in the art attic

I'm up in the attic while the ladies are getting their hair and makeup done for the wedding. I've done my own. Eyeliner, fuchsia lipstick, eyebrows. I wish my bangs were shorter, but I haven't trimmed them and it would leave too much hair to do so now.

Megan is getting married in 4 hours! It's so exciting. The venue is amazing. There is a tent over the food tables, and it's a 200+ person wedding. The weather is good. Did I mention it's on Megan's parent's property? So the ample back yard is all the wedding stuff. There is the dance floor. Not under tent tables. All the plates have names tied to the silver wear. There is a full force of people each doing their own task. Mine has been doing the white paint on the signs, while Kalee does the pencil layouts. So she pencils it in and I do the white bits. It's a good team and it cut down the time for that task a good amount. I'm glad I was able to help! I finished the program sign this morning (there wasn't time to print out programs, so we just made a sign with all the names). The rehearsal dinner food was make your own tacos! I had two with lots of filling and chips and guac and beans and rice. At the Westsider Cafe I had eggs benedict and two perogis on the side. There were 8 of us at the table and the table was covered with plates of food. Biscuits and gravy. Sausages. Toast. Chicken and waffles. Just plates of food, and good food, and ample portions, and priced really well! Stefan, Susan, Cody, Megan, Eric, Ivan, and Kalee and me made up the table. I was the first to pitch my tent back at the venue, but now there are about 10 tents. No one is pitched near me though. I was warned against being near the tree line due to poison oak being recently cut & poisoned back. I got back late to my tent after seeing Guardians of the Galaxy (I can't wait when it comes to some movies), and it was cozy and a bit cold, but not COLD cold. I was showered by 9 and got to finishing the final sign. Then I did my makeup and ate some coffee cake and had some coffee. Guardians of the Galaxy was fun! Dialogue a bit weak here and there, and it seems like it could have had 30 more minutes of character establishment, but it was fun and well shot and the actors are so great and holy crap special effects have advanced so far now!

So Megan Fix is getting married soon. I need to start taking pictures of the goings ons!

can I have another pasty, please?

7/30/2014 Interlochen State Park, Michigan

Back on the mitten part of Michigan after two full days of driving around Lake Michigan. After that McDonald’s I continued up. Through the forest, across the forest, up into more forest. It’s very nice and wooded up in northern Wisconsin, and it would probably be nice to camp in, but I went through many sudden rain storms, so it would not be fit at all to camp in. I continued east into Michigan as the sun set and camped in a Walmart parking lot. I’m trying to think if there is anything more I can say about the drive. The roads were pretty good, not rough like Maine. I stopped by a restaurant called “The Stand” which was a drive up sort of place, but they were cash only and I had no cash so I continued on.

Had an okay night sleep. It was cold, which was refreshing. Nice to not be sweltering in a car, because it’s really not safe at all to sleep with the door/window open. In the hotter areas, I just dealt with the climate, but I was very comfortable with my blanket and pillows. Had some very vivid dreams that involved travel and friends. Haven’t had any dreams in a while.

I departed the parking lot at around 7:30 and got to the camp ground at 5ish, though I crossed a time zone, so an hour was lost. Highway 2 across the Upper Peninsula (the UP populated by yoopers) was lovely. The woods gave way on the right to Lake Michigan, with beaches and dunes and tourist towns. And side of the highway shops offering pasties. After passing a few, I finally gave in and pulled in to procure the local dish. I ordered it with gravy, which was a good choice. A pasty (plural: pasties) is a pastry filled with meat and potatoes. Sort of like a potpie sealed up. The serving size was perfectly filling, and I bought a Great Lakes sticker for my cooler. I could absolutely go for another one right now. But I’m in a rustic camp site and it is late at night and I don’t think any restaurant would be open right now. Well.. maybe, but then I’d have to change out of my pajamas.

Filled with warm food, I set out once again. I paid the $4 bridge toll at St Ignace to cross south onto the main peninsula part of Michigan. A little bit on i95/i75/iwhichever and then at Grayling right on 72. Followed 72 for a longish while (lots of 23 miles to the next town signs with many more towns to go) to get to Bear Dunes National Seashore, or whichever it is called. I’ll look at the pamphlet in the morning. The campsites in the park were full, and I felt like camping instead of national parking, so I went on to the nearby but not totally near Interlochen State Park. Got me a rustic site with a view of Green Lake, and I put up my tent. Didn’t set a new set up record, but I came in pretty low. I spent a little bit of time on the narrow strip of beach reading and looking out at the water.

Tomorrow I’ll go see these dunes, probably read some more, then head south to Grand Rapids, where I’ll be for a few days, and then I’ll be booking it west properly this time.

8/1/2014 Grand Rapids, Michigan

I am writing quietly from Megan & Eric’s house. The other six people crashing here are sleeping. I was sober by the end of the night, so I’ve had an easy wake up. I don’t know when people will start waking up. I may head off to the venue and set up my tent there and help out if it seems like it’ll be a while. I don’t know what the morning plan is, I know there is a rehearsal dinner but as I’m not actually part of the wedding, I don’t know what I’ll be up to. Go with the flow.

Back to Interlochen State Park: had a lovely sleep in. No rain, just cozy warm goodness! I packed up and went to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. I did the scenic loop and climbed up the dune. How odd to see such big dunes on a lake shore. Beaches, sure, but huge dunes? And I swung by the maritime museum and looked at the old boats and the old house where the lighthouse people stayed while watching to make sure boats didn’t crash.

Then at 2:30ish it was time to depart for Grand Rapids. It was a nice just under 3 hour drive. I arrived at the venue, and gave Cally/Kayleigh a life to Megan & Eric’s as that is where the Bachelor/Bachelorette party was starting from. We were the first to arrive, and Ryan, Lauren, Stefan, Andy, and a whole bunch of other people arrived. There were cocktails and beer and egg salad and eventually sausages and burgers and homemade hummus. I ate and ate and drank a semi respectable amount. I joined the bachelorette party for a little bit of bar hopping, though I didn’t drink as I felt like having my wits about me, and I might be driving later so yeah. We met up at Pyramid Scheme, which is like a mini Ground Kontrol (barcade b/arcade). I chatted mostly with Eric’s sisters, over Megan’s cousins. We walked over to Stella’s and grabbed a table. I wish the TVs had subtitles on, so that I could follow the very weird old school The Incredible Hulk show. Why was he massaging that guy? What was that stuff in the container? I just don’t know. Then we went to Rumours, a club, and I tried to dance on the dance floor but I’m too self-conscious about my rhythm. Still, I tried!

We called a cab (we cabbed in) and the first one to arrive was stolen by another team of people! Boo!

Back at Megan & Eric’s I pitched my tent on their lawn, and after having another serving of food, I retired to my tent. So I suppose I could have drunk more, but I’m glad I’m feeling fine in the morning now as I plan to lend a hand in wedding prep today.

So yeah! It’s August now! The final month of this journey begins. I’ve got a good amount of National Parks to visit coming up, I can’t wait!

Chicago & cheese

7/28/2014 6:17 pm, Peninsula State Park, Wisconsin

I’m out on a peninsula that is its own county! Just like home. Except this is a peninsula out into a freshwater lake, so…not like home. The weather has cooled down a bit in this region, which is awesome. I can wear pants, I’m not sweating through everything, and just all around it is better. I am not a hot weather gal. And now I’ve hit 38 states. Ohio was 35, Indiana 36, Illinois 37 and Wisconsin 38! I have two more nights of camping, then come Thursday I set up my tent in Grand Rapids for a few days and enjoy the wedding shindig! Then I shall properly book it west. No more lollygagging! I brake for parks! Also there is only Tibby in Wyoming and BT in Montana and the crew in Portland to hang with. And just generally…being done with it all! I’m ready to retrospect.

I got up and showered in Indiana, had a little breakfast, and hit the road. Only an hour to get into Chicago. I parked my car in a garage that seemed pretty secure (it was in a basement garage and off the sidewalks, so I doubt many hooligans would be scooping in for stealing, and my car was fine at the end of the day) and heading to Portillo’s on Jeff’s recommendation. There was a line out the door, and the line extended far into the establishment, but the line moved fast. There were many people on the grills, and they got the lunch rush system down! I ordered the Italian beef and it was hot and steaming and filling and very good.

Chicago has so many big huge looming building with dynamic architecture. I was kinda amazed by just how big they all were. The sky was blue with moving, fluffy clouds which was just great to see peeking in the skyline gaps. I liked the look of it all more than New York. Pictures will show it better than I can explain. It was just a cool city, and while crowded there was enough space for people to walk about. Though damn the drivers and pedestrians were mental! Everyone was more gungho than they ought to be.

It was easy to walk from Portillo’s to Millenium Park, where I saw the Cloud Gate. AKA that shiny bean thing. The park had lots of interesting sculptures. Good for a city to have an open park with fountains for kids to play in. All city all the time isn’t good. Gotta have some green.

