Final Thoughts

I am sitting in my office on an uncharacteristically slow Monday afternoon, so I thought I should finally finish this journal of my summer (as it is now September with October slowly approaching - where did this month go?).

It is hard to now start summarizing my thoughts about my trip, because it ended about 7 weeks ago (with those weeks being inundated with all things Res Life) and has been mainly pushed from my everyday thoughts.

Even now, it is hard to summarize what the summer meant to me. When school was starting here again and students came back, their first question often was "How was your roadtrip?" And while I mostly answered that question with an "awesome" or "fun", I really found that words couldn't accurately describe everything I did or felt.

I made this dumb looking collage with a map that Vil (my friend in New Orleans) gave me. I tried to add some postcards and other pictures to it, but it just ended up looking cheesy! And I am not sure if I will hang it up. Despite the lack of pictures that I took, I am perfectly fine with the small amounts of material items that I got from the trip.

What I do have are collective memories and experiences. My Aunt Terry described it best to me - she said that "[she] doesn't have a memory of certain places because [she] has never been there, and now [I] have the ability to connect with people on a different level". I didn't realize it when she told me this in the summertime, but this idea is so true. I have already had countless experiences of being able to connect with people because I have eaten shaved ice in New Orleans, spent the night in Gallup, New Mexico, been amazed at Big Horn National Forest, been to the Loyola Maryland campus, etc. And it's only been about 2 months! It is a great way to connect with people and share common experiences.

So, the trip started as a way to fill my 8 week vacation from work, grew into an opportunity to see old friends and new areas of the country, and ended as a personal growth experience that I don't think I could accurately articulate.

Thanks for reading this (I mean you, Mom, Dad, Aunt Terry, Uncle Dave, and random friends who I mentioned and thus had to check and see what I said about them). This blog started as a way to keep in contact with my parents and became a really fun way to share with others what I had been up to.

So, here's to the end of summer 2010, and who knows what 2011 will bring!

Joey

Photos

And now some of the sparse and random photos taken throughout my journey that I have neglected to share until now. Be warned, they are out of order and not of high quality!

In Milwaukee, Adrienne forced me to pose with the "Bronze Fonz" statue downtown. I bedrugingly agreed.

A picture from the Grand Canyon that really doesn't do it justice!

Another Grand Canyon shot. I tried to purposefully include some of the trees and brush to give some perspective to how massive the canyon is.

Mt. Rushmore. If you remember (which you probably don't), I was surprised by how small it was in reality. I was also a bit underwhelmed! Nevertheless, I had to take a picture.



Big Horn National Forest, which was one of the greatest surprises of my trip. This was just as I entered the forest on the west side before going through the snow-filled pass.

The Field of Dreams! Still looks the same (but of course I came too early in the summer for there to be corn in the outfield).

Another shot of the cavern I came into in Big Horn.

Falls in Yellowstone. I forget the name of them!




Final reflections to come later when I also want to procrastinate from work on my desk.

Day 59: San Bruno, CA to Spokane, WA

Hello? Is anyone out there?

If you are still reading this after two months of inactivity, I commend you. And question the amount of time on your hands. In any case, I feel that I should actually go ahead and complete this for the sake of tieing up all loose ends.

So, on July 28th (almost one year exactly since I made the exact trip), I left San Bruno (where I rgew up) and drove up to Spokane (my current home). This trip was a little different, as I had less crap crammed in my car, knew where I was going, and was going to tackle the 16 hour drive in one day.

I woke up at 5am, both by my alarm and also my dad alarm clock - thanks pop! I said goodbye to my groggy parents, loaded the last few things in my car, and set off on the road. The first few hours were pretty nice on the road, as there were relatively few cars around and I missed any sort of Bay Area traffic. It was also spent trying to figure out how to work the new CD player that my dad had installed in my car. After 16 hours I (sort of) figured it out.

Anyway, I drove up through the East Bay and into inland California on I-80. I then got onto I-5 and shot up California. This part of the drive is super boring, as you are just coasting along in a valley, going by some small towns (Zamora, Williams) and not much else. I finally made it to some beautiful scenery courtesy of Mount Shasta and Lake Shasta. The lake was formed in a large crater that was left by Shasta's last eruption, and so there are all these pockets and weird waterways that you can see driving by (and plenty you can't, I'm sure).

After Shasta, I quickly made my way into Oregon. I stopped at a rest stop in southern Oregon, got out of the car, and heard...absolutely nothing. It was pretty awesome! I was taking the eastern Oregon route, which means I was not going on the main roads, but still, pretty cool. I also had to remember to contain my excitment about seeing cars with Washington license plates, as we were now a state away.

I made it to Bend by around 1pm. Bend is this smaller town (but big for eastern Oregon) that is surrounded by national forests (and is only 2.5 hours from Crater Lake). Very pretty place and about a half way point for me. I stopped and got lunch here (I think - I am fuzzy on the details). I also loaded up on caffeine. I am not much of a caffeine drinker in real life, but that day was certainly an exception.

One quick side note about Oregon - every gas station there is full service. Meaning that self-serve gas is against the law. It is a little weird to get used to, especially when the people helping you are in their 70's and are clearly tired from the long day of pumping gas. And it is also against the law for those people to accept tips! Crazy.

After Bend, I made my way through Eastern Oregon. More smaller towns, more boring stuff that I quickly erased from my memory. I finally made it to The Dalles and the Columbia River, which I got to travel eastbound next to for a couple hours - so freakin' beautiful. This was also the trail that Lewis and Clark took out west.

Due to this being a rather unpopulated area, and due to me drinking lots of caffeine, I arrived at the Tri-Cities in southeastern Washington at around 6:30pm having to pee as badly as I can ever remember. I'm sure you wanted to know that! I gased up here again, caffeinated myself, and got back on the road!

The last part of this drive from the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland) to Spokane is no doubt some of the most boring country to drive through. I think what made it even more unbearable was that I was tired and so close to getting back home. And I thought about calling someone to pass the time, but my phone was on one bar and I had lost my car charger! Whoops. So I was pretty crabby at this point - good thing no one was there to see me.

Finally made it back around 9pm into Spokane. Such a glorious sight! I love driving on 90 east into the city of Spokane. You see all the lights and buildings along with evergreens everywhere and it just looks awesome! I got off the freeway exit that I had gotten onto 59 days ago and headed east from there- crazy to think about! Anyway, went and got my keys from Nicola, stayed and chatted for awhile, then went back to my apt and passed out!

I will post some of the few pictures I took on my trip later (and ones people gave me). Then some final reflections and that's it!

Host Superlatives

Based on the advice of Adrienne, awards for all my hosts are below!


Best Glimspe into Her World Award: Jenny (Omaha)
Based on my weekend in Omaha I have a real feel for how Jenny lives! We went to Hy-Vee, bought some half-priced books, watched some Ice Road Truckers, BBQed some food, and overall had a good time!

Most "Not like a guest, more like a roommate" Award: Pat (Baltimore)
My 5 days and 5 nights in Baltimore made me feel like I really wasn't even a guest at Pat's at all - it just felt like I was a roommate there for awhile.

Most Accomodating Award: Megan (Dayton)
Seriously, I spent a total of 8 nights over three weeks in Dayton. I stored a lot of my crap there, I left my bed unmade in the living room, I was in and out at very odd hours, and yet Megan was more than happy to have me!

Hated being a Host, but Stuck with it Admirably Award: Jack (Corpus Christi)
I am pretty sure Jack was not thrilled with having 5 guests staying in his one bedroom apartment for 4 days, and yet he did well with putting a grin on and giving us a fun 4th of July weekend.

Nicest Guest Accomodations Award: Amanda (Nashville)
My own bedroom, nice big bed, and lots of free air conditioning in the sweltering southern humidity? The best three nights of sleep in awhile!

Best Planned Activities Award: Adrienne (Milwaukee)

Who would have thought in Milwaukee there was so much to do? A softball game that had action, suspense, and romance, a spy restaurant lunch, car parking adventure, Brewers game, and best of all, Club Paragon! A very fun time with very funny friends of Adrienne's too!

Most Whirlwind Hosting Experience Award: Vilija (New Orleans)
Vil had so much planned for me to do in New Orleans, and we jam packed it all into about 40 hours! We went through so many parts of the city and saw so much (incuding the swamp), and I was impressed with how she kept us touring without tiring us out!

Coolest Apt Award: Bowen and Spoon (DC)
A top floor apartment on Capitol Hill, just blocks from the Capitol, with a porch, nice new amenities, and lots of unprotected wireless accounts to steal - I don't think it can be beat!

Best Storytelling Host Award: Clare (San Antonio)
Sorry but no one else has Clare beat on her stories. She has an uptight mother from Long Island (complete with accent), a penchant for dating Latino men, and she is a Zumba instructor. You just can't compete with that.

