Ready or Not Here We Come!

Long time no blog!

I'm lying at the edge of my bed, crinkling my toes against the cool sheets, and thinking of the way those same toes are going to feel in some warm sand in less than 24 hours. My dear friend Lisa and I will be venturing off on a much beloved road trip to the southern states. Florida and the keys being our final destination, but we have no particular plan as to how we are going to get there and when. We do know there is a huge storm brewing in the Ohio Valley and straight down through the states we normally travel through when we take route 75, so we will be avoiding that area of the country tonight and skirting the eastern seaboard instead. I don't know about you, but the thought of some 200mph wind whipping me up like mayonnaise when I'm trying to have a relaxing drive to a vacation destination sounds incredibly counterproductive.

Here's to a hot coffee, some great music loaded on the ipod, good conversation and laughs, and a sporadic trip with a couple of beach bums at the helm..... Stay tuned as I have no idea where this trip will take us!

Oh Canada! Jeremy for Mayor of Buffalo!

My ethernet cable is hooked into a goose's ass that is flying south over Lake Superior....can you hear me? Can you hear me now? Hello...??? We rode bareback on a moose and drank beer right from the streams. This is where hockey pucks grow on trees. You feeling me? My Canadian friends are! I'm always busting on the "Great White North" and the folks that live here, but I have to admit.... it's gorgeous! After spending a few nights on the north shore side of this behemoth body of fresh water, I'm convinced it isn't a lake after all, but more of an Alien Shore (Rush fans??). Seriously. You can see down to the glittery bottom, chock full of perfectly smooth granite rocks that have been tumbling and tossing in the big waves for millennia. It is too cold to swim, however if it were hot outside the past few days I would have gone in for a little shrinkage action. My junk would have looked like an acorn on the bottom of a forest floor.... yes it its that cold.

We passed through Duluth and spent our first night at Grand Marais, Minnesota at a fantastic municipal park that was right on the lake. Yes, you heard right, municipal. I thought, how cool would it be if Buffalo did this down on Route 5 in one of the empty lots near the small boat harbor and Tifft Farms. Put in some basic utilities and hook ups for RVS and Wallah! People will come! I guarantee it. Almost every RV park we've stayed at, even in the middle of corn fields, has been close to capacity. This is a big industry in America. Plus, there would be no crazy funding needed and no top heavy bureaucratic oversight to take care of it. Charge $40 t0 $50 a night, which is pretty much standard anywhere in the US and Canada for full amenities and you've got yourself a start. Then have shuttle service to downtown, events, and Niagara Falls. Somebody email the mayor! Or hell, elect me instead!

We are camped for a night or two just outside of Wawa, ON near Lake Superior Provincial Park. I've been trying to spot the northern lights since the suggestion from aunt Linda a few days ago, but I haven't seen them yet. Both times that I woke up in the middle of the night to go outside I was amazed at the amount of stars I could see, shooting stars especially, but no northern lights. Maybe tonight? Here are some shots we took... mom took some especially cute ones of John! Hope you are all wonderful and warm! Jeremy

Goodbye Yellowstone... Hello Great Lakes.

Happy Birthday me, since it is midnight in the mid West! I've been getting the Facebook and text message pings for the last hour or more from all of my lovely friends back East. I'm wide awake, with internet connection, and of sharp and active mind... so I decided to report on the current state of affairs. Very currently there is an amazing lightning storm coming our way here in Jamestown, North Dakota. I can see the flashes in the distance from the window, and I'm hoping the pending rains will cool the air enough for me to get some sleep. It is very hot here compared to the 10 cold nights we spent in Yellowstone bundled under sleeping bags and thick blankets. The front air conditioner where I'm sleeping doesn't work and my mom and brother always shut theirs down because it gets too cold in the back bedroom. Such is life in the RV. My mom even said today, "We are going to need a new roll of duct tape soon" while fixing another fallen piece of the 38 foot puzzle we are living in. We all looked at one another and laughed. We have utilized, to capacity, the adhesive powers of the mighty gray-wonder tape to keep this boat a-sailing! Tomorrow we get the vehicles serviced and re-lubed so that we are ready for our return trip through the mighty North of Canada, skirting the north side of the Great Lakes as we trek back to Buffalo.

