After over 9000 miles of driving on this trip, it has been confirmed. Rhode Island doesn’t exist. How is it possible that in all the time spent in the car in the past 5 weeks (3 for me) nobody has seen a RI license plate? We’ve seen multiple Alaskas and Hawaiis but no Rhode Island? I must admit West Virginia was very elusive for a time but somewhere in Ohio, all those mountainmen came out of the woods and showed off their beautiful blue and yellow plates. We’ve got two more days left to spot someone from the smallest and clearly least traveled state in the union. We thought we saw a trucker from RI somewhere in Utah but we passed him without being able to confirm the plate and slowed down to 20 mph on the highway without the truck catching up to us. The battery on the camcorder failed us just as I zoomed in to check the plate, so the report remains as inconclusive as sightings of UFO’s, the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot.
In other news, Denver was our stop after Zion. We stayed with the Pearsons, though only saw mom and pop for a combined total of 15 minutes. We met Howard at his dad’s restaurant and had a fantastic dinner complete with sesame chicken, dumplings and Chinese beer. That night we hit up downtown Dtown with some of Jake’s highschool homies. He Taphouse provided us with some fancy local microbrewery pitchers. It was here that we learned about Sloshball. This is not a recreational game for those faint of heart. This is an all-out athletic competition between two teams that have a hunger to win, and a thirst to drink. To the untrained eye, the game might be mistaken as kickball. However, upon closer investigation, the onlookers will notice that the offensive players always have a drink in their hands. Also, second base isn’t so much a base, as a keg, from which you must chug a beer before advancing to third. By the end of the game, the score is forgotten; the winners are clearly everyone involved. We plan to play a bunch this summer.
The next day, we at a delicious breakfast at Pete’s Kitchen, a staple of Denver dining, got the dog and headed up to Jake’s cabin. Here we grabbed some fishing poles, a BB gun, a hatchet, and a shovel and headed up the creek. After digging for worms and discovering the gun was broken, we dropped our lines in and sat back, waiting for dinner. What we got made us lose our appetites. Jake caught a small brook trout and promptly, the fish swallowed the hook. After many an unsuccessful attempt to free the fish, it drowned (do you call it drowning when a fish dies from being out of the water?) Jake, wanting to get his hook back, determined the only logical solution was to make use of the hatchet. Sadly, Jake decided to turn his head away when swinging and cut through the fish’s head, leaving the fish headless and Jake hookless.
After a few games of poop stick, we packed up and headed home, stopping at Cari’s for dinner and beer. (Side note: We’re driving through Jersey right now and it sucks. What a horrible excuse for a state.) The next morning we picked up Howard and began driving east on Rt. 70, a highway we didn’t get off until Maryland. We stopped in Kansas City for the night, smuggling 3 of us into a room for 2. We got some fantastic BBQ dinner with all the necessary fixings. Mmmmmm cornbread! We then hit up a sketchy casino, where Rezzie managed to drop $20 on craps in 4 rolls.
Well, enough from me. Pittsburgh and DC too come.
Sinking Log
Thursday, July 3, 2008
...you keep me warm at niiiiiight
thats what i like about you!!!
The first is a weird multi-framed shot (my camera is a mystery to me) of the Romantics on stage doing what they do best...rocking. And then there's us meeting the band in a van after the show and trying to convince them to come out for a beer.
Man they rock. Good times.
The first is a weird multi-framed shot (my camera is a mystery to me) of the Romantics on stage doing what they do best...rocking. And then there's us meeting the band in a van after the show and trying to convince them to come out for a beer.
Man they rock. Good times.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Zion’s and Tigers and Bears OH MY!
Upon leaving Vegas, half rested and broke, we drove up route 15 for 3 hours to Zion National Park. We flashed the National Parks pass at the entrance for the last time on this trip. We went to the campsite and found a place just before it filled up for the night. After asking at the visitor’s center for a place to swim, we took the shuttle up the canyon to the end, hiked up the path and then climbed into the river. We walked up river for a while taking pictures of the sun setting beyond the cliffs of the canyon and watching rock climbers rappel down at then end of their day of climbing. As it started to get dark, we realized we lost an hour somewhere along the drive, entering the Mountain Time Zone without even knowing it. They should have signs for that or something.
We drove out of the park and into the nearby town to get some fixings for dinner. While attempting to purchase mac & cheese, bagels and 4 Pabst tall boys, I got harassed by the 16 year old, emo, cashier at the market. He claimed my ID, containing my picture of when I was 16, looked fake and not like me. After arguing, the girl on the other register looked at my ID and sold us the beer. Is PBR really worth that hassle? Doubtful.
We cooked a monster of a meal, sat by the fire and looked up at the stars all night. It was quite the romantic evening. We crawled into the tent with the intention of waking up early for a hike before the day got to hot, but plans quickly changed. At about 1 am the wind began to pick up to near hurricane force gusts. The ground at the campsite was too hard and dry to put tent stakes in and the addition of suitcases to the interior was a feeble attempt at holding down the fort. The wind would gust every few minutes, catching the side of the tent like a sail and lifting up the edge. Even 2 suitcases on that side couldn’t prevent the tent from flapping and moving and causing restless nights for both of the journeymen. At 7 when the alarm went off and we had barely slept a wink, we decided to postpone the hike for a few extra hours of sleep, as the wind was just dying down.
When we did awake the southern Utah heat was in full force as it was nearly 100 degrees already. Not discouraged, we had breakfast, made sandwiches and headed out for Angel’s Landing. The hike is a very challenging 5 mile round trip, gaining serious elevation and ending with half a mile of rock faces with chains to help the climb. We got to the top, and took in the incredible view of the entire canyon. Red sandstone at the bottom of the cliffs and white at the tops. At parts of the hike the path was 4 feet wide with over 1000ft drops on both sides! It was an incredible hike with great views, rivaling that of Half Dome. After descending and hopping in the river to cool off, we ate lunch and passed out on the lawn of the Zion lodge. We awoke an hour later to a high school group dancing around us in preparation for a show.
That night we got dinner in town and found a internet café that would let us sit outside, charge my computer and use our own internet. Count it! Around 1 am again the wind picked up, leaving us with little sleep and lots of frustration. I guess it was a bonus that our tent didn’t blow away this time. That morning we hit the road for a long driving to Dtown. Destination: Casa de Pearson.
We drove out of the park and into the nearby town to get some fixings for dinner. While attempting to purchase mac & cheese, bagels and 4 Pabst tall boys, I got harassed by the 16 year old, emo, cashier at the market. He claimed my ID, containing my picture of when I was 16, looked fake and not like me. After arguing, the girl on the other register looked at my ID and sold us the beer. Is PBR really worth that hassle? Doubtful.
We cooked a monster of a meal, sat by the fire and looked up at the stars all night. It was quite the romantic evening. We crawled into the tent with the intention of waking up early for a hike before the day got to hot, but plans quickly changed. At about 1 am the wind began to pick up to near hurricane force gusts. The ground at the campsite was too hard and dry to put tent stakes in and the addition of suitcases to the interior was a feeble attempt at holding down the fort. The wind would gust every few minutes, catching the side of the tent like a sail and lifting up the edge. Even 2 suitcases on that side couldn’t prevent the tent from flapping and moving and causing restless nights for both of the journeymen. At 7 when the alarm went off and we had barely slept a wink, we decided to postpone the hike for a few extra hours of sleep, as the wind was just dying down.
When we did awake the southern Utah heat was in full force as it was nearly 100 degrees already. Not discouraged, we had breakfast, made sandwiches and headed out for Angel’s Landing. The hike is a very challenging 5 mile round trip, gaining serious elevation and ending with half a mile of rock faces with chains to help the climb. We got to the top, and took in the incredible view of the entire canyon. Red sandstone at the bottom of the cliffs and white at the tops. At parts of the hike the path was 4 feet wide with over 1000ft drops on both sides! It was an incredible hike with great views, rivaling that of Half Dome. After descending and hopping in the river to cool off, we ate lunch and passed out on the lawn of the Zion lodge. We awoke an hour later to a high school group dancing around us in preparation for a show.
That night we got dinner in town and found a internet café that would let us sit outside, charge my computer and use our own internet. Count it! Around 1 am again the wind picked up, leaving us with little sleep and lots of frustration. I guess it was a bonus that our tent didn’t blow away this time. That morning we hit the road for a long driving to Dtown. Destination: Casa de Pearson.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Vegas Baby, Vegas
The city of lights, the city of love, Sin city, the city that Elvis built…whatever you want to call it, Vegas never disappoints. Pete and I almost did not make it to Vegas because we were late leaving the Curhan’s (it’s hard to leave that Curhan hospitality) and we were warned of some bad traffic heading in the Vegas direction. We had the penthouse suite in the Luxor reserved for us that night at an eye-popping price of $75, so not wanting to pass that up, we decided to go for it and head to the city. Our Vegas good luck karma began early in the drive when the traffic broke up quickly and the roads opened up before us, just begging for us to do over 100 mph the whole way there. The drive was actually pretty cool because we went through endless miles of fruit/nut farms that are rather impressive when you think of what it would take to harvest all of the crops and how ridiculously hot is was…at 8 o’clock it was still 99 degrees!! The last two hours of the ride were awesome because we saw a sweet sunset and we were just anticipating the night. Seeing Vegas never gets old…we got super amped driving down the highway through Vegas to the Luxor…it just felt like it was going to be a sweet night. We got our room and showered the stank off and took a few pregame rounds in the room before we hit the strip. The gambling began at the Excalibur…they were the only casino with $5 blackjack tables. It looked like all the card counting and hand signals we went over in car paid off, because we both left that palace with some heavier pockets. From there we casino hopped around the strip…even on a Sunday night, the place was still bumping. Unfortunately the fountain show wasn’t happening at the Bellagio, but we checked out casino. The bellagio is sick…everything about it so luxurious and extravagant. Anyways, we sat down at a table and were dealt some good cards by our dealer Marc…turns out were fleecing them of a little too much money, so they brought in a closer and the table went cold. No matter….we finished our drinks (lost count of those by now) and moved on down the strip. On our way through Caesar’s Palace some people were advertising the club Pure and we got a couple free cover-charge passes to the club…The place was still bumping when we got there around 2…it was pretty sick because it was on a mid-level patio in Caesar’s overlooking the strip. A few more drinks there and a little more gambling in Caesar’s and we were walking back to our room with the hot vegas sun rising on us…at that point we had to check out of our hotel in 4 hours so we decided that we should be “safe” and stay another day to get some more sleep.
The next day (or same day however you look at it) we checked out the Hoover dam. Pretty damn cool dam, although they were charging money to check out the danm dam visitor center. It was all probably for the better because it was 1000 degrees outside and we were close to passing out. That night was much of the same….oh vegas. All in all, we got married and divorced 3 different times, almost saw George Michaels in concert, saw Charles Barkley in horrible disguise at the blackjack tables and ended up breaking even…or something like that.
We’re almost to Denver…I gotta say it looks mighty flat out here. I thought the rockies would be a lot rockier…that John Denver was full of shit. We’re gonna see Jake again and Riggins (Howard) for a couple nights of Denver fun…till next time
--Moose Dropping
The next day (or same day however you look at it) we checked out the Hoover dam. Pretty damn cool dam, although they were charging money to check out the danm dam visitor center. It was all probably for the better because it was 1000 degrees outside and we were close to passing out. That night was much of the same….oh vegas. All in all, we got married and divorced 3 different times, almost saw George Michaels in concert, saw Charles Barkley in horrible disguise at the blackjack tables and ended up breaking even…or something like that.
We’re almost to Denver…I gotta say it looks mighty flat out here. I thought the rockies would be a lot rockier…that John Denver was full of shit. We’re gonna see Jake again and Riggins (Howard) for a couple nights of Denver fun…till next time
--Moose Dropping
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
I know the sun's still shinin' when I close my eyes...
All right I guess I’ll write my final post now since I’ve put it off for a couple days.
Half Dome: Quite the trek. We proudly awoke at 5:30 AM Wednesday morning only to see that about half our campsite was already awake as well. We quickly prepared our things, kissed Jake and his sister goodbye (they were still asleep) and drove up to Glacier Point. We had planned out the hike so that we would go up one way and descend another and take a bus the next morning to get the car. These plans certainly shocked our site-mates who seemed surprised to see we did our research. CLEARLY they underestimated our hiking prowess. We filled up our single liter water bottles and left.
Nice morning. Pretty cool up at Glacier Point as we started our hike. The first part of our hike was mostly downhill so we covered a lot of ground quickly and stopped for a riverside breakfast of bagels and nuts. We cruised up our first elevation gain towards Nevada Falls passing by a father and his two kids, whose ages were probably 7 and 9. “Where you guys headed,” he asked. “Half Dome,” we replied. “Ah yes, us too. See you up there.” And we thought we were so tough.
We made it up to the final ascension at about 11:30 I think? It had been fairly grueling but a really good hike with some awesome views and a lot of shade. We made it to the top of the mini dome going up a bunch of steep stone steps and looked up at the cables getting excited to climb. We decided we couldn’t look at them any more and just had to do it so we went for it.
So there are two cables maybe three feet apart held down by poles that are stuck in the rock (not secured) and there are two-by-fours to step on every five feet-ish (except for the ones that are missing). The ascent is fairly vertical, probably 75 or 80 degrees. We were going up slowly because of the masses of people and suddenly the woman in front of me started panicking and crying that she couldn’t do it because her shoes were slipping. Well she turned around to go down and slipped towards me. Not exactly what I needed—and then somebody dropped a couple water bottles that clattered down over the side falling thousands of feet. We did our best to stay focused and continued up. It took an hour to get to the top. By far the worst part was waiting to move and just standing there on the side of the rock. If we had been moving the whole time it would’ve taken probably fifteen minutes. But no matter, we lived, and relaxed at the top, called people (we got phone service) and eating and drinking (whatever we had left) and taking pictures.
We took our time on the way down, stopping to swim at a river and taking lots of pictures. We still passed many a hiker (including two attractive French-Canadian girls we had been told about the day before by a fellow hiker), keeping up a record-setting pace. 18.2 miles later (the distance of a marathon I believe) we were done, having conquered the mighty Half Dome.
After a stay in Santa Cruz, I hopped on a flight home (which was delayed an hour, thanks for checking beforehand MARSHALL) but it was okay because I actually was on the same flight as a baseball teammate from high school randomly so we caught up. These flying machines are pretty nice…I had plenty of legroom and didn’t worry about my pilot falling asleep at the throttle and even had food and drinks served to me. And they go really fast! One of those babies could probably make it across the country in a couple of days at least.
Rumor has it that Streaks and Pete decided to stay an extra night in Vegas, giving them time to annul their respective marriages it seems. It was tough watching them go, especially in the wrong direction, as Marshall pointed out. How they will make it back east without my tent-setting-up skills or Marshall’s long-batteried iPod I’m still not sure. Take care of them, Howard.
It’s been a long and eventful journey for this journeyman. Did I ever doubt we were going to make it? Yes, often. But finally the country roads have taken me home. Throw a can of chili and a couple dogs on the fire for me.
-Honey Bear
Half Dome: Quite the trek. We proudly awoke at 5:30 AM Wednesday morning only to see that about half our campsite was already awake as well. We quickly prepared our things, kissed Jake and his sister goodbye (they were still asleep) and drove up to Glacier Point. We had planned out the hike so that we would go up one way and descend another and take a bus the next morning to get the car. These plans certainly shocked our site-mates who seemed surprised to see we did our research. CLEARLY they underestimated our hiking prowess. We filled up our single liter water bottles and left.
Nice morning. Pretty cool up at Glacier Point as we started our hike. The first part of our hike was mostly downhill so we covered a lot of ground quickly and stopped for a riverside breakfast of bagels and nuts. We cruised up our first elevation gain towards Nevada Falls passing by a father and his two kids, whose ages were probably 7 and 9. “Where you guys headed,” he asked. “Half Dome,” we replied. “Ah yes, us too. See you up there.” And we thought we were so tough.
We made it up to the final ascension at about 11:30 I think? It had been fairly grueling but a really good hike with some awesome views and a lot of shade. We made it to the top of the mini dome going up a bunch of steep stone steps and looked up at the cables getting excited to climb. We decided we couldn’t look at them any more and just had to do it so we went for it.
So there are two cables maybe three feet apart held down by poles that are stuck in the rock (not secured) and there are two-by-fours to step on every five feet-ish (except for the ones that are missing). The ascent is fairly vertical, probably 75 or 80 degrees. We were going up slowly because of the masses of people and suddenly the woman in front of me started panicking and crying that she couldn’t do it because her shoes were slipping. Well she turned around to go down and slipped towards me. Not exactly what I needed—and then somebody dropped a couple water bottles that clattered down over the side falling thousands of feet. We did our best to stay focused and continued up. It took an hour to get to the top. By far the worst part was waiting to move and just standing there on the side of the rock. If we had been moving the whole time it would’ve taken probably fifteen minutes. But no matter, we lived, and relaxed at the top, called people (we got phone service) and eating and drinking (whatever we had left) and taking pictures.
We took our time on the way down, stopping to swim at a river and taking lots of pictures. We still passed many a hiker (including two attractive French-Canadian girls we had been told about the day before by a fellow hiker), keeping up a record-setting pace. 18.2 miles later (the distance of a marathon I believe) we were done, having conquered the mighty Half Dome.
After a stay in Santa Cruz, I hopped on a flight home (which was delayed an hour, thanks for checking beforehand MARSHALL) but it was okay because I actually was on the same flight as a baseball teammate from high school randomly so we caught up. These flying machines are pretty nice…I had plenty of legroom and didn’t worry about my pilot falling asleep at the throttle and even had food and drinks served to me. And they go really fast! One of those babies could probably make it across the country in a couple of days at least.
Rumor has it that Streaks and Pete decided to stay an extra night in Vegas, giving them time to annul their respective marriages it seems. It was tough watching them go, especially in the wrong direction, as Marshall pointed out. How they will make it back east without my tent-setting-up skills or Marshall’s long-batteried iPod I’m still not sure. Take care of them, Howard.
It’s been a long and eventful journey for this journeyman. Did I ever doubt we were going to make it? Yes, often. But finally the country roads have taken me home. Throw a can of chili and a couple dogs on the fire for me.
-Honey Bear
Monday, June 23, 2008
squatting log and moose dropping are such a tease....
So for 19 hours yesterday i was once again apart of all that was mass exodus journeymen. Alas, even though it was short lived we we made the most of it. It began as S.L and M.D arrived at 8pm sweaty and tired (possible from the car ride, possibly from the previous nights festivities). Our first activity began as a "cool off" swim but turned into a war of "floaties". There was hitting there was smacking there was water blowing but in the end there were just three people who had escaped from the repressing heat of the southern california sun.
From there we migrated to dinner, which was 15 ft away on the porch. There we sat in candlelight with the stars above us as we ate calzones that my mom made. Accompanied with our calzones were tall frosty mugs filled with the magnificent pyramid hefe. We stayed on the porch for at least 3 hours watching stars, shooting stars, and satellites until the orange harvest moon came out.
After, we tried to go asleep in the smoldering heat from the Santa Anna winds. S.L and M.D. passed out from exhaustion but i lay awake sweating,wishing that my house had air conditioning. In the morning we arose to more heat and jumped in the pool again.
For breakfast I took S.L and M.D to Minows. A great breakfast burrito place in the harbor. From there we met Flying Squirrel Sr. and went sailing on the beautiful blue pacific. (the first time for S.L and M.D) The only problem was that there was minimal wind and the Curhanic needed assistance as S.L and I had to paddle the schooner out to sea (just like at Maloney's).
Then just as soon as it started, just 19 hours earlier, I departed from mass exodus journeymen AGAIN. It was the second time in a week and I have to tell you goodbye's don't get easier with time.
I wish the remaining journeymen good luck in vegas and safe journeys home
From there we migrated to dinner, which was 15 ft away on the porch. There we sat in candlelight with the stars above us as we ate calzones that my mom made. Accompanied with our calzones were tall frosty mugs filled with the magnificent pyramid hefe. We stayed on the porch for at least 3 hours watching stars, shooting stars, and satellites until the orange harvest moon came out.
After, we tried to go asleep in the smoldering heat from the Santa Anna winds. S.L and M.D. passed out from exhaustion but i lay awake sweating,wishing that my house had air conditioning. In the morning we arose to more heat and jumped in the pool again.
For breakfast I took S.L and M.D to Minows. A great breakfast burrito place in the harbor. From there we met Flying Squirrel Sr. and went sailing on the beautiful blue pacific. (the first time for S.L and M.D) The only problem was that there was minimal wind and the Curhanic needed assistance as S.L and I had to paddle the schooner out to sea (just like at Maloney's).
