Going back to Cali

All good things come to an end.

2005-08-25T08:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, this blog update is long overdue. Apologies. We just got back from Boston (flew out for 2 weddings), so with 5 time zone changes in the last 3 weeks - we're a bit discombobulated.

Ah let's see, where did we leave off. Albuquerque. I remember we spent our night in Albuquerque transfixed by Hiroshima documentaries. It was the anniversary of the atomic bomb drop. We've rediscovered TV recently. We haven't had a TV in 6 weeks, and even then, we didn't have more than 6 channels. We're hooked on Discovery channel, and stayed up till 2am watching shows on several occasions.

So we left New Mexico and drove through more desert. Drove alongside speeding trains, huge mountains, red rocks, "Indian trading posts," etc... As we got closer to Arizona, the landscape changed a bit. Not sure how to explain it, but it was much prettier. More red rocks.

The sky changes quickly in the southwest. Clouds float at low elevations, changing shape every 2 minutes. I thought Arionza offered the most gorgeous landscape of the entire trip. I recommend everyone go there.

We stopped at Meteor Crater, 20 miles outside of Flagstaff. 50,000 years ago a meteor hit here and left a 3/4 mile hole. It's HUGE. We felt like Mulder and Scully looking at an X-File, and it satisfied our interest in seeing something really weird.

As we got near Flagstaff, the desert suddenly turned into dense forest, rivers, etc. I felt like I was driving in Lake Tahoe. Flagstaff is set against a huge mountain, and is at 7,000ft elevation. Very green. Grass, pine trees, perfect temperature. 50,000 people live there, and it has every amenity that a suburb would have. Odd to see a modern city against such a forested settting. Slower way of life, felt safe. Lots of young families and outdoor enthusiasts.

We walked around downtown - very cute. Outdoor cafes, everything locally-owned, outdoor gear shops, etc. We bought some scented candles, and ate at a local brewery. (Best mongolian beef salad ever) The air smells fresh, and it seems there's unlimited things to do outdoors.

====Next Day===

Everyone was so friendly in Flagstaff. We drove 90 minutes north to the Grand Canyon. What can I say, but that it's awestriking. 227 miles long. It's so vast and colorful, you can't begin to take it in. We spent 3 hours walking around, taking dozens of pictures of the same thing. We noted in amazement how many national landmarks we'd seen on the trip. Several lifetimes worth, at least.

You know what I liked about the southwest, the view. You can see weather systems all around you. Bright sun poking down to your left, about 10 miles off. And to your right, you see dark clouds and sheets of rain coming down 10 miles to your right. Above you is blue sky with spots of puffy clouds. And 2 minutes later, the weather systems change.

===Next Day===

We drove 20 miles south to Sedona. Gorgeous red rock mountains, canyons, rivers. Absolutely breathtaking, and it kept getting prettier the further in we drove. We went for a mini hike, snapping pictures, eyeing lizards, and were certain we heard a rattlesnake nearby. (Decided to end the hike at that point)

We stopped and ate sandwiches at Slide Rock. All red rock, smoothed from a small river than runs down it. Families come out here and splash around in the river, slide down the natural rock waterslides, and inadvertently slip on the rocks. We carefully walked in the water, took photos, and decided to come back again for a month someday.

Late afternoon we left Sedona for Las Vegas. The landscape in Nevada changed to black rock mountains. Layers and layers of jagged mountain edges, like shark teeth. We saw the Hoover Dam, and eventually made it to MGM Grand (our hotel in Vegas).

We walked through all the casinos, saw a lion habitat, Bellagio water show, and I played Wheel of Fortune (slot machine). Won $75! Becky played roulette, and I became psychic at one point, urging her to put money on certain numbers - which ended up being correct. (If only she'd put more than $1 chips on them!) My luck came on our last night. I had $5 left, and was down about $50. I sat down, somewhat defeated, at a slot machine in a no-name casino. On my second to last quarter I won $300, the machine's second-highest payout. Sirens went off, and I had to wait for an attendant to bring my winnings. Not bad. :)

At least half a dozen times people commented on my Red Sox hat. A guy at the pool looked at me, then started listing everything Boston-like he could think of, "Red Sox, Boston Baked Beans, Cah-Pahk, Hah-vad, ..." Other people would nod at my hat and say "Go Sox."

We stayed an extra day in Vegas, half out of the fun we were having, half out of the dread of our trip ending. We did finally depart, and drove through yucky desert for hours. The CA deserts are not as nice as southwestern deserts, in my opinion. The heat was relentless, too. Oppressive. We drove through Barstow, which felt like 1,000 degrees, then through Bakersfield. It was 107 degrees, according to a highway thermometer. We called it a night just outside of Bakersfield, at stayed at a Motel 6 off Highway 5. We had a family of flies in our room, a huge cockroach or grasshopper walking across the carpet near the bed, and other insect guests. At least we didn't have blood on the sheets or towels, like we did at a former Motel 6. Yuck.

We knew we were in a miserable, small town when the only places to eat were Dennys and a Frosty King, where they brag in their sign that "Soda comes with crushed ice!"

===Next Day===

Well, we were ready to end the trip now. We couldn't tell the difference from our clean and dirty clothes anymore. They all smelled the same. And the car was now starting to smell funky. Our cargobox had become a graveyard for flying bugs. The weather was hot, we were "so done" with the desert, and just wanted to get home.

We drove about 5 hours and crossed some low mountains. We started to see the greener side of CA coming into view. We got stuck in some East Bay traffic for a while, but eventually crossed the bay. Ahhh, water, sun, 70 degrees, trees, Starbucks..... we were home.

This was really a memorable trip, and we definitely feel we've witnessed a cross-section of American culture. We named Becky's Pathfinder "Seabiscuit" since it made the entire trip without dying. I accomplished my lifetime goal of seeing 26 states. We saw 16 on this trip, putting my total to 28 states. Every state we visited offered impressive scenery, fun towns, and a chance to see how people live across America. We would most certainly do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Keep on trucking!

Albuquerque, New Mexico

2005-08-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

Albuquerque, NM

Greetings from New Mexico. We finally have internet access again. Last we left off we were in Little Rock, AR. Little Rock was a lot of fun. We had 2 days to ‘rest’ from long drives. We were pleasantly surprised with Little Rock. Carrie got southern ‘badge’ when she had her first meal at a Waffle House. Mmm.. mmm… good, I doubt she’ll ever be going back to one.

Oklahoma City, OK—
About a 6 hour drive from Little Rock. Oklahoma City was a lot bigger than we had originally anticipated. It has a cute section of town called Bricktown with some great restaurants. Recently developed within the past 4-6 years, Bricktown used to be a warehouse district. We also visited the Oklahoma City bombing site. I remember when the bombing happened, but I’ve since forgotten how much of an impact it had until I visited the memorial. The memorial has a large reflection pool in the middle. Next to the reflection pool are symbolic “empty chairs” representing each of the victims that died.

I should also add – we counted over 21 dead armadillos on the side of the road. Poor things. One piece of roadkill was especially hard to take – a small bird flew in front of the car, and the “thunk” left us very sad.

Tumcumcari, NM—
Tucumcari is a stop over to somewhere else. Located on the historic Route 66, and considered a ‘dust bowl’ town, at best. I’m pretty sure you can count the local population on one hand. Tucumcari is a small town that consists of some hotels, a lot of rundown buildings and a K-Mart. It was interesting to visit this town in the middle of the desert. Unfortunately our Motel 6 didn’t have hot water because the hot water heater was knocked out from a thunderstorm. We decided to have dinner at Denny’s in our night at Tumcumcari. Our waitress got into a fight with some of the cooks. A few evil looks, a heated exchange and a tray thrown at one of the cooks made it into an interesting evening.

Santa Fe, NM—
Driving through New Mexico provides amazing landscape. Dry desert with small round green bushes everywhere, with enormous red rock hills/mountains. We took a side road for about an hour, to get to Santa Fe. Just one lane each direction, and we only passed a handful of cars. The sky was bright blue, with some puffy white clouds. Looking around at the miles and miles of dramatic desert (and red mountains) was humbling. There was no sign of civilization, as far as the eye could see. I think we both knew that if the car broke down, things could get ugly. The roadkill of choice in NM are prairie dogs. We’ve seen some live ones, too.

We stayed a few miles out of town, and were surprised to experience heavy traffic getting into downtown. Downtown Santa Fe is really cute, a lot of artists, ‘adobe’ style architecture and a lot of great shopping. Every single house, office, coffee shop, and commercial structure looks exactly the same. Everything is made to look like a flat, brown adobe. It must be a city code. Everything is the exact same brown color, exact same design. This includes everything, from the Embassy Suites, to Starbucks, to Hollywood Video, to law offices, post office, and YMCA. Singularly, it’s pretty in it’s unique cultural way. But as a whole, you feel like you’re in the twilight zone because you can’t distinguish any structures. The scenery never changes.

Don’t get me wrong, downtown Santa Fe is adorable. We spent the day walking around the “old town,” did a little shopping and tasted some of the local cuisine. There were a lot of Native American shops, lots of ristas (dried red chiles hung in bunches) hanging everywhere, old churches, and a plaza with vendors. We got some local carnitas and a tamale. We sat at a rooftop cantina, looking down on the old historic town – good times. For dinner we splurged and went to a tapas bar – and tried 8 different tapas. All very local, all very tasty.

This morning we got an oil change, then left Santa Fe for Albuquerque. It’s only about an hour drive, but we stopped at several Indian pueblos along the way. Indian pueblos are where the Indians actually live on their reservations. Once on the reservation, you are subject to Indian laws on the pueblo. There are signs everywhere saying “No photographs or sketches allowed. $1,000 fine.” Pueblos are not tourist traps, they are the real deal. There are no visitor centers, no Starbucks, no tourist shops (except someone possibly selling pottery out of their house). Sad to say, the pueblos were horribly depressing. Dire living conditions, broken-down shack houses, old beater cars barely running, very dusty, very dirty, lots of garbage everywhere, no street signs. Teenagers roaming the dusty roads on their bicycles under the beating sun. We seemed to be the only tourists driving through their neighborhood, until we saw another car come. We drove out a few minutes later, and visited another one. As we got closer to Albuquerque, we drove by the Sandia foothills, a beautiful mountains on the outskirts of town.

We decided to stop by to see the Petroglyphs, ancient rock carvings by Indians that date back several hundred years. Each carving had a distinct meaning, some of which has been lost over the years. The Petroglyphs are located in now what is national forest on lava rocks. A paved trail led you up a hill where you could view some of the Petroglyphs on the way. Once on top of the hill, there was a great view of the mountains.

After checking into the hotel, we took a shuttle into old Albuquerque. Like Santa Fe, old Albuquerque has the adobe style architecture, where most of the buildings look the same. It’s a cute section of town where you can shop for various artwork done by the local Indians. We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant in town where Carrie one of her better culinary experiences. Sapaitillos (sp?) is sweet bread that you put honey on. Very good. After lunch we walked around and shopped. I got a cool silver belt buckle made by a local artist.

We have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow as we head to Flagstaff. We’re staying at a Motel 6 so it’s unlikely that we’ll have internet access.

Little Rock, Arkansas

2005-08-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

Although the Day's Inn we're staying at is directly below a flightpath (roaring military airplanes every 3 minutes), we get free hi-speed. I should take this opportunity to write more about our trip thus far.

This will be a long post, but y'all wanted to hear what's going on, so here you go!

Day 1 (Boston to Harrisburg, PA)
MA - very green, had our last Honeydew and Dunkin Donuts coffees. Enjoyed that MA has no billboards. Very emotional leaving our apartment, and turning that last light switch off.

CT - even greener. Billboards popped up, many advetising porn stores. Went through Hartford, New Haven, and Stamford.

NY - We were making great time until now. Stuck in Manhattan traffic for 90minutes. A-hole drivers kept cutting us off. Didn't help that we had MA plates and a Red Sox sticker.

NJ - Most of NJ was uneventful. Kind of ugly, not someplace I would want to go back to.

PA - Very green, rolling hills. See patgarrett.com billboards everywhere. All it has is that URL, and also says "sheepskin." So far it's a pretty state. Surprising lack of roadkill. Religious billboards are cropping up, such as "Assemblies of Yahweh." One of the churches had a huge metal radio-station/satellite type of structure outside, possibly for communicating with the "mothership."

After 9 hours, finally reached Motel 6. It was a piece of crap, but we were so excited to have a bed. Many undesirables there. We took my bike off the car and brought important bags into our room. Considered bringing the hubcaps and tires in, too.

Actually went to the YMCA at 9pm that night. (Haven't worked out since) Gorgeous dusk sky. Slept from 11pm-7am and soundly. As we get closer to the south, I'm cutting back on my boy tank tops and surf shorts...going for collar shirts and capris. Maybe I should rat up my hair.

Staring at a map for hours on end, you start to see the funny city names in each state. I decided to keep a list of them. A trend I noticed is that there are far more odd names, the more south you drive. Here are funny city/town names, for the states we covered today:

CT: Rainbow
NY: Kill Buck, Mexico
NJ: Tranquiliy
PA: Weedville, Economy, Shoemakersville
MD: Flinstone, Ladiesburg, Sunshine, Boring, Sandy Bottom
WV: Left Hand, Looneyville, Cucumber, Pickaway, Gay, Frazier's Bottom, Duck, Strange Creek, Hometown, Gypsy, Blandville, Hookersville, Big Otter, Droop, Burnt House

*****

Day 2 (Harrisburg, PA to Lexington, KY):
Drove through the rest of PA, through much of Maryland, cut through West Virginia, ending up in Lexington, PA. 11 hour drive. Billboards got even weirder. One that says "Get a mammogram!" Becky saw two cows getting it on, off the side of the highway. PA was still quite hilly and green. We saw a lot of Amish women in a white van, driving very fast. Maybe part of the Amish correctional facility, off to do community service?

Passed over the Mason-Dixon Line in Maryland. Officially in the south, now! West Virginia was VERY hilly, had to go up and down - reaching 2500 peaks. Seeing billboards demanding, "READ THE BIBLE."

Once we crossed the state line into Kentucky, I let out a big yeeehaw. Blasting Dolly Parton and any country we could get our hands on. All the hick you can get here - everyone has a bronco, truck, or beater car. Saw some scrffy boys on ATV's with no shirts on. WOmen have tight short jean-shorts, big hair, crop tops. Lots of huge homes on acres of land.

Stayed in Lexington that night. Went into downtown, saw Kentucky University. Also saw Transylvania University. Lexington looks very run down to me, poor looking. Everyone has a meager house with chairs on the front porch. Very endearing to see everyone sitting outside at dusk, on their front porch. Seem happy.

Different way of life out here. Brick, box homes in simple, poor neighborhoods - juxtapositioned against neighborhoods with huge homes, huge horse farms.

Most of Kentucky is very pretty. It's the horse capital of the world. All you see are rolling hills of green, low wood fences, farms with silos, hay bails, tons of horses and cows. Lots of cornfields. Saw several factories with "Agricultural Experimentation Center" on the outside. Hmmm. Also lots of bourbon distilleries. Landscape is dotted with tiny white and lavendar "babies breath" type flowers.

Funny city/town names in KY: Beaverlick, Rabbit Hash, Morning, Sunrise, Oddville, Pleasureville, Bagdad, Stamping Ground, Swallowville, Paris, Ordinary, Beauty, Lovely, Camp Dix, Salt Lick, Paint Lick, Kids Crossing, Co-Operative, Honeybee, Egypt, Bush, Happy, Sassafras, Stopever, Quicksand, Shoulderblade, Dwarf, Hazard, Carrie Brinckley, Trkey, Dog Walk

********************
Day 3 (Lexington, KY to Nashville, TN)

We drove west to Louisville, KY - since it sounded interested. Turned out to be a neat little town on the river. We started at Churchill Downs, where they have the Kentucky Derby. That place is HUGE! Got to see the track, the warmup area, the grandstand, etc. Some interesting facts about Kentucky Derby - they race 75 days a year, horses are at their prime at 3 years old, 1,000 horses are kept there at any time, train 7 days a week, 150,000 at Kentucky Derby. Got to see a retired horse, who ran in the Derby years ago. Since horses are herd animals, each horse has their own companion horse (a miniature horse). When Secretariat died, they did an autopsy to see why he was *so good.* They got their answer: Secretariat's heart was 21 pounds. The average thoroughbred's heart is 7 pounds.

We had lunch at 4th street, which they've done up quite charmingly. They have live outdoor concerts every so often. Becky tasted a few local bourbons at a bourbon lounge next door. We went to the Louisville SLugger museum, where they produce the nation's most popular baseball bats.

As I mentioned before, I think the south is obsessed with religion and sex. I've never seem so many porn billboards in my life. "XXX store" "Adult books" "Adult store" but then you also see "HELL IS REAL" and just plain odd billboards promoting, "The most AWESOME fleat market in the world!"

Nashville, TN: Got into Nashville that evening. We really liked this place. It's on the water, and they have a big outdoor concert pavillion on the river. We stayed in a nice hotel, with the most comfortable bed I've ever encountered.

We went into downtown, to Broadway and 2nd. You could hear live country and blues everywhere, it was so fun. Tried fried green tomatos, then went to BB Kings for dinner. Had ribs, baked beans, sweet slaw, and fried pickles. Listened to live southern blues for an hour or so.

Much to my enjoyment, we then went to the Wildhorse Saloon. The country girl in me was able to come out! They have a huge dancefloor, stage, lights, and live country concert going on. The guy was *really* good. We jumped onto the dancefloor and did some Cotton Eye Joe linedancing. We then took the free line dancing class they offered, and learned the "Moneybags" dance. There must have been 200 people on the dancefloor, learning the steps. Becky and I were laughing so hard, smiling, dancing with the crowd. Becky did quite well!

To finish the night off, we walked up Broadway and watched some live blues. We woke up at 2am, both violently ill from the fried food we ate. Our bodies just aren't used to all that grease, I guess.

**********************************************
Day 4 (Nashville, TN to Memphis, TN):
We decided to take our time leaving Nashville, we loved it so much. We walked along the riverfront, stopped in at our favorite places, and spent at least an hour trying on cowboy hats and boots. Becky got a cool cowboy hat, which she sported the rest of the day. I got a $12 cheap cowboy hat, that hasn't fallen apart yet. Gets the job done, right?

Bad traffic on our way to Memphis. What was supposed to be a 3 hour drive took over 5 hours, as we were stopped (standstill) for 90 minutes. Some accident had closed the road. Oddly, this is the first accident we've seen on this trip.

More and more x-rated billboards while driving to Memphis. We'd also see three huge white crosses every so often, nestled in the hills. Maybe they were supposed to entice the sinners to repent, after visiting the porn megastores. Churches out here are crazy. First, there is at least one church on every block. Seriously. They are like Starbucks in SF, or Dunkin Donuts in Boston. Every block there's another church...sometimes, like Starbucks, two right across from each other.

Memphis was a huge city, much bigger than Nashville. Very sprawled out, kinda felt like Los Angeles. CRAZY drivers, speeding, zig-zagging, cutting others off. What's the big hurry, are they afraid they'll miss happy hour at the shooting range?

Let me say something about beer out here. Boy, do they love beer. Cheap can beer. Every market or gas station store is LINED with beer. It's all the cheap beer out here, too - Miller, Miller Lite, Bud, Bud Lite, etc. And they sell them in those oversized cans, the kind you bring to a white trash party. Every cheap American beer is sold here, and it must be the drink of choice.

OK, back to Memphis. We loved it. We stayed at a motel in the heart of downtown, with a pink old-school Chevy convertible outside. White wall tires and everything. Lots of horse-drawn buggies, cute places to eat. Beale St. is closed off at night to car traffic, and becomes this hopping music center. Lined with BBQ joints with big, neon flashing lights outside, you can eat what you want in 1950's style diners. There's also a plethora of live blues, free outdoor blues concerts. Many of the establishments on Beale St sell "Big Ass Beer" in big plastic cups, to passerbys. Yes, you can drink a big ass beer while walking down the street.

We had some bbq and sweet ice tea (local favorite here), then walked around listening to free, live blues. Everyone was so happy.

*******************************
Day 5 (Memphis, TN to Little Rock, AR):
Got up early and got a coffee at a fancy mall. There was a sign at the entrance, which you see often in the south. It says "Dress Code Enforced." We wondered what the dress code is out here, so we read the fine print.
* No baggy clothes
* No backwards baseball hats, or sideways baseball hats.
* No profanity on clothing
* No nylon-type headwear

We drove over to see the Civil Rights Museum. It is located at the Lorraine Motel. For readers like myself, I didn't see the historic significance of this motel. The Lorraine Motel is where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assasinated in 1968(?). The hotel is now an historic landmark, preserved exactly as it was the day he died. There is a very somber reverence about that spot.

The Civil Rights Museum was a poignant experience, I recommend everyone visit. The audio tour was very moving, as you learn about the African American struggle for equal rights. A great deal of video footage and memorabilia brought the events to life, even moreso. We know they had a struggle, but you see specific examples of the abuse they endured with each peaceful movement for equality.

I was most moved by two things: the sit-ins at the diners, and the 9 black kids who went to the all-white high school, as lawmakers tried to end segregation. They recreated the sit-ins, where blacks and sympathetic whites would sit at local diners until they were served. (Waitresses refused to serve them) A lot of white people participated with African Americans in the peaceful protests, which I was proud of. But these sit-ins were hard to watch. They showed video footage of gangs of white boys and girls taunting them, calling them names. Putting their cigarrette butts out in their hair, pouring ketchup/mustard/syrup on their hair and clothes. Eventually, they'd pull them out of their chairs and beat them soundly. One of the waitresses was interviewed at the time, and she was very self-righteous. In fact, she had the gall to laugh condescendingly and say, "Well excuse me, but I feel MY civil rights are being violated! How dare that woman demand that I serve her food!?"

Little Rock, AR was the first place where they tried desegregation. Nine black students were chosen to attend Central High School, and it was an enormous struggle. All their families received daily death and bomb threats, and the nine students had to be protected by the 101st Airbone division. It was so sad to see the thones of white boys/girls who followed them to school, taunting them. At school the kids would be beaten, spit at, called names. One of the black students said in the gym showers, they'd leave broken glass on the floor and scald her with boiling water.

For me, the saddest vision was a photograph. One of the nine students missed her military transport to school, and had to walk there herself. You see a bunch of angry white mothers and students surrounding her as she walked. She clutched her books and looked down. You see this one teenage girl with the face of a monster, shouting some obscenity at her from behind. Such hatred and bigotry. I was so completely touched by the braveness and fortitude of these students, and anyone (white or black) who risked their life for a greater good.

As part of the tour, you get to walk through the motel room where MLK Jr. stayed. Everything is exactly intact, as he left it. I stared at his bed for a good while, trying to soak in what his life meant.

We also got to tour the motel across the street, where the killer took his shot. YOu see the window where he aimed from.

So that was the reverent tour of the day. We took another tour, this time of Graceland! We drove down Elvis Presley Boulevard, past the Heartbreak Hotel, and got a fun tour. We started with the Graceland home, itself. It was smaller than I expected, and not as sophisticated. Elvis had some weird taste, man. Every room had a unique gawdiness. Also, it was horribly 1970's decorated - green shag carpeting on the floor AND ceiling, dark wood wall paneling, dark wood furniture, ugly-as-sin kitchen (all dark brown wood paneling), and strange things like white glass monkeys sitting on end tables. ??

We went to the downstairs part, where the ceilings were all mirrors. One room looked like Austin Powers had decorated it - yellow and white furniture, mirror ceilings, three tvs in a row. We saw his dad's office, where Elvis gave some interviews. We saw the racquetball court he had built, stables where he rode, and his tombstone. He's actually buried right there, with his family.
We saw rooms lined with all the concert and movie outfits he wore, including his military uniform. Elvis was HUGE. Really tall, and really broad shoulders. Was he a giant or something?

We saw libraries of his platinum records and awards. We saw the pool he often swam in. Learned that Graceland was handed down from it's original builders for several generations, until Elvis bought it. It was named Graceland by the original owners, and he liked/kept the name.

We saw his wedding outfit, Lisa Marie's baby toys and crib, and his auto collection. He tweaked out some cars; pink cadillac convertibles, purple convertibles, etc. Our tour ended with a walk-thru of the "Lisa Marie," his private airplane.

We next headed off for Little Rock, AR. Not sure what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised at how cute it is. Downtown is on the river, with a fun River Market area. You can walk inside and see little vendors selling bbq, fruits, etc. There's a farmer's market outside, really cute restaurants, and lights up nicely in the evening. On the river, vast amounts of grass embankments roll down to a huge outdoor concert pavillion. They have free concerts throughout the year.

We walked along President Clinton Blvd, and saw his favorite coffee shop. Little Rock has the feel of a smaller-scale Pike Place Market in Seattle. We love the town and the food. We went to the FLying Fish and ordered fried catfish, gumbo, fried oysters, fried shrimp, and hushpuppies (deep fried cornbread). Everything is fried, and tasted like heaven. Luckily, neither of us got sick last night.
*********************************************

Day 5 (Hang out in Little Rock):
Today was mellow. We hung out in downtown Little Rock and had lunch. It's still just as cute during the daytime, and we'll be heading back in soon.

To continue our civil rights education, we went to Central High School. As I mentioned above, this is where the "Little Rock Nine" first began the desegregation of public high schools in the south. We visited the museum, and walked over to look at the high school. It's still used by students today. Hard to imagine all the mobs of bigoted parents/students that lined up to harrass these nine students every day.

Well, that's the lengthy update of the trip so far. Next time we can get online, we'll update again. Tomorrow we head for Oklahoma City, then we head into New Mexico. Adios!

Yeeeehawwww!

2005-08-01T05:11:00.000-07:00

Howdy folks, this is Carrie and Becky comin' atcha from Memphis, TN. Home of rock'n'roll. We haven't had the luck we expected at getting online for blogging, but I think the next few days should be better. My friend gave me a journal before I left, so we've been logging our sights, sounds, and smells on the roadtrip. As luck would have it, the journal is in the car (parked far away), so I can't divulge the juicy stories just yet. (I'll write a longer, detailed update later)

For now I do have some comments. It's interesting what you notice on the road. Roadkill, for example. Through MA, NY, and NJ all we really saw was one piece of roadkill - a pigeon. Through Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia we saw a lot of fat squirrels, and animals that looked like dead beavers. Now - once we got into the south, things got interesting. We've seen a full, intact dead goat, a dead deer , and several armadillos. Who knew armadillos were so cute. Too bad they were dead.

Mack trucks own these roads, and drive pretty recklessly. They are going 85mph, passing cars, and look intimidating. More than roadkill, we've seen blown-up truck tires all over the roads. I swear, every interstate we've been on is a truck tire cemetery. (The picture on the left shows a load of pigs going to, um, a happy pig farm. You can see a snout through one of the holes).

I promise to write all the notes I've taken on each state once I have the journal in my hands. I have to say.....there is a serious cowgirl in me that's emerging. Once we crossed the border into Kentucky, I let out a big "yeeeeehaawww!" We've been playing Dolly Parton, JoDee Messina, and lots of other country music cds. And the scary part is - we're liking it. We're singing along, memorizing the words. There is something a bit trance-like in the South. You drive along rolling hills of green, past hundreds of acres of horse farms, watch the red sunset over the trees, past beat-up Broncos and old Chevy trucks,....and you just blast your country music, kick up your boots and enjoy life.

Sure, there are things in the South that make you think, "I'm not in Kansas anymore." Maybe things like - huge 100ft religious crosses in the hills every 30 miles, billboards saying "HELL IS REAL" and listing the 10 Commandments, billboards advertising churches in the towns as though they were major casinos, .... but these are juxtapositioned against a SLEW of porn in the south. They are obsessed with relgion and sex. Huge billboards everywhere advertising "ADULT BOOKS" or "X-RATED VIDEOS" - and huge, CostCo-sized warehouses with all the porn you can handle. These are a people confused, methinks.

We loved Kentucky - went to Lexington and Louisville. Toured Churchill Downs, where they have the Kentucky Derby. We also love Tennessee. We had a great time in Nashville, listening to live country, took line dancing lessons, listened to the blues at BB Kings, had some good southern bbq, and bought cowboy hats. We couldn't help it. The south sucks you in. We bought some cowboy hats, and almost a pair of boots. I'm even starting to speak with a southern drawl, to be honest.

One thing about food. They love grease. Lots of grease. Everything is fried. My old boss had told me she'd gone to Arkansas and ate a plate of deep fried hush puppies. Later that night she woke up and was violently ill. Not us, we said.

Well, in Nashville we decided to try the local edibles. We had fried green tomatos (yum!), and fried pickles/green beans. All very good. And we felt fine!!! Until 2am. We both woke up at the same time and were sicker than we'd been in years. Becky threw up most violently for 10 minutes, and I was hanging over a bowl. Watch out if you try fried food in the south. We only had a little, and that's all it took.

We're now in Memphis...walked around last night. Great energy, tons of flashing lights, pit BBQ, live blues coming out of every restaurant/lounge. We had more bbq last night, although I'm beginning to get sick from the food I've eaten the past 4 days. Let's just say I haven't gone to the bathroom since last Thursday, and I'm going to find some ExLax.

Check back in another 2 days - I'll write about each state we went through, and all the adventures we've had. We're having a blast, feeling like Thelma and Louise as we drive the open road with our cowboy hats on. Dolly Parton RULES! (uh oh) :)

Full details later! We're off to see Graceland, the Civil Rights Musem, and Underground Railroad historic site.

Who's Yo Daddy???

2005-07-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Who's Yo Daddy??? Part I --

That was what I said to Carrie after I was able to pack 3/4 of our belongings into 1 Door-2-Door crate. I made it very clear that I was in charge of packing the crates and I had the final say as to what goes where, so there was really no need to argue. :) I guess it's kind of hard to explain the satisfaction of using every centimeter of that stupid crate, or maybe I'm just easily impressed with stupid things. Now that everything is packed up, we don't have much in the way of furniture. No bed, no tables, the only thing we have to sit on is a couch which we're donating on Wed. I have no idea where half of my things are, and after tomorrow, we won't have an internet connection (the horror!). We've relocated most of things into our back room, and for the next 4 nights we'll be sleeping in our sleeping bags. I'm not looking forward to sleeping on the ground for 2 nights (we'll switch who gets to sleep on the couch). Although, it kind of feels like we're having a slumber party, except we're missing a few key ingredients.... (1) We live here, so it's not like there's any built up anticipation of going over to a friends house to sleep over, (2) I'm 31 and she's 29, we'll probably wake up with sore backs, and (3) I already know who she has a crush on.

That's all.

-----------------------------------------------

"My Personal Ad" - Part 2 of today's post

It's a good thing somebody loves me, because right now I'd have one sorry personal ad.
"SWF - nearly 30, unemployed, and living with mother." Get in line, people! There's only one of me to go around!

On Friday, I walked out of the Intuit building with mixed feelings. I actually made some really good friends there, and saying goodbye was more difficult than planned. I've this odd yearning to be unemployed, for once in my life. It's the same oddness that made me want to break my arm, as a kid. (I wanted a cast) Same reason I wanted corrective glasses years ago. (Glasses were "cool")
All things where - once you've got 'em, you aren't sure you want 'em anymore. So here I am, unemployed - and not so sure I'm ready for this. I've envied friends who got laid off, and prayed I'd get laid off at my last job. (Didn't happen) I've gone from job to job, with nary a *real* break in between.

I just want to wake up, go for a run, sip coffee at a mom'n'pop while reading my favorite book. I want to be outside while it's sunny, not sitting in a tiny cube with inadequate lighting. (See attached photo of our cubes - I could reach my arms out and touch the sides - no joke)

While I am looking forward to some time off, I'm already realizing other things are involved: no money, no subsidized healthcare, no unemployment checks, no future job prospects, not to mention I'm going on a $2,000 cross country trip. OH yeah, AND I'm spending $3,000 to ship my stuff across the country. Am I sure I want to be unemployed? I should watch what I ask for next time.

On the brighter side, one of my best friends also finished her "last day" on Friday. It was also her birthday, so plenty of reasons to celebrate. We settled for oogling plasma hi-def TVs at Best Buy, and getting fried clams and sundaes at Friendly's. She's that kind of friend - whatever we do, we have fun.

Last night (Saturday), we had about 20 friends meet up for dinner and socializing at The Attic. It was bittersweet to see our friends. It was wonderful to have everyone together in a room, yet sad to say our final 'goodbyes'. We really hope our friends come visit us in CA. We received a "Road Trip Emergency Kit" custom-made with useful, cute, and sassy items. To be sure, this box is coming with us. :)

Alas, it's 11pm and time for bed. Bed? Make that "sleeping bag on the floor with huge bugs flying around." What is it with jurassic bugs loving East coat humidity? They're not as cute or friendly as the ones in Disney movies, trust me. These beetles fly INTO your hair, and burrow inside. No fear. No respect!

DSL shuts off tomorrow, and with that - my 'online umbilical cord' is cut. However will I manage. However will I play Bejeweled 2?
Goodnight everyone. It may take me a few days to get online again, so please be patient. :)
For your viewing pleasure, I've attached a few pics from my last day. (Intuit sign near the suite door, our lobby, my team, and my microscopic cube. Not even big enough for a flying beetle.