Yellowstone was fantastic. We swam and paddled crystal clear glacier lakes. We saw tons of wildlife including grizzly bears, black bears, moose, elk, fox, bobcat, deer, hawks, eagles, falcons, bison, and the tiniest little squirrels you ever saw. It is a most splendid piece of this earth and if you have never been, please treat yourself and go check it out. There is a variety of natural phenomena at work and if you are lucky, and up early or late enough to see it without a mass of humans, it is extremely rewarding. We traveled most of the park and saw many of the famous landmarks, but were also able to enjoy some spontaneous finds in Grand Teton and just outside of West Yellowstone in Gallatin National Forest. It felt like we were the delta force of bear watching with my mom constantly urging us to keep a sharp weather eye out for them. She is the best spotter I know though not always accurate. Cries of, "OH Look!!! A Cougar!!!" yielded deer, twice. John got a kick out of the bison we almost ran into in the middle of the road while looking for bears one night. He scared the souls out of my mother and I when he screamed and pointed straight while we were both looking out the side window with a spotlight. There were plenty of things to get our adrenaline pumping.... and it seems his has just dissipated tonight. The boy is finally sleeping. He's been up almost every night with a light on, for fear of bears and Bigfoot and now that he knows we are officially out of bear country (he showed me the map today in his wildlife book), he's out like a light. This is good, because he's been acting more silly than normal with me in the car and he's got my mother a bit ragged from lack of sleep. She's enjoying a peaceful slumber as we speak too.

I feel so blessed to have this wonderful opportunity to travel and seek out great experiences and this trip has been no exception. We live in such a complex and fast paced world today and it is a pleasure, nay, a necessity for us to take time to reconnect with the important things in life; family, nature and love. I've gotten all three on this trip thus far. Here's to you, and me, and all of us.... from the RV, in the middle of nowhere to wherever you live.... that we may all be blessed and realize what wonderful gifts we already have. Thanks for checking in..... Jeremy

The Black Hills... my kinda place!

My mom and brother opted to stay back at the campsite for the day and relax. They would spend the day at the pool and playing board games in the RV. I grabbed the car keys and a map early in the morning and did not return until dark! I hopped back on 90 and went west and north into Sturgis where I was overwhelmed by the cheesy billboards that were begging bikers to buy every possible good or service on the planet. The infamous rally is coming up next month and it is the biggest money maker for this whole area of South Dakota with an average of 400,000 to 800,000 bikers participating. I like motorcycles, but I'm just not into the whole "Look at me... I'm a bad ass, because my mustache matches the handlebars on my Harley!" It seems so pretentious to me. I guess there was a time when being a biker meant something, but now every yuppie with an extra $30,000 has a Fatboy and a Peter Fonda starter kit.... and they are everywhere. Relax Easy Rider!! I can't deny that all the hub bub is good for Harley Davidson stock though.

From Sturgis I made my way to Deadwood. I like this town. It's a bit gritty still, despite the fact that they really play hard on the Old Wild West themes. I parked the car and roamed around Main St. which resembles what it looked like back in the 1880's. The gaming houses, some of them original, are impressive in architecture and quaintness and a few of them still have live poker rooms. I tried my luck on a $1 slot and came out $20 ahead. I turned around and spent it at the steakhouse in the casino on a beer and a nice meal. I was feeling fine.

I got back on the road after a bit and headed south on route 85 which skirts into Wyoming along the border of South Dakota. This is beautiful country... and full of the ghosts of the native people who made this place their home. The big valleys between mountains were the camping grounds of some of the greatest Sioux tribes that ever existed. Luther Standing Bear played in these parts as a youth, along with Black Elk and many other legendary native figures. There's was a life of enjoyment and travel...living off the land and following the game it provided. I stopped at an out cropping looking over a valley and imagined in my mind's eye the young scouts that would perch themselves on such rocks looking for animals below. It was quiet and serene.

I cut back into South Dakota via route 16 and snaked my way through the Black Hills National Forest. I stopped at Custer, Jewel Cavern, and finally at a small lake entrapped between granite peaks and pines where I blew up the raft and paddled out for a look. It was a beautiful little spring fed lake with a number of people fishing on the shore. I watched a little guy pull a big rainbow trout in, much to the delight of his grandfather. I would paddle to the windward side of the lake and then let the current drift me back while lying on my back and staring into the mountains. I did this for about 3 hours and got out of the water extremely relaxed and calm. I passed through Mt. Rushmore again and I swear those dead presidents were smiling at me!