Shortest Stay Award: Kelly (Santa Monica)
I was only in her presence for about 12 hours, but it was still a fun trip with my cousin and in LA.


Thanks to all my hosts - I am appreciative of them giving their space and time to me as I dumped my way into their lives for a short period of time. I can return the favor if you are ever in Eastern Washington and need a bed for a night or two.

My thoughts on driving

During my roadtrip, I got a lot of questions concerning driving - "Are you sick of it?", "Are you going alone?", "How are you doing with it?", etc. And while I am no expert in driving, I thought I could share my opinion on driving over 9500 miles in about 40 days.

First off, I have to say that I never got sick of driving. There were points in the second half of the trip that I got bored, but overall I got used to spending days in the car. I had a total of 15 "driving days" with an average of 550 miles and about 9 hours each day. I think this helped to break up the days, as I only spent what is considered a working day on the road, and depending on what time in the morning I left a certain space, I could be assured to be at my destination in time for dinner.

My car was essentially jam-packed and ready for the trip. I had my trusty huge snack bag which I managed to pick through for the entire trip (note for future road trips: don't buy things like trail mix or power bars that have chocolate in them when you are driving through super humid areas). I also had a 5 gallon container full of water which was more of a saving grace than I thought; it was convenient to be able to fill up my nalgene whenever I wanted to.

I ended up really enjoying driving by myself. While the company would have been welcomed at points, it was also very nice to travel alone, because that meant that I got to decide everything (I really am quite stubborn). When I stopped for food/gas/bathroom/random journey or not was entirely up to me!

Music turned out to be a bit of a problem. Nana does not have an antenna, as it blew off in Kansas last summer when driving from Ohio to California. As well, Nana likes to eat CDs that are put in the cd player. So my music selection consisted of select radio stations when located near a city (I got really good at seeing a skyscraper and instantly searching for stations) and the music on my ipod. While I enjoyed my music for the first couple of weeks, it got pretty monotomous after awhile (as did radio actually too).

I thought that I could pass my time in the car by talking to people on the phone, but that didn't always work out, because who knew that northeastern Wyoming doesn't have perfect cell phone reception? Boo. Whenever I did get a chance to talk to someone while driving, it was a good way to pass the time but also a distraction from noticing my surroundings.

And I know it is illegal in many states, but I have found an effective (and somewhat safe) way to text while driving. I take the phone (I have a flip phone) and hold with both my index fingers and thumbs at the top of my wheel. This way, my other 6 fingers are on the wheel and steering the car, and my vision is facing the road and I can still pay attention to driving (as much attention as can be expected).

I have also come to several realizations about driving on this trip.
-The best way to describe my driving is "absent-minded". In the past, I have been called "bad", "aggressive", "speedy", etc. But really, it's that I just don't pay a lot of attention to the driving process and all of my surroundings.

- Every state has bad drivers. While every state likes to brag (or not) at having terrible drivers, I can attest that they are everywhere. Bad drivers might look different in different parts of the country, but they are there!

- There are many lifesavers to a long drive - rest stops, travel plazas, cruise control, and funny signs at the end of the highway. And air conditioning.

- It says something about our country's dependence on oil when driving across the country for 5 weeks was much more economical and feasible than taking the train, bus, an airplane, etc. Seriously, I did the math, and I would have spent way more if I had flown everywhere, needed a lot more time to take the bus, and would have had to cut out certain cities if I took the train. If our highways are the veins of our nation (and from the amount of work I saw on them this summer due to the National Reinvestment and Recovery Act, they are), then we have to go back to the drawing boards to figure out how to wean off of our oil addiction.


That's enough rambling from me - if you read that all, you are a good person!
Joey

Day ??: In the Bay Area

I have been back at my parents' house for a little over a week now (I have to refrain from using "home", as I firmly do believe that Spokane is my home now, even though San Bruno used to be!). I haven't updated this, mainly because I haven't done enough to warrent a post. I have been alternating being very lazy (sitting around, reading, watching tv, scaring the dogs) and seeing friends and family members. It has been nice to see old friends and reconnect, even if it does remind me that they are living their real lives here and I am the guy who pops in and out throughout the year. I guess I need to be ok with that since I chose to live in Spokane!

It goes against my nature to try and schedule time to see lots of different people, but I've really had to do it since I have been home in order to see everyone I want/need to see and still stay sane! I feel more organized that I do at work even.

Anyway, I do promise to update later with some overall ramblings about my journey and some other interesting things, I swear!

Day 39: Santa Monica, CA to Forestville, CA

Hi again! I am very late in updating this (even though the only people that read this are my aunt and uncle and parents, and I have seen them a bunch).

Woke up early on Friday (earlier than cousin Kelly at least, she sleeps late) and went out to the Novel Cafe in Westwood to meet my buddy Jeff Callaghan for lunch. Jeff and I went to high school together and also worked at camp together. He works as a Development Coordinator for a theater company down in LA, and he is one of the most hysterical people I have ever met - very sarcastic, witty, and quick. Since he lives in LA, we only get to see each other during holiday times (I guess that is deal with most of my friends), and it was good to see him.

After that, I went to the Santa Monica Nissan dealership to get my car looked at one more time (see entry from day before). They were able to diagnose the problem this time, but they couldn't fix it, so it was a little for naught. Oh well!

It was finally around noon that I got on the road. My itinerary for the day was simple - drive up to Northern California and surprise my folks! They had thought I was coming back on Monday (today) from my trip, but instead I was coming back before the weekend. I drove up I-5 and through the middle of California (aka boring) for a long while. I then went through the Bay Area and was on my way up 101 to my parent's cabin at the Russian River.

At this point no one knew I was coming home early except my brother, aunt, and uncle. My mom was already at the cabin, and my dad was coming up later in the night. As I was driving up 101, I was near Santa Rosa (only about a half hour away) and got into the left hand lane quickly. I saw a car coming up behind me and thought they must have been pissed that I sort of cut them off. Then I realized that the car, license plate, driver, and dog in the passenger seat looked awfully familiar. It was my dad! I decided to call him since the surprise was up. Our conversation is below.

Dad: Hi joey!
Me: Surprise!
Dad: What surprise? Where are you?
Me: Uh, look ahead of you.
Dad: That's you?? I was just cussing you out for being out-of-state and cutting me off.

Gotta love it. Anyway, he followed me into the cabin, and I was able to surprise my mother (she cried in the driveway, of course).

So now I am at home and am on "vacation" for the next two and a half or so weeks! Will update this periodically if I do anything fun (or want to recount any particularly memorable parts of the trip).

Day 38: Williams, AZ to Santa Monica, CA

So sorry that I didn't post in a few days! You will find out why for reasons below. I will update about Thursday and then Friday.

So, Thursday I woke up at 5:30am, thanks to both the desert sun and the kids at the camp site next to me who were already up and playing around. I tossed around for a bit, then decided the hell with it and got up and started my day. I put my tent away (much better than the day before, and I even got it to fit into the bag it came in - success in my book) and cleaned up my camping area. Was packed up and out of there by 7am - impressive for a 26 year old male, right??

The plan today was to get to LA. I was staying in LA with my cousin Kelly, and she didn't get off of work until 7pm, so I had about 12 hours to do a 7.5 hour drive. My plan was to take the scenic route, stop whenever I needed or wanted to, and not fret about not having enough time to get there. I started first by getting some breakfast at a diner in Williams (on historic route 66 no less) and then hit the road. The pine forests and quaintess of Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon gave way quickly again to the desert and boringness.

I soon made it to California, and there I was stopped (as was every car on the road) by a state inspection person. The exchange kind of went like this:

State Inspection Lady: Where are you coming from?
Me: (looking kind of confused, since we are less than a mile into CA from the AZ border). Uh, Arizona. Isn't that where everyone is coming from?
State Inspection Lady: Yes, but where are you off to? You are from Washington, have you been visiting Arizona?
Me: Well, I've kind of been everywhere in the past month...
State Inspection Lady: Just go through. Have a nice day

I did not understand the whole point of the conversation! It was longer too than the Border Inspection stop I had to go through in New Mexico ("Are you a citizen? Go ahead..." So foolproof!) but still funny nonetheless.