Keep on truckin'
-Carrie
PS - Yes Becky, you're my daddy with the crate packing. You get the sofa tonight, I'll take the floor. :)

Tired little puppies...

2005-07-21T16:55:00.000-07:00

What a week. So much to do, so little time. We're getting stuff done, it's just a bit of a slow process. It's officially official, Carrie's car was picked up by the shippers so there's no turning back now.

See the little dogs? That's what we look like at the end of the day, except we're much cuter. :) (I'm the one on the left by the way). We're hoping to get a dog in the very near future. Much to my chagrin, we will be getting a small dog. Ok, small dog is better than no dog.

Tomorrow is Carrie's last day in the office, and then it's vacation, vacation! I'm at work until Tuesday, I'm sure Carrie will be packing and cleaning most of Monday and Tuesday.

It's still freakin hot here. People are dying from the heat in Arizona. Hopefully it won't be too bad when we're there.

It's 8:15pm and I have to run to the grocery store. It's on my list, I must do it. Later.

Watch City Brewery

2005-07-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

Our last time at Watch City Brewery in Waltham. How sad. This place is great. Free WiFi, great brews, mellow atmosphere. It has to be a full moon tonight, or close to it... people are a bit edgier than usual..

Not much new to report, except that our real estate agent bites the big one. From now on she will be referred to as Ding-Dong. We're thinking of getting a voo-doo doll of her.

T Minus 10 Days & Packing....

2005-07-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

Carrie's turn to write!
How can two people in a small apartment have SO MUCH stuff! Endless trips to Goodwill to donate things, boxes upon boxes of packed goods, and we're selling a bunch more. Our house looks like Hurricane Emily passed through.

It's amazing how many details are involved in a move. I'm trying to book temporary health insurance in case we get clubbed by neo-born-again-right-wing-racist-sister-shagging-homophobic rednecks in the South. Yes, it was my idea to drive through the south. I can't help it. It's the same reason we all rubber neck at a bad accident. We're grossed out by it, yet we can't help but stare with morbid curiosity.

Speaking of our red state neighbors, Becky and I have carefully planned our method of disguise. The MA plates on her car will catch enough attention, so we don't want to raise any more eyebrows. (I prefer to keep my body intact)

Here's our plan:
* Becky is my Korean half-sister, while in the South
* We bought a red, white, and blue "God bless our troops" ribbon magnet, for the back of her car
* We put a Red Sox sticker on the car
* We hung a cross from the rear-view mirror
* We have a can of pepper spray, in case the above measures fail

I fully intend to extract any stop signs I see, since us "blue states" paid for them with our tax dollars. I want my money back.

PS - My Verizon phone just broke in half, 3 months after the warranty expired. I had to buy a $100 used phone, but it's a camera phone. That's where these pics come from. We'll snap some pics on the road (and also with my digicam), and post them.

More tomorrow! (These pics of Becky show how utterly exciting our lives our right now, whilst packing and researching our healthcare/tenant rights/trip)

blue state, red state

2005-07-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

pimpin usa

Ok...not exactly the car we'll be going in...and not exactly the car I'd buy if I had the money either. I'd just like to point out the number of red states we'll have to travel through in order to reach our desired destination....Arnold Schwartzeneger's state... crap..I can't even spell his name. I'll be back....

-B

Packing, sunburns, real estate agent, craigslist

2005-07-17T19:24:00.000-07:00

Packing sucks. Plain and simple. Luckily we were able to take part of the day off from packing to go up to Ogunquit, ME. The weather ended up being nice, despite weather forcasts for rain. We met up with some friends, hung out at the beach and went out for lunch...not necessarily in that order. Carrie's tummy got sunburned. Good times....

Why, might you ask, is 'real estate agent' part of the title? Well, like packing, the real estate agent trying to sell the house that we rent sucks. Let me explain. She locked us out of our apartment today for the 2nd time because she keeps locking the door knob, despite being told on 4 different occasions not to lock it. We don't have keys to the door knob lock. I don't think anyone does. She still locks it, and we get locked out.

We've been using Craigslist to sell a lot of our furniture that we can't take with us. Dealing with Craigslist people on a continual basis is frustrating. No shows, weirdos, rude and irrational people.

At the present moment Carrie is trying to make hotel/motel reservations for our trip, and I'm, well, typing this.

More later on the trials and tribulations of packing/moving with your significant other. I'll give you a little sneak preview: Carrie and I have a lot of things in common, yet there are many ways that we are quite different. She likes lists, I don't. She likes planning every detail out (with the assistance of her lists) and following a schedule, I don't. See where this is going? I think it's just a matter of different way of doing things. She thinks her way is better (it probably is), so we're going with her way. I totally lost that one. Back to my list.....

:)