It has happend again, the need for some road time and to revisit the old stomping ground in Alaska. After a year in the motherland, I'm heading back for a summer of slinging drinks.
My friend John is flying into Sioux Falls on Friday and I'm planning a Sunday departure. Who knows what life has in store for me, so I thought I better take advantage of one last Alaskan Highway adventure. I'll keep you posted. I am hoping for less tow truck action and more highway time due to having a vehicle that is finally younger than I. Peace.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Content in SoDak.
Things I've seen and done at home...that make me know I'm home.
Went roadtripping on the country roads and only seen one other car.
Witnessed the horrible beating death of a muskrat.
Seen a skunk, smelt a skunk, seen many racoons running for their lives when they see head lights.
Seen old friends and my family.
Smelt cow shit and actually missed it.
Remembered that tractors are a part of everyday life and they don't move for oncoming traffic. (which I love.)
Waved at people with one finger. Not the middle one. Just because, that's what people do.
Said hello to strangers and they say it back.
Played cards while drinking beer, from a can, for hours.
Took my neice to school. She then thought it to be a good idea for me to come with her, to read, then to lunch. I didn't accept the invitation, but said I might when they serve my favorite school lunch.
Watched calves on the loose walk right up to the door of my friends house.
Walked around the "section" yesterday.
Heard the "he said" "she said" the first couple of hours I got here. I have the dirt.
I think I'm pretty happy to be home and live the quiet, country-ish life right now. It really is the simple things that make this girl's world go round.
Went roadtripping on the country roads and only seen one other car.
Witnessed the horrible beating death of a muskrat.
Seen a skunk, smelt a skunk, seen many racoons running for their lives when they see head lights.
Seen old friends and my family.
Smelt cow shit and actually missed it.
Remembered that tractors are a part of everyday life and they don't move for oncoming traffic. (which I love.)
Waved at people with one finger. Not the middle one. Just because, that's what people do.
Said hello to strangers and they say it back.
Played cards while drinking beer, from a can, for hours.
Took my neice to school. She then thought it to be a good idea for me to come with her, to read, then to lunch. I didn't accept the invitation, but said I might when they serve my favorite school lunch.
Watched calves on the loose walk right up to the door of my friends house.
Walked around the "section" yesterday.
Heard the "he said" "she said" the first couple of hours I got here. I have the dirt.
I think I'm pretty happy to be home and live the quiet, country-ish life right now. It really is the simple things that make this girl's world go round.
Monday, March 28, 2011
South Dakota...
I am leaving Tejas for a bit and heading to see my family and friends in South Dakota. Not sure what is in store for me or how long I plan on staying there. I feel like it is a good time in my life to go home and get grounded again. Seeing my family always makes me happy and appreciate where I'm from and where I've gone.
I bought a plane ticket and get into Sioux Falls on Thursday.
Someday, I need to plant myself to let new roots grow, but for now I'm going to visit my old roots and appreciate them.
I bought a plane ticket and get into Sioux Falls on Thursday.
Someday, I need to plant myself to let new roots grow, but for now I'm going to visit my old roots and appreciate them.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Trials and tribulations...Dead van.
On a warm, sunny Texas day I decided that I was going to quit my job (housekeeping at a senior living place) and pack my stuff in the van and head to South Dakota for a bit to see my family. Said some tearful goodbyes and the van and I headed down I-35.
I got to Austin and hit grid lock traffic, this being completly normal, I thought once I got past there the van and I would be okay. I didn't think about spring break being just over and everyone heading home and South by Southwest music festival that was just ending.
I was seriously driving so slow that people were talking to me in traffic, even had a guy show me a notebook with, "show us your boobs" scribbled in it. I then said, "no, show me yours" to which he told the girl in the back seat to show me hers. She then did. I kept passing and then seeing the same people ten minutes later. No air conditioning and the sun beating down on the non-moving van and me.
I had to stop for gas, so pulled off and at the stop sign the van started to act up. There was a nice couple behind me who must have felt my pain and asked if I needed a push up the hill. Finally the van got some gumption and took off for the pumps.