Anyway, my day was going well...until my check engine light came on when going through Needles, CA. In hindsight, this was the best place theoretically that the light could have gone off, as it was in a town right before I got into the Mojave desert, and it was during working hours so I could do something about it. I found a service shop who said they would diagnose it for 60 bucks - a little steep, but how can I haggle in the middle of the desert? Two hours later, and they are forced to admit that their machines can read what is wrong with my car. Two hours of me sitting in 110 degree weather, all for naught! In those two hours though, I did the following things:

- sweat through my t-shirt (that one was a given)
- walked to an AM/PM and bought a drink (just like in the old days walking to swim practice at the San Bruno pool)
- stole wireless internet from the hotel across the street
- talked to an old cowboy trucker man who was getting his truck worked on (his job was to take all the empty Miller Lite cans manufactured in Torrance, CA, and drive them to Milwaukee so they could be filled with beer)
- almost feel asleep

Anyway, it was now 3pm, and I still had no idea what was wrong with my car. I conferred with my dad via phone, who said (and I agreed) that I should get a second opinion. So I drove around and found another repair shop. This one took ten minutes, and the guy said that I had a leaky valve on the rear differential, so I should be fine getting to LA. And he didn't even charge me. Thanks Big O Tires Guy!

So, after a long day in Needles, I started on the road again. Drove through the desert, where it got as hot as 115 degrees (or so my car said). Whatever leisurely pace I took BN (Before Needles) was shoved aside to drive a bit more frantically so that I could still get to LA on time. I have never been a speeder though, and I didn't start then!

Finally got to some civilization and drove through the scenic San Bernadino Mountains and National Forest - such a pretty sight! Until I realized that the haziness was smog. Oh well - such is life in Southern California I guess. After the mountains, the massive-ness of suburbs hits you smack in the face, and while I was happy to see more civilization, I soon had to try and survive the process known as "getting around LA on a lot of freeways". Luckily the GPS helped!

I did love having a bit of cold weather, as LA was overcast that day (real overcast, not smog). And I did hit some traffic, but not too much. And I have to say, I enjoy LA drivers, as they are experts at driving in traffic and know what they are doing - you keep moving as fast as you can and for the most part just stay in your lane.

Made it to Kelly's apt in Santa Monica at around 8pm. Kelly works at Interscope Records and has lived in LA since she graduated from LMU in 2008. Her place is so nice - off a small courtyard, all hardwood floors, newly redone kitchen, nice furniture. And two tv screens to boot! Living the LA lifestyle to the finest. Anyway, I took a quick shower since I had sweat so much the day before, and then we were off to dinner with her friend Rob. I was the first one in the family to meet Rob, and he seems like a nice guy. Since we had gone to dinner so late, we got done around 11pm, and I was whooped after a long day! It was back to Kelly's and I was quickly asleep on the couch...

More to come about yesterday!
Joey

Day 37: Grants, NM to Williams, AZ

Let's see, what to say about yesterday?

Woke up and left grants and the campsite. It was super windy in the morning. Have you ever tried to take down and fold a tent by yourself when it's windy? Don't- it is terrible! I finally gave up and threw the thing in my car.

Drove across nothern NM into northern Arizona. I ended up getting a little lost and drove through flagstaff which seems like a cool mountain city. It has lots of pine trees surrounding it and doesn't seem to fit into the rest of the arizona desert motif.

Finally around 1pm made it to my destination for the day- the grand canyon! I am not sure that words or pictures can accurately describe the thing. It is immense, and awe-inspiring, and breathtaking, and many other large positive adjectives I have yet to think of. I wish I had remembered more from my History Of National Parks class! I spent around 4 hours there, and I wish i could have been better prepared to spend more time there. Still, it was amazing.

After that I got set up at my tentsite, then I drove into downtown Williams to find some food and see the town. It is a part of historic route 66 and has a lot of memorabilia to see (and to purchase if you are so inclined). Very cool little town!

Gotta pack up and get on my way. Not sure if i will have Internet access the next couple of days to update this thing-we shall see!

Joey

Day 36: Van Horn, TX to Grants, NM (with a stop at Albuquerque)

Good morning from grants, new Mexico! Was going to update last night but was feeling pretty tired. It was a long day!

Got up and left my campsite at van horn at around 8am. After I drove west for like 10 minutes, I entered Mountain Time Zone- the gift of an hour! I made my way through the rest of west Texas and made it to el paso. What is amazing about this city (besides the shirts they sell that say 'el paso, tx: it ain't kansas' with a handgun picture) is how crazy close it is to Mexico. From downtown el paso, you can see the red border fence. There were times on the freeway today that I was right next to it! Pretty cool (maybe cool isn't the right word. Interesting? Thought-provoking? Who knows).

I got onto I-25 north and headed up to Albuquerque. This was a change in my original plans, but I had the time today and figured when would I get to be in new Mexico again? As the title of the blog says, I was just going wherever the wind took me!

Did you know that new Mexico is the 5th largest state in terms of area? I do now, because the drive felt like forever! Don't get me wrong, it was scenic and such, but the desert setting starts to look monotonous pretty quickly. You go over a hill...and there's another valley that has buttes on all sides and shrubs everywhere. And there aren't many towns on the trip either.

Finally made it to albuquerque after about 6 hours of driving (and after spotting 2 Washington license plates who didn't seem as excited as I did about seeing each other). My first thought is that the city seems kind of small! I don't know what I was expecting but there wasn't much of a huge downtown area. While the residential area was spread out it wasn't as grand as some certain CA suburbs.

My first stop was the ABQ trolley company for a city tour. Since I only had an afternoon there, I knew I probably should do a tour of some sort, and these guys were highly rated on trip advisor. I was not let down- the tour was fun and informative and I saw a lot of the city
(typical tourist stuff and not). The tour was about 90 minutes and went through old town, downtown, historic route 66, the UNM campus, some different neighborhoods, and much more. The architecture was so neat to see, and it was interesting learning about all the different
movies and tv shows that have filmed there posing as different cities. Well worth the money and time. Their website is www.abqtrolley.com - I recommend them if you are in the area!

After the tour I tried to get into the new Mexico museum of natural history but it was closing down for the day - dang! I relegated the rest of my time to the old town area and surrounding stuff. Saw the San Felipe de Neri church which was a mission founded in 1706 and still in use as a parish today. Did some tourist shopping (I am one, after all), ate some dinner at a place the tour guides had recommended, and then it was time to get on the road again.

I drove about 60 miles west to the campground I stayed at last night. Was super windy when I set up my tent (must have been hysterical watching me), but it calmed down eventually and it was a quiet night here. And I am actually wearing a sweatshirt right now- I love cold
summer mornings!! Can't wait for more of that type of weather in northern ca soon.

On my way to the grand canyon today!
Joey

Day 35: San Antonio to Van Horn, TX

Greetings from van horn, tx! What's that you say? You've never heard of van horn? Well, neither had I! Before I picked it on a map as a stoppig place in my journey. But let's go back and start at the beginning of the day...

Woke up in San Antonio at clare's apartment. Jon and Jim were just about ready to leave, so we said goodbye to them as they started their marathon drive back to Ohio. I hung around for a couple more hours bothering clare and packing my things, and then I was on the road again myself!

This marks the end of my friend visits and the start of many days on the road by myself. It felt weird to say goodbye to Dayton friends, and it feels even weirder that I am not seeing a familiar face at the end of the day to talk about it with! Soon enough that will happen again...

Today was pretty straightforward in terms of road maps: drove on I-10 until van horn. Easy! And it got even easier once out of san Antonio city limits, because that's when the speed limit went up to 80. Dang! I stayed at 80 or under most of the time, as I am not one to speed anyways and had heard about the highway patrol that watch west texas like hawks (and this was true, as I saw double digits at least of cars being pulled over).

For the first three hours heading west, the drive was prett scenic. There were lots of trees and rolling hills which then gave way to more mountainous hills and shorter shrubs. Looked kind of like the southwest (or how I would imagine it), and at points it reminded me of central california on 101.

Then I got into the last half of my drive, which was basically flat, treeless, and boring. Luckily it went by quickly! I got to Van Horn around 6pm or so. The city is tiny but is eclipsed on three sides by mountains- very cool. The campground is hilarious- there are chickens and roosters pecking outside my tent (I shooed them away in my best old lady shooing voice).

Did I mention the weather? So beautiful. It is in the 80s probably right now and slightly windy and it just awesome. I could sit outside all day in weather like this!

Hitting the hay early tonight so that I can gear up for tomorrow- exciting new plans I figured out today! I will leave you waiting in suspense for them...

Joey

Day 34: Corpus Christi to San Antonio

Now that the months have changed, I really have a hard time remembering what day of my trip this is!

We all woke up in Corpus Christi and hung around (and ate some delicious muffins purchased from H.E.B. Plus the night before - that store really is a godsend). We had decided the night before that we were mainly going to lounge around for the 4th and not do anything too planned - a good choice on our part! We also discussed our favorite 4th of Julys and sang some patriotic songs (much to Clare's chagrin sometimes).

