Sunday, October 28, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Lake Dillon
Mile 2,811: Breckenridge, Colorado!!!!!
When I crossed the Colorado Border, after 90 degrees weather driving through Kansas (Global Warming, anyone?), it was still pretty warm. It was pretty dark, and after 7 or 8 hours of driving I was tired, and ready to bed down in a Denver motel. I was startled by a few things tumbling across the highway, and when I looked closer, I realized that they were tumbleweed. I'm like - tumbleweed in Colorado? Not what I expected. Anyway after driving a hour and a half I finally checked into the motel and crashed.
The next morning I woke up ready to head to Breckenridge, and was startled to see it snowing. SNOWING. My brain was spinning. Tumbleweed to a snowstorm. Dayum. The drive to Breckenridge took a lot longer than it should - the visibility was almost zero, and the snow was going down, temperatures were down to the teens and the 20's. Thank goodness for 4-wheel drive! Quite a welcome to Breckenridge!
It's now really gorgeous and nice outside - in the 40's and 50's - I'm now better prepared for the 20's and teens weather when it comes, much rather than going right into it after the Kansas weather. I'm getting the lay of the area, looking for a place to live for the winter, and hopefully will find something nice soon.
The next morning I woke up ready to head to Breckenridge, and was startled to see it snowing. SNOWING. My brain was spinning. Tumbleweed to a snowstorm. Dayum. The drive to Breckenridge took a lot longer than it should - the visibility was almost zero, and the snow was going down, temperatures were down to the teens and the 20's. Thank goodness for 4-wheel drive! Quite a welcome to Breckenridge!
It's now really gorgeous and nice outside - in the 40's and 50's - I'm now better prepared for the 20's and teens weather when it comes, much rather than going right into it after the Kansas weather. I'm getting the lay of the area, looking for a place to live for the winter, and hopefully will find something nice soon.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Friday, October 19, 2007
Mile 1,796 - random musings and thoughts
Saint Louis is a lot smaller than I expected - I guess my perception of city size is a little warped as I've lived in three major city areas in my life - Berkeley / Bay Area, Washington D.C., and New York, so I need to adjust my city perception sizing for the rest of the country.
I took a nice few pictures of crossing the Mississippi and of Saint Louis, but unfortunately, as you know how you always forget one thing when you're packing up - and for me, that was the usb cord for the camera to the laptop. So, if you like, you can google up a picture of the bridge on W-64 and the St. Louis arches, then you'll see what I have in my camera!
After a few hundred miles your thoughts start running amok (without the music from Wicked, or books on tape [a couple of suggestions from peeps that forgot that I was Deaf ... grin]), and these are just a few thoughts that came up over the course of my driving thus far.
-cruise control - this is the first trip that I have been able to use cruise control for about 80 percent of the trip! Traffic isn't as bad in comparison to the East, so that is really nice. Plus, it's also probably the reason I have not gotten a speeding ticket yet!
-speaking of speeding tickets - is Wednesday a national speeding busting day? When I was driving from MD through WVA, and for part of KY, altogether about nine hours of driving, I saw no less than ten police cars parked ready to bust people (which means there's like another ten hidden - similar principle with cockroaches - you see one, there's a a few dozen others hidden), and I actually saw a car trying to pass me getting pulled over, and then yesterday, I saw zero, count 'em, zero police cars.
-throughout Indiana / Illinois, there's a speed limit of 70 or 65 (depending on state and areas) for cars, and then 55 for trucks / trailers / campers. I understood that when I was going across the Appalachian Mountains, as the inclines are pretty steep and it'd be safer for truckers to go slower, but in the states where there's almost no hills? Where is the logic in that? Anyone know?
-Road Ends signs. These signs gives me the giggles. I saw a few of these sign at the very end of the road. I mean, literally the pavement ends, and then there's nothing but grass and trees. I was thinking it would be prudent to provide a bit of a warning in when the road ends, not at the very end of the pavement.
-road kill. Blech. In the East, I have the blessing of not seeing so many dead animals on the road. Over the last 1K or so miles I must have averaged three dead animals per hour. Echk. I could identify some of 'em, but for the most part the poor little things are beyond recognition.
-advertisements. Crazy ass - there is so many advertisements / the boards on the highways - and there was one that I could not figure out. This ad is a "joint ad" of Absolut Vodka and Michelob beer, encouraging you to have an Absolut drink before dinner and then Michelob beer for dinner. Huh? That's quite an unlikely marriage! I mean, a nice Absolut martini for before the dinner, and then you'll go huh, a Michelob? It's not that much better than Budweiser, so I'm just befuddled by the ad execs, and wonder what they were thinking when they made that board.
-Bushwick Brooklyn! was written on my car hood (apparently the car was a little more dusty than I thought it was), and it has survived several rain storms (and quite observant of me, I finally noticed that when I pulled in the motel in the middle of KY), and now I'm wondering how many rain storms will my car need before that finally washes off. Any bets?
-time zones. I'm used to flying across the country and landing, then knowing exactly what time it is as I've prepped for it. Last night and this morning I was thrown off by the change of one hour in the time zones, and then I realized that there were a time zone change when I crossed the middle of Kentucky. So, you can be sure I'll be more careful to focus on when the next time zone change occurs!
Let's see what the next thousand miles brings us!
I took a nice few pictures of crossing the Mississippi and of Saint Louis, but unfortunately, as you know how you always forget one thing when you're packing up - and for me, that was the usb cord for the camera to the laptop. So, if you like, you can google up a picture of the bridge on W-64 and the St. Louis arches, then you'll see what I have in my camera!
After a few hundred miles your thoughts start running amok (without the music from Wicked, or books on tape [a couple of suggestions from peeps that forgot that I was Deaf ... grin]), and these are just a few thoughts that came up over the course of my driving thus far.
-cruise control - this is the first trip that I have been able to use cruise control for about 80 percent of the trip! Traffic isn't as bad in comparison to the East, so that is really nice. Plus, it's also probably the reason I have not gotten a speeding ticket yet!
-speaking of speeding tickets - is Wednesday a national speeding busting day? When I was driving from MD through WVA, and for part of KY, altogether about nine hours of driving, I saw no less than ten police cars parked ready to bust people (which means there's like another ten hidden - similar principle with cockroaches - you see one, there's a a few dozen others hidden), and I actually saw a car trying to pass me getting pulled over, and then yesterday, I saw zero, count 'em, zero police cars.
-throughout Indiana / Illinois, there's a speed limit of 70 or 65 (depending on state and areas) for cars, and then 55 for trucks / trailers / campers. I understood that when I was going across the Appalachian Mountains, as the inclines are pretty steep and it'd be safer for truckers to go slower, but in the states where there's almost no hills? Where is the logic in that? Anyone know?
-Road Ends signs. These signs gives me the giggles. I saw a few of these sign at the very end of the road. I mean, literally the pavement ends, and then there's nothing but grass and trees. I was thinking it would be prudent to provide a bit of a warning in when the road ends, not at the very end of the pavement.
-road kill. Blech. In the East, I have the blessing of not seeing so many dead animals on the road. Over the last 1K or so miles I must have averaged three dead animals per hour. Echk. I could identify some of 'em, but for the most part the poor little things are beyond recognition.
-advertisements. Crazy ass - there is so many advertisements / the boards on the highways - and there was one that I could not figure out. This ad is a "joint ad" of Absolut Vodka and Michelob beer, encouraging you to have an Absolut drink before dinner and then Michelob beer for dinner. Huh? That's quite an unlikely marriage! I mean, a nice Absolut martini for before the dinner, and then you'll go huh, a Michelob? It's not that much better than Budweiser, so I'm just befuddled by the ad execs, and wonder what they were thinking when they made that board.
-Bushwick Brooklyn! was written on my car hood (apparently the car was a little more dusty than I thought it was), and it has survived several rain storms (and quite observant of me, I finally noticed that when I pulled in the motel in the middle of KY), and now I'm wondering how many rain storms will my car need before that finally washes off. Any bets?
-time zones. I'm used to flying across the country and landing, then knowing exactly what time it is as I've prepped for it. Last night and this morning I was thrown off by the change of one hour in the time zones, and then I realized that there were a time zone change when I crossed the middle of Kentucky. So, you can be sure I'll be more careful to focus on when the next time zone change occurs!
Let's see what the next thousand miles brings us!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Mile 890.7 - Cora!
Warholized Cora and me - the cutie belongs to a good friend of mine who I stopped by to visit in Columbia, MD.Mile 567.3 - Woodbourne, NY
Yoga Politics - even yoga have politics. I decided to join the Deaf Yoga retreat for a few reasons (regardless of the fact that I might think some of the stuff was / were too new ageish) - try out yoga, to see if I like it, to meet new people, and just to have a cool and positive way to mark the start of my trip out West.
The classes were fun, five different teachers teaching a few different styles of yoga, and I found one type that I liked which was more of a workout, westernized fitness type of thing rather than some of the traditional types. The people were fun as well - it was cool to meet pretty much almost entirely a new group of people, and I made a couple of nice connections.
Now, naturally when you put together more than 30 people and bring up the topic of language / ways of instruction, usage of ASL, usage of Indian Sign Language, leadership of the Deaf Yoga Foundation, politics have a way of rearing its ugly head. I was interested (but probably should have known that) in the concept that there is politics in everything, even something that is supposed to be as peaceful as yoga. It is not my battle - at least, not one that I plan to invest much of my energy into. The Deaf yoga community is still pretty small, hopefully it will grow and more instructors will provide yoga classes in ASL, so it will be curious to see how the chips fall in that community.
The classes were fun, five different teachers teaching a few different styles of yoga, and I found one type that I liked which was more of a workout, westernized fitness type of thing rather than some of the traditional types. The people were fun as well - it was cool to meet pretty much almost entirely a new group of people, and I made a couple of nice connections.
Now, naturally when you put together more than 30 people and bring up the topic of language / ways of instruction, usage of ASL, usage of Indian Sign Language, leadership of the Deaf Yoga Foundation, politics have a way of rearing its ugly head. I was interested (but probably should have known that) in the concept that there is politics in everything, even something that is supposed to be as peaceful as yoga. It is not my battle - at least, not one that I plan to invest much of my energy into. The Deaf yoga community is still pretty small, hopefully it will grow and more instructors will provide yoga classes in ASL, so it will be curious to see how the chips fall in that community.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
A Outrageously Late Update
Yep - it has been three months since my last entry. Many things have happened over the last few months and now my plans for this fall / winter / spring has completely turned itself upside down.
Firstly - Peace Corps is a no-go for 2007. Remember all those medical forms that I had to complete and all that jazz? Yup - arrived a few days too late (for an internal deadline they do not tell us about) for me to ship out in September of 2007. My application is now on hold for September 2008. We will see whether I can wash out the bad taste out of my mouth with "The Year Off" by then.
I was alternately depressed and pissed off for a few days afterwards, but because the li'l brother was getting married the next weekend, I was thankfully forced to forgot about all the BS around PC, and enjoyed myself with him, his new wife and hung around a week afterwards to recover a bit. There is definitely something addictive about freshly grown farm food (for those who do not know - the little brother has married into a farming world - one of their wedding gift [and probably one of their favorite gift - aside from the nail guns - is a jersey cow. yep - you saw that right, a cow]).
Anyway - back to the point, after thinking up of ideas of what to do - and good lord, if any of you need an idea man, please feel free to consult my dad. I think that he still have a few ideas bouncing around in his head that I do not have the ability to absorb. Don't get me wrong - many of his ideas are right on track, and a few of them have been done, and a few of them will be put in action (very cool, dad!). I talked with a few of my good friends, my family, and Colorado skiing was what I came up with. So, after trading out my summer clothes for skis, boots, and the winter stuff, I am now on the way to Colorado.
Mile 257.9 came up as I pulled over on a street in Brooklyn for my first stop - I started out leaving my parent's house in the nearly easternmost part of Massachusetts. It was a whirlwind of a few days as I saw a few friends, used up all of my remaining gift cards, and I'm now in upstate New York (yep I know a little out of the way, but dude, I'm taking the fuckin' scenic route to Colorado), planning to drop by and see Grandma tomorrow.
Apparently - the title I created when I started this blog with the PC is aptly named, even if I didn't have what will be happening this winter in mind. I will be doing a lot of new things - driving across the country (I actually started the trip odometer in the car to see how many miles it will be), going to a yoga retreat, meeting new people, and living in the mountains, rather than the city. I hope that I will be better with blogging this and keeping the two of you dear readers updated throughout the process.
Firstly - Peace Corps is a no-go for 2007. Remember all those medical forms that I had to complete and all that jazz? Yup - arrived a few days too late (for an internal deadline they do not tell us about) for me to ship out in September of 2007. My application is now on hold for September 2008. We will see whether I can wash out the bad taste out of my mouth with "The Year Off" by then.
I was alternately depressed and pissed off for a few days afterwards, but because the li'l brother was getting married the next weekend, I was thankfully forced to forgot about all the BS around PC, and enjoyed myself with him, his new wife and hung around a week afterwards to recover a bit. There is definitely something addictive about freshly grown farm food (for those who do not know - the little brother has married into a farming world - one of their wedding gift [and probably one of their favorite gift - aside from the nail guns - is a jersey cow. yep - you saw that right, a cow]).
Anyway - back to the point, after thinking up of ideas of what to do - and good lord, if any of you need an idea man, please feel free to consult my dad. I think that he still have a few ideas bouncing around in his head that I do not have the ability to absorb. Don't get me wrong - many of his ideas are right on track, and a few of them have been done, and a few of them will be put in action (very cool, dad!). I talked with a few of my good friends, my family, and Colorado skiing was what I came up with. So, after trading out my summer clothes for skis, boots, and the winter stuff, I am now on the way to Colorado.
Mile 257.9 came up as I pulled over on a street in Brooklyn for my first stop - I started out leaving my parent's house in the nearly easternmost part of Massachusetts. It was a whirlwind of a few days as I saw a few friends, used up all of my remaining gift cards, and I'm now in upstate New York (yep I know a little out of the way, but dude, I'm taking the fuckin' scenic route to Colorado), planning to drop by and see Grandma tomorrow.
Apparently - the title I created when I started this blog with the PC is aptly named, even if I didn't have what will be happening this winter in mind. I will be doing a lot of new things - driving across the country (I actually started the trip odometer in the car to see how many miles it will be), going to a yoga retreat, meeting new people, and living in the mountains, rather than the city. I hope that I will be better with blogging this and keeping the two of you dear readers updated throughout the process.
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