On the way back to camp I stopped in Rapid City at a Border's book store. Anyone who knows anything about me at all will tell you.... I LOVE BORDERS. I practically live there in the winter when I'm home. I grabbed some books on the native history of the area and plopped my butt down for a few hours of quality reading time. It was about as perfect a day as one could have...

Not all traveling is peachy! Bad, bad, Badlands.

After a night in Sahlem, South Dakota at a small RV campsite that had the dirtiest pool I've ever swam in, but bathrooms so clean you wouldn't mind eating cereal out of the toilet, we were off for Piedmont and the Black Hills. Everything started out ok, except that my mother was driving a steady 55 in the 75 mile per hour section of interstate 90. All of the sudden she's conscious of the wind, which is funny to me since I have watched the ass end of the 38 foot monster she's driving swing back and forth on the road like a southern woman's hips after she's had too many grits for a week straight. Even my brother, who is 8, and has never driven a vehicle (well, i did let him steer for a bit in Iowa) has been commenting on how erratic our mother's driving was. Either way... we are experiencing safe mode now, which is kind of worse for us because we are following her in the car and have to watch the traffic behind us come barreling down on us while we go 20 mph under the speed limit.

We make it to the Badlands exit and pull over to discuss logistics. Do we take the Winnebago? Maybe we park it and just take the car. The road is slightly out of the way, but puts us back on 90 a good 70 miles West, which is where we are going anyway. A guy we kept running into at rest stops sees us and tells us to go for it... it would be stupid to double back, and it won't be much more costly in gasoline than driving the highway. We mull it over shortly, look at the maps, and decide to do it.

I'm in the lead this time, since I'm barely two weeks removed from my last visit to the park with Sarah. We stop at a few hikes and scenic overlooks. Mom is a concerned with the hills and expresses to me that the RV feels like its stalling out while going down the steep hills because she's on the brakes hard and not giving it any gas. I tell her to drop it into a lower gear and let the engine do most of the braking, this way she'll have more power to the engine and most likely won't stall out. Everything seems fine. The Badlands of course, are incredible. We had to stop and let a small deer pass. There were big herds of cattle and bison in the distant plains. The weather was perfect. Soon we get to an elevation where there is a prairie dog field. The prairie dogs are out and dancing around on their hind legs. My little brother is oozing with excitement so we slow down to a creeping crawl during this section of the road. Unbeknownst to me, my mother is behind us cursing me out. She's stalling out and afraid of rolling backwards in the RV. I had no idea this was going on until she pulled off an exit a few miles away to close a window that I didn't completely secure that was flapping in the wind. There we were in a fireworks store parking lot in the middle of nowhere with her cursing like a sailor at me about the "fucking window you stupid fucking idiot!". Face red, hot as hell, and screaming she was. I rolled up the window and headed back to the highway.

When we got to Piedmont and settled in, she blew a gasket about the Badlands. "Stop at another fucking overlook you stupid ass! I was stalling out!" I swear I didn't know and how could I? We started arguing. I told her I would just leave. I didn't need the aggravation. "Go home! I don't care. It will be peaceful without you," she said. We were really getting annoyed with one another at this point. Some serious downtime was in much need for both of us. Luckily, mom and John didn't want to go anywhere today, so I took the car for the entire day and explored.... more to come on that!

Day 11 July 2, 2010 We make it to Kenai!

We got on the road fairly early in the morning. and started the drive towards Anchorage, then on to Kenai. By now, we were so used to the wildlife we didn't even stop to photograph the moose walking through the busy gas station parking lot. Sarah was like, "oh.... yeah..... another moose." We'd say it a few more times over the next few days. We stopped in Anchorage, which is a city, but doesn't much look like a city and had the biggest fatty tuna melts ever. They were so well seasoned, they barely tasted like tuna. I almost couldn't finish mine if you can believe that! I got online with my 3G card for the first time on the trip and was bummed to be getting such a weak signal in the center of the city. It took forever to book my airline ticket home. After this important task was accomplished, we started the drive to Kenai, another 187 miles West. We passed glacier lakes, hippies living in vans, glaciers, mountains, more mountains, and rivers full of vacationers and locals enjoying the fishing, rafting and kayaking. It really is as beautiful as they say.

