takes a toll on the psyche. I kept seeing landscape flying past my peripheral every time i would close my eyes. I popped a muscle relaxer and crashed out. Thank god for air conditioning.
I headed out for another long day of driving the next day; slating to arrive in Ann Arbor by early evening.
Driving through Chicago was a nightmare. Road construction and tons of big trucks made me feel so small and unsafe on foreign highways. My truck made the trip and steered me directly to Ann Arbor. Michigan drivers are awful! They will run right up to your bumper and drive impatiently until you move out of their way. I was talking to Vince about it and he was saying it's the car culture. Which totally makes sense. The Ford industry started in Detroit and EVERYBODY drives giving them a crazy sense of entitlement on the road.
I make it to Ann Arbor and Lisa meets me on her huge porch and we enjoy some wine and catch up conversation. It was good to see her. You know good friends by the fact that you are able to pick up right where you left off without any awkwardness. Again i have to reiterate the relationships i made in Seattle. We created family with each other. Most of us were transplants with blood relatives thousands of miles away. There is something to be said about that.
Lisa and i head over to her Social Work Department's kick ball game. We just watch and Lisa plays photographer. We get complimentary shirts. I am sitting on the bleachers making my occasional smart-ass remarks (as you all know i am prone to ;)) and i look around and am thinking that my eyes are tired from the road but then i realize there are fireflies out. This is my first experience seeing them. They are just like brief flashes of light floating out between trees. I gasp and smile. During my drive i crossed over into east coast time. I am more than half way to my destination. I am still in denial that i am not going to end up in California at the end of this adventure but fucking a... the fireflies are amazing right now!!!!!!
After the kickball game we head on down to the bars for a bar crawl with the social work department. I hang out with some of Lisa's folks who are all really awesome. We have a good time do a little dancing (i know i know). Conversations are great.
After a while Lisa and i head back to her house and crash out.
The next day is filled with pedicures, exploring Ann Arbor, some shopping, with periodic stops to hang out on the porch. We spontaneously head to a barbeque at a friends house and then go watch "Away We Go" with Lisa's roommate Meghan. Really awesome. Makes me love Jim even more. :)
I take off on Sunday and head to New York near Niagra Falls via Canada. As i enter Canada, it starts raining and as i pass through the border it starts POURING! Thank goodness i put RainX on my windshield before leaving California, otherwise my two setting windshield wipers wouldn't have even made a dent in the downpour. Luckily Rita (my truck) and i make it through and the sun peeps through. I navigate my way over to the other side of the small piece of Canada i scheduled to traverse on this trip. I arrive in Hamilton which is where i am supposed to change highways to take the last leg back into the U.S. and i get re-routed down city streets along with the rest of the travelers. After several more re-routings and an hour and a half of aimless wandering through the slums of Hamilton Ontario; past housing projects and abandoned storefronts, and an increasing sense of frustration on my part. I follow a street that, on my map, goes in the same general direction i am supposed to be going, i randomly stumble across the freeway that i was supposed to catch earlier in the day. Turns out, due to the crazy downpour i drove through earlier in the day, the freeway interchanges were all flooded and there was no way to get out of the city via the highway. I am so thankful for the huge atlas that i bought for this trip with a zoomed image of the city of Hamilton and for my increasingly amazing sense of direction. :) (tooting my own horn)
I make it to the border and some douchebag border patrol guy with a power complex lets me through and back into the U.S. after witnessing some racial profiling in the toll booth next to mine. A car with a black family gets surrounded with guards and the driver taken into the offices next to the toll booths. I may be speculating, but it was a little too coincidental for a social worker from California not to read into.
I take a leisurely drive up to my campsite that i will be staying at for the next couple nights. I check in and set up my tent. I had struggled with the polls when i tried to set it up at my cousins house before i left so i was slightly nervous about the set up. It was a piece of cake. The polls went right into the holes easily. I celebrated my success with a little "woot woot!"
I explored my campground and took some pictures before the thunder and lightning started and the ominous grey clouds moved in. I headed into my tent just as the rain began to fall. I read my book and was grateful to not be moving for the next day or so. Long days of driving get to be a little much on the body after a while.
When the rain passed, i made myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner and hung out a while. It was cooler there so that was a relief and i wore my sweatshirt for the first time on the trip. I took a muscle relaxer and headed to bed.