Jack took Jon and I on a campus tour since we had never seen Texas A&M- Corpus Christi (referred to henceforth as TAMUCC) before. The university itself is beautiful; when you entire campus is on its own island, I think that is pretty much guaranteed! The buildings all have a beach feel and are consistent (consistency of buildings is pretty much key to a campus looking remotely nice). The parking lots are named "Jellyfish Lot", "Seahorse Lot", "Starfish Lot", which I think is awesome because the majority of schools just number or letter their boring lots. The University Center that Jack works in is pretty modern and has lots of windows for that Texas sun. Not too bad of a place!

The three of us went back to Jack's apartment and met up with the others at the pool. After getting a little too much sun the day before (Jenny coined the term "slapped by the sun", which I like better than "kissed by the sun"), I opted to stay in the shade and not look like a tomato. I still am half Aherne, after all!

After hanging out at the pool for awhile (Jack's co-worker Amber came down too), we went back to Jack's apartment and BBQed our late lunch/early dinner. Jack made burgers, chicken, and hotdogs. And some Boca Burgers for Clare the Vegetarian! Jim had made potato salad and some of Jack's other co-workers brought guacamole, chips, and lots of Texas beer (and cherry pie for desert!). All in all it was a feast.

After that we said our goodbyes to Jack and Jenny, and Jim, Jon, Clare, and I got back into the Prius for the ride back to San Antonio. We got back here for a late dinner (Pei Wei take out) and some desert (delicious gelato from Pacciugo near Clare's house). Then it was off to bed early after a long weekend!

It was a fun time with Dayton friends for the past five days and good to see them again. I am ready to get back on the road! I am rounding third on the bases of my roadtrip, let you know how it goes!

Joey

Added some of Clare's pictures below over the days in Texas for you to see!

Day 33: Corpus Christi

Jenny and Clare both brought their Gonzaga shirts to sleep in, and Jack and I have the same Davis shirts. Instant classic picture. Maybe I need to think of more creative gifts to give?

Clare and I in the back of Jack's truck rolling down the highway - thank you absence of Texas driving laws!

Hi again! We had a fun and busy day down here yesterday-let me try and remember it all.

We woke up and everyone got ready for the day (as quickly as you can get ready with 6 people and a one bedroom apt). Jack made us blueberry pancakes for breakfast- thanks dude! After some discussion about what to do, we settled on going to the beach.

Side note: any "discussion" this group does usually consists of a lot of passive "i'm fine with whatever" until one person finally makes a decision. Very productive.

We wet to a beach on mustang island, about 20 minute from jacks house. The beach is a small strip of land right on the gulf of Mexico. The weather was nice- hot but windy. The water was still a little volatile but Alex but we still had fun swimming and getting knocked around by
waves.

After hanging out on the beach for the morning, we went into a town (port aransas maybe?) and had lunch at a local place. They would even cook your catch for you! I forgot the name of the place, sorry...

We came back to jacks and decided on another period of sunshine by going to the pool at jacks apt complex (clare wanted to tan as much as possible). We actually ended up playing volleyball in the pool with these people we met there who were very drunk and very funny. We of course won the game!

After that, we had all gotten a little too much sun for the day, so we went back to jack's, hung out, and got cleaned up while deciding what to do for the night (see side note from above). We eventually made our way across the bay to the "South Texas Sails 2010" event at the coast
guard base. They had ships from different countries (Mexico, USA, Paraguay, and chile) that you could tour. They also had vendors, live bands, and alcohol- what else could our group ask for? Clare tried to zumba her way onto the Chilean ship for a private party, but no such
luck. We then watched the fireworks coming off of the bay, went to Acapulco Taqueria for a late dinner and margaritas, then came home and called it a night! A fun day!

Happy 4th of July! Aka the second christmas in the sammut family

Day 32: San Antonio to Corpus Christi

Jim, Jon, Clare, Jenny

Jack, Clare, Me

Hello from corpus christi!

Started yesterday out in San antonio. Jim, Jon, Clare, and I went to Taco Taco for breakfast (the tshirts say 'the restaurant so nice they named it twice'). It was voted best taco in America by Food Network and had a bunch of accolades on their walls, and it did definitely not
disappoint. So many breakfast tacos!

It was then back to clare's to get ready for the trip. Jon and clare got ready while Jim and I took our cars to get oil changes. Nana has been doing so well on this trip and she deserved a break! Jim has a prius so his car was done very quickly, but the mechanic keep looking at nana and making me nervous (I felt like a parent at the doctor's office with my kid). Everything turned out just fine, and the guy offered me a book of coupons "even though [I am] not from around
here". I politely declined. Thanks express lube!

Since I took so long, got back to clare's late and we rushed to get on the road to corpus Christi. The trip is only about 2.5 hours on one highway, so you think I would be fine with it, considering how long I have been on the road recently. But Texas outside of the city is so
boring! And there was some torrential downpours that we drove through that made me a little nervous but Jon drove through them just fine. And we saved the earth by taking the prius down!

We finally got to corpus Christi and met up with jack and Jenny. You have already met Jenny (I stayed with her in Omaha). Jack is one of my best friends from grad school who currently works at Texas A&M - Corpus Chrisi in he student activities office (working mainly with Greek life). Jenny had flown in on Wednesday right before the storm and had been staying with jack since then.

After we got here and all said hi, we drove to downtown and had lunch at an oyster bar (I was not brave enough to try one though). After lunch we walked down the South Texas Music Hall of Fame (bigger than you would think, but the only name I recognized was Christopher cross)
and then went into the surfing museum. Interesting stuff there!

We then walked around the beach and bayfront type area. It's funny that the city is in Texas, because it really resembles a surfing city in Florida (or so I would presume- never been there) or California. The actual city of corpus Christi is on the mainland and faces the bay, while padre island (not to be confused with south padre island) is where the ocean side is.

Other "fun" facts about corpus Christi:
- the birdiest city in America
- the fattest city in America
- the place where Selena was killed
(see, they're not very fun)

Went back to jacks apt and hung out for a bit- that is really what we do best. Then we went to a local bar (burger & co maybe?) and listened to a cover band (Good Night Avenue), ate some food, and drank some Mexican beer. Good times!

It is nice to be around good friends- we talked about it last night how natural it feels when we are all together and how comfortable we all are. And we make fun of each other incessantly which is so much fun! I am the instigator of most of them I feel...

There are six of us staying in a one bedroom apt, which is a little cramped but good! It ended up with jack and I sleeping on an air mattress in the living room, with said air mattress losing all of it's air after about 30 minutes. So sleeping on the floor instead!

Onto Saturday in corpus Christi!

Day 31: San Antonio

June is over! Crazy to think about the places I have been over the
past month.

Spent yesterday in San Antonio exploring with Jim and Jon (and clare
after she got off work). It was overcast and slightly rainy in the
70's yesterday and low humidity. That might sound bad to you but it
was just fine to me!

I actually started out the day with some errands first. Drove around
and found a laundromat to do some wash after two weeks (was sort of
running out of clean clothes there). The best thing that happened at
the laundromat was that this really old dude who was dressed like a
cowboy walked up to me and said, "Ain't ya glad that every day isn't
warsh day?" It was pretty awesome.

After that, I did something that I had wanted to do all trip but never
had the guts to. I knew my parents would disapprove, but I really
wanted to and found a time and place where it could be done for the
right price. That's right...I got a haircut (gotcha! Although my
parents really do disapprove of me cutting my hair. My father will
routinely say 'don't come back until your hair falls to your
shoulders' to me whenever I visit). Anyway, the nice texan lady who
cut my hair did give me some good advice on getting through awkward
periods with growing hair out so we shall see.

After that, went back to clare's, quickly got ready, and was on the
way out to explore San Antonio with Jon and Jim. It felt weird to
explore a new city with other people- I had been used to doing it with
myself for most of a month!

We started with touring the 5 Texas missions- espada, San Juan
capistrano, San Jose, concepcion, and San Antonio (the last one you
might know better as the alamo). The missions were all built in the
1700s in the usual practice of forcing natives to follow "civilized"
European practices (won't get into the politics of it here). They are
still old buildings with history and each except for the Alamo still
has a church that is a parish today.

The missions are all located on a 12 mile route so they were fairly
quick to get to by car (some choose to walk or bike between them, but
not us!). While the first mission (espada) is in the middle of
nowhere, the last (the Alamo) is right in the heart of downtown.

The Alamo itself was impressive but did have the slight twinge of
faint tourism. Also, the Alamo seems to be one of those historic
places whose actual details are lost in patriotic fervor. For
instance, the Alamo was abandoned as a mission almost a hundred years
before it's use in the war for Mexican independece. And the famous
arched ceiling that is so recognizable wasn't added until decades
after the famous seige. But I digress. It was still neat to see and it
was intersting to note that while the other missions are run by the
national park service, the Alamo is operated by the Texas daughters
league or something like that.

After the alamo, we went souvenir shopping, as Jon was trying to find
identical rings for him and his brothers. No such luck, although we
did get to see every tacky Texas souvenir you could think of (and some
you couldn't).