I asked the man in the gas station what was going on and he said there was an oil spill up the road and he had never seen traffic this slow or bad. Great!
The van is air cooled, meaning it needs to move more than 10-20 mph to keep the engine cool. I had no radio so only my head to listen to. It was a very zen kind of drive, thinking, contemplating, dreaming and falling in love with my boyfriend all over again.
I got a little speed after Austin but that was short lived and putted along almost all the way to Fort Worth. I stopped outside of Fort Worth and got some gas at Kroger's and added a little oil.
As I got back on the interstate a semi passed me slowly and the lady in the passenger window had a sweet sort of smile at me, just as they passed the van lost some power and a plume of smoke puffed out the back. I pulled over to the side of the road with the little power that Gertie had to offer. I tried to restart her. Nothing. I got out and looked at all the hoses, I did learn a few things from my boyfriend and the trip but still not a professional, everything seemed fine, then again if something didn't jump out and slap me in the face, I wouldn't have known.
And yes, I called my boyfriend, with a sinking feeling in my stomach and tears in my eyes explained to him what happend. I think he felt my pain. As I had my headlamp in place, I noticed that under the license plate where you put the oil in had blown out and there was oil EVERYWHERE! I attached the hose again and tried to start the van again, nothing. Nothing went on for a long time, when it finally made some noise and turned over, it sounded so sick that I was disheartened.
After mulitple calls back and forth with Freddy, tears shed and the thought that the van had been on it last trip, Freddy said that he was on his way to get me and see if he could fix the van.
So there I was in the dark, on the side of the road somewhere outside of Fort Worth curled in a ball in the back of the van that was letting me down. I was so close to the road that every semi and car that went by shook the van and I kept freaking myself out. Again, a medative time. Not so zen. I may have slept for a few minutes but not really that I can remember being very restful.
At somewhere around 5 AM I saw headlights behind me and there in a shiney silver Honda Civic was my knight in shining armor. I have never felt so much magic. I love him. My arms wrapped around him, eyes filled with tears and enough "I'm sorrys" to annoy someone, he got out his tools and started trying to diagnose the problem.
He tried everything, took things apart, reassembled them, put new things on and did whatever he could do. He put so much time and energy into it, as he had done multiple times before. I had a vomiting feeling the whole time, I think I knew the time had come to tell Gertie goodbye. I'm pretty sure that she had blown up.
We went to Starbucks so I could use the internet and find a junk yard, I called a bunch of people and the most anyone would give me if they picked it up was $300. I was bummed. The one guy said that they didn't pick cars up from the side of the road, I apoligized to him for not breaking down my van at a business, very sarcastically of course. The other guy, Big Ron, said that he would be there in an hour to see about taking it.
We had an hour, one hour, I said that I wanted to take a license plate. This got the gears turning. We took what we could and filled the Civic. We figured for $300 we might as well take what we could.
Freddy found a plate that I bought somewhere in Washington that said, "Smile...The world is a wonderful place" I did not find this amusing at the time. We did laugh a little. I had a ring on that one of my friends made, I love this friend, but this ring brought me nothing but bad luck, Freddy said why don't you just leave it with the van? I did. Good Luck Big Ron, maybe it will bring him better luck.
Big Ron showed up and I could see the dollar signs in his eyes, anyone who knows Volkswagens knows they are worth way more than that. And my van had a good body and was almost all original. And it was sweet. He asked for the title and as I signed it the tears started flowing. I had to just walk away.
I got in the car as they hooked it up and started crying like a baby. I have never had sentimenal attachment to a car before, this one I did. Freddy reassured me that it was for the best, I wouldn't have to sink anymore money into it. I was sad about the van but I was sad more because of the memories, I was assured later that we still have the memories just not the van. This is true, I know that, it was a stressful couple days. I watched the stickers that we had bought from all over our trip disappear as we passed them.
I, by this time looked homeless, oil all over my pants and in my hair. My hair was stuck in a ball of tangled mess that was covered in oil and somehow mounted atop my big defeated head.