We stopped to grab a six pack of beer on the way to Sarah's aunt's house to celebrate our final arrival. 5,525.6 miles! Wow! We had done it! Not a single break down or issue with the car.... except that it was filthy and had a few cracks in the windshield from the long stretches of gravel highway. We cracked a beer and looked for the key to get in.... no luck. Being that Sarah's aunt and uncle are in the southern islands of the state for the summer, we were left directions on where the key would be... it wasn't there. We called our contact, the daughter and son who live on the same lake. She came with the kids and we finally found the key. We got in the house and collapsed into big comfy chairs and watched movies and tv for two days straight only leaving for a few hours to get food and look around town. We were exhausted. We stole each other's music collections and did laundry and cooked food to divert ourselves from being total bums, but mostly we walked around in PJ's and chilled out. Yesterday, in a fit of boredom, we checked out some local beaches and spots for recreation. I told Sarah "You will be very good at outdoor activities when you are done with your three years here! Maybe you can shred on the guitar and hone any other skills that take lots of practice..." Yeah, there isn't much to do in Kenai. We ended up at Walmart for two hours, just checking out all the fishing and boating gear.... I wonder what the alcoholism rate is like! Ha ha. Either way it has been a beautiful ride, a great adventure, and I would recommend this part of the country to anyone looking for Mother Nature. She lives right here... in the North Western haunts of the North American Continent. I fly home tonight to hop on the road again with my mom, brother and cousin. Many more adventures to come! Stay tuned and thanks for all of your comments and warm wishes! I really appreciate it.

Day 9 June 30, 2010 Fort Nelson BC to Whitehorse, capitol of the Yukon!

All I can say is WOW on all accounts! The drive got prettier, crazier, more mountainous, more remote, and more wild the further we went. Surrounded by wilderness on all sides, we drove through the most awesome terrain we've seen yet...and the best I've ever seen. My grandmother told me I would see lots of great wildlife on this trip. She and my grandfather had done it 25 years ago with my uncle Anthony and aunt Annette. I just wanted to see a moose... just one... and I would be happy! We made our first stop on a mountain top under minor emergency circumstances. Sarah got a slight bout of food poisoning from the Super 8 continental breakfast in the morning. She thinks it was the apple juice that was bad since she only had a sip and knew something was wrong right away. We stopped at a rest stop overlooking a huge valley in between the mountain range we were on and one a few miles away. It was breath-taking, and a wee bit chilly too! She felt instantly better and we continued.

Our next stop was in a remote piece of country at a log cabin gas station where we learned a second lesson of supply and demand in these remotest of lands.... they have supply.... they demand high price! After paying an arm, two legs and a first born son for a half tank of gas we went inside to square up with the proprietor. He was a real mountain man. Jovial, big, and he had a bunch of dead shit mounted on his walls inside. It was like a museum in there. He told us he got every one of them himself, and that he hunts for food all the time. He's lived this way most of his life. His manly-hunter coolness made up for his lack of economic sympathy and he did have a credit card machine, so he wasn't fooling anyone!!! I bet he winters in Las Vegas! ha ha.

We pressed on, stopping frequently to take pictures and comment at the incredible, picturesque Rocky wilderness. It was intense. Our next stop was for food at another log cabin 100 miles or so down the road. We were not disappointed at this place. As soon as we walked in I smelled fresh bread baking in the oven. The happy little mountain woman working behind the counter was serving soup, sandwiches and smiles to some hungry motorcyclists and bouncing back and forth from the kitchen to the register to help people with gas or other items. It was like meeting your entrepreneurial aunt for the first time. She would crack jokes and make you feel right at home. Everything was "on your honor" and the grilled ham and cheese sandwiches we ordered came out on the biggest slices of home made bread you ever saw. We were stuffed for the rest of the day! I grabbed a peanut butter cookie and put myself into food heaven. We thought it couldn't get any better than this...

Then we saw a car pulled over on the side of the road. Sarah said, "Moooose!" so I swung it over and walked back to the overlook where a female was drinking out of the pond below. She was so beautiful, and it was so quiet outside with barely a vehicle passing. I was thrilled. It wasn't two minutes later when we saw another one right next to us on the road. We slowed down and it passed 5 feet in front of us to the other side of the highway. I was fumbling to get my camera out and snap some pictures. It was almost like the moose knew to stop and pose for me! I was so happy to finally see one, especially so close.