There was a line out the door for the museum and they needed more people selling tickets, but I got through in a generally decent amount of time. I used my student ID again. And it worked again. The museum had the usual: Renoir, Sargent, Monet, Manet, Degas, Picasso. More notably it had Picasso’s The Old Guitarist, Georges Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, which was great to see up close and to look at all the dots and colors and the monkey! Grant Wood’s American Gothic was more textural than I was expecting, and Hopper’s Nighthawks was lovely. The layout of the museum wasn’t all that great, and I found myself backtracking to get to rooms. I like a museum that flows, so I can walk in one path and see the work, and go from era to era, instead of getting thrown out here and there and having to cut across and down and up stairs just to get somewhere else. They do have a huge collection, but still!

There was a Magritte exhibit, though I’m unsure how I feel about Magritte. Surrealism is hard to look at sans contemporary context, I feel. It’s such a different era. Still, now I’ve seen Treachery of Images, The Human Condition, and Not To Be Reproduced. I’m sure there is a 1001 Art Pieces to See Before You Die book, I should get that and get to checking things off. Just for bragging rights.

The Edward Steichen exhibit was neat, but the Taller De Grafica TGP print exhibit was where it’s at. The Leopoldo Mendez prints were so detailed and bold. I also saw some John Sloan, William Glackens, Ferdinand Hodler, Daumier, several Goyas that I nearly had my nose against the glass with, Boucher, Elbridge Ayer Burbank, Thomas Sully, Max Beckmann, and many others! The highlight for me were the Goya prints. And Lautrec’s At The Moulin Rouge. You know, the one with the blue faced lady. That one took me aback. I did not expect to see it, and there it was, and there I was! I love art so much. Seeing that was just such a treat.

And I saw my old buds Thomas Eakins and Winslow Homer in the American Art Before 1900 wing, which is fast becoming one of my “go to” wings. I like older, representational paintings. Portraiture.

Oh! And the Mary Cassat painting with the woman bathing her daughter, that was in the museum too! So great to spend time with art.

I left the museum at 5, which was when it closed, and got a deep dish personal pizza at Lou Martino’s Lou Mazello’s Lou… something. Andy recommended it. It was tasty, sure, but I like thinner pizza. I had left overs, which I have consumed today. I was given a table for four, thankfully I arrived when there was no wait because there was, once again the theme of Chicago, a line of people going outside when I left. I returned to my car, and off I went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

I could spend so much more time in Chicago. Well a few more days at least, for museums and food and architecture. It’s going on the “must visit for a long weekend” list.

My phone died when I was leaving the city, but I got enough of a charge back to find out which interstate out of the city wasn’t a toll.

Andy was a master’s student at PNCA during my first two years there. Me hanging out with him is somewhere in the archives. His girlfriend Lisa is also an artist, and they had a nice little bed for me to sleep on. They taught me how to play stump, and we played a few rounds (it’s a drinking game involving a hammer, nails, and a stump, and it’s less dangerous than it sounds). We all commiserated over art and collections and snooty people making art inaccessible.

They worked early, and the house doesn’t lock behind someone who lacks keys, so I left early too. But leaving early got me up to Door County (which Stephen and Erin recommended) early, and into my site before 1pm! So I’ve had all day to relax, rest, read, and organize. It was a straight shot up north, with little traffic. Camping was cheap ($17) but then the out of state vehicle fee ($10!) made it not cheap. Come on Wisconsin, give an out of towner a break! You are worse than New York, which only charged $5 for being out of town. Thus far Missouri is still winner for cheap camping and being welcoming to people from out of state. Said it before and I’ll say it again: I’d totally camp in Missouri again.

So today I set up tent, then went to the beach and sat and read and soaked up sun until the sun went behind clouds. It’s yet to come back from behind the clouds. I used the shower facilities. I organized my paper souvenirs into: tourism brochures, museum guides, maps, camping guides, and park pamplets. I should collect more state maps, that would have been a good thing to nab for each state I entered. I’ll make an initiative to do that at future rest stops. State maps are good to have on hand.

So now it is 7ishpm but my body thinks it is 8. I’ll eat something. Read more. Check out is 3pm, which is nice. Dunno where I’m off to tomorrow. Somewhere more north and east.

7/29/2014 3:38pm McDonalds in Rhinelander, Wisconsin

Taking a driving break. I’ve been on the road for a few hours now, though it has been scenic and lovely with many turns. The interstate stretches with no turns for 120 miles are the real drags. Switching it up every 30 miles is much better. It’s raining off and on, so I’m not going to set up camp. I had a dry night out on Door County. Not a drop of rain, though it never did get warmer than hoody weather. In the morning I heard a kid proclaim loudly “WASHINGTON!”. I assume he saw my license plate.

I packed up a bit early (well 10ish) and hit the road. I swung through Sturgeon Bay, dropped off some mail, and went to Renart’s for cheese. I sampled the curds and wensleydale and gouda, all was tasty, and bought some fancy string cheese for $2.99. It was several sticks, not one thing of string cheese. And it was so good. Very happy with my Wisconsin cheese.

I’m heading northwest for a bit, then I’m going to head east into Michigan. Dunno where I’ll stop. Like I said, weather is no good for camping. Two nights till I camp in Grand Rapids!

Ohio, where the corn grows but in a good way

7/25/2014 Hocking Hills State Park, Ohio

Greeting from Ohio! For all the fun and mockery made of it, it’s actually pretty. I’d put it up there with Missouri and Oklahoma in terms of “I could totally see myself spending a week tooting about here camping” type states. I’m planning on not visiting any of the Ohio cities, so maybe that is why I like it: scenic routes and lesser interstates and parks parks parks! I rolled into Hocking Hills later in the day, but still with daylight and I set a new tent set up record: 4 minutes, 52 seconds. Got under 5 minutes! It’ll be tough to beat. Check out isn’t till 1pm, so I get to sleep in and utilize my site a bit before I head out. Tomorrow I’ll try and find one of these mounds Mom has told me about, and go to Riverside to get a photo of you know what sign, then it is off to Indiana! For…whatever is in Indiana!

Yesterday I had a nice drive from Grand Rapids, back towards Detroit and then down down down into Ohio. Blue skies, fluffy clouds, warm but not broiling. All together very pleasant! And Ohio has plenty of trees, and corn fields, but nothing too big and expansive for hours upon hours of dull driving. I got to Findley State Park early in the day, well earlier than when I usually roll into a campsite, and set up at site 27. Sites 1-27 were walk in and non reservable. Nice of a campground to set aside campsites for just that purpose. I had the loop to myself, and there were only a few campers on the way to the loop. Very quiet and peaceful. Talked to Mom. Updated my atlas. Organized. Ate some pudding. I did a little driving around the park, but no hiking. I retired to my tent and stayed up late reading. Later on when I was trying to sleep, there was something in the woods near my tent. Probably a deer. Could also be an Ohio Bigfoot. Bigfohiot?

Slept way way in. Slept so far in, I would have missed check out if I had been camping in New York (11am based on where I camped). Packed up and headed out to Cuyahoga National Park! Which would be a bicyclists paradise. Tons of paved trails all along this river. Very nice, but unfortunately a pain to navigate due to tons of road closures. But I did get a hike in at Brandywine Falls. A nice loop around and through the woods. Again, perfect weather. Hot, not terribly humid, sunny with some clouds.

It was about 3 hours to get to Hocking Hills. I’m in one of the youth group sites, so I have tons of space and no one nearby (there’s a bunch of space between the sites). The lightning bugs are plentiful. Wish we had them in Washington, but I guess we have phosphorescence in the water, and that is something!

It’s been nice getting back to the long drives and camping state of travel. Sometimes arranging places to stay can be such a headache. That being said, I’d really like a place to crash in Chicago. BUT as all I want to do is a museum and get a sandwich at this place Jeff told me about, it wouldn’t be so bad to parking garage it, then find parking near the sandwich spot, and then get outta there towards Milwaukie (where Andy is). Just need to look at the old Atlas and figure out driving times.

Hope all is well with you, see ya!

7/26/2014 6:40pm rest stop in Lebanon, Indiana

So it turns out that the Riverside that Kirk will be born in is in Iowa, not Ohio! At least it was on my way to Indiana. I left 11ish and then drove around mid/southern Ohio looking for these mounds that mom mentioned to me, but I couldn’t find any. Just lots of corn and small towns that looked fairly inhabited, instead of the usual destitute forgotten towns. Ohio isn’t so bad! Very scenic, though I can’t imagine living here. The Indiana page in my atlas provided little of interest, so I’m trucking on north to Chicago. Might rest stop/Walmart it, but there might also be some housing lined up kudos of Stephen. It’s all rather up in the air. There are no obvious “don’t sleep here” signs, so that’s a promising sign of these rest stops. I’m charging my devices and working on the communiqué, as that is something one should absolutely NOT do while driving.