We stopped to eat and went in, I think people didn't quite know what to think of us. We ate and then headed back to San Antonio. It was a pretty somber drive back, no sleep, no van and no bed to rest our weary heads.
We got back and showered the defeat, oil and funk off and went to bed. It was only 4 P.M. but I wasn't caring at that point. I didn't have a care in my big head for almost 17 hours. I love a good sleep. And my van must have needed a good rest too. RIP Dirty Gertie. You drove us on a beautiful trip and through so many wonderful adventures.
1980-2011
I got to Austin and hit grid lock traffic, this being completly normal, I thought once I got past there the van and I would be okay. I didn't think about spring break being just over and everyone heading home and South by Southwest music festival that was just ending.
I was seriously driving so slow that people were talking to me in traffic, even had a guy show me a notebook with, "show us your boobs" scribbled in it. I then said, "no, show me yours" to which he told the girl in the back seat to show me hers. She then did. I kept passing and then seeing the same people ten minutes later. No air conditioning and the sun beating down on the non-moving van and me.
I had to stop for gas, so pulled off and at the stop sign the van started to act up. There was a nice couple behind me who must have felt my pain and asked if I needed a push up the hill. Finally the van got some gumption and took off for the pumps.
I asked the man in the gas station what was going on and he said there was an oil spill up the road and he had never seen traffic this slow or bad. Great!
The van is air cooled, meaning it needs to move more than 10-20 mph to keep the engine cool. I had no radio so only my head to listen to. It was a very zen kind of drive, thinking, contemplating, dreaming and falling in love with my boyfriend all over again.
I got a little speed after Austin but that was short lived and putted along almost all the way to Fort Worth. I stopped outside of Fort Worth and got some gas at Kroger's and added a little oil.
As I got back on the interstate a semi passed me slowly and the lady in the passenger window had a sweet sort of smile at me, just as they passed the van lost some power and a plume of smoke puffed out the back. I pulled over to the side of the road with the little power that Gertie had to offer. I tried to restart her. Nothing. I got out and looked at all the hoses, I did learn a few things from my boyfriend and the trip but still not a professional, everything seemed fine, then again if something didn't jump out and slap me in the face, I wouldn't have known.
And yes, I called my boyfriend, with a sinking feeling in my stomach and tears in my eyes explained to him what happend. I think he felt my pain. As I had my headlamp in place, I noticed that under the license plate where you put the oil in had blown out and there was oil EVERYWHERE! I attached the hose again and tried to start the van again, nothing. Nothing went on for a long time, when it finally made some noise and turned over, it sounded so sick that I was disheartened.
After mulitple calls back and forth with Freddy, tears shed and the thought that the van had been on it last trip, Freddy said that he was on his way to get me and see if he could fix the van.
So there I was in the dark, on the side of the road somewhere outside of Fort Worth curled in a ball in the back of the van that was letting me down. I was so close to the road that every semi and car that went by shook the van and I kept freaking myself out. Again, a medative time. Not so zen. I may have slept for a few minutes but not really that I can remember being very restful.
At somewhere around 5 AM I saw headlights behind me and there in a shiney silver Honda Civic was my knight in shining armor. I have never felt so much magic. I love him. My arms wrapped around him, eyes filled with tears and enough "I'm sorrys" to annoy someone, he got out his tools and started trying to diagnose the problem.
He tried everything, took things apart, reassembled them, put new things on and did whatever he could do. He put so much time and energy into it, as he had done multiple times before. I had a vomiting feeling the whole time, I think I knew the time had come to tell Gertie goodbye. I'm pretty sure that she had blown up.
We went to Starbucks so I could use the internet and find a junk yard, I called a bunch of people and the most anyone would give me if they picked it up was $300. I was bummed. The one guy said that they didn't pick cars up from the side of the road, I apoligized to him for not breaking down my van at a business, very sarcastically of course. The other guy, Big Ron, said that he would be there in an hour to see about taking it.
We had an hour, one hour, I said that I wanted to take a license plate. This got the gears turning. We took what we could and filled the Civic. We figured for $300 we might as well take what we could.