Later in the drive we saw a few herds of Wood Buffalo right on the highway and a small grizzly that was so hungry he didn't even look up when I was calling to him. Sarah didn't think this was too wise of me, but it wasn't phasing the bear at all. He was 10 feet away munching whatever he could find in the fields. They are just waking up from hibernation so they are a bit skinny and hungry as hell right now. He'll be a big fat boy by the end of the season, especially after he gets some salmon in him!

We crossed into the Yukon and it was one glacier lake after another on both sides of the road. There were little pockets of camps where you could see people tented in the woods, also some signs for native lands. This is wild country up here, and very beautiful. We ended up finally making it to the capitol, Whitehorse, an important mining town and the heart of this wild province that carries the moniker "Larger than Life" on all of its license plates and signs. It was an exciting, but exhausting drive.

Day 7 June 28, 2010 Calgary to Great Prairie Alberta

The roads are getting narrower and less and less traveled the farther up we travel the North American continent. It's mostly trucks and RV's up here. We traveled several hundred miles from Calgary to Great Prairie, a town of 50,000 and our last look at organized civilization for the next 1800 miles or so until we get to Anchorage, Alaska. There wasn't much change in the scenery during this stretch of road. A couple nice railroad bridges, rivers, and oil fields were about the only thing that broke up the monotony of the drive. Sarah was happy to see an occasional curve in the road. It wasn't all that interesting of a day, but we made it through to the Stonebridge Hotel in Grand Prairie and called it a night. It was early so we decided a good meal and a beer were in order for the evening. The hotel had a pub. We went down for a taste of the local fare.

When we walked in to the place we noticed a serious lack of females all around. Sarah was the only female besides the old waitress and a woman working the slot machines in the corner of the room. Gambling seems to be legalized almost everywhere from South Dakota west and if you find a gas station or restaurant that doesn't have gaming it is the exception rather than the rule. The lack of women told us this is trucker country. Almost everyone looked like they belonged behind the wheel of a big rig. The road worn look in the eyes and bodies told a thousand tales of life on the highways. We got a pitcher of Molson and some appetizers, since they were half off on Mondays, and watched some World Cup soccer on the big screens in the bar. I was feeling a bit worn myself, so I called it an early night and went back up to the room to play on my laptop. Sarah did the same. That's how the nights have been in the motels that have wifi. She's on her bed playing with her MacBook, I'm on mine... playing with my Macbook as well. Occasionally one of us will pull up a comedian or some funny video for the other to watch and that will spark another 20 videos as we get comedy A.D.D. and giggle into the night. Last night I looked outside at 11:30pm and it was still lit up in the western sky. You really feel the axial tilt of the planet in these parts. Man I would hate to be here in the winter when the day is 4 hours long. I guess I'll have to ask Sarah how it feels 6 months from now!

Day 5 June 26, 2010 Keystone SD to Livingston Montana

We saw so many great sights this day that we felt it was like three days wrapped into one. I'll give the highlights and then let the pictures do the talking! We started out wandering around the old wooden boardwalks of Keystone where we bought tourist junk and a bag of salt water taffy for the road. Next stop was Mt. Rushmore. Those presidents have big heads! Then we drove through the Black Hills National Forest, which was considered the center of the universe to many native tribes. It was a slow drive through one lane bridges, tunnels cut in the mountains, and big old pine trees. We kept looking for bears, but unfortunately didn't see any this day. We ventured on making stops in Custer, Crazy Horse, and Deadwood. We made a pit stop in Deadwood at the local VFW post and had a couple beers to celebrate Sarah's birthday. She is a big fan of the HBO series that was created about this old western outpost, so she told me much of the plot line and characters over our frosty brews. We roamed the old haunts of Wild Bill Hicock, Calamity Jane and the like. Sarah insisted we eat Buffalo Burgers at an old Saloon. This was a great call, and the lean Buffalo meat was delicious, especially smothered in mushrooms and swiss cheese! We heard gunshots and followed the noise down the street to a cowboy show. The day was turning out to be a fantastic adventure.

After our stop, we got on the interstate for a few hundred miles and then on to some country roads that were just fantastic. Every once in a while we would pass an old western homestead that was abandoned. The road was so beautiful and the sky so pretty that I stopped to snap a few pics. No cars and only the sounds of the light breeze blowing in the grass for miles. It gave me the chills. We were close to another gem of a sight, Devil's Tower, Wyoming, and the detour was made to see that as well.