Sweet, in the course of writing this, I have procured a place to stay for the night! Then it will be onwards into Chicago for the day (museum, pizza, sandwich) then I’ll see Andy and then it’s up up up!

12:06 am Crown Point, Indiana

I’m showered, my hair is clean, I’ve hydrated, I’ve had some ice cream, all is well! Stephen connected me to his friends Amy and Travis, and I’m at their place, and it’s wonderful. Only an hour and a half from that rest stop. Easy peasy. I’ve filled up my gas tank, so no worries about doing so near Chicago. Cities tend to add a quarter to the gallon price.

And I am going to go to Megan’s wedding. I think it’ll be the best way to kick off the final month of travel. I’m saying a month, could go faster. But then I also want to camp at some of the boss National Parks coming up.

My final route looks like this right now: Indiana (where I am now) → Illinois but just for Chicago → Wisconsin → east into Michigan and south to Grand Rapids for the wedding, then south and back into Indiana and Illinois → Iowa → Minnesota → North Dakota and South Dakota → Nebraska → Wyoming → Montana → Idaho → Oregon and then back home to Washington! The loop de loop through Michigan solves the problem I was having with zig zagging through the remaining states and not back tracking. Plus I barely saw Michigan and it seems like a nice state, so it would be nice to, well, see more of it!

Also Travis & Amy have a lovely 8 month old baby named Calvin.

And I’ve gone back a time zone! So my body says midnight but it is 11. I don’t know if that is good or bad, but still. It’s been a while since time changed. It’s a sign of going west once again.

AAANNND I just thought about how when I was first heading east, the fields were not so grown, and now they are more grown! I guess a season has changed during my journey, and my planning for the weather has been mostly spot on. Go through the south early, and the north later but not too late.

guess I gotta go to Ohio

Figuring out Ohio. Not the most enthused as I look at the map and it's so much flat and little parks. But there is a National Park! Just not one with camping. So I guess I'll drive down into Ohio, avoiding the toll road, and stop at a park, camp, then go to the National Park tomorrow, then go back West like a good girl.

But Michigan! It's nice! And it cooled down a bit. Not so muggy, not so hot. I left Detroit, filled up my tank for .40 cents less a gallon than it was in New York, and hit the road for Grand Rapids. Well, Rockport/Rockfort. I met Megan, a school chum, at her Mom's house, where the back yard is being set up for their upcoming wedding. On the 2nd! It's a lovely property. It has a gracious back yard with trees, a patio for the dance floor, a swing set, laundry on a line, and an ample tree line. It will be a marvelous setting for a wedding. I helped string up lights for the dance floor. Deb, Megan's Mom, fed me some stir fry. Lovely people! I know I've been saying that a lot on this trip, but there are some really swell and kind and giving people out there, and I've only met a fraction of them.

The light stringing was fun. Not sure how much of a help I was, but I did help. Clothes lines had to be brought down to fulfill the wiring needs of the bauble lights.

Megan & Eric let me spend the night in their spare bedroom. Had another good night sleep under a roof. They've gone off to work, so I shall go off to Ohio. State #35.

fire breathers, Canadians, old friends, new friends

Greetings from a house referred to as "The Bunker". I'm in Detroit, staying with some friends of Toon, my first roommate in Portland. One of those full circle moments in life. It's called the bunker because the walls are cement reinforced. Toon's art is on the walls, and it's nice and cool. In a few hours I'll head out to Grand Rapids to see my school friend Megan, and stay there! But I'm so far ahead of where I last reported, and it's only been a few days! I love it when this trip accelerates. I'm getting my wind back and it is blowing me west.

My Day in Toronto

I set out at around 10amish. On foot. I had drawn up a few maps of where the comic shops are and where the St. Lawrence Market was, and I looked at the map of Toronto and knew it would be a walk, but hey! Gotta see the city! It was less hot today than it was when I arrived. Perfect for walking! I went down Avenue and turned right on Bloor (rhymes with door). I walked past the Royal Ontario Museum, which had a funky architectural construction. The mix of people in Toronto was refreshing. Not overly suited like DC, not obviously students like Burlington. Just a good blend of all sorts in all ranges of fashion.

I swung by Little Island Comics, which was cute and all ages. Then I wandered into Honest Ed's, which is this massive store of discount goods of all sorts. Wonderful signage throughout, hand lettering and slogans. You gotta go upstairs through a room of bins of men's clothes and cut across and go down into the basement to get to food. And lots of that backtracking. It isn't easy to get around, but damn it was fun. I bought some snacks and headed out to the brilliant light of day.

The Beguiling is the best comic shop I've been in since Floating World Comics in Portland, Oregon. That's saying something! Indie shelves, foreign comics, zines, and knowledgeable staff. Made my heart swell to be in such an awesome spot, and really made me realize how far out of the comic loop I am. I was so into comics, what happened? I'm still into them, just not as much and not as actively.

South on Bathhurst was my next course of action, and I consumed my snacks (a canned iced tea and some chocolate) as I strolled down to downtown. Through a park. Past huge buildings and so much road construction. There is a lot in Toronto, but it doesn't have the hustling feeling that other cities have had, but it doesn't have the same concentration of stuff that Philadelphia had when I walked several miles through it. Caroline and Gary said it's a good city for food and beer. And the beers we had at the little pub last night were very good. And the beers we had tonight were also good, but that is jumping ahead!

So I wanted to grab lunch at St. Lawrence Market, which is a huge closed market with tons of stalls. And after walking for ages to get down there, I found it closed! It closes on certain days! Damn!! All that walking! Had I known, I would have stayed up around Bloor where it was more trendy. But also if I had an operational smart phone (mine doesn't work internationally) then I could have Googled stuff.

As it was, I just found a park and stretched my aching feet and read and ate snacks. Then I found my way into the Subway station and looked at the map and figured out roughly which station would be best to get off on (not many lines in Toronto, so no transfers!). Paid by $3 Canadian (Uncle Mark gave me some Canadian dollars) for a token, dropped the token in the thingy, and got on the train. Easy! And while I overshot the return to the apartment, I overshot it going uphill, so it was an easy walk down. I was loaned keys, so that I didn't have to coordinate with them when I was going out and about.

I lounged in the apartment for a bit and Caroline came home and I threw my shoes back on and off we went downtown to meet Gary at Wvrst for sausages and beer. We got on the bus, got a transfer slip, got off the bus and on the subway, then off the subway and onto the trolley! Such scooting about.

Wvrst has a great menu with interesting meats. Kangaroo. Guinea fowl. I went with the wild boar. And Caroline got some duck fat fries. Oh so good! Such carnivores. I'm glad that I can travel and consume with no allergic limitations. And as it was Monday, all Ontario beers were $5! Tasty tasty. Time flew by at our long bench style table. And oh the sausage was fantastic. We grabbed a subway back and arrived home after dark, and we all went to bed properly tired.

Escape from Toronto

You know how hard it is to get out of a city when you don't have any GPS and your printed out instructions end up being useless due to road constructions? Very. It's very hard. I said my goodbyes to Caroline and Gary in the morning, and loafed around a bit in the apartment before packing up. I dropped Caroline's loaned key off at the front desk of her work (which was really difficult to find due to it being on the second floor of a complex with a not so obvious elevator). My car was in a parking garage, which had decent rates. No harm was apparent on my car, hurray! I didn't think it would be. So I loaded up and put on comfy shoes and drove off. I had printed instructions for how to get to Detroit, but the route was blocked to construction, so I decided to get on Gardiner and hope there would be a turn off to 401, which I seem to remember seeing. But getting to Gardiner was tricky, and I ended up at the entrance to an airport or something. But the attendant at the gate and a truck driver gave me instructions (go out, second right, first left, right on this, then there is Gardiner) and I followed said instructions, and they were perfect! Mind you well over an hour has passed from me leaving the garage to this point, and I've only covered a few miles of distance across Toronto, but despite the congestion it was better than Nashville, which was heinous for driving.

And Gardiner did have an exit for 401! And thus the hours of driving began. The windmills were cool, but it was a whole lotta the same. Vast, sure, but no scale besides the windmills for the expansiveness of it all. A hill would have been nice. I took a mininap at one of the "ONroute" rest stops and spent some of my remaining Canadian coins on an iced coffee.

I crossed the border by way of the Winsor Tunnel. The wait to get to the customs agent was less than it was getting into Canada, but they made me park and leave my car so they could check it. I guess I haven't crossed the border into America on this passport, and the car isn't in my name, and I've been camping. I can see why they'd search me, and I have nothing to hide except carrots and a mallet. And even that I was honest about. So I sat in the waiting area and read and then struck up a conversation with some of the other waiting people about border crossings. I explained myself to the agent, the trip I was on, who the car belonged to, in all honesty of course. I'm not good at lying. And I was good to go! Nothing in my car looked ruffled. I was worried I might have to reorganize, but I didn't. Whooo!