Also, we kept seeing people by the hundreds wearing these green
lanyard nametags and wandering around. We finally stopped to ask who
they were, and it was a national AA convention. They were all over the
place, and there was a ton of merchandise being marketed and sold to
them. I was impressed by the size and scale of the conference, and it
must have been a boon for the economy here (yes, except for the bars).

After that, we headed back to clare's and waited her to get off work.
We then all went downtown to the riverwalk. This is the famous part of
san Antonio with shops and restaurants located directly on the river
(like 15 ft below normal downtown stuff) and lots of scenery,
walkways, and boats. It is a fun place to walk around and take in the
sights, and we found a British pub to eat dinner and hang out at.

Good times in San Antonio- off to corpus Christi today!

Day 30: New Orleans to San Antonio

Jon, Jim, and Joey in San Antonio!

My day yesterday was once again full of driving, but I will try to make it interesting. I say bye to Vil, Boston the dog, and New Orleans and got on the road around 8:30am. This day of travel made me a little nervous, because Hurricane/Tropical Storm Alex was coming in that night and bringing a lot of rain and wind to the entire Gulf Coast area. All my fears proved unfounded, as the entire trip just basically had some light rain and not much else. Maybe I should be paranoid more often!

The day before, I had talked with Jack (my friend in Corpus Christi) and had decided that I would be going to San Antonio instead of Corpus Christi. San Antonio is further inland and would get less of the intense weather from the hurricane/tropical storm, so it made more sense.

The route I took was fairly easy- I-10 west from New Orleans to San Antonio. I still turned my GPS on though (and got annoyed the whole way by it). Went through southwestern Louisiana and over some beautiful swamplands and rivers and bayous. Also drove through Baton Rouge and other small towns.

Then I got to Texas. Oh, Texas. For some reason, I have been predispositioned to dislike the state my whole life. Maybe it's because the dallas cowboys are the 49ers main rivals, or because my mom didn't want to take a job there, or because it's filled with republicans (sorry for bringing politics into it). Anyway, I tried not to let my irrational annoyance at Texas get in the way of the drive.

Texas is big- real big. The sign right at the entrance to east Texas said "El Paso- 858 mi" and I thought to myself, I'll be there in a few days! Oh dang. From what I saw of Texas, it looked pretty boring and flat. But isn't that basically how most of our country looks? Central CA, eastern WA, IA, NE, OH- you name it, and I almost guarantee it's got at least one flat and boring stretch.

Went through Houston at around rush hour but didn't hit much traffic. Finally arrived in San Antonio at around 7:30pm (after seeing all the signs for Buc-ee's and not going in- I am a little disappointed in myself for that). Found my way to Clare's apt where Jim and Jon were already there and waiting.

Let's see, how do i describe these people? Clare went to grad school at UD too. She got her masters in pastoral ministry and now works in San Antonio at College of the Incarnate Word organizing missions trips. Jon and I worked at grad assistants together at UD where he got his masters in public administration (and will be getting his Ph.D. in political science at Kent State starting this fall). And Jim is a campus minister at UD (he may be old, but he's our friend!). They had all been waiting on me, so we went to dinner at Broadway 5050 (conveniently located at 5050 Broadway Ave) and had some burgers and shakes and caught up on everything going on in our lives (or I just made a lot of jokes and they politely listened).

The living arrangements are kind of hysterical, as the three of us are staying with Clare in her studio apartment. We actually fit rather comfortably! One more night of staying at Clare's, and then on Friday we will all be driving down to Corpus Christi for the weekend, where 6 people will be sharing a 1-bedroom apartment (it's gonna be cozy!).

Day 29: New Orleans

This has felt like the busiest day! Lots of fun stuff to talk about. We started off the day with a swamp tour! Vil had suggested this awhile ago and I had agreed to do so enthusiastically, as it sounded like fun. We drove out to the Lafitte swamps (only about 20 minutes away) and boarded a basic pontoon boat. For about 90 minutes, we went out to the bayou and saw a bunch of wildlife creatures, including herons and alligators. Capt. Allen, our tour guide, talked in a quick southern drawl, which meant we missed about half the words he said. He would often call to alligators with a "Buuuba, buuuba, hey girl!" and they would coming swimming over! We shared the boat with an old couple from California (Manteca), another middle-aged couple and their daughter who asked somewhat inane questions, and a younger couple with their three young children who were kind of obnoxious but funny to watch.

It was an interesting way to see the marshlife around the area and to hear Capt. Allen's thoughts on the recent oil spill and the further development of the swampland. And the weather held out pretty well - barely any rain and decently low humidity. Or maybe I am just getting used to it!

After the tour was over, we headed back to the mainland. We went to a Mexican/Creole restaurant for lunch which was delicious. After that, we made a quick stop at Vil's condo then went to Tulane (where I updated from earlier today about yesterday). Vil is in the midst of completing her thesis research and needed to work on her cell specimens (I don't know if she technically called them that), so I sat in the lab with her and went on her computer and read my book while she worked. It felt a little like it was "Take your Son/Guest-in-town to Work Day" but that is fine by me!

After that, Vil took me on a driving tour of some parts of New Orleans (which was fine with both of us, considering that it was pouring). We drove past and around Tulane and Loyola New Orleans, which are separated by a single street. Got to see some more really expensive homes that look straight out of a Southern painting. Lots of famous people live here, so Vil has taken me to see all of their homes - Sandra Bullock, the Manning family, Drew Brees, Ann Rice, Joh Goodman, etc.

After the tour and the rain had died down, it was time to go to Hansen's (don't know if I spelled that right) for a snowball. This is essentially a New Orleans dish. It is basically a well-done snow cone. The ice is shaved so thinly that it almost has a consistent of ice cream, and the flavors are a bit more sophisticated than wild blue raspberry or something like that. I got cream of strawberry and it was pretty delicious.

Then we came back to Vil's, hung around and rested for a bit, then headed out to dinner. We went to Joey K's, a restaurant and bar that has been featured on "Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives". The food was good, and all I know is that if I lived in the south I would probably be morbidly obese (and very full). I resisted buying a shirt from the place, if only because my last name is not Kammut (and wouldn't that be weird if I wore a shirt around with my name on it? Didn't they have PSAs back in the day about not doing that so people couldn't kidnap you off the playground?).

Then we went to The Bulldog, a local bar (that was very unlike The Bulldog in Spokane, WA, than god) and had a few drinks. The Bulldog has a porch that you can sit on with your dog if you want! Did I mention that Vil has a dog? His name is Boston, and he is very mild-mannered and kind of acts like an old man (sleeps a lot). We got along very well.

Overall I have enjoyed seeing New Orleans and getting to catch up with Vilija - it has been to long and she is a good friend for letting me invade her life and 500 square foot condo for 2 days! Tomorrow it is onto Texas, where I shall be trying to withstand the winds of Tropical Storm/Hurricane Alex. Just another reason to dislike Texas in my mind!

(I have pictures which I will try to upload from the swamp and Hansens - just not working right now!)

Day 28: Nashville to New Orleans

Greetings from the Tulane School of Medicine (and the department of Pharmacology to be precise). I am sitting here while Vilija does some work with cancers cells for her thesis, aka smart people stuff!

But enough about today, back to yesterday. I said bye to Amanda, Murfreesboro, and Tennessee at around 9am. It was already in the mid 80's at this point, so I had started sweating before I even made it to my car. I went south through Tennessee until I got to Birmingham, then went west through southern Mississippi before getting to New Orleans at around 6:30pm.

Driving through the south was kind of an ordeal. The super hot and humid weather is not actually that bad - I just roll my windows down all the way and drive fast. I would much rather have that than the lightning and thunder and torrential downpour that I had to drive through for about an hour. It was pretty scary (especially since I had already flipped a car in monsoon weather 4 years ago in Arizona and don't want to repeat that again!), and there was a car that had skidded down an embankment in the weather. I got through it slowly but surely (and made up my mind then that if I ever visit the south again, maybe it will be in the winter).

I have also decided that my scope of humor does not extend to people with southern accents. I think it's because when they start talking, I am at first fascinated with the way they talk and then second do not think that someone with that accent would try and be sarcastic. It throws me for a loop! See the two conversations I had below with two different people from the south at gas stations (please think of them having southern accents in your head).

Scenario 1:

Old Southern Man: Washington, eh? Just passing through?

Me: Yes, on my way to New Orleans.

Old Southern Man: That's nice, New Orleans will be a bit cooler than Nashville.

Me: Oh, that's good to hear.

Old Southern Man: And if you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell ya!

(Side note: At this point, I should have stopped and asked if he knew my grandpa George Aherne, who said this phrase all the time, but sadly I did not).

Scenario 2:

Old Southern Lady: Well, I never thought I would have seen a car from Washington here in Alabama!

