8/01/09-8/3/09
Hey guys!
I'm officially on my trip across the country now!
After work on Friday,Ruth, Joshua, Phil, Natalie, and I went to have vegan Korean food as last supper. This goodbye was probably the hardest so far in my history of picking up and leaving.
I made a stop in Santa Cruz and met my cousin Ariel and we took off to Sacramento to pick up another friend. After delays, delays, and more delays, we finally got on the road, which is the boring part.
12 hours of driving later, we arrived in Portland!!
Last time I came to Portland I knew I was destined to pick up and leave again soon. We got to Nate and Rene's (cousins, Ariel's brothers)house. They have been the most generous hosts, and it's been great to connect again in adult life. Now these are some amazing people if you ask me.
Nate and I had coffee @ the Pied Cow, a coffee shop renowned for its bohemian atmosphere and communal way of functioning.
We went downtown afterward and I got a crepe from the crepe cart! There's whole block of food carts downtown. After that we got a whole bucket of vegan donuts for 5 bucks. oh Portland...
I met up with my friend Jason and we walked around Laurelhearst park,which has a lake and a ton of cedar trees. It was about 75 degrees out and the sun didn't set until about 9:15. Gorgeous night. I regret bringing my pants, because this is the coolest climate I'm going to encounter on my trip.
This morning Jason and his brother, Joey and I went for vegan breakfast.
I got the vegan biscuits and Gravy, and Jason got the vegan turkey Florentine.
And we found some neat things on the street too:
I think this is an adding machine that Dr. Rich broke and abandoned in some body's garden...
OK well I'm off to new adventures today!
8/3/09-8/10/09
Hey guys!
SO! as of last time we spoke I was still in Portland. I did alot of walking around the rest of the days i was there, looking at all the nice yards etc.
Checked out this coffee shop and it was closed but they guy evenlet me look at the kitchen! I also went to an urban farming store, andthey had some chicks and chickens.
On Wednesday the 5th, my cousins and their friends and I all wentto the Beach in Seaside OR. We rented some recumbant bikes and playedbike rugby!! Just about as crazy as it sounds.
I haven't had so much fun at the beach since I was a kid!!
Seattle is known for being the city of coffee, and I'm drowning in it...
I left for Seattle on Thursday, and it was a frustrating day. My
couchsurfing host AND my backup flaked out on me at the last minute so
I kind of went without a plan as to where I was going to stay. But, My
friend Joey ended up going to Seattle with me for the night, so his
friends let us stay with them in the University District. There was
alot of good vegan food there. And tall bikes!
the Sidecar for Pigs Peace was a little co-op benefit shop for a local pig rescue.
There are a lot of neat statues here in Seattle, like the troll under the freeway, Lenin, and some firefighters.
I also found an anarchist bookstore had breakfast at a crumpet (!)
shop, and saw some neat street musicians. Not the lame can't play
guitar ones but a full band with accordian, stand up bass,
washboard-the works!
The trip has taken on some interesting themes for me:
Kitties and Buddahs across America, industrial wastelands, I don't know what day it is, etc.
I'm feeling very content that I can't seem to keep up with what day it is. I feel very at peace and ego-less.
But Seattle is getting kind of boring so I'm hitching to Missoula
tomorrow. If you don't hear from me by the end of the week, worry.
Otherwise, please don't :)
Bye for now!
Shay
A lot has happened since last I wrote. When I was leaving Seattle, the ride I had found on Craigslist bailed on me without calling or anything, so I was pretty behind in the day when I started hitching. I almost cried when this happened, but I had to remind myself, I'm not a helpless little girl. I'm a strong, smart, and experienced person. And I never expected every moment of this trip to be easy. So I put out my "Missoula" sign once I got to North Bend on a bus, and I got a ride pretty fast. I got to another trucker stop about 2 hours away, where I was picked up almost immediately again. Buck from Tennessee. By far one of the most interesting peope I've met on this trip. I wish I could remember half the things he said, but he did give me a detailed how-to- rope a calf in the womb and pull it out with a tractor if, you know, the son'bitch don't wanna come out....
I finally got to Missoula, but I was starting to doubt it would be as exciting as I was led to believe. Again, I have to remember to make the best of things, because I left behind everything to be where I am now. I met up with my host and went back to the compound, I guess it would be called. There are chickens, goats, mini golf, a communal kitchen, and 25 couchsurfers a night. I got a nice private little cabin.
I woke up to the brightest sky I've ever seen.
I got a ride downtown and met up with my other host, Daniel, and he took me for a nice walk around the town.
I spent the evening volunteering at the Missoula bike co-op, stripping bikes for parts. I got filthy and I got to use the bench grinder!
In the morning, Daniel and I walked over to a local farm to volunteer. We washed a bunch of beets, and then dug up about 65 pounds of carrots. I got pretty dirty, again. The chickens all came over to find worms when we dug up the carrots, and that was pretty neat. Chickens are really cute when they run. We found some food in a dumpster that night also. I haven't bought anything in missoula yet.
More hitching, the process is boring and not worth explaining.
I got a ride with Tim from Tennessee all the way to Davenport, which is pretty close to Chicago. From Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon we traveled together in a huge truck.
I feel like after 3 days of traveling with Tim in this tiny isolated space, I know him as well as friends I've had for years. My faith in humanity grows with every person I get to know. I feel even less afraid of strangers and unknown situations because there are still people out there who believe in goodwill to others. And they are typically the type of people who aren't unnecessarily afraid of other people.