Put a little bit of gas in my car and headed to Cyphar's. Cyphar being a friend of Toon. He, Mishiu, Eric(Rick?) and I went to get Lebanese food and oh what a platter of tasty meats that was! And tabuleh and rice. Shwarma. Mmm. We ate our fill and then some. My jaw is still giving my trouble. Have to eat slowly. I'm trying to feel out if my bite feels crooked, like my jaw somehow is a little out of sync. The alingment of one's jaw is really something taken for granted.

After food, I got a bit of a driving tour of Detroit (and we picked up Steve). And we stopped at an abandoned building and walked up the stairs to the roof and looked at the city from that vantage point. Gorgeous view. The light of Detroit obliterates the stars in the skies, and there are many buildings lit up all sorts of gleaming colors, but there are also dark patches where there are no lights, where there should be. It's a strange city, and very much on the surface how it is perceived: graffiti, obviously bad neighborhoods, deconstruction, abandoned buildings with shattered windows.

I have a bed to my own here at the house in Detroit, and I slept well in it. Now to go to Grand Rapids and see Megan!

Michigan makes 34. 14 to go!

Buffalo to Toronto

I totally neglected blogging in Buffalo. I thought, oh I'll do it tonight. Then oh I'll do it in the morning. Now here I am in Toronto, Canada!

I am in Toronto with Caroline and Gary. I've known Caroline online for well over 10 years. Probably the oldest online friend pen pal. We've been through so many stages of life together, and fluxes of conversation and no conversation. Seeing her in Toronto was one of the main uber goals of this trip. One of those "if I can accomplish this, it'll be amazing" and here I am without a hitch! My phone does not work in Canada, but I let her know before hand it might not so we just planned for me to park nearby and for me to hollar at her through open window and she came down and I found better parking for my car and yay here I am in Toronto! There seems like much to do, and I'm only here for one full day and Caroline and Gary work that day (Gary is Caroline's boyfriend, who is really nice), but we'll have the evening and I get time to roam but it also might be raining. Still, I'm here. Toronto is one of those cities I should visit again on its own for a few days properly. But driving up was painless. Just over two hours, and that was more due to a weather delay than traffic. Crossing the border was all sorts of questions about how I know Caroline, how much money I have, what sort of trip I am on, what I have in my car, who the car belongs to, does this person know I am visiting. I told the truth but it was one of those things where it's like, dang, I should have just lied. "Oh we went to college together". Boom! Easy! But I was let through and on I went. I was treated to dinner and we had several pints and gabbed (the three of us) and it was perfect. Like old friends catching up, which it was in a way. I'm wearing my most American shirt, which is a graphic of America where each state is represented with typography of the state name.

I don't know where to state with Toronto! It might be easier if I had good access to my phone and maps, but I don't. So I'll probably just walk a whole bunch tomorrow and draw a map. I don't know what exactly I want to see, but then again that would be better probably for a Toronto specific vacation.

But yeah! Whooo, Canada!

So, Buffalo? I guess I'll sum that up.

I got in to Janet and Mark's house and was let in by Maddie who is a friend of Kat, who is a summer intern of sorts who is staying at their house. Janet and Mark were else where. I took a shower and put on pajamas and M & K left, so I had the house to myself. I snacked and relaxed. Janet and Mark came back and we ate popcorn on the back porch while catching up. Janet and Mark, for the uninformed, are the parents of Leanne who I stayed with in Florida. Family upon family. Roaming the country.

Breakfast was aebleskivers, a Danish food, with bacon and eggs. Perfectly delicious! After breakfast, we three went to Niagara Falls. We parked on Turtle Island and walked, for we are good walkers! And we arrived during a perfect break in the rain. Well, it still rained, but lightly. I got some good views of the falls, and ANNDDD they treated me to a ride on Maid in the Mist, the boat that goes to the falls. We all got commemorative ponchos...which were needed to keep our torso dry in the mist, which was really just rain from the waterfall. My feet and pant legs got soaked. Still, what a blast! Just torrents and wind and mist and the falls RIGHT THERE! It was great. Absolutely wonderful. And Mark provided lots of insight about the falls.

We slogged our wet togs to Anchor Bar and met Kat and Maddie, and we were treated to a bucket of wings! Legit Buffalo wings. Mmm so good. That sort of usurped dinner plans, so hours later at home we went straight to dessert with strawberry shortcake, and card games.

Come morning, Mark picked up Great Aunt Doris, and we all went out for breakfast. Doris remembers that the last time she saw me, I was playing with Beanie Babies. I got some good stories about Grandpa, and just life way back when. Doris at 95 is still sharp and very mobile. There is a strain of longevity in this family, well a strain if we try to take care of ourselves. So I guess I need to start doing that.

After breakfast, I cleaned my car. I took everything out of the front seats and vacuumed. I reorganized. I tidied up. I made an effort to not make my car look totally shady when it comes to border watchers. Was there ever a time when you didn't need a passport to get into Canada? Seems like there wasn't, these days. There was some lunch after I cleaned, and then I packed up and off I went! Weather was good, but there was a bit of a storm, but it cleared up when I got into Toronto proper. Now I'm here! And that was what you've been missing. It's a top floor apartment and it's very warm.

But it isn't Florida.

now how do you spell that?

7/17/2014 Cayuga Lake State Park, New York

A weird grinding has developed in my right jaw. It is hard to eat apples. I could Google symptoms but then I might just get worried. Hopefully it will get better and just be a temporary weird thing, and not get worse and force me to book it for Washington to get dental work done (i.e. if I can’t eat solid foods at all). I feel like I can’t open my jaw as wide as I could, but then again I can’t remember how wide I could open it.

So! I’m in New York! Caroline can host me a day earlier in Toronto! Hurray! So tomorrow I’ll go to Buffalo and stay two nights with Janet, then go up to Toronto! Woohoo! I spent today driving a nice scenic route through upstate New York. I left Rollins Pond along 3 West, which took me out of the Adirondack Mountains and up into 1000 Islands. The parks were plentiful, but not much privacy was to be had, so I decided to continue on to the Finger Lakes region and stay at Cayuga Lake State Park. I love the big fluffy clouds that plop right on some level of the atmosphere. I love rolling hills that get patchy under the clouds, so some are dark green and others are more faded. I was almost sad to stop driving, I felt like I could have gone for many more hours. I have the urge to cover more ground, whereas a few days ago I had the urge to stay in one place. Previously that desire was thwarted by bad weather (it did rain my last night in Vermont, so at least I was right in not setting up my tent), and now I am thwarted by the schedules of others. I’ll be happy to be on my own calendar again.

I ended up not staying at the Rutland, Vermont Walmart. It was in the downtown, and had signs warning against parking longer than 3 hours. Not good signs. The Mega Walmarts that are open 24/7 that are located outside of towns are my ones of choice. So I crossed the border into New York and stayed at Glens Falls. Glen Falls. Glen…it’s an hour north of Albany just outside of the Adirondack Mountains. I forgot that Brynne gave me a contact in Albany. Oops! Had I remembered I would have just gone there from Burlington (provided I could stay). New Hampshire & Vermont being all rainy and me having to drift about has thrown me off. I wish I could have camped in both those states, and they seemed very beautiful, but alas it was not camping season. I’ll have to come back because New York has many lovely locales. Could easily spend a few weeks just up here, though having a kayak with me would be primo. Lots of lakes.

I topped off my tank going into the Adirondacks and got some food and off I went!  Over hills through green mountains aplenty. There were hikers setting off every which way, and signs directing to snowmobile paths. I went up to Saranac Lake, which is by Lake Placid, where there have been two Winter Olympics. The ski jumps loomed; these odd monolithic structures that could not be more out of place in the summer.

The visitor’s center provided me with park listings and I chose Rollins Pond due to plentiful campsites and free showers. Hundreds of sites, but there were plenty of people. Still, I had my choice and I went with 27. Nice shade, right on the water (almost all the sites were on the water, though some were moreso than others). My neighbors were the Reids, and Jason came right over and offered to help me with my tent, I declined as it is just a two pole tent that I’ve got a pretty good handle on setting up. We got to chatting about travel and this and that. Really nice fella! He gave me a few mountain tips.

I didn’t feel up to a 5 mile hike, so I did the Baker Mountain summit, which is one mile up, one mile down. Except if you are me then you will lose the trail and climb up rocks that you think are the trail and wonder why it was so difficult! And how did those kids coming down early in the hike ever do it? But oh what a lovely view! There are six mountains around Saranac Lake, and if you summit all six of them you get to be part of a club, but…I’m not going to do that. I don’t have all week to climb mountains. One is good enough. I got pictures (and I got excellent cell reception). Going down I found the actual hiking path, which was easy and relatively flat with minor rocks to scramble over. How I missed it, I’ll never know. But hey, make your own loop trail!

I drove into Lake Placid because I wanted to get a picture of the ski jumps. Seemed like a nice low-level tourist place. Not totally busy as it was a bit off season, but still had stuff going on. I wonder how it is in the winter. I made use of the shower upon returning to Rollins Pond. I used the new conditioner I bought (ran out of the last bottle) and my hair is so soft! It’s some of the best it’s been in a while. I also used several leave in products…but yeah. Gave it a good clean.