Me: Oh yes, just passing through on my way to New Orleans.

Old Southern Lady: I hear that Washington is a beautiful state.

Me: It is - and it's a little bit colder than it is here!

Old Southern Lady: Well, just you wait. Later this week it's supposed to drop into the 80's, and if that happens I might have to turn the heat on!

Me: (sort of blank stare) Uh huh.

Old Southern Lady: I was joking.

Anyways, two funny conversations. Alabama was a pretty state, lots of rolling hills and green shrubbery (same with Mississippi too I guess). I took Highway 10 West over to New Orleans, and you take a very long bridge over this big bay and a swamp - very cool.

I finally got to my friend Vilija's place at around 6:30pm. Vilija (pronounced "Vil-e-uh" but from now on I will just call her "Vil") and I went to UCDavis together and were both Student Housing nerds (aka RAs and SRAs together). She is currently finishing up her postbacc at Tulane and is applying to med schools. In essence, she is smart.

Vil moved to New Orleans a year ago but she is already quite an expert in the city life. And she owns this tiny little condo just off of St. Charles street (which has the streetcar running down it and where all the Mardi Gras parades go through!). Anyway, after I got there and got cleaned up (changed into clothes that weren't drenched in sweat), we made our way down to the French Quarter.

The French Quarter (minus Bourbon Street) is the old historic part of town with a lot of the buildings that you would think of when envisioning New Orleans. They have lots of wrought iron and some bright colors and are very statuesque. We went to a restaurant that Vil knows for dinner and ate po'boys and gumbo - delicious! After that, we walked down by the river some and saw the Mississippi on its final journey to the Gulf (I was trying to remember where I passed the Mississippi up north but forgot). We also walked through Jackson Square and took some pictures.

After walked off dinner a bit, we went to the famous Cafe Du Monde and had beignets. The restaurant is right next to the river and has a lot of outside sitting (perfect for those humid southern nights. right??). The restaurant is kind of old-fashioned, as they only serve beignets and coffee and only take cash. And they're open 24 hours! Anyway, the beignets were delicious (and I managed to finish Vil's too).

After that, we walked around the French Quarter and Bourbon Street and then went to a bar (Pat O'Brien's). We got hurricanes (Dad, even though I don't normally drink rum like you I held my own, you would have been proud) and sat in the piano bar portion for awhile before walking through Bourbon Street. That place is crazy - lots of loud signs and music and tourists and people trying to scam on tourists. Even for a Monday night it was pretty crowded! They close the street off to through cars at night so that people can walk freely. And it is still seems kind of weird to see people walking around with drinks in hand - take that, open container laws!

After that, we took the streetcar back to Vil's and called it a night. Will write more about today later, including the swamp tour! Bye!

Joey

Day 27: Nashville, TN

Today was another day spent in Tennessee. I must be going crazy because I am getting sort of used to the heat - what is wrong with me? Maybe I am becoming a southerner?

Woke up this morning, got ready, and drove into Nashville to meet Connor for brunch. Connor is my brother's best friend (Jamie's words), and he is louder, bigger, and more obnoxious than Jamie (my mom's word). He has been living in Nashville for the last two years after he got transferred for his sales job. I met him and his girlfriend Kathleen for brunch at Fido, a spot near Vanderbilt. Connor is very personable and hilarious, and so even though it had been two years since we had seen each other it was fun to catch up with him and see what Nashville life is like.

After brunch, I drove back to Murfreesboro and back to Amanda's apartment to help her get ready for the BBQ she was hosting in the afternoon. Several of Amanda's co-workers came over, and we ate food (a lot of food eaten today) and chatted and such. It is always fun to see a group of entry-level Housing professionals get together, as there are some commonalities and differences between the conversations and sociability. It was interesting hearing about the hierarchy at MTSU and also how some of their conversations have probably taken place at Gonzaga (and elsewhere). A fun group for sure!

After the BBQ, I headed out to Smyrna (a town in between Nashville and Murfreesboro) to meet up with Ann Schmidt for dinner (more food - I think I was actually sick of eating by that time) at Cheddar's. Ann was a year ahead of me in the Master's program at University of Dayton and she was a fellow ResLife GA. She moved to Nashville about two months ago to start a new job as an admissions counselor at Aquinas College, a small Dominican college in Nashville. She had been gone for the weekend at a wedding, so it was nice of her to come back and have dinner with me and it was good to catch up.

After that, headed back to Murfreesboro and hung out while Amanda and her coworker Darrell did some work - no rest for the wicked! Overall, my time in Tennessee has been fun. I don't know if I could ever live in the south, but it is a nice place to visit and it is great to see people who love living here.

On to New Orleans tomorrow! It is strange to think that my trip is half over, depending on how you look at it. In two weeks I will be back in Northern California with the parents and will be there for the rest of July, so even though I will still be technically "roadtripping" I will be in an area I am mostly familiar with. Anyway, I have gotten pretty used to spouting off my trip details to those who want to listen, and I realized today that my "cities/places I have already been to" list is now longer than the "rest of the places I am going" list - a sign that the trip is almost done! Better make sure to make the most of the rest of the time.

Good night!

Joey

Day 26: Nashville, TN

Ok, now on to telling you about my day today! Got up around 8am (thanks to going to bed early!). Amanda and I got ready for the day and set out.

First up was the Loveless Cafe and Motel for brunch. The cafe was opened in the 50's and still exists in Franklin, TN today. It has been a family owned restaurant for most of its life and has is a favorite of many a country music star (or so Amanda says). They serve some really good home cooking, but these best part are the biscuits that they put on your table when you come in with different homemade jams on the side. Take a look below (I didn't take the picture, just found it online):

So good! I was definitely full afterwards.

After breakfast Amanda and I made our way into Nashville. We started at the touristy part and walked up and downs the streets. It is amazing how busy the bars and saloons were, even at noon. There were a bunch of bands performing in bars and the beer was already flowing! We also went to the Charlie Daniels Museum (sort of just a room in the back of his store, but still a bunch of memorabilia) and went into a bunch of other stores. We walked down by the riverfront and saw the historic Fort Nashborrough where the city was originally chartered.

Walking around was pretty surreal. If you were here today and no one told you about the flood, you might have no idea that it actually occurred (save for some moldy smelling carpets in a few stores). It seems like Nashville has done a good job of restoring most of the commercial properties, even without the help of a bunch of national attention on the issue (I remember hearing about it as it happened, but after it seems that the oil spill relief kind of dominated the news).

After walking around downtown (we also saw the Ryman Theatre, home of the original - and now temporary home of - the Grand Ol Opry), we did some driving tours of Vanderbilt and Belmont Universities (they look very old and very southern). We stopped at the Parthenon replica that is over 100 years old in Nashville (but opted not to go in and pay the 6 bucks to see the artwork - yes, we are still a little cheap). Then walking around Centennial Park where the Parthenon is located, we stumbled upon a hippy festival of some sort. Yes, even in the south there are hippies around, celebrating peace and loving life. Makes you happy to know that!

After the Hippy Fest, we headed down to the Yazoo Brewery to take a tour and sample some beers. Yazoo is a southeast brewing company (mostly ships to Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi) that is growing and is yet still small and personable. We went in and signed up for the next tour, and I sampled their pale ale while we waited - delicious. We also got to meet 4 older couples who were from Ohio sitting next to us - they also went on the tour with us and were celebrating their weekend without their kids in Nashville!

The tour was pretty hysterical. They give you a pint glass to keep and you use it throughout the tour to sample different kinds of beers. Kelly, our tour guide, was self-admittedly a little hungover from the night before and regaled us with stories about her experiences with "the cham-pag-na of beers" (she also had a southern accent which really helped the story). I really enjoyed their hefeweizen (had a banana scent, the best hefeweizen I think I have ever had), and Amanda liked their Dos Perros (their version of a Mexican beer). She even bought a jugful (or a "growler" in their terms). They gave us plenty of beer on the tour, and Amanda and I both cut ourselves off during the tour - she was driving, and I didn't want to fall asleep on the tour. What good ResLifers we are! I bought a t-shirt afterwards, don't worry...

After that we went to go look at the Grand Ole Opry building and surrounding area. Unfortunately, we were not able to actually go inside, as the building was flooded and is still undergoing renovations. So sad! They don't know when it will be finished. After seeing that, Amanda and I drove back to Murfreesboro. We went to a tshirt store so I could buy a MTSU shirt (naturally). Then we went to dinner at Which Wich? which is a good sandwich store where you order your sandwich on a bag and then it is transported via clothesline across to the sandwich makers - a little gimmicky but good.

Long post, sorry! Went to Publix (grocery store chain), came back to Amanda's apt, went over to her friend Darrell's apt for a bit and hung out, and now am back here getting ready for bed! A long day but very fun. We shall see what tomorrow has in store!

Day 25: Dayton to Murfreesboro, TN

Greetings from Murfreesboro and Middle Tennessee State University!

So to my one loyal reader that my post about my day yesterday is so late (you will see why in my post about today - keep you in suspense).

The day was a bit uneventful yesterday. Woke up at 7:30am, said bye to Megan (for the last time!), and then went back to bed until 9am. Really got up, cleaned things up and got ready. Then at 9:30am I went to the park to meet up with my friend Laura Hinkebein from grad school. Laura and her three kids were at the park playing around (aka Laura was tiring them out so they would nap) so I went to help her out and catch up on her life. Laura's kids are 7, 3, and 10 months, and they are all full of energy - she definitely has her hands full! They are fun though, and it was good to see her and say hi.

After saying bye to them, I went back to Megan's, packed up my things, and got on the road to Tennessee. The drive down is pretty straightforward - I-75 to Cincinnati, then I-71 to Louisville, then I-65 to Nashville. I got into Kentucky pretty quickly and was impressed by the scenery - there were green forests and shrubbery on rolling hills as far as the eye could see. I also came across these gems in Kentucky:

- The National Corvette Museum

- Birthplace of Abraham Lincoln (national historic landmark)

- "The Best Flea Market in the World!" (or so the sign on the side of the barn proclaimed)

- the other Bowling Green (KY, as opposed to the one in OH)

Didn't see much of Louisville as I drove around the city - sorry to those of you waiting in anticipation of my description of it. I was surprised how quickly I got to Tennessee after that (even though it looked pretty much the same as Kentucky did for the first part). After a few hours, got to Nashville and then headed southeast to Murfreesboro (about 30 minutes away from Nashville).

The drive from Nashville to Murfreesboro (pronounced "Murphy's-Borrough") was a little intense, as the skies opened and the thunder and lightning started. Recurring theme - I do not like thunder and lightning! Especially when driving in a car in a place I don't know. When I eventually made it to Murfreesboro, half of the city was without power, which made things a little more complicated.

I finally made it to my destination - Middle Tenessee State University, home of the Blue Raiders (that's for you, Uncle Dave) and Amanda Virag. Amanda and I were in grad school together and worked on the same staff our first year at UD. She is currently an Area Coordinator at MTSU and my host for this leg of the trip.

After getting here and settling in, we went in search of some food (which wasn't an easy task as some of the city was still without power - not MTSU thankfully). After trying some too crowded places, we settled on Puelo's, a local Italian place. Pretty good! After that, Amanda took me on a driving tour of campus. There is a bunch of construction going on (new student center, new science center (maybe?), renovations of current residence halls) but the campus overall is pretty (for being a state school built in the 60's, which was mostly a time of utility and function and not aesthetically pleasing buildings - thank you for that fact, History of Higher Education class from grad school).

Came back, chatted for a bit, then headed to bed, as we were both pretty tired (Amanda from working a full day of work, me from driving). I will tell you all about today tomorrow! Happy Saturday,

Joey

Day 24: San Diego to Dayton (and my views on air travel)

So, I made an executive decision and decided that my roadtrip day count will include my time at the conference, as I was still technically away from home and doing something in a new part of the country (believe me, I have thought way too long about this fact).

So, the NACURH conference ended today, and I made the journey across the country to continue my adventure. As my conference co-advisor Esther so eloquently put it yesterday, "[I] am flying 3,000 miles away to end up about two hours away (in LA) two weeks from now". Well when you put it that way, it does seem a little backwards...

Anyway, the conference committee had the tough task today of getting over 2,000 people to the airport at various times. I was not envious of their planning! They had different shuttles planned and different times and scheduled us for them. Since my flight was at 6:30am, I got one of the earliest shuttle times - 3:45am. Ouch! If you know me, you know I love to sleep more than anything else. However, I respected the rules of the conference and diligently followed their schedule (don't worry, I went to bed at 10pm the night before so I at least got 5 hours of sleep).

I was under the presumption that the shuttle would leave at 3:45am, make a bunch of stops, and I would still get to the airport on time. I was right in that, but my timing was off. We did make a few stops, and I did get to the airport before my flight left - around 4:15am. Seriously, I got there so early that the check-in kiosks weren't open yet. I got there so early that I was the only person in the security line. I got there so early that Starbucks wasn't open yet. Crazy! I got through security and was in front of my gate at about 4:35am and waited around for my flight. Slept through most of the first flight (probably snored a lot but who knows?) and connected in Denver for my flight to Dayton. Got in at around 3:15pm EST.

So, my thoughts on air travel. Since I moved out of California three years ago I have done a lot of flying back and forth across the country. I don't know anyone who actually likes flying (if you do more power to you), but I certainly don't dislike it or am afraid of it. I think I am more annoyed by the whole process. It is like we remove all notions of personal space bubbles from our American society but still don't have any collegiality. So it's not that I mind standing/sitting so close to people, I just mind that we have to ignore each other in polite silence and pretend like this isn't an uncomfortable situation.

Also, I don't think I am made to fly. I am tall and not the smallest person on the planet, so I am pretty much shoehorned into some of those seats. And I normally don't have the attention span to sit in one space for such a long period of time. AND I really don't take instructions well from others (don't I sound like a model employee? Thanks for your patience Mr. Lamsma...). So flying is not so much my cup of tea, especially after this road trip, where I have gotten very used to calling my own shots in a much more relaxed setting. Off the soapbox I go...

Anyway, got back to Dayton, sat through some traffic on I-75, and got to Megan's apartment. Megan was still at work, so I unpacked a little, showered, and finally felt like my day was started. Headed down to the Dayton mall to have dinner with Chelsey and caught up on some of the new surrounding her life - always a good time.

After that, I headed back up to Dayton and met up with Jenna and went to watch a Beatles cover band (named Ticket to Ride) at the Fraze Pavilion. I am not much of a Beatles superfan, so here's how I ended up at the concert.

[Conversation taking place last week]

Jenna: Do you want to see a Beatles cover band at the Fraze the Thursday you are back in town?

Me: Does the Fraze serve beer during their shows?

Jenna: Yes.

Me: Then yes.

It was still a fun concert, even past the beer (and free Krispy Kremes handed out). The Fraze is a mini-amphitheatre type concert venue with lots of grass and bleachers seating, so it is always fun to scope out who is dancing in a ridiculous way. Jenna and I were scouring the crowd, looking for the funniest middle-aged female dancers, when I noticed that the men sitting to the left of us were pointing and laughing at Jenna. So we were looking for the weirdest dancer, but the one place we didn't look...was at Jenna. Touche.

After the concert we walked back to Megan's house and ate some cake with her and Andrea. I had mentioned the delicious idea of a orange creamsicle flavored cake before I left for the conference, and those two managed to make it happen (despite the criticisms and sarcastic comments from Jenna and myself).

All in all, a good day! Tomorrow I leave Dayton for good (weird since it's been my home post for the past three weeks) and head on down to Nashville for the weekend!

NACURH 2010: San Diego, CA

Hi from UCSD! I am currently sitting in the corporate boardroom and thought I would update this thing. It is the middle of role call here, and you can only imagine the time it takes to role call over 220 schools all yelling things.

For those who don't know, NACURH is the National Association for College and University Residence Halls. It is essentially a governing system for the Residence Hall Associations (RHAs, which are leadership and governance for residence halls on campus) across the nation. Make sense? Probably not, but that's ok.

So this is essentially a conference for students who are part of a resident government system. This is the national conference, which means over 220 schools and over 2,000 stduents and advisors. That's a whole lot of people!

I am here as one of the advisors for our Gonzaga delegation. We have 8 students here with us- 7 are the RHA executives here, and 1 is an NRHH rep (the group I advise during the year). The students do some work, like going to sessions on programming, networking with other schools,
and passing legislation. They also have a bunch of fun stuff for the students every day, like concerts, carnivals, movies, games, and live band karaoke (dad, you would have loved it).

What is boils down to is that this is a conference full of nerds! There are so many spirited people all around- lots of cheering, games, costumes, trading pins and gear, etc. Even as a extrovert I am a little overwhelmed by all of the spirit!

My role as an advisor varies here. I kind of keep students in line (making sure they are going to sessions and are being good), lead some reflections, and provide advice when voting on corporate legislation. Even though it's a student conference, there are some things for advisors to do. They have some advisor specific programs that I have gone and learned from. And there was an advisor social the first night which led to lots of networking and such.

Overall it has been a fun experience. UCSD is a cool campus, even if it is large and a little confusing to get around. After being here for a few days I can see why people would never want to leave- perfect weather all year round.

This is the last full day of the conference. Tomorrow I fly back to Dayton and continue the road trip. I am a ready to get back to nana and continue to journey. After so many days of traveling and seeing new things, it is a little weird then being "stuck" in one place for a couple of days!