Freddy found a plate that I bought somewhere in Washington that said, "Smile...The world is a wonderful place" I did not find this amusing at the time. We did laugh a little. I had a ring on that one of my friends made, I love this friend, but this ring brought me nothing but bad luck, Freddy said why don't you just leave it with the van? I did. Good Luck Big Ron, maybe it will bring him better luck.
Big Ron showed up and I could see the dollar signs in his eyes, anyone who knows Volkswagens knows they are worth way more than that. And my van had a good body and was almost all original. And it was sweet. He asked for the title and as I signed it the tears started flowing. I had to just walk away.
I got in the car as they hooked it up and started crying like a baby. I have never had sentimenal attachment to a car before, this one I did. Freddy reassured me that it was for the best, I wouldn't have to sink anymore money into it. I was sad about the van but I was sad more because of the memories, I was assured later that we still have the memories just not the van. This is true, I know that, it was a stressful couple days. I watched the stickers that we had bought from all over our trip disappear as we passed them.
I, by this time looked homeless, oil all over my pants and in my hair. My hair was stuck in a ball of tangled mess that was covered in oil and somehow mounted atop my big defeated head.
We stopped to eat and went in, I think people didn't quite know what to think of us. We ate and then headed back to San Antonio. It was a pretty somber drive back, no sleep, no van and no bed to rest our weary heads.
We got back and showered the defeat, oil and funk off and went to bed. It was only 4 P.M. but I wasn't caring at that point. I didn't have a care in my big head for almost 17 hours. I love a good sleep. And my van must have needed a good rest too. RIP Dirty Gertie. You drove us on a beautiful trip and through so many wonderful adventures.
1980-2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Riding that Greyhound to bumville.
On the morning of January 8th, at approximately 12:30 A.M. Freddy's sister and brother in-law dropped us off at the Greyhound bus station, we were on our way to Dallas to pick up Freddy's new truck.
I wasn't really sure what to expect, it took little time for me to become completely enthralled with watching the people around us. It was quite the eclectic group of people. The cool thing about the bus stop, same with the airport, you get new people to watch every so often. They come and wait for there bus, get on, new people arrive and leave or wait for their connecting bus.
We watched a woman super messed up get off the bus come in the back door and just kept on walking right out the front door, as the man who worked for the bus line tagged along behind with all of her belongings. He seemed very over the whole situation and handed off her belongings to the security guard. The security guard seated her and she passed out within seconds. Then woke up scratching herself and kicking her shoes off...pretty sure she didn't make it where she was going that night.
We had the pleasure of meeting some guy who just got out of prison and just kept on rambling on the phone to his "baby mama." I only know this because when he wasn't talking to her, he was trying to talk to us. The bus driver only spoke Spanish and this confused him immensely.
We stopped in Austin and two stops in Dallas. We got off and the stop there seemed stranger than the one in San Antonio. We walked across the street to McDonald's to get some coffee and wait until we could call the guy who had the truck. We should have known by the cop cars out front that it wasn't your typical McDonalds. We walked in to homeless people filling up the booths, a cop on duty, that works there and chatting amongst themselves.
I witnessed some very strange things;
A man talking to himself, with his coffee in front of him along with a large stack of napkins, took a napkin wiped his butt with it and then proceeded to be oh, so kind as to wash the table with it.
A woman had a hash brown in hand, looked at it and said, "oh, the temptation," took a bite and then sang gospel tunes all through her meal.
The cleaning lady has a cop stand in the doorway while she cleans. They have to tell people frequently that they can't sleep there. It stinks in there.
I'm usually not a judgemental person and I guess that day maybe I was being. Or maybe completely fascinated and befuddled. I just don't understand how you get to that point. That is quite the point to get to, wiping your ass juice on a table that some unsuspecting person is going to sit down and eat on.
I guess my first trip to Dallas may be my last. I was not impressed with the urine and vomit smells, or the people that greeted us when we got there. I also find it quite strange that people just become desensitized to these things. This is just another reason that I am a small town girl and am very happy that I am where I'm from.