Then just as soon as it started, just 19 hours earlier, I departed from mass exodus journeymen AGAIN. It was the second time in a week and I have to tell you goodbye's don't get easier with time.
I wish the remaining journeymen good luck in vegas and safe journeys home
might even grow me a fu man chu...
alas alas it is time for my last entry as a journeyman. the brave two that remain pulled away from my house yesterday around 3:15pm, then pulled back around 3:17 to ask for directions, and were finally gone southbound for good at 3:20.
in santa cruz i had a delightful time hosting the gentlemen and carry. we went crawdiddling up at the river, watched a 'gorges' crimson sunset, bbqed, drank a beer at the pond, and saw an epic concert by a little band i like to call the romantics. no. big. deal. after the show we perused the boardwalk, unfortunately missing last call for the giant dipper roller coaster. however our lemons turned into lemonade as we walked to our car, and who should we stumble upon in a white van, none other than the romantics themselves. we desperately tried to convince them to come to the bars with us, but had to settle with a picture.
the encounter was life changing for all of us, as eli couldnt stop singing the tune "thats what i like about you", pete actually got in the van and is currently following the band on tour as a roadie (he prefers band-aid). not to be outdone, ressie woke up with a tattoo on his nether-regions of "the romantics" in large cursive flanked by two long stem roses. at least it will never go out of style.
so the trip for me has come to an end and its time to shave this glorious man-stache (maybe another week wouldnt hurt anyone). it has been an unforgettable time, and i thank everybody. looking back, there are a few things that i will not be able to forget, no matter how hard i try. they are, in no particular order:
- waking up and finding eli in the car with the hot air blasting and still looking like he would trade me his prized collection of plourde's underwear for my sweatshirt.
- drewski almost passing out from playing the didgeridoo at colon's house while making those crazy eyes he does so well.
- pete earning his trail name with a well placed doobler in the merced river.
- streaks talking in his sleep, and then we discovered that the romantics have a hit song titled "talking in your sleep". coincidence? fate? whatever it is, i dont think there could be a more fitting tattoo to ever have graced a behind.
well, i will leave you all with these wise words: The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. i still havent learned the knack of driving cross country, but if i do, i'll let you know.
i hope the road treats you kindly boys. may the wind be in your face, and the sun on your arse.
over and out,
-squatting marmot
in santa cruz i had a delightful time hosting the gentlemen and carry. we went crawdiddling up at the river, watched a 'gorges' crimson sunset, bbqed, drank a beer at the pond, and saw an epic concert by a little band i like to call the romantics. no. big. deal. after the show we perused the boardwalk, unfortunately missing last call for the giant dipper roller coaster. however our lemons turned into lemonade as we walked to our car, and who should we stumble upon in a white van, none other than the romantics themselves. we desperately tried to convince them to come to the bars with us, but had to settle with a picture.
the encounter was life changing for all of us, as eli couldnt stop singing the tune "thats what i like about you", pete actually got in the van and is currently following the band on tour as a roadie (he prefers band-aid). not to be outdone, ressie woke up with a tattoo on his nether-regions of "the romantics" in large cursive flanked by two long stem roses. at least it will never go out of style.
so the trip for me has come to an end and its time to shave this glorious man-stache (maybe another week wouldnt hurt anyone). it has been an unforgettable time, and i thank everybody. looking back, there are a few things that i will not be able to forget, no matter how hard i try. they are, in no particular order:
- waking up and finding eli in the car with the hot air blasting and still looking like he would trade me his prized collection of plourde's underwear for my sweatshirt.
- drewski almost passing out from playing the didgeridoo at colon's house while making those crazy eyes he does so well.
- pete earning his trail name with a well placed doobler in the merced river.
- streaks talking in his sleep, and then we discovered that the romantics have a hit song titled "talking in your sleep". coincidence? fate? whatever it is, i dont think there could be a more fitting tattoo to ever have graced a behind.
well, i will leave you all with these wise words: The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. i still havent learned the knack of driving cross country, but if i do, i'll let you know.
i hope the road treats you kindly boys. may the wind be in your face, and the sun on your arse.
over and out,
-squatting marmot
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