Ok, probably should be setting a good example for my students and paying attention. Take it easy!
Joey

Hi from San Diego!

Sitting at the San diego airport! Just flew in from Dayton (and boy
are my arms tired) for the NACURH 2010 conference. Not sure if I will
be hosting over the next four days, as I don't know if I will have
Internet access or be doing anything interesting to you all. Bye for
now!
Joey

Day 19: Dayton and Fairfield, OH

Yesterday started off kind of slow. Megan got up and went very early to her marathon training group and Zumba class, and I went to the laundromat to once again clean my clothes. After we both got back to the apt, we went and had lunch at Big Sky Bakery, a place right around the corner from Megan's apt that bakes all their bread fresh and also has soups and sandwiches. And you get a free piece of bread with whatever you order. Bought a muffin? Free slice of bread. Just a soda? Free slice of bread. My kind of place! After that Megan dragged me to the new Kroger on Stroop and showed me around the place - it is actually pretty fancy.

Then we went back to her apt and I got ready for the wedding I went to. I had to wrap the gift but there was no scotch tape in the house, but luckily I found some blue tape and used that (that is one of those "You know you're an RA when..." type situations, I swear). The wedding was in Fairfield, OH, which is about 40 minutes south of Dayton (in between Dayton and Cincinnati). I was wearing my suit, and spent about 45 minutes in the car when it was 90 degrees and humid out - can you guess what that equals? Yes, a massive amount of sweating. I'm pretty sure I was already sweated out by the time I got to the ceremony. And the ceremony was outside, which meant more sweating. Luckily I took my coat off and managed to not pass out from dehydration.

So this wedding I went to was a friend from grad school (Matt Perry) who was getting married to his partner...also named Matt Perry. Yes, they are in love and have the same name - small world! So while it technically wasn't a wedding, it was a commitment ceremony but had everything that a normal wedding has - a wedding party, toasts, cake, dancing, a drag queen performing the medley of Motown hits from the start of Sister Act 2. You know, normal stuff!

In actuality, it was a fun ceremony. I was even more impressed that they would use so much of their own money to have a ceremony and reception for all their family and friends when they would not "get" anything else out of it (like how heterosexual couples get tax breaks, spousal support, etc from the government). It was nice of them and a fun way to celebrate.

Anyway, there were a bunch of friends from grad school at the wedding, including Mo, my work spouse from last year. By work spouse, I don't mean that we want to get married to each other (although we did discuss if we got married what songs would be played at the reception). Mo is just my counterpart in work. We don't do things the same or agree on everything, but we just get each other and challenge each other appropriately and can trust each other. She works at Paul Smiths College in Paul Smiths, NY (aka middle of nowhere) so it was fun to see her and catch up. We did make tentative plans for a roadtrip next year (which would include a webcam in the car so you could watch our shenanigans).

After the wedding was over, Mo, Chelsey, Andrew and I went to the Back Porch Saloon nearby to meet up with Krys, Mo's friend from undergrad, and Lauren and Jessica, Krys' friends. (Side note: Jessica was originally introduced to us as "Lindsay" until that was corrected, and I really wanted to keep calling her that throughout the night, but I was told she wouldn't like that. Oh well). At this bar, my fact was reaffirmed that ResLife is a small world when Chelsey and I ran into Alan, a former staff member from Dayton, and Mo ran into one of her old residents (who was underages - whoops). We also managed to talk to a guy from Germany for awhile, and we decided that he was telling us the truth where he was from and not just acting.

Left the bar around 11:45pm and started the drive back to Dayton. It had actually cooled off considerably and it was just wonderful driving home with all the windows down and not sweating. I enjoy summer nights like that! All in all a good day.

Day 18: Dayton

Let's start off with a fun fact about Dayton: Did you know that Dayton has the most inventions per capita? Now you do...

Woke up this morning after Megan had already left for work. I went to breakfast at the Golden Nugget (basically the best breakfast place in Dayton or maybe ever) and then went off on my day. I went to Target to pick up a wedding gift for the wedding I am going to tomorrow. It is now my belief that wedding registries are a very neat thing but also take the fun and surprise out of gift giving. I guess the wedding party gets what they want and that is nice, but it seems a little...weird that I am giving something so random. Will the Matts remember for the rest of time that I gave them some wall hanger/electronics charger? Probably not. And what's the point, then, of giving a gift receipt with the gift? They asked for this thing specifically, and they already know how much it costs, so they would likely not return it and have to be shielded from (gasp, the horror!) knowing how much I spent on them. Such a silly process. But I digress...

After that. went to Meijer and CVS. Then I headed to the University of Dayton! Went first to the bookstore (obviously - and I get a 10% discount as alumni). I randomly ran into Jim Pera there - small world! Jim is a Campus Minister at UD and is one of my good friends, so it was fun to catch up quickly and we made plans to hang out later this weekend. I then marveled at some of the construction going on around campus and somehow found my way to Kennedy Union and said hi to Gwyn, a friend from grad school who works at the Union, and a bunch of other people there. Then I walked up to Rebecca Schaller's office and chatted with her.

I then made my way quickly to the movie theater to see Toy Story 3 with Jenna and Megan. Holy crap, that movie is good. It was surprisingly emotional, especially at the end (won't give anything away). There were actually a good amount of people in their 20s in the theater, which isn't that shocking considering the first movie came out 15 years ago.

After the movie, we got some dinner at Potbelly and then went to Jenna's apt and ate some of her homemade key lime pie - delicious! Jenna lives at The Greene (the joint housing/commercial space use, aka a fake city) which is pretty cool, and her apt has all the new and fancy features. An apartment from the future!

THEN (sorry, a lot of then's) we met up with Chelsey, Andrew, and Liza (Jenna's friend) and went to listen to Kenny Loggins in concert. How random is that last sentence? Kenny was playing at the Fraze Pavilion, which is an outdoor concert venue only a few blocks from Megan's apartment. There is a park right in front of the Fraze where you can sit and listen to concerts for free! Which is good, because I don't know if I would have paid to see Kenny Loggins in concert. He played all of his hits, except for my personal favorite, "Playing with the Boys". Oh well, still a good time!

And the lightning bugs are out here - so freakin' cool. I had only seen them for the summers I was in Dayton but they sure do put a nice "classic summer" feel onto a hot summer night. So yea, a random day but pretty good!

Day 17: Baltimore to Dayton (with Columbus in between)

At first I thought this day would be boring since I was driving a lot and the exact same way that I done only five days before, but it didn't turn out to be half bad!

Pat woke me up at 6:30am as he was leaving the house. We said bye, and I quickly got ready and was on the road by 7am. While I don't like being rushed in the morning, I do like starting my drive early. I escaped most of the Baltimore-area traffic and was on my way once again through eastern Maryland, northern West Virginia, and southeastern Pennsylvania on my way to Ohio (got all that?). I still managed to stop for gas at the same two exits I had on my way to Baltimore - coincidence? I hope so!

I had more time this trip, so I mosey-ed a little bit more than usual. I stopped by and drove around the West Virginia University campus - looks pretty nice. I also didn't mind too much getting off the beaten path and took a random highway for awhile (tried to remember the number but forgot it).

I made my way to Columbus by around 4pm. I first stopped and visited Heather, a friend from grad school who is working at Denison University int he Academic Support office. She and her fiancee had just bought a house, and since she is off work for the summer she is busy painting and doing work around the place. It was nice to sit and catch up with her, and I spent two hours there (which went by very quickly as we are both talkative people!).

After that, I headed down to Ohio State (a quick trip into Columbus) to see my friend Kenny Lopez. Kenny and I were RAs and SRAs together at UCDavis, and he is now a Hall Director at Ohio State. We have known each other for about 6 years now, and it is fun to see how our paths have gone in similar routes into student Student Affairs but different in the types of schools we are working at. OSU is huge! Kenny I think was born to be a Hall Director, and he is amazing at the job - so much energy and passion for what he does. It was good to see him again after moving out of Ohio! We went and got some Mexican food for dinner at El Vaquero, a local place. Then we went to Jeni's Ice Cream for desert. This place has somewhat crazy flavors and are all delicious. I got three mini scoops of pistachio honey, pear, and salted caramel. Holy crap they were good!

After leaving Columbus, it was a quick trip to Dayton and back to Megan's apt, where I tried to stay awake talking to her but quickly fell asleep on the aero bed in the living room. Long day but good!

Overall, I enjoyed both Baltimore and DC. I am torn as to whether or not I would live in either city, as the things that I enjoy about the cities are mostly based on my slim view as a tourist. I am finding more and more through this trip that I do enjoy and prefer a smaller city, like a Spokane or Dayton. But it was fun to visit the east coast and I'm sure I will again in my life.