The Reids invited me over for s’mores and salad and brewskies. We sat around, I told stories of my travels, I got stories of their travels, Jason is going to do a sojourn into Maryland, which will be amazing I’m sure. It’s so nice to have consistently met nice people on this trip. Just friendly “hi neighbor, come on over if you’d like” invitations. And they let me use their kayak! So at the end of the day, Jason and I paddled around on the lake and star gazed. And wow every star was out, as was the Milky Way. These are the skies where you can really see how people came up with constellations. All that detail, all those stars, all that glory. That is why one ought to go out to nowhere near no development. Nature isn’t just trees, it’s the sky and earth.

At Cayuga Lake I updated my atlas, marking where I’ve been sleeping (little x’s) and I’ve covered so much ground, and still have a ways to go. So many more landscapes await. Badlands National Park, Yellowstone, Tetons…I want more parks and landscape. There are not many cities remaining that I want to see. Chicago, Toronto, Butte…I’ll have to consult the map.

It’s comforting in a way to know that I could do this trip again on an almost entirely different route. There is so much to see everywhere I go, that if I miss things then I don’t feel so bad, because I am missing things everywhere. So much will still be here whenever I come back, and what I’ve experienced is mine and it’s wonderful.

7/18/2014 Dunkin Donuts off 20 West

My indulgence in mochas has switched to the number 1 at Dunkin Donuts: medium coffee (with crème) and two donuts. I kinda like DD more than Starbucks in terms of décor. It’s much brighter with its pink, orange, and browns. Maybe not as high fallutin. Starbucks also seems to have “destination mugs”. I like my Florida DD mug. It has space ships and flamingoes on it.

I’ve started thinking about retrospective illustrations. Best rest stop, best shower facilities, the best states, cross referenced by the length of stay. That’ll make for a good series. I have plenty of notes to source from.

I had such a good sleep in my tent. It’s been great being able to spread out. My legs get cramped sleeping in the car. I can’t stretch out. But in my tent I can sprawl as much as I want. And with an 11am check out, I can sleep in for a very long time. It only takes me around 30 minutes to break down my camp, and that is if I go slow. Everything has its place in my car.

On the advice of the office worker, I drove down to Taughannock Falls State Park. I parked and ate some bagels with crème cheese and salmon that Jill & Darrah gave me. I relocated to the beach and read in the sun for a while. It’s a gorgeous day once again. Sunny, warm, with those fluffy clouds I keep mentioning. I drove down one road and up another. The lakes are lovely. There are oodles of wineries, but I’m not a wino so I haven’t checked any of them out. That one in Rhode Island to get a thank you bottle for Darrah was enough.

After I do the rounds here, I am off to Buffalo! Got a few hours of off turnpike driving to do, but oh the weather is perfect for the scenic route.

xoxo Trillian

sweet tooth

I'm sitting in a Dunkin Donuts in Rutland, Vermont. I'm charging my phone and mp3 player and killing time. I want to camp but the weather reports haven't been good...but it hasn't been stormy. I think if the weather looks good, I'm going to camp tomorrow night somewhere in Vermont. It's a beautiful state, I'd hate to dart through it. I'm meeting Caroline ... oh I already mentioned that. But yeah, I have a few days to spend in the area. After Toronto, I'm looking forward to doing some more long distance driving. Listening to stuff, covering ground. I'm getting tired. I don't like being on other people's schedules, though of course I respect their time. I'm the guest.

Okay so after Plymouth, I continued south to Manchester, where I oogled books in a used book store. Except the books I really want (Edan Lepucki's California, Jeff Vandermeer's Annihilation, Jojo Moyes' Me Before You) are all brand new and not second hand...yet. But cheaper on my Kindle. But I have other books to read already! The Goldfinch! N0S4A2! Biographies! I'll just add them to the Christmas ISBN list...

Okay where was I? Yeah I went to Manchester. Nothing really made me want to stick around, so I drove to Lebanon, where Dartmouth is. I dried some of my wet camping stuff at a 24/7 laundromat. A little girl gave me one of her Skittles that she got from the crank machine. One of her precious Skittles! She was only allowed a quarters worth and she gave me one with no prompting. I was originally going to sleep in the Walmart parking lot in Dartmouth but they had a no loitering sign and it was a smaller one, so it didn't seem as open as other, larger ones. So I continued into Vermont! 33rd state! I grabbed some brochures from the visitor's center and continued on to the Walmart near Montpelier and slept there. I went in in the morning to use the bathroom, but this lady was like "what are you doing? can I help you?" turns out they weren't open! Well then why was their door open? She was grumpy but the other employees weren't fussed. So I drove on into Montpelier, and used the bathroom in the City Center building and changed and sat in the little coffee shop and worked on my journal and woke slowly up.

Montpelier is so cute! Just a few streets of cute shops. Not a whole bunch of goings ons, but it is tucked in a nice bunch of green mountains. And it does have a cute little movie theater. My kind of little town! I surveyed the local books shops. Walked about. Then got in my car and went to the maple farm nearby. I tried all the maple syrups. 100% pure good shit, aww yeah. And the maple creme. I didn't buy anything to take home, because home is my car for the next two months or so...I've done a pretty good job of not buying souvenirs! I have a shirt from the Museum of Osteology, a bunch of crushed pennies, a Dunkin Donuts mug from Florida...yeah. And a few other odds and ends. The main thing are the stickers and those are going on my cooler.

And the memories.

After the maple farm and the maple creemee (sort of a soft serve) I continued North about 30 minutes to the Ben & Jerry's Factory. It was a lovely compound. Well painted and decorated. They had food, a tie dye stand, and cut outs to stick your head through. Cut outs are sad when you are by yourself because you have no one to take your picture...or no one to take your picture with.

I took the tour. Only four bucks! Though the tour is just a video, an overhead view of the production plant (which is relatively small scale, I think this is just a smaller batch one to show tourists), BUT you get to try an ice cream flavor at the end that is exclusive to the Waterbury location. This one was strawberry ice cream with white chocolate and a fudge swirl. Delicious! I didn't have any more ice cream after that because dang, a creemee and a sample size! That's already a lot for one day.

It was starting to rain. I drove towards Burlington and stopped at the rest stop and ate a bagel and tried to think of what to do. I continued on to Burlington. I saw the World's Tallest Filing Cabinet (it's pretty tall, but it's just a bunch of cabinets welded together, but I also guess any taller and the structure would break). I swung by the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory and got a crushed penny and a picture of the VERY CREEPY teddy bear made of hay that they have there. It's all falling apart and...very creepy looking. I got my oil changed. I ended up in the college area of town. It's amazing how readily obvious those sections of cities become. Flyers for concerts, more mixed crowds of people, gutter punks, upscale trendy coffee places, more little restaurants.

I headed south on 7 to Rutland. Beautiful drive through more rolling hills. I arrived at the Dunkin Donuts. Ray, a customer, gave me some camping tips. There is a Walmart nearby, so I'm off to there. It is raining. Hopefully the weather is better tomorrow.

lovely spot of camping/horrible spot of camping

7/12 8:12 PM Peaks-Kenny State Park, Maine

Oh typing up my blog in a tent far away from electricity and wifi, how I’ve missed you! The last successful tent camping was in Georgia. If you remember, rain hindered my enjoyment in Shenandoah, and since then I’ve been staying with people (Dan & Anita, Carly, Wilson, Darrah, Elnora, Kathryn) or sleeping in my car. It’s great having a roof and a bed and a shower and company and conversation, but wow I’ve missed just being cozy in a tent and being in nature and long drives and spectacular vistas and actually making use of my cooler.  Cities have city stuff. Museums and food and variety, but cities are costly and busy and just…they get to be a lot to deal with. So I’ll be camping for a few days more. I don’t know if I’ll camp another day in Maine. Find a spot near the Maine/New Hampshire border maybe. But I’m many days ahead of where I left you, dear readers, so let us go back to Massachusetts.

 I left Gloucester in the midafternoon, after washing my sheets and eating. It was a great day for driving. It was just a bit cooler than it has been (low 80s) so I didn’t have to run the a/c. I drove North on 95, or was it East? Either way, I went up. I stopped in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at my beloved Trader Joe’s and stocked my provisions. I am going with bagels and crème cheese instead of PB & J, because my bread keeps ending up soggy before I can finish it, and that is a waste of food. But I know I can eat six bagels. Also carrots and apples and string cheese. My staples. Amy, the cashier, was so into the trip that I am on, that she have me a few flowers! I turned a waterbottle into a vase for them, and they are sitting pretty in my car, if a bit wilted by now. I don’t want to chuck them, because they were such a wonderful gesture.

That brief sojourn across New Hampshire was state 31, and then Maine brought me to 32. First time I’ve seen a distance sign that had three cities in three states on it, with all the distances being under 40 miles away. That little bit of MA, NH, & ME is not big at all. But going to Bangor and then down to Acadia…that is another story. But it was a nice drive, with good roads and nice rest stops, and reasonable tolls. I listened to podcasts, I admired the trees and woods that just go on and on, and wow Maine is lovely! It’s nice to be away from big cities and development and old money and just, all of that. It really is. I’ve missed the long drives. I got into Acadia before sunset. The whole island isn’t a National Park, just the good bits. There are roads that ring around the island, and it’s all very quick and easy and easily marked when it comes to getting around. I drove a bit, finally located where a campground was, and signed in for the night. Only one night unfortunately, but hey it’s the weekend. It’s to be expected. I couldn’t find my hammer at all, so I borrowed a mallet to pound my tent spikes in.

It was a nice night to be in a tent. No rain, no massive breeze, not too hot. Just very nice. I finished reading Edward St. Aubyn’s Lost for Words. It was a gentle, silly book. It felt like it was missing a few chapters, like they got edited out. Another thing that happens when I tent camp: I read more. I’ve missed the reading in my tent for several hours, because once it gets dark and you have no fire, but at not tired, what are you going to do? Yeah, I’ve missed this.

Check out was at 10, and I was outta there at 9:45. I went to the visitor’s center and got my stamps. Saw  the informational video. I drove on the ring road and went up to the Cadillac Mountain peak. I sat on the flat rock and read and basked like the sea lizard that I am. I’ve done a lot of basking in the past few days. It’s been nice. I drove some more. The ocean air brought tears to my eyes; I’m not ashamed to admit. I didn’t know how much I missed that smell, but it is so specific. The fresh air, the sea weed, the salt, the…everything!

I sat on Sandy Beach for a while and wished I had packed a two piece swimsuit, because my legs and arms are getting tan, and the top of my back, but not my stomach. It’s all very patchy. What’s the point in spending months getting a tan, if it doesn’t happen evenly! Well, as long as I don’t burn. I spent more time on Sandy Beach today and I am right on the cusp of being pink. My back should be a nice tan in a few days. I’m not giving off that heat that happens when you burn, but I think I have such a nice base tan going on, that a few hours won’t lobster me like it would if I were my pasty Pacific Northwest self. It’s kinda fun doing the tan thing. I’ve got 26 years of pasty good skin care, I think I can take a few months of controlled exposure.

Anyway, Acadia! I went downtown in the evening and got an Italian soda, which was refreshing. All the seafood prices were cha-ching so I forgoed the local samplers. And who knows how local it even is?  If I’m going to have Maine seafood, I’d like to know that it was alive and snipping in the sea not too long ago, and not too far from where it died.

Bar Harbor (pronounced Baa Haa Baa by a few) was like any tourist harbor. Imagine … uhhh Friday Harbor? Is that the one on San Juan Island? Orcas Island? Anyway, it’s like that. Cute shops, lots of little food places, lots of higher end food places. Just that stuff, but with less nautical looking tourists. I didn’t have a place to camp that night, but there were a Walmart in Ellsworth just 30 minutes away from the park! It was the safest looking lot thus far, and I settled in. I bought some coffee and doughnuts from the Dunkin Doughnuts in Walmart, and a mallet and some fuel injector cleaner from the Walmart, and that was my day. I remembered to drink the coffee and poor the fuel injector cleaner in. That would have been a bad mix up. The mallet is for the tent spikes, and it has already proven itself a worthwhile purchase (it cost less than $3 but still). I drove around the left side of the island. The less parky and populated side. I went to the Seur le Mons (or suchlike) garden and got my stamp. Then I returned to Sandy Beach. I hiked a little bit, but I wasn’t feeling up to the very vertical part of the trail, so I went back down, put on my swimsuit, and hit the beach. I’m reading The Goldfinch and it is doing a very good job of holding my attention just enough to keep reading, but it isn’t exactly enthralling me.

After the beach, I drove  on a bit and parked once again and this time sat on the flat rocks and read there. I found a great spot where the rock chipped away enough to make a comfy seat, and there was a rock to clean against. Perfect. Sailboats went by, the surf crashed up on the rocks below, all was well and awesome.

From there I departed and decided to go north instead of further east. I stopped at this antiques place and browsed while talking to Ma & Pa on the phone. They were due for a good long conversation. I continued on to Bangor, a less than an hour drive. Almost everything in the part of the city was closed at 4pm! Except for the comic shop, but I have the latest issue of Lumberjanes and Sandman, so whatever.

Another hour north found me at Peaks-Kenny State Park. I got one of the last spots. Only being in a tent and only staying for a night gives me a good leg up on RVs and long term campers. My tent was set up in seemingly record time thanks to the mallet making the peg pounding a much faster process. I put my swimsuit back on and went down to the beach (this park is on a lake) and got a sunsetting swim in. The water wasn’t all that cold. The hills were green and rolling, with the ones in the distance that atmospheric blue color. The sky was blue and the sun was shining through mottled clouds. This campground has free showers! I’ll wash my hair in the morning if it feels like it needs it. I gave myself a good “if there are any ticks they better be off” soapy scrub.

I guess that is one benefit to having a husband: someone that’ll check you for ticks after a hike. The last person who found a tick on me set me on fire. So hopefully that won’t happen ever again.

And now I lay me down to sleep. I begin to go west tomorrow. The return begins. I’ve come so far, it’s time to go back to what was but will be different for I am ever changing.

7/14 3:09 pm, Plymouth, New Hampshire

I've got 30 minutes left on my meter so lets get to it! 

I left Peaks-Kenny at noonish for Mt. Blue State Park. It was a nice drive, took me through Skowhegan. Only a few hours. I swung by a hardware store to see about getting some slime to repair my tire that has been loosing air, and the dude in the store advised me to go to a local shop and that it wouldn't be that much for them to repair a puncture with a plug (he estimated $20). I figured what the hell. I drove down to the garage he indicated, and the guy was available to help. Jacked my car up, got off the tire, and well there was a screw embedded in the tire! A long one that was really stuck in there, which is probably why it wasn't going flat in an instant. Really tight in there. He patched it with a plug and the cost was $6! I've spent more than that on air keeping the tire inflated since North Carolina. Dang! Well, happy I set off to go camp. I got in to my spot at 4pmish and the park was far from populated. Got my tent set up and ate my bagel and...it started to rain. And it kept raining till sunrise just about. I made sure my tent was closed all the way and took a walk in the rain with my umbrella. My tent was not flooded upon my return, but it was leaky. It is classified as "water resistant" but not "water proof". It comes through the stitching and the mesh if the top cover is soaked enough. I kept a towel in the tent and wiped down the leaks, but eventually it just rained more and more and I just gave up and slept in my car. Nothing got wet outside of my tent and the towel, because I learned a valuable lesson in Shenandoah! Still, ugh a wet tent. And more rain is predicted for New Hampshire, which is a bummer because I want to camp more! I love camping! But I can't do it in the rain. I could if my tent were waterproof, but it isn't.

So I packed up and left relatively early. I took a beautiful scenic drive through the White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire. Just quality winding roads, rolling hills, mountains blue in the distances with clouds coming up behind them. Just lovely. I don't know what I'll do with myself. Maybe drive down to a city and go to a used book store or something. Get some A/C. I'm eating in a little cafe in Plymouth. Charging my phone and laptop and mp3 player. I'm due to meet Caroline in Toronto in a week. So a week to explore New Hampshire, Vermont, and up state New York. I think I'll skip Montreal. I'll contact Janet in Buffalo, maybe go hang with her for a day or so. I need to find a place to try the inside of my tent. Place being rest stop.

I really like being dry and getting a good night sleep. Sleeping in my car just wears me out as I seem to wake up fairly regularly to adjust my position.

Allonsy!

risdiculous

I'm heading out to Maine tomorrow! Going to go over New Hampshire. I'll get to there and Vermont on the way back and up to Montreal. It helps to actually look at maps.

I drove down to Providence, Rhode Island. I'm officially up to 30 states! I don't like calling states I cruise just over. So Maine will be 31, then New Hampshire 32, and Vermont 33. So close to 40! I still have a ways of travel left, but I'm almost heading west. Returning to the Pacific. I have a lot of ground to cover, but it's ground going to where I am from. I'll back to distances and camping. And there are a few more people to visit with. BT, Tibby, Megan, Caroline.

So! Providence! I found parking on the hill in the midst of Brown University. It said two hours, so I set my phone alarm. Brown has a lot of nice buildings, all up and down hills with winding climbing stairs. I like houses stuck higgelty on a hill like that. Not all gridded out on a plane. RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) was also there, but I didn't feel like paying to see their museum for a short bit. I did feel like taking a picture of their personal emergency vehicles with RISD vinyl wraps. Vehicle wraps are costly! It looked so silly, and then RISD alumni retweeted my photo! Did they know I was making fun of them? What kind of school has that?

I checked out the little anthropology display, and this historical house. But I wasn't really feeling Providence, so I continued on south and east. I cruised out to Sakonnet Vineyard to buy a bottle of wine for Darrah as a thank you & birthday gift. Getting to the vineyard took me back and forth between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Kinda funny that Rhode Island even bothers being a state.

After the wine was procured, I returned to Gloucester. My GPS took me through Boston and I was reminded that I was only there for one day and I didn't see so much of the city, but I did have fun. Boston will still be here. It's a big city. I'm not too fussed that I didn't spend more time there. I'm excited for nature and being on the road and knocking off states and seeing a bit of Canada.

Darrah made a tofu and veggie dinner. Now it's time to sleep. Tomorrow I head off. Gas & food and northward ho!

the road most traveled for years

These past two weeks I've driven the least of the different 2 week chunks. When I have a chance to rest and stay over, I certainly like to take it. Averie is going to be in Boston soon, not for long, but I am dragging my heels. Right now it is six more days, but that is so long in road trip time! But I suppose I could go up North, camp, and come back, instead of home basing it, which is what I have been doing. Darrah is very kind to have me. And Jill, who is also staying here. Both very kind, lovely ladies!

Now I'm finding things to do in Rhode Island. Yeah, I think I will go camp up north for a few days. I miss camping. Except there are tick warnings and I don't have anyone in my life that could check me for ticks. Decisions.

Well, whatever happens will happen. I don't want Lyme disease though. That isn't something that needs to happen.

So on Tuesday I drove down into Connecticut, nice and proper this time so now I can count it in my state count: 29! Rhode Island will bring me nice and neat to 30. Then it is 18 to go, and that is hardly any number! I want to get to Butte before BT leaves.

I got a medium morning start on driving, but it was still a bunch of driving. Several hours. But it went well. Lots of zigzagging to avoid tolls. I wish telling how much tolls will be was a readily available part of Google Maps, because it just warns of tolls but doesn't say how much. Will it be 6 bucks? 17? 2? If it is 2, I'll pay 2, because I burn more gas driving around, but it if it's a lot then well, screw that.

So I drove to New Haven, where Michael recommended going for art museums, and Yale's art museum was FREE! So that is a done deal. There was street parking readily available, and it was only a buck fifty an hour! But limited to two hours, but that only shaved half an hour off my time at the museum, because parking was covered till 4:30 and the museum closed at 5. They even had free lockers! So I could stroll with just my notebook. And it turns out ~2 hours was perfect for the collection. They had a nice Stubbs, I really dug this Winterhalter. They had a few Eakins as well. I guess Eakins is very East Coast. There was a west coast exhibit with some Thiebauds. Love his work. There was a collection of miniatures and they even provided a magnifying glass to really peer at them. So cool! I love miniature portraits so much.

I drove a couple blocks and parked again and went to the uber Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. A pleeb like me couldn't touch the books, but I could walk around their glass enclosure and look at a Gutenberg Bible and Audubon Folio (also behind glass). It was a very cool building. The exterior was made with some sort of marble that didn't let light in, but sort of glowed in the sun. Very...epic.

I got an iced green tea from Blue State Coffee and sat and read for a bit, then I drove to Mystic, and walked around the seaport a bit. Unfortunately I couldn't get near the wooden boats without breaking and entering. But it was a nice place to watch the sunset. It was an easy drive back. I'm getting an earlier start today.

On Sunday I caught a matinee of Snowpiercer, which was all dystopian and neat and claustrophobic, though it had some shakey cam. Good casting with Alison Pill, Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, Ewen Bremmer, Jamie Bell, Luke Pasqualino, and others. There were pancakes and chicken too. And we went out for fish and chips on Monday. It was a big platter type meal, instead of individual plates. The sunset in my eyes, but it was still pretty. It's nice out here in Gloucester. Quiet, yet established. It doesn't feel empty like so many towns I have driven through. These East Coast towns are too close to establishment and money and work. Schools.

So. 10am. Rhode Island. But first I must shower.

bawston

Boston! Boston was super fun. I popped around and had lots of ice cream and took the subway and saw fishes and... I guess you'll want more description than that.

Darrah loaned me her commuter pass, which was all trains and what not included! So I could do the bus or the train or whatever with no worry of cost. How great! And it covered the train ride in from Rockport, which was an hour and some change to North Station, Boston. I read and wrote in my journal and watched the scenery go by. Very nice and effortless.

I opted to wear pants, which was a gambit because it was due to be warm but not 90 degrees. I could have probably been fine in shorts, but I wanted to wear pants. And I was fine! Got a bit hot here and there, but nothing too bad. With the pass and the public transit option in Google Maps, it was easy to get around town. I hopped on the subway to the aquarium, and thanks to a free pass Darrah gave me (Darrah is all kinds of great) I went through the shorter pass line and was in lickety split! The New England Aquarium was crowded, but - oh! I forgot a bit.

The subway let me off near this square where there were food markets, just a row of indoor stalls a block long, so I went up and down it and went with chicken teriyaki and ate that on the steps. THEN I went to the aquarium. Which was crowded. But of course it was. It was Saturday on a holiday weekend. Lots of families. Lots of accents. I don't think I've seen a bigger density of tourists than in this part of Boston. Even New York I think they were stretched out. Or maybe less obvious.

Anyhoo! The penguins sure were cute. Lots of different kinds all sitting about. And they had good fishes in the tanks. I really liked the big central aquarium and I spent a lot of time watching the fish go by. There were some big ones. And one fish pooped and another fish at the poop. And a scuba diver in the tank accidentally thwapped the turtle in the head with his fin, but the turtle didn't seem fussed. After an hour of navigating crowds, I left to get ice cream!

A guide pamphlet listed two places: Picco for well known flavors done right and Toscanini's for funky interesting flavors. Picco was a bit closer, so I hopped on the subway once again, transferred, and bam! Picco! I got the caramel swirl and it was indeed tasty. I ate it while walking about, and sat in the park and read for a bit while watching people in swanboats go about. There were a couple violinists dispersing music through the air. It was a very nice day. Perfect warm weather.

I got back on the subway and headed up into Cambridge for Toscanini's. I overshot the place and ended up at MIT. There was a bit fancy building with columns. I debated hanging around to procure a husband, but I think I was wearing too intimidating of a shade of lipstick, so I continued back and got to Toscanini's and their array of flavors did not disappoint. I went with the Gianduja, which is chocolate and ground hazelnut and it was some of the best ice cream I have ever had. And I've had a lot of ice cream! It was perfectly smooth and edible and good and mmm. Good choice!

Sated, I set about returning to North Station. In the subway this musician, Sergei, was playing some low tempo synthy stuff that gave the wait this amazing soundtrack. I gave him a dollar. Life and travel can have some interesting soundtracks.

I only had to wait 20 minutes to board the train back. A good thing because they left just bout every hour and if I had missed it, I would have been sore. I read mostly on the way back. I had parked at the station, where there was free parking, and my car was unmolested. Though the only stuff that is visible are camping supplies. No bags or wallets. A bonfire was burning to the right as I drove back into Gloucester. What a lovely day! I've never spent much time on subways. Getting the hang of it. It's easy when you pay a flat fee/have a pass to get into the system. I don't know how I'd deal if I had to pay for tickets that depended on the number of stops I had to take (i.e. Japan if I recall correctly).

This morning there were pancakes and I sat out back and read. I don't think I'll go back into Boston. I'll just relax up here.

into Brooklyn. into the storm.

I'm in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Oh how I move around! But it's easy when you chug it out of one place to avoid city traffic in a storm. And it's easy when the states are so much smaller.

So Carly stayed home whilst I went out to explore Long Island. I've found that I miss the long drives. The time to settle in and snack and listen to several podcasts in a row and not think about turns for a while. It was nice to drive out to Montauk point and see the lighthouse and the ocean and avoid the bushes because there were tick warning signs. Not camping in tickville, that's for sure! Just had some time to myself to drive and all that good stuff. But then it got dark and rainy and lightningy. And Carly said I was welcome another night, so I took her up on it! And her dad bought us breakfast when we all eventually woke up. What good, kind people! I hung around for a bit and then plugged in Elnora's Brooklyn address and headed off hoping that free parking would be available and the traffic wouldn't be a nightmare. And while it took me a while and it was slow in some parts, it wasn't heinous, and the Park Slope area of Brooklyn had plenty of street parking in neighborhoods. And free parking! It just had some street sweeping restrictions, but I parked on a Thursday, and Thursday was the day for that street, but it had already happened. So hurray! And being residential, I felt that my stuff was relatively safe. And with a thunderstorm going through the night, I'm sure no one would bother breaking into a car. Still I covered up my stuff.

It was 91 degrees and humid and oh how I melted. I got some legit shaved ice, where they shaved the ice off a block and flavored it (I went for plum). And walked around the area. And went to the Brooklyn Public Library, which had a nice exterior, but inside wasn't anything to write home about (except that is exactly what I am doing right now). I ended up taking a bit of a nap in a second floor vestibule.

In the library I was able to cool down and hydrate and rest, and then I set out for Prospect Park! And it was lovely. Trees and paths and a big rolling field. I sat under a tree and read The Goldfinch, but then I overheard someone talking about a thunderstorm warning, and when I checked the weather report on my phone, sure enough there was a warning for one coming up! So I returned to my car and packed up my backpack with over night supplies. I wasn't sure if I was staying overnight, but if it were an option, I wanted my stuff. And my umbrella.

I wandered around some more. I grabbed a fancy burger at Burger Bistro in Park Slope. The menu had all these options you ticked off, so I went with sharp cheddar, caramelized onions, lettuce, and medium done. There were more, but I had to control myself. It hit the spot but didn't stuff me. Then I was off and walking again. Park Slope is nice. A little posher, but more neighborhoody. Lots of brownstones and brick buildings all sharing walls and crowded in on each other. I kinda like that set up. Elnora lives in an apartment in one of these, so I get the added bonus of being able to go into one!

Elnora is my friend from way back when I took the PNCA Pre-College Program. Haven't seen her since. She is such a snappy dresser, perfect for New York. And it was amazing to catch up and reminisce. We got a brewski at a nearby bar and played indoor bocce, as one does in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

The rain was just starting to come down as we returned, and it came hard not soon after we were indoors. Her apartment is on the top floor and lacks AC, so it was stuffy. It was okay for me to stay the night, so I slept on a pile of blankets on a section of the floor. Better than driving in a torrent and sleeping in my car somewhere unknown, that is for sure! And it wasn't so bad. My tent in Florida at that one campsite was much stuffier.

It was great to see Elnora. We had good talks about life, and she suggested hanging in places for a month, like subletting to really stay and see what's going on. Which would be an awesome option...if only my stuff wasn't in storage. But it's a good idea for when I am done with the trip. I'd like to spend more time in Philly and Durham. New York and Brooklyn are great but just so big...Philly is big too but a little more walkable.

I want the weather to improve so I can camp. Camping is no good in the rain. I would have gone to Connecticut and Rhode Island and camped, but tropical storm Arthur is making everything all kinds of rainy, so I called Darrah who lives in Gloucester, and headed on over. A good 5 hours of driving, but to go across 3 states in 5 hours ain't to shabby. Well from New York, across Connecticut, and into Massachusetts. I set my GPS to "avoid tolls" and "avoid ferries" and it only added about an extra half hour to the trip. Not too shabby! So I went up to 91 and 84 for a bit, instead of 95 and the turnpike. Or whichever.

I'll be needing spell check during my stay in Massachusetts. Yup needed spell check for that. Darrah has a nice home in Gloucester. I settled in and showered and Darrah put some sausage on a salad for me, and that was tasty. So I'm taking it easy right now. Want to go into Boston and check it out. Get some fancy ice cream. It'll probably be my last major city for a while. Want to camp and hike and sleep in my tent again!

But also Averie is going to be in Boston on the 14th...

New York, New York (and Long Island)

Where do I start to describe New York? Well no one pooped in the street, so it has that up on San Francisco.

I left Philly at 4ish, and drove towards New Jersey. Crossed the border and gas dropped a quarter, so I filled up and continued on a scenic route towards Atlantic City. Not much of a drive, about an hour tops. It really isn't a big state. I parked near the boardwalk (for free, points to Atlantic City) and strolled up and down it. There was a triathlon finishing up and there were some tired sweaty athletes, and lots of cheering families with sponsor logo cowbells that they jangled in support. It was hard to find a neon sign at the Trump Palace Whatever that didn't had a letter burned out. Lots of the neon was partially burned out. I recently heard a story that Showboat had closed down suddenly. I guess Atlantic City isn't doing so well.

After dark, I cruised up the Garden State Parkway, which was a toll road but the tolls ranged from seventy five cents to a buck fifty, which isn't bad at all compared to some that are six bucks for an hours worth of driving. Then BAM bridge toll into New York: $13!! Dang! And I got turned around and hit another bridge toll (there was construction on one bridge) (and it was actually the Holland tunnel, not a bridge, and I was deposited into New York, but it was 2:30am so it was mostly vacant streets and I just wanted to get outta there, but I got onto the Queens Bridge or something like that) and just all of it was bridges bridges bridges. When you go to an island, you gotta cross a bridge. But no more tolls! Hurray! I camped out in a Wal Mart and then in the morning I went to Carly's house (after dropping off my parking fee from Philly). Carly, like many, lives with her parents. But her ma Jeanette and pa Jim were very nice. Jeanette treated us to diner food even! I gobbled down some eggs benedict. Carly took me to Sunken Meadow State Beach Park Place Thingy and we walked along the beach and boardwalk. Then there was much lounging at the house and watching TV. Tomorrow we went into THE CITY. NEW YORK CITY. THE BIG APPLE PLACE.

8:30 get out of bed to get to the train station for the 9:30 into the city. It is a longish train ride on the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road), with a transfer in Huntington. They need a bullet train. And to think many people make this ride every day as their commute! But I drove from San Francisco to Santa Cruz for a few weeks....but that was until I moved. Most can't move into New York.

So! New York! We arrived at Penn Station, and it was hustling, but Carly lead the way and we met up with her friend Thomas who then lead the way. And being lead around New York is great, because people generally know where they are going and then you aren't just standing and looking at a map and wondering and trying to figure stuff out. A sense of purpose goes a long way. So we were lead onto the street, and in describing New York I can only really say it was a big city. Big buildings, lots of cars, lots of people. We went through a bit of Chinatown and there was a fishmonger with live crabs getting shuffled about in their basket, and a live lobster too, but not in a tank. And people selling toys from stalls, and souvenirs, and fashionable people were everywhere! Lots of ladies in dresses and men in suits. I was wearing my Arizona necklace (this nice one I got from a stand on the side of the road in Arizona), and a black tank and a bit of makeup, so I wasn't totally a ruffian, but still way outdressed by the hoi polloi.

We met up with a fourth friend, Denise, and we all went to Joe's Shanghai. Though there was some subway taking. Down into the subway! Metro card purchasing! Going through the turn thingy and going on one train then transferring! How exciting. And easy because Thomas knew where we were going. Joe's Shanghai was a crowded place and our six person table had two more people added to it, but that is fine. We ordered dumplings and some noodles and food and gobbled the tasty dumplings down. I burned my mouth only a little bit. The restaurant had photos of the owner with famous people who had eaten there: Jake Gyllenhaall, Jessie Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Cera. A very nummy experience. Juice was procured, though I opted out. We stood in Jamba Juice for a while enjoying the A/C. New York was hot today. High 80's. Though not as bad as Florida. Nothing will ever be as bad as Florida's heat. How can people stand it? My bug bites are still healing, but are almost gone.

Denise was walked to work and then we parted ways. One more subway later and we were at The Met! Which is an awesome museum because hey: suggested donation admittance! We each paid a buck and that was that. Oh what a museum! Thomas left at 3:30ish and Carly and I were ushered out at 5:15 at closing time.

I saw George Washington Crossing the Delaware, more Eakins and Homer, more Van Gogh, Matisse, Sargent, I discovered the work of Lilly Martin Spencer. Yay for a new lady in an art museum on top of the old regulars. We also saw some funny ugly renaissance babies. The Garry Winogrand exhibit was happening, and I saw the art book from the exhibit at Wilson's, so that is another example of repetition and foreshadowing in this journey of mine. It's building upon itself! The museum was even bigger than the Philadelphia Museum of Art, but with cheap admittance one could easily return many times...provided they live in New York. But yeah! I was happy I got to see that.

We got some snacks and walked around. Went into Cental Park for a bit and I was all "I'm in Central Park!" Though it didn't really hit me all the way that I'm in New York. Maybe because I was visiting with the confidence of my companions, so that it didn't feel so daunting and huge. It was still huge. I'll be back, but hopefully when I'm famous and invited to a convention or something.

On the way back both our phones died, but we knew enough to know where to get to a subway station and based on a map which routes to take, and then we undertook the 9 block hot trot to the LIRR station from Times Square. The train back left every hour on the :20 and last time we checked a clock was a while ago, so we weren't sure if we were going to miss it, or if we had half an hour. So yeah, we did a medium job to the station and arrived sweaty and hot and frazzled and it was 8 o'clock! And the train was delayed till 8:40! So we had plenty of time to catch our breath, grab some food at the station, and then call home via payphone to let Jeanette know what train we will be on. Trial and tribulations and it all worked out, hurray!

At home we sat and sat and then slept and slept. Jeanette went to a bakery and brought back this chocolate epic chocolate thing for me! I just said surprise me when she was making the order and she sure did. Later on we got McDonald's. Now Carly and I are going to drive out to Montauk and see whats up with there. It's a nice day for a bit of a drive. I'll be seeing Elnora soon. There might be some camping tonight. Or some sleeping in car... either way, I'll figure it out.