The plains unfolded into the Grand Tetons and the base of Yellowstone National Park by sunset as we rolled further west into the evening. As the sun tucked itself behind the big mountains, Sarah screamed out, "Oh my God!!" and turned to grab the camera out of the back of the car. Behind us, the moon was rising like an orange fireball in sky. It almost looked like the sun coming up again in the east. It had to be after 10 pm by the time we saw this and it had an ethereal quality due to the fact that there was still sunlight in the sky. The further north we go, the longer the days have become and the more beautiful the skyline. It couldn't get any better.

We finally stopped for gas in Little Big Horn Montana after a few failed attempts at other exits. In this area of the world, if you don't get gas before the station closes, you are out of luck. At Little Big Horn there was some kind of celebration going on at the reservation right next to the gas station. We heard drums and chanting and singing, then we got to see a great fireworks display over the wild Montana sky. They must have planned it for Sarah's birthday! Icing on the cake.

Finding a room to crash at.... not so much! We decided to stop in Billings, the closest resemblance to a city on our route. It was getting very late and we were very tired. We had put on some hard miles this day. We saw the beckoning lights of a Holiday Inn and I promptly pulled off the exit only to make the wrong left hand turn onto the opposite on ramp heading East. Shit! There was no way we were driving another 80 miles to turn around, so I did the Puerto Rico thing and backed it up the ramp. No Vacancy.... every place we stopped in Billings was packed to the gills. It was midnight and they were hosting the Antiques Road Show in the morning. We would have to go at least 35 miles to the next exit with motels. There was a caravan of us, including a guy who had mattresses strapped to his roof speeding exit to exit trying to find a bed. It was getting crazy. We finally got a break from a sweet lady running a Super 8. She called around to RV parks, cabins and small motels in the next town and got us a room at a little mom 'n pop joint. We passed out hard for the night around 2am. Sarah was up and showered at 6:30 thinking it was 9:30 instead......oops!

Day 3 June 24, 2010 Grand Ole Opry to Godknowswhere Iowa

What is so... continental about a continental breakfast anyway? Since when did the term define breakfast as free and having at least one or two items that don't totally gross you out before you hit the road? I'm curious. Either way, the Nashville Holiday Inn is doing it right. Eggs, sausage, fruit, cinnamon rolls bigger than my head, grits, oatmeal, and the southern staple of sausage gravy and biscuits. Mmmmm.... ready to roll! The fine meal turned into a fine tour at the original Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman Auditorium. This entertainment mecca was a historic treasure find. Especially for a musician like myself and a country music fan like Sarah. We got the full tour with Buddy, who has been working the joint since 1964 officially, but has been hanging out there since he was "knee high to a grasshopper". He's a legend in the building and had stories that raised the hairs on our arms about some of the most legendary performers in showbiz. He went on and on about Johnny Cash kicking the light bulbs off the stage and the night Minnie Pearl's tag slipped from her hat with the trademark $1.98 that she kept as long as she performed. We heard stories about Hank Williams, Carl Perkins, Chet Atkins, Elvis Presley and scores more that graced the stage during the golden years of the Opry while touring the bellows of the backstage area. It was a real thrill and it was awesome to see the building spared by the floods that have pretty much destroyed the sister club Opryland on the other side of the river. On the way out, Buddy told us he'd turn his back and let us in to a show free of charge if we ever came back. I'm thinking I might take him up on that.... I know Sarah will!

We roamed the famous haunts of Nashville that morning including the guitar shop, the poster print shop where all the famous concert posters have been made since 1879, and an excellent old fashioned malt shop where I got a creamy root beer float and Sarah got a milkshake for the road. We were ready to hit it.