Peace.
I wasn't really sure what to expect, it took little time for me to become completely enthralled with watching the people around us. It was quite the eclectic group of people. The cool thing about the bus stop, same with the airport, you get new people to watch every so often. They come and wait for there bus, get on, new people arrive and leave or wait for their connecting bus.
We watched a woman super messed up get off the bus come in the back door and just kept on walking right out the front door, as the man who worked for the bus line tagged along behind with all of her belongings. He seemed very over the whole situation and handed off her belongings to the security guard. The security guard seated her and she passed out within seconds. Then woke up scratching herself and kicking her shoes off...pretty sure she didn't make it where she was going that night.
We had the pleasure of meeting some guy who just got out of prison and just kept on rambling on the phone to his "baby mama." I only know this because when he wasn't talking to her, he was trying to talk to us. The bus driver only spoke Spanish and this confused him immensely.
We stopped in Austin and two stops in Dallas. We got off and the stop there seemed stranger than the one in San Antonio. We walked across the street to McDonald's to get some coffee and wait until we could call the guy who had the truck. We should have known by the cop cars out front that it wasn't your typical McDonalds. We walked in to homeless people filling up the booths, a cop on duty, that works there and chatting amongst themselves.
I witnessed some very strange things;
A man talking to himself, with his coffee in front of him along with a large stack of napkins, took a napkin wiped his butt with it and then proceeded to be oh, so kind as to wash the table with it.
A woman had a hash brown in hand, looked at it and said, "oh, the temptation," took a bite and then sang gospel tunes all through her meal.
The cleaning lady has a cop stand in the doorway while she cleans. They have to tell people frequently that they can't sleep there. It stinks in there.
I'm usually not a judgemental person and I guess that day maybe I was being. Or maybe completely fascinated and befuddled. I just don't understand how you get to that point. That is quite the point to get to, wiping your ass juice on a table that some unsuspecting person is going to sit down and eat on.
I guess my first trip to Dallas may be my last. I was not impressed with the urine and vomit smells, or the people that greeted us when we got there. I also find it quite strange that people just become desensitized to these things. This is just another reason that I am a small town girl and am very happy that I am where I'm from.
Peace.
2 ladies, one rental car and unlimited miles...
12/29/10
Katie got here at 1:45 PM, flying into San Antonio. Freddy drove us to the rental car pick-up, after losing the parking ticket and having to pay $24 for a lost ticket.
We picked up the rental car and then my boyfriend led us out of town. Yes, still very unsure of my way around the city. I bet the guy(s) that designed the freeway/interstate here sit at home twiddling their thumbs, laughing a deep laugh (BwaHaHaHa) at his power to confuse the shit out of small town girls such as myself. We got on the right interstate and pretty much followed that all the way with a few switch offs here and there.
I guess I should insert here that we were on our way to Asheville, NC. North Carolina was where I wanted to end my trip and beings Katie was coming to visit, we decided that it was only right to end my trip together.
We got to Houston and it started raining. Right outside of Houston it started terenchally down pouring, this gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "it's raining cats and dogs." I in my life have never seen such rain as this. Sheets and sheets of rain, slowing traffic to almost a halt at times. I couldn't see anything in front of us at times, except the frogs that seems to be committing suicide by jumping up off of the road and slamming into the front of the car. It took awhile to figure out what they were. It was so bad we had people looking at the weather, kind of thinking we were driving into a hurricane. Freddy just said there was a big blob along the road that we were driving, a big, ugly blob that followed us all the way to Louisiana and then led us into Mississippi. We at least found the humor in this, thinking it couldn't be a Melissa-Katie trip without it. We were a bit confused at times when people were driving really slow with their flashers on, which we discussed and decided was really stupid.
We didn't get to see much of the landscape due to the velocity of the rain. I don't think that we missed much though. Interstate traveling is not the best sightseeing trip, seems like a lot of industrial crap.