I have learned a lot about different mindsets around the country. Although people don't necessarily agree on a lot of big issues, there is certainly room for understanding and compromise. I think this is the biggest lesson I have learned on this trip, besides I should have brought a raincoat. Thanks, Tim.
I got one more ride from a cute Ukranian boy. I got to spend a day stranded in East Chicago with him, which was pretty nice.
I finally got to Chicago yesterday in the early evening, but was too tired to do anything. I explored a lot today, but no pictures yet. My battery is dead. SO tomorrow I will go out and get some photo evidence for my experiences.
I'll talk to you all soon!
Shay
Ok well, Gmail decided to DELETE the draft that I had been working on for this email, so, sorry but it's going to be less exciting than it was before. None of the usual wit and charm. Here's the cut and dry:
I am staying with my friend Wes, who i knew in SLO a while ago. It's been about three years (!!) since we saw each other last. It's really nice to see a familiar face and catch up. He was such a good tour guide my first day here. I had to go back and get photos of everything before I forgot where it all was.
So on Tuesday I walked around Milwaukee, which is a lot like SF's Valencia street. Way too many good looking people on bikes. And of course some neat stores, I just forgot to pay attention.
I walked around for a couple of hours, mostly looking for shoes because mine finally, well about 2 weeks ago, became unbearable. From now on, only open shoes for me in the summer, rain, or long periods of walking.
I did stumble upon some cool things while I was out:
This store is amazing!! All the proceeds to go help children with after school tutoring. This was founded by Dave Eggers (author, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) The store is a secret agent store. pretty nifty.
There are several of them across the US, one of which is on, you guessed it, Valencia st SF. I bought a button and a postcard.
The best part of this trip so far (8/20/09) has been NO RAIN! well, kind of. It did rain last night, but not much, and it did threaten to rain all day today. It rained for about 5 minutes, but I just so happened to be walking by a coffee shop.
I have been sleeping out on the back balcony because it seems a sin to miss out on such a beautiful night sky. Sleeping outside in a city is every bit as enjoyable as sleeping in the woods. The sounds may be different, but they become as ambient as trees rustling or water flowing. I got woken up at one point by a car alarm, but no big deal. The sound of cardinals in the morning was a nostalgic and forgotten sound.
I talked to my Food not Bombs crew back home, and they told me the health department showed up and threatened to shut them down. But they said they aren't going to stop what they are doing, because it's the right thing to do at all costs. It's nice to know it's in the right hands.
Thanks you guys! I'm so proud of you, my children.
Ok I have one rule about downtowns in any city:
Don't get caught there hungry. Why? Overpriced, mediocre, identical food and frantic stressed people everywhere. But I accidentally did. Oh well, the rest of the day was great. I finally got some pictures of it too!
Public Library
A dark and gloomy day coming out of a tunnel The Tribune Tower. Impossible to imagine this stone was carved by hand
Wrigley Building
08/11/09-08/18/09
A lot has happened since last I wrote. When I was leaving Seattle, the ride I had found on Craigslist bailed on me without calling or anything, so I was pretty behind in the day when I started hitching. I almost cried when this happened, but I had to remind myself, I'm not a helpless little girl. I'm a strong, smart, and experienced person. And I never expected every moment of this trip to be easy. So I put out my "Missoula" sign once I got to North Bend on a bus, and I got a ride pretty fast. I got to another trucker stop about 2 hours away, where I was picked up almost immediately again. Buck from Tennessee. By far one of the most interesting peope I've met on this trip. I wish I could remember half the things he said, but he did give me a detailed how-to- rope a calf in the womb and pull it out with a tractor if, you know, the son'bitch don't wanna come out....
I finally got to Missoula, but I was starting to doubt it would be as exciting as I was led to believe. Again, I have to remember to make the best of things, because I left behind everything to be where I am now. I met up with my host and went back to the compound, I guess it would be called. There are chickens, goats, mini golf, a communal kitchen, and 25 couchsurfers a night. I got a nice private little cabin.
I woke up to the brightest sky I've ever seen.
I got a ride downtown and met up with my other host, Daniel, and he took me for a nice walk around the town.
I spent the evening volunteering at the Missoula bike co-op, stripping bikes for parts. I got filthy and I got to use the bench grinder!
In the morning, Daniel and I walked over to a local farm to volunteer. We washed a bunch of beets, and then dug up about 65 pounds of carrots. I got pretty dirty, again. The chickens all came over to find worms when we dug up the carrots, and that was pretty neat. Chickens are really cute when they run. We found some food in a dumpster that night also. I haven't bought anything in missoula yet.
More hitching, the process is boring and not worth explaining.
I got a ride with Tim from Tennessee all the way to Davenport, which is pretty close to Chicago. From Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon we traveled together in a huge truck.
I feel like after 3 days of traveling with Tim in this tiny isolated space, I know him as well as friends I've had for years. My faith in humanity grows with every person I get to know. I feel even less afraid of strangers and unknown situations because there are still people out there who believe in goodwill to others. And they are typically the type of people who aren't unnecessarily afraid of other people.
I have learned a lot about different mindsets around the country. Although people don't necessarily agree on a lot of big issues, there is certainly room for understanding and compromise. I think this is the biggest lesson I have learned on this trip, besides I should have brought a raincoat. Thanks, Tim.
I got one more ride from a cute Ukranian boy. I got to spend a day stranded in East Chicago with him, which was pretty nice.
I finally got to Chicago yesterday in the early evening, but was too tired to do anything. I explored a lot today, but no pictures yet. My battery is dead. SO tomorrow I will go out and get some photo evidence for my experiences.
I'll talk to you all soon!
Shay
08/18/09-08/21/09
Ok well, Gmail decided to DELETE the draft that I had been working on for this email, so, sorry but it's going to be less exciting than it was before. None of the usual wit and charm. Here's the cut and dry:
I am staying with my friend Wes, who i knew in SLO a while ago. It's been about three years (!!) since we saw each other last. It's really nice to see a familiar face and catch up. He was such a good tour guide my first day here. I had to go back and get photos of everything before I forgot where it all was.
So on Tuesday I walked around Milwaukee, which is a lot like SF's Valencia street. Way too many good looking people on bikes. And of course some neat stores, I just forgot to pay attention.
I walked around for a couple of hours, mostly looking for shoes because mine finally, well about 2 weeks ago, became unbearable. From now on, only open shoes for me in the summer, rain, or long periods of walking.
I did stumble upon some cool things while I was out:
This store is amazing!! All the proceeds to go help children with after school tutoring. This was founded by Dave Eggers (author, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) The store is a secret agent store. pretty nifty.
There are several of them across the US, one of which is on, you guessed it, Valencia st SF. I bought a button and a postcard.
The best part of this trip so far (8/20/09) has been NO RAIN! well, kind of. It did rain last night, but not much, and it did threaten to rain all day today. It rained for about 5 minutes, but I just so happened to be walking by a coffee shop.
I have been sleeping out on the back balcony because it seems a sin to miss out on such a beautiful night sky. Sleeping outside in a city is every bit as enjoyable as sleeping in the woods. The sounds may be different, but they become as ambient as trees rustling or water flowing. I got woken up at one point by a car alarm, but no big deal. The sound of cardinals in the morning was a nostalgic and forgotten sound.
I talked to my Food not Bombs crew back home, and they told me the health department showed up and threatened to shut them down. But they said they aren't going to stop what they are doing, because it's the right thing to do at all costs. It's nice to know it's in the right hands.
Thanks you guys! I'm so proud of you, my children.
I
also ventured into the Ukrainian Village, looking for a certain type of
mineral water for kidneys. Everyone I asked seemed baffled, and they
suggested I just drink some beer. But the trip was not by any means a
waste.
I found some cool things there too.
I found some cool things there too.
Ok I have one rule about downtowns in any city:
Don't get caught there hungry. Why? Overpriced, mediocre, identical food and frantic stressed people everywhere. But I accidentally did. Oh well, the rest of the day was great. I finally got some pictures of it too!
Public LibraryA dark and gloomy day coming out of a tunnel The Tribune Tower. Impossible to imagine this stone was carved by hand
Wrigley Building
.. Coexistence
Last night I volunteered with the Food not Bombs in Chicago. I am leaving before they cook or serve, but at least I was able to help them pick up the food. The Whole Foods here is so cooperative! They just let us in and gave us all the stuff that was going out. TONS of peaches, some peppers and apples, other produce. A couple dozen loaves of bread and some miscellaneous baked goods. We dropped a chocolate cake on the ground so we had to eat it right then and there. We took it to this really awesome collective house. I met some great people there, and I wish I had more time to spend with them. They really have it together. We took some awesome photos, but I guess the girl forgot to send them to me. So if I get them in time for the next email, I'll send them.
Well, it's my last night in Chicago before I hit the road again! Wish me luck!
Love, always,
Shay
I do believe this is the longest period of time I have ever been so sedentary. After a while I feel like all my ideas and intelligence just seep out of me. As most of you know, I had to take a detour from my trip because of some kidney issues. Aside from sleeping a lot, I have been doing a lot of passeng-ing. I had to leave Chicago and backtrack to California so I could get some antibiotics. This entailed A LOT of time out of my trip, most of which was spent driving. Not the funnest part of my trip so far, so forgive my lack of enthusiasm for this email. It's mostly been detour.
So onto adventures!
I left Chicago and we drove until Des Moines.
We had lunch at this vegan place I looked up, called Ritual Cafe. This place was a super-treasure-find.Everything a cafe should be. HIgh ceilings and lots of floor space, but not all corporate looking. there were some beautiful, prayer flags, not just the standard, now you see them everywhere kind, but some really bright, handmade ones. The counter boasted many teas, vegan treats, and a friendly (and good looking, haha) staff. Eating vegan food that is not chips and coffee is a rare treat when all you have access to on the road is truck stops. Yay food!
We drove again until Omaha and stayed the night. It was raining pretty hard through they night and the lightning show was fascinating. I wish I could have gotten some photos of it, but, well...I didn't. I guess it's a simple as that.
I took a few photos of Utah, and it really is beautiful. I must admit, Utah was not a state I was too thrilled to have to drive through. But it was actually quite nice. All the pictures kind of look the same, they don't do justice to the landscape as seeing it in person does.
I didn't ge any photos of Colorado either, because I was just so wiped out from the whole kidney thing, and I was kind of in a bad mood for some reason too. (I know, this is probably the most boring email so far, sorry, I wasn't dying any more when I took all the photos that will be in the next email)
I was in Denver for a few hours, and I really wanted to go downtown but wasn't feeling up to it. Oh well! I got to Los Angeles where my truck driver friend was dropping off a load, and he even took me to San Luis Obispo so I could go to the doctor. I got my antibiotics so all of my moms out there, you can all get off the edge of your seats! I feel much better. And I even got to experience compton smog and traffic! It was nice to see California again, if only for a few hours.
The best part of California was that I got to spend the night in SLO and see my friends. I went to Farmer's market and walked around. I was going to go to my favorite Thai place, but something told me to stop at Linnaea's (my coffee shop) first.
So this is the place that I have most likely raved to you about.
I ran into Bode, of all people. My god, I never thought I could be so happy to see Bode. Sounds mean, but he and I can both appreciate that statement in an entirely different way. I think everyone in the room could feel us vibrating.
We had Thai food, and I got to see Lek, one of my greatest friends ever. She's from Thailand and she's one of the nicest people I have ever met. I don't get to see her very often, so it was truly a treat. We went back to a friend's house in Morro Bay and watched a movie and stayed up way too late, then got up way too early.We made the best of our little time catching up on things. I met up with Professor Morgan in the morning at Linnaea's, which is also a very rare treat. One of my favorite people, hands down. Congratulations on your new position as division chair and your new marriage!
The day was far too short, but anyway has been the best of this detour.
I parted ways with my ride on Sunday at like 11:00 at night or something. I got another ride immediately. Bad idea, don't ever take a ride from somebody who is really eager to give you a ride. Well, actually, there really are no rules, red flags or not, somebody could be bad. I guess that is how all of life is. We try to come up with all these rules that make us feel like we can control our safety. But I don't believe in them. In any case, I was in a failry resasonable range of dangeralthough discomfort more than anything, and walked briskly for my life at 5:00 am in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming I think. I got stuck there forever, and it was freezing-ASS. I saw plenty of drivers heading east, but nobody had it in their heart to pick me up. Somebody finally offered me a ride to Denver, but all I could think was "ok, enough of this back and forth crap." I got in the truck anyway. Anything to be out of Wyoming, even, sadly, backtracking almost 200 miles. But I didn't have the promised golden luck there either. I did radio, and somebody was going to Pennsylvania, way later in the day and way far from Philly or anything. Something gave me a bad gut feeling that desperation probably would have driven off had not the prospect of waiting at a truckstop for 9 hours driven me to want to kill myself. I walked around with my sign with no luck. Then I met a guy just when I had resigned to rot in Denver for a week or the rest of my life. He came up and asked where I was going, which turned out, almost of course, to be very much not where I was going. So i decided to go to Florida. Why the hell not? Almost nothing is going according to plan, schedule, or logic.
We got on the road with the promise of rain ahead of us. I'm not much for cheesy analogies, but this was the proverbial washing away of the bad that I needed to keep going.
I got into New Orleans this morning, which is where I decided to get out. It's on the route, I just have to reverse the second part of the trip.
Things are looking good now that I have a place to relax, wander, eat, drink coffee, and SLEEP! for a few days. I'll be back soon with some pictures of one of the most fascinating places I have been so far!!
Keep on truckin'!
Love, always,
Shay
First
things first, I really got lucky with my couchsurfing host. We really
hit it off and we can either hang out together or do our own thing when
we feel like it. That's the best kind of host. So far we have eaten
lunch at an African place, walked around and gotten coffee, done
nothing, and made breakfast. I really like hanging out with people who
can just do nothing and still have a good time. That makes for at least
half of why this part of the trip is awesome.
I wake up to the most gorgeous mornings! Yesterday I headed out early to walk around. What I noticed right away is that always, in every direction, is something fascinating to look at. The city is so full of color and the culture is absolutely vibrant.
Every home is unique, whether embellished with hand carved wood, intricate ironwork, or exotic landscaping. In the French Quarter, which is where I am so lucky to be staying, there are a lot of Creole cottages and townhouses. Most of these are from around the late 1700s, early 1800s. It's amazing how some of the balconies sag and buildings no longer stand at right angles, but still they stand. Fronds of enormous plants keep secret the houses behind them, and the cicadas make their furious robotic screaming sound. Door panels are handcarved, doorknobs made of colored glass, and even sidewalks made of stones. This is a place whose magic commands full attention.
I walked by this big old church that had its doors open. There were no trespassing signs everywhere, but i walked in. There was a lady in there with ALL this furniture everywhere, moving it all and everything. The city had given her that space to keep furniture that was donated/funded by donation for homeless. But somebody bought the building, for 500K only, at that, and how she had to move everything to God only knows where by the end of the month. I wish at the time I had all the money in the world to give to her, or some way of raising it fast. But one month just won't do, even if I could. I hope she figures it out. She let me take some photos. I only hope they don't completely remodel it, because they will surely take out all its original beauty, and that it's dilapidated only adds to its fascinating nature.
There's so much history here everywhere you go, recent and long ago. We went down to the 9th ward, which is where Katrina hit. It was pretty surreal; There were still houses boarded up and completely overgrown, but most of them had been completely leveled and were now only lots of tall grass. What's so sad is most of these houses were inhabited by their owners, so the people who lived in them most likely lost everything. One home I went inside had been completely stripped except for the bathtub and toilet and the fireplace. Could you imagine living in a still-intact home surrounded by virtually demolished houses or empty lots where your neighbors once lived? Pretty depressing.
I almost feel ashamed that my next point of interest was the Garden District, which is where the “nouveau riche,” or newly rich, Americans lived around the 1850's. Quite a stark contrast in scenery. These are some of the most decadent houses I've ever seen. There were a few mansions whos architecture boasted antiquity, but most of them were just really big. Only a few stand out in my mind as being very beautiful, but those few certainly were.
I ventured into downtown, despite the idea I have that most downtowns are pretty similar: Lots of stressed out people in a hurry, buildings that kind of all look alike, no sunlight, and nothing to do but spend money or look like you have it. Strangely enough, I DO like the "big" part of big cities, but sometimes it's all the same. Like Chicago, however, this downtown offers harmony between the old architecture and the new, as well as occasionally with nature. It's also a lot bigger in terms of land coverage than other cities I've been to. I couldn't cover it all. But it was hot out anyway and I was getting kind of tired of walking, so what I did cover suited me just fine.
I'm starting to consider skipping out on Atlanta and Asheville, unfortunately, because my only 2 friends in the Atlanta area are not going to be available, my place to stay in Asheville is uncertain, and really more than anything just unplannable this far in advance; getting there hitching with all the uncertainties doesn't seem worth the time or the hassle. It's going to be hard to get out of N.O. definitely, especially in the direction I want to go. I certainly don't want anymore of this backtracking or just going somewhere random business. I think I might just save myself the trouble and take a greyhound to DC, which will be the biggest expense of the whole trip. In fact, the ticket will cost me about $140, which, believe it or not, is more than I have spent on the whole trip so far. So I guess it should be no skin off my nose, because I have been really careful with money so far. Still, I feel kind of guilty spending that kind of money on myself when I kind of vowed to do this as minimally as possible. At this point, though, I could use a break from hitching--the uncertainty of it, the risk, the time it takes, and the food I'm forced to eat. So I think it's a go.
Last night I volunteered with the Food not Bombs in Chicago. I am leaving before they cook or serve, but at least I was able to help them pick up the food. The Whole Foods here is so cooperative! They just let us in and gave us all the stuff that was going out. TONS of peaches, some peppers and apples, other produce. A couple dozen loaves of bread and some miscellaneous baked goods. We dropped a chocolate cake on the ground so we had to eat it right then and there. We took it to this really awesome collective house. I met some great people there, and I wish I had more time to spend with them. They really have it together. We took some awesome photos, but I guess the girl forgot to send them to me. So if I get them in time for the next email, I'll send them.
Well, it's my last night in Chicago before I hit the road again! Wish me luck!
Love, always,
Shay
8/23/09-9/02?/09
- Hide quoted text -
I do believe this is the longest period of time I have ever been so sedentary. After a while I feel like all my ideas and intelligence just seep out of me. As most of you know, I had to take a detour from my trip because of some kidney issues. Aside from sleeping a lot, I have been doing a lot of passeng-ing. I had to leave Chicago and backtrack to California so I could get some antibiotics. This entailed A LOT of time out of my trip, most of which was spent driving. Not the funnest part of my trip so far, so forgive my lack of enthusiasm for this email. It's mostly been detour.
So onto adventures!
I left Chicago and we drove until Des Moines.
We had lunch at this vegan place I looked up, called Ritual Cafe. This place was a super-treasure-find.Everything a cafe should be. HIgh ceilings and lots of floor space, but not all corporate looking. there were some beautiful, prayer flags, not just the standard, now you see them everywhere kind, but some really bright, handmade ones. The counter boasted many teas, vegan treats, and a friendly (and good looking, haha) staff. Eating vegan food that is not chips and coffee is a rare treat when all you have access to on the road is truck stops. Yay food!
We drove again until Omaha and stayed the night. It was raining pretty hard through they night and the lightning show was fascinating. I wish I could have gotten some photos of it, but, well...I didn't. I guess it's a simple as that.
I took a few photos of Utah, and it really is beautiful. I must admit, Utah was not a state I was too thrilled to have to drive through. But it was actually quite nice. All the pictures kind of look the same, they don't do justice to the landscape as seeing it in person does.
I didn't ge any photos of Colorado either, because I was just so wiped out from the whole kidney thing, and I was kind of in a bad mood for some reason too. (I know, this is probably the most boring email so far, sorry, I wasn't dying any more when I took all the photos that will be in the next email)
I was in Denver for a few hours, and I really wanted to go downtown but wasn't feeling up to it. Oh well! I got to Los Angeles where my truck driver friend was dropping off a load, and he even took me to San Luis Obispo so I could go to the doctor. I got my antibiotics so all of my moms out there, you can all get off the edge of your seats! I feel much better. And I even got to experience compton smog and traffic! It was nice to see California again, if only for a few hours.
The best part of California was that I got to spend the night in SLO and see my friends. I went to Farmer's market and walked around. I was going to go to my favorite Thai place, but something told me to stop at Linnaea's (my coffee shop) first.
So this is the place that I have most likely raved to you about.
I ran into Bode, of all people. My god, I never thought I could be so happy to see Bode. Sounds mean, but he and I can both appreciate that statement in an entirely different way. I think everyone in the room could feel us vibrating.
We had Thai food, and I got to see Lek, one of my greatest friends ever. She's from Thailand and she's one of the nicest people I have ever met. I don't get to see her very often, so it was truly a treat. We went back to a friend's house in Morro Bay and watched a movie and stayed up way too late, then got up way too early.We made the best of our little time catching up on things. I met up with Professor Morgan in the morning at Linnaea's, which is also a very rare treat. One of my favorite people, hands down. Congratulations on your new position as division chair and your new marriage!
The day was far too short, but anyway has been the best of this detour.
I parted ways with my ride on Sunday at like 11:00 at night or something. I got another ride immediately. Bad idea, don't ever take a ride from somebody who is really eager to give you a ride. Well, actually, there really are no rules, red flags or not, somebody could be bad. I guess that is how all of life is. We try to come up with all these rules that make us feel like we can control our safety. But I don't believe in them. In any case, I was in a failry resasonable range of dangeralthough discomfort more than anything, and walked briskly for my life at 5:00 am in the middle of nowhere, Wyoming I think. I got stuck there forever, and it was freezing-ASS. I saw plenty of drivers heading east, but nobody had it in their heart to pick me up. Somebody finally offered me a ride to Denver, but all I could think was "ok, enough of this back and forth crap." I got in the truck anyway. Anything to be out of Wyoming, even, sadly, backtracking almost 200 miles. But I didn't have the promised golden luck there either. I did radio, and somebody was going to Pennsylvania, way later in the day and way far from Philly or anything. Something gave me a bad gut feeling that desperation probably would have driven off had not the prospect of waiting at a truckstop for 9 hours driven me to want to kill myself. I walked around with my sign with no luck. Then I met a guy just when I had resigned to rot in Denver for a week or the rest of my life. He came up and asked where I was going, which turned out, almost of course, to be very much not where I was going. So i decided to go to Florida. Why the hell not? Almost nothing is going according to plan, schedule, or logic.
We got on the road with the promise of rain ahead of us. I'm not much for cheesy analogies, but this was the proverbial washing away of the bad that I needed to keep going.
I got into New Orleans this morning, which is where I decided to get out. It's on the route, I just have to reverse the second part of the trip.
Things are looking good now that I have a place to relax, wander, eat, drink coffee, and SLEEP! for a few days. I'll be back soon with some pictures of one of the most fascinating places I have been so far!!
Keep on truckin'!
Love, always,
Shay
9/03/09-
I wake up to the most gorgeous mornings! Yesterday I headed out early to walk around. What I noticed right away is that always, in every direction, is something fascinating to look at. The city is so full of color and the culture is absolutely vibrant.
Every home is unique, whether embellished with hand carved wood, intricate ironwork, or exotic landscaping. In the French Quarter, which is where I am so lucky to be staying, there are a lot of Creole cottages and townhouses. Most of these are from around the late 1700s, early 1800s. It's amazing how some of the balconies sag and buildings no longer stand at right angles, but still they stand. Fronds of enormous plants keep secret the houses behind them, and the cicadas make their furious robotic screaming sound. Door panels are handcarved, doorknobs made of colored glass, and even sidewalks made of stones. This is a place whose magic commands full attention.
I walked by this big old church that had its doors open. There were no trespassing signs everywhere, but i walked in. There was a lady in there with ALL this furniture everywhere, moving it all and everything. The city had given her that space to keep furniture that was donated/funded by donation for homeless. But somebody bought the building, for 500K only, at that, and how she had to move everything to God only knows where by the end of the month. I wish at the time I had all the money in the world to give to her, or some way of raising it fast. But one month just won't do, even if I could. I hope she figures it out. She let me take some photos. I only hope they don't completely remodel it, because they will surely take out all its original beauty, and that it's dilapidated only adds to its fascinating nature.
There's so much history here everywhere you go, recent and long ago. We went down to the 9th ward, which is where Katrina hit. It was pretty surreal; There were still houses boarded up and completely overgrown, but most of them had been completely leveled and were now only lots of tall grass. What's so sad is most of these houses were inhabited by their owners, so the people who lived in them most likely lost everything. One home I went inside had been completely stripped except for the bathtub and toilet and the fireplace. Could you imagine living in a still-intact home surrounded by virtually demolished houses or empty lots where your neighbors once lived? Pretty depressing.
I almost feel ashamed that my next point of interest was the Garden District, which is where the “nouveau riche,” or newly rich, Americans lived around the 1850's. Quite a stark contrast in scenery. These are some of the most decadent houses I've ever seen. There were a few mansions whos architecture boasted antiquity, but most of them were just really big. Only a few stand out in my mind as being very beautiful, but those few certainly were.
I ventured into downtown, despite the idea I have that most downtowns are pretty similar: Lots of stressed out people in a hurry, buildings that kind of all look alike, no sunlight, and nothing to do but spend money or look like you have it. Strangely enough, I DO like the "big" part of big cities, but sometimes it's all the same. Like Chicago, however, this downtown offers harmony between the old architecture and the new, as well as occasionally with nature. It's also a lot bigger in terms of land coverage than other cities I've been to. I couldn't cover it all. But it was hot out anyway and I was getting kind of tired of walking, so what I did cover suited me just fine.
I'm starting to consider skipping out on Atlanta and Asheville, unfortunately, because my only 2 friends in the Atlanta area are not going to be available, my place to stay in Asheville is uncertain, and really more than anything just unplannable this far in advance; getting there hitching with all the uncertainties doesn't seem worth the time or the hassle. It's going to be hard to get out of N.O. definitely, especially in the direction I want to go. I certainly don't want anymore of this backtracking or just going somewhere random business. I think I might just save myself the trouble and take a greyhound to DC, which will be the biggest expense of the whole trip. In fact, the ticket will cost me about $140, which, believe it or not, is more than I have spent on the whole trip so far. So I guess it should be no skin off my nose, because I have been really careful with money so far. Still, I feel kind of guilty spending that kind of money on myself when I kind of vowed to do this as minimally as possible. At this point, though, I could use a break from hitching--the uncertainty of it, the risk, the time it takes, and the food I'm forced to eat. So I think it's a go.
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9/8/09-9/14/09
Well! I made it to DC. Honestly, I thought I might go on a murderous rampage during the greyhound ride. Considering that it took 30 hours,the first 3/4 or so of it wasn't so bad at all. But we switched drivers at one point, and the new driver was pretty rude. We ended up being about an hour late, in addition to a number of irritating and unplanned for inconveniences along the way, but oh well!
I made it! Although I arrived at 3 something in the morning, I still managed to feel lively, kind of, when Mike (my old room-mate) brought be back to the house. We stayed up and had rye toast with honey.
Sadly, one of the people I was looking forward to seeing is on his own grand adventure, riding down the East Coast on his bicycle. Good luck, Aaron!
It was unseasonably chilly the first couple of days, but then again, so has everywhere else. There is now a trampoline at the Newton house, so it's a quick fix getting warm these days.
I went to the arboretum to visit Kacie (another housemate) at work. She works there with the youth garden, a program aimed at educating children on growing and harvesting their own food. The program is great, and they even have a section of the garden dedicated to attracting various butterflies. They even grew kiwis! The arboretum is one of the nicer ones that I've been to. It features a Bonzai collection and museum, a Japanese garden, a State Tree collection, Fern Valley, and lots of other stuff. I didn't bring my camera because it was raining and I was on bicycle, but I found a couple pictures online so you could see a couple things.
  
Later on, I went on a spontaneous dumpster run with Mike while walking his dog. As soon as I flipped the lid open, I saw a nearly pristine 6 pack of green bottles, minus one. I'm thinking this is too good to be true when another nearly pristine 6 pack all of a sudden surfaces, only to be followed by a third. The dumpster gods have showered us with grace and beer! we had the good fortune of a whole case of cereal, and various other goodies as well. We do the amazing on a daily basis around here.
 
I met a friend of a housemate while he was in DC doing a mural project for a youth bike program, as well as one for the mural arts project in the city. Joshua and I talked about traveling, adventuring, and letting go of things while also discussing his art projects.
Here are a couple from his website (http://www.soldren.com, where you can find a blog of current projects, upcoming showings, previous works, etc. YOU SHOULD PAY IT A VISIT!)
 
Are these not the most fantastic pieces of art ever? He is having a show in SF in November which rain, fire, or destitution shall not prevent me from seeing. Maybe I'll see you there!
Kacie and I went to visit another of our housemates who now lives in a different house. Some other friends happened to be there, and seeing their familiar faces was a pleasant surprise.
  
My favorite person in all of DC! We went dumpster diving again,but it was less than what I'd call successful. The only fruitful dumpster out of the 5 that we went to was a bakery. We got TONS of bread, and only a couple of nectarines and random items from a Trader Joe's.
 
Mike had a pretty successful parallel dumpster run however, at CVS. There was tons of "party mix," like really, way way more than a house could ever eat, candy, soap, shampoo, face wash, deoderant, sunglasses, flashlights, etc. I made a donation bucket for my travels and we had a party for my homecoming. We planned all these fabulous games to give away the dumpster prizes, and we made a somewhat dumpster dinner supplemented by food from Kacie's farm. The plan was a B.O. contest to give away the deoderant, a Hairiest legs contest to give away some razors, and a When did you last wash your hair contest for the shampoo. All in all, though, it seemed we would be giving these prizes to the people least likely to use them, ironically enough. We made some risotto stuffed squash, a friend brought some home-made seitan, and we had vegan pizza and some other various things.
  
Dre (a housemate who lives in a van in the driveway, oh look she is laughing hysterically in the photo above) met up with our friend Jamie to go camping in the Shenandoahs. There's not much to say about camping...I guess...but I did take some pictures.
  
I got back at around 12:30 the next day and went out onto the trampoline with the intention of sitting and reading some Nabokov, (Laughter in the Dark, a book which i was delighted to find I had left here last summer) But I fell asleep. I got up and fixed a snack and went back out. After a minute or two I noticed some shuffling around in the bushes and saw a dude hiding behind Adam's truck, doing something with his hands in a bucket. When he noticed me watching him I asked what he was doing. He didn't answer, he just turned and consulted another somewhat hidden person. After a couple minutes of what seemed like them just pretending that I couldn't see them, they motioned me over. They apparently were planning on bombarding the house with water balloons, and now that I had discovered them, needed my cooperation. I turned to see two girls in better hiding behing the bus as I went back to my snack. An elaborate plan, war paint and all, but they were disappointed to find that nobody by me and Kacie were home. They made a run for the back, but Kacie ended up seeing them so they just threw the balloons at each other on the trampoline. I went back to their house with them, because as it turns out they had an oven that worked and I just so happened to need to make some brownie mix I found in the dumpster, and Will Fish was coming back into town from Burning Man and ALSO just so happened to live with them.
We spent a good portion of the afternoon on the roof launching balloons at innocent bystanders and inanimate objects of great distance.
  
I was reunited with Dan, who gave me my first bike crash on the night of 4th of July 2008. Pretty neat. Will came home and everyone yelled "surprise" but he didn't seem all that surprised for a party to be going on at his house on a Sunday night. We barbecued veggie burgers and had brownies and stuff. Everyone who lives at that house gives great hugs.
In the morning Jamie and I had breakfast at her house, or lunch I suppose, and then went to work at Glut, the food co-op where I
used to work. Got to hang out with a good crew while working, which is always nice.  
This immaculate little section used to be mine!
Well! That was my adventure in DC. Though I didn't venture out into the city too much, I was happy to hang out at the house. Besides, everyone knows it is, afterall, the hub of all the action and good-looking people who know how to cook and party. If it weren't for them, DC wouldn't be worth visiting anyway.
Thanks, lovely housemates, for everything. I am thinking of you as a ravage Philly. I know we would all have an excellent time together here. Please come visit the West so I can show you a good time.
Love always, Shay!
9/15/09-9/19/09 Philadelphia!!  I'm finally in Philadelphia with not a worry in the world! I've got my decaf coffee and a vegan brownie, and lots of time to kill. I remembered exactly how to get to the coffee shop I used to go to all the time. I sat here at this very table, which is now covered in cash and fare receipts from different cities.  I walked by the Magic Garden, this crazy art space turned into a museum. I'd been in there last year so I didn't really feel like dishing out the admission (which has gone up a dollar but is still a good deal at $4.) I remember it being worth it. Immediately when you walk into the indoor part, you look down into a window in the floor that overlooks the bottom floor. You walk through a series of rooms that are made of obviously very labor-intensive mosaic work. It looks like somebody broke all the dishes and mirrors in their house but made it look functional and beautiful.    I also went to Philly Aids Thrift, my favorite thrift store in the city.  I also went to Rittenhouse Square, (below)  reconfigured all the crap I'd accumulated, sat for a bit and moved on. Later in the day there was a discussion on anarchist organization (I know, oxymoronic, right?) at the wooden shoe bookstore.  I picked up a copy of the Boyscout Handbook for only 2 dollars! Now I can do the other half of the useful things in life that girls never get to learn otherwise. I stayed in West Philly with my friend, Garrett, and his ferocious kitty. Kitty got his nails clipped after an unprovoked attack on my arm and one on my journal.   
We watched some episodes of The Office, and in the morning he showed me around town. (I also got the chance to reconnect with the artist I met in DC. Again, you should check out the website { http://soldren.com/content/ ..} and maybe go to the show in SF in November if you are in the area!) We stumbled upon the A-space, an anarchist space with a community kitchen, bookshare, and a vegan luncheonette that we had the misfortune of just having eaten before. This is where they do Food not Bombs when it's raining, so I hear. Speaking of FNB, I volunteered with them, but I have to say the couple of people running it were the most pretentious people I've ever encountered, and coming from SF that's quite the statement. But I was still glad to have done it. All the people receiving the food were super grateful and friendly.  The feel of the city caries by part of town, as of course it does in most. There are bad places and good places, though I don't feel threatened in what I'm told are "bad places." I've also been told, more accurately I'm sure, that people in South Philly will tell you West Philly is bad, and People in West Philly will tell you that North Philly is bad, and people in North Philly will tell you that South Philly is bad. I'm not too scared of any of the. My favorite part of town is Southwest Philly, sadly gentrified, but pleasantly hobo-fied. I've met tons of urban campers and train hoppers, and they've been the nice not crazy kind. I tagged along with some traveler kids for awhile. I lost them almost as quickly as I found them because I wandered off for awhile, but I was really glad for the conversation and the company. There's a lot of history in this city, It's very interactive as well with parks and fountains that people actually utilize. This gives a small town feel, much like San Francisco. A substantial alternative culture also makes Philly an attractive place for meeting interesting people. There's enough local business and vegan food that I feel like I could live here. I've already found my hangout spot and some friends. :) There's so much to see here!     As much as I want to keep moving, I am thinking more and more of Portland with a hopeful readiness. Things are going to be good and my mindset is little by little shifting toward rest and away from constant movement. Over and out. There are more photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/FakePlasticShay There are more photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/______________________________
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I walked around Greenwich wishing I could remember this coffee shop I found a long time ago. No such luck, But i did remember that Unopressive Non-Imperialist Bargain Books was nearby so I stopped in there too. I sat under the cube at Astor Place until somebody came up and discovered it moves, knocking me over since I was leaning against it. I ditched some of my things because my backpack was feeling heavy, and every ounce counts when that's the case.
My first night here was spent mostly trying to kill time until a reasonable hour to crawl into some bushes unnoticed. Two problems with that: There are not many bushes in NYC
There are people everywhere all the time.
So I slept in a doorway at a branch of the public library, whose alarm went off all night. It did get pretty cold, but I remembered all of a sudden I had my ready-for-the-super-cold sleeping bag. I woke up really stiff, as you might after sleeping on cement all night.
I went to an Eastern Orthodox mass in the morning, quite by accident. I will admit that I was moved to tears by the chilling beauty of the procession, and by the overwhelming presence of human spirit. The choir and the stoic devotion filled me with something I could only resign to feel. A lady at the welcome center told me people come from all different religions, convert, and go to this church. I believe her.
I went to help with Food not Bombs and it ended up being in this most unbelievable building I happened to be admiring while looking for the place. There were already some people waiting outside so we all introduced ourselves and talked about some of our experiences. When we got in we learned it was just a cleanup session, but it was still fun working together and exploring the space. I didn't get to see all of the building, but from what I understood there was a gallery/ performance space where art is shown and shows to raise money happen. The space also housed the Food not Bombs kitchen, a zine library, a screenprinting workshop, a darkroom, and a computer lab. These area ll volunteer staffed and are free/ cheap to use. We need things like this in every city! 