The journey through Tennessee was very pleasant and of course we played classic country for most of the ride. Even after we picked up a new ipod adapter at a Target in Missouri, we still had the country music carrying us for the majority of the drive. Sarah captained the Escape through St. Louis and well into the state before we stopped for gas and a bite to eat. I took over at the helm and proceeded to roll through Ozark country with Sarah providing music education; it was a fantastic time. We stopped on a whim, at the historic town of Blackwater, Missouri, which Sarah was quick to point out has a population of 199. Not the type of place you want to be after dark.... it had a certain horror film quality to it if you looked at it that way. Otherwise, Main St looked like it hadn't been changed since 1880 and we both agreed it felt like we were in the Whistlestop town portrayed in the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes". Blackwater's City Hall looked like a boutique shop and if you didn't see the stenciling on the window, you would figure it to be as such. We got a kick out of the county jail, which looked fresh out of a western flick and we were so enamored with the cute Western setting, we stayed to watch the sunset over some cornfields at a little park on the outskirts of town. An old rottweiler provided company to us while the sun sank deep into the western sky. It was a quiet and heavenly scene.


As the night came on we drove some heavy miles deep into the throes of corn and dairy laden Iowa. There were times when there was nobody in front of us and not a soul behind. After midnight we had a tough time finding an exit that had available rooms. We settled for a motel that said "Motel" on the side of the road in the flattest land you ever saw. It was almost 1 am and the woman at the counter was way too alive for the time of night and she was chain smoking. This should have been a warning. The room was as clean as would be expected for what we paid, but you could smell the 40 years of smoking in the air and it kept me up all night. I was happy to get a cup of coffee in the morning and get outside. It was the first time on the trip that I woke up before Sarah!

Bad Flight.... But a Good Start! Day 1 June 22, 2010 Florida to Alaska

I hustled down to the Buffalo Airport yesterday morning for my 8:42am flight to Orlando. Direct flight, JetBlue, nice comfy plane with about a hundred passengers in it ready for a two hour jump to sunny Central Florida, let's do this. Looks like a bunch of young families headed for a summer vacation at Disney World, the mousey ears and pajama bottoms offering a dead give-away. Captain comes out to greet passengers...weird... but part of company policy and marketing I suppose, making captain seem accessible and cool. Then the coffin...I mean cabin door closes and he slips in the ominous statement of the day..."oh, by the way, we are expecting a slight bit of turbulence for part of the ride today so it may be a little bumpy at times, but we'll do our best to keep you comfortable." Translation: Hold on to your shit, try not to puke or have a heart attack and I hope you aren't thirsty because there's no fucking way we are letting the stewardesses up to serve you drinks! Within a few minutes of being airborne we were rocking and rolling in the sky like a tin can getting tossed down a street at 500 mph. Woman across from me is crying and clutching her 2 year old son. Admittedly it is a bit obnoxious, but she wasn't the only one and the concerned looks and noises coming from every other passenger onboard on was slightly unnerving.

Myself, being the slightly neourotic air passenger that I am, crank up the volume on my old school hip hop mix and pretend I'm in a bouncing night club instead of a metal tube destined for a 5 mile free fall. Meanwhile I'm watching every detail of the plane's altitude and whereabouts so I can switch on my cell phone and tell mom I love her one last time before we splat. The captain did try his best, climbing to over 40,000 feet in our small jet, flying this way and that to avoid the worst of it, but it wasn't much use. Lets just say there were a lot of people running to the bathroom to change clothes after the flight. Sad captain came out of the cabin again after the flight and had a look on his face that almost said, "I hate my job and I am sorry that I took you through that awful experience, but I needed the paycheck." My brain then replied, "I need a stiff drink."

Safe on the ground, I link up with Sarah who arrives an hour later with a big smile on her face and her entourage of luggage... guess we are going to Alaska huh! We pile ourselves and our luggage into a taxi and head over to the vehicle processing station, where Sarah picks up her 2003 Ford Escape. I walk around the vehicle and look it over a few times, first admiring the kevlar reinforced tires that will be carrying us on our 5300 mile trek across this great continent, then the stark blue paint job that looks like it hasn't been challenged by weather at all...oh yeah, it's coming from Puerto Rico, where she barely ever drove it!

We phone Cousin Tom and head north on 441 through some serious thunderstorms, ending up at the Larivey homestead an hour later in Leesburg Lakes. He's been taking care of Aunt Marie (his mother) for the past 6 months due to a long drawn out battle with cancer, and he is thrilled to be seeing us off on our voyage. When we show up, I am in for a surprise. His sister Janet, whom I've either never met or haven't seen since I was a baby, is there and we get the party started. Burgers, beer, a variety of salads and some good conversation create a bit of a scene in this sleepy little golf/retirement village and the neighbors start showing up. Gene, the big 'ole southern boy who served time in a fighter plane in WW2 is telling jokes and stories about his travels and his time in the war. Peggy shows up with Babe, the cutest little dog you ever saw, and now the party is jumping. We drink more and more beer, tell more and more stories and Tom cooks up some killer T bone steaks for dinner. Sarah looks like she's on vacation... laid back, relaxed and enjoying the moment. After killing a copious amount of alcohol we take a golf cart ride through the retirement community looking for the big gator Tom likes to visit in the evening when he's hitting a round. We never saw the gator, but we did enjoy beautiful orange hues of sunset on the glassy swamps near the course. It was a gorgeous evening and Sarah couldn't believe that the sky was still lit up at 9pm, being that she had just spent three years on the island where it is always dark by 7pm. I realize how much I miss living with my cousin. We finished up the party about 10pm and hit the sack to get a fresh start on the road in the morning.

Here, There, and Every-freakin-where!

"You are a traveler at heart. There will be many journeys." This statement, found in a fortune cookie many years ago, stares me in the face every morning when I open my refrigerator. There was a time when I lived in Derby NY that half of my diet was sustained at the local chinese take out joint. As you can imagine, I've seen a lot of cheesy fortunes in my day. This one immediately struck a chord and I carried it in my wallet for years, just recently taking it out and putting it on the fridge. Nothing could be more true about my life and personality.

Having been home from Puerto Rico for about six weeks now, I hear the faint voice of my backpack calling me from the closet.... beckoning me... "Jeremy.... Jeremy... there's soooooo many places for you to go, so many adventures to be had. Just take me along and let's go." My backpack and I are well acquainted this day and age, and like a good wife she tells me where and when to go... and makes sure I bring a toothbrush and a clean pair of underwear as well! When I ran into my mother at the bank today, she introduced me to her friend as "her Hobo son, you know the one who is always traveling all over the world.." I'm branded a Hobo. Thanks mom. The point is... I have the permanent itch to travel and lucky for me the next scratch is coming in a few weeks....

While strolling the cobblestone streets of San Juan on a fine, sunny day a few months back, my "Coastie" friend Sarah mentioned that she was getting transferred to Alaska late in the month of June. She also mentioned that she would be picking up her vehicle in Orlando Florida and driving it all the way to her new post on the complete opposite side of the North American continent over the course of a few weeks. An amazing road trip, funded by the government of course, and over 80 hours of driving.... much of it in the Canadian wilderness. Now.... if she only had somebody to help with the driving.... I could barely hold back the rapid fire response of "I'll go!", to which she responded calmly, "Ok, cool. We'll talk about it over a beer later" Friggin' military brat! She kept walking like we didn't just make plans to DRIVE TO ALASKA FROM FLORIDA! It felt like she asked if I wanted sandwich or a burger for lunch... there was hardly an emotion. She was cool as a cat all the way.

I was jumping out of my clothes with excitement. I kept imagining the long, winding highways, cities, mountains, lakes, changing geographical features... Alaska! I've never been to Alaska, or most of Canada for that matter. Most of my Canadian exploits have never passed Toronto, with the exception of a trip to whitewater raft in Ottawa many moons ago. My mind was racing with all the possibilities. Of course, there was a TON of driving involved, but I'm a road trip junkie.... the deal was sealed over a few cold Medalla's later that evening. I leave June 22nd in the morning for a direct flight to Orlando. Rock on!

The excitement doesn't stop there however. Once said road trip is complete, I will be flying home to Buffalo only to get back on the road with my mom July 7th for a trip across the US in her 20 year old, 38 foot Winnebago. Our first stop will be Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio for 3 action packed days of roller coaster madness! Indeed we are a roller coaster family, and there is no better place in the world from what I've been told. From there we head west to such places as Crazy Horse, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands, The Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone National Park! Our loosely held plan is to return sometime mid-August... a gypsy woman, her Hobo son, her 9 year old son, and possibly Grandma (if she's feeling up to it). Unbelievable.

As of now, my plan is to work the end of the summer and early fall... then I'm thinking of a solo trip to India to visit all my old roommates and buddies! Who knows what will happen.... that is the exciting part! I will have lots to talk about though, that is for sure! Keeping it moving...... Jeremy

p.s. For those of you following the "Secret Psychic Life of Sammy Nichols".... I'm sorry for the lapse in writing. I will make it up to you!