At 2:30 A.M. Mississippi welcomed us. We got a room at the Motel 6, yes, they left the light on for us. They didn't give us the right key, twice. Finally we switched rooms. Katie got to wash the travel funk off, she had been traveling since 3 A.M. the day before. She did come out in disgust upon finding someones pubic hairs on the shower wall. We finally got nestled into our beds and hoped for a bed bug free stay. I went to bed dreaming of a dryer day.Peace
12/30/10
We woke up and decided that we should eat some southern food, when in Rome. We ventured down the road to a Waffle House. The south has them like Canada had A&W's when we traveled though ten years ago, that is a lot. (We eventually started playing Where's the Waffle House on our trip.)
I thought it would be good of me to try some grits, I don't like them, but I tried. I tried to put Tabasco on them to add flavor- no such luck. They are a mix between tapioca and malt-o-meal minus taste. The waitresses were all behind us while we ate and broke out singing "Redneck Woman," how ironically perfect for the time.
After getting our fill of a Waffle House breakfast we hit the road again. We crossed through Alabama, the scenery was nice it looked like fall. I didn't get to look at too much, I was busy trying to keep up with all the crazy drivers. Note: Whatever the speed limit is in Alabama add 10 mph and cut people off and pass like an idiot then you too shall fit in.
It seemed clean and filled with plenty of trees and greenery. I bet it is a pretty state. Any place that we stopped had plenty of pork cracklins, to which Katie had to show me that they still had hair on them. They really do, how gross.
We crossed into Tennessee around night fall. It seemed very nice, I'm sure during the day it was really beautiful.
We got to North Carolina and it was already early evening. I had a smile so big, after, finally reaching my final trip destination. We drove through numerous small towns that seemed very tourist oriented. They all had clever little signs and cute little houses. I would love to come back sometime and explore more of this area. You could tell even at night that it was really beautiful. We started to notice that there were little piles of left over snow on the side of the road.
We got to Asheville and drove through downtown in hopes of finding a room down there. The one that we did stop at was expensive and doubled in price the next night, it was almost New Year's Eve after all. We stopped at a few places, they seemed a little expensive. And alas, we spotted the Thunderbird Motel. We got 2 nights for the price of one night at different hotels. It was very old school, we parked in front of our window, old school. The couple running it seemed nice. The room's wall were cement, so the fact that our heater wasn't working made it quite cold. The guy did come and fix it. It was dingy and old but was the right price. Katie had to check for stains, bugs and hairs, she said there was a stain so guess who had to sleep on that side? Ah, bring on the gross hotel rooms, I've already stayed at the worst hotel room ever years back so, nothing really surprises me.
12/31/2010 New Year's Eve
We spent our last day of 2010 wandering around Asheville being excited about everything. It was beautiful and laid back. We wandered from store to store admiring all of the locally made art and goods. We went into vintage shops, hippie shops and also found a two story building that was filled with local artists wares. It was nice to see how aware they are of shopping and making locally.
The architecture was that of shock and awe. It was quite stunning to see and get to walk around and see it all.
We stopped and got an appetizer of fried green tomatoes, delish!
We got coffee at a double decker bus converted into a coffee shop, I was in love. It was so cute and creative. There was seating upstairs and some down too. Half of the bottom of the bus served as the kitchen. It seemed like a popular place.
Asheville is a place kind of hard to explain, a small city with a small town feel. People were so nice and helpful. Everyone seemed so earthy and trendy at the same time. People filled the street corners playing music and enjoying the sunshine. We had a great day just browsing around.
We went back to our home away from home, The Thunderbird, to take a disco nap before finding something to do for New Year's Eve. The nap thing failed but it did feel good to lay around after driving.
We decided to go eat and then find somewhere to ring in the New Year. We found the Fiddlin' Pig. We walked in and saw a stage set up, no one was on it at the time. We ordered our food, I tried fried okra, collard greens and catfish, none of which I really loved. I had some amazing macaroni and cheese though. The band started playing and a tapping-Appalachian dancing group came in and started dancing. Everyone was clapping and having such a good time. This is what I was wanting. A woman got up and sang some Dolly Parton and another sang a couple gospel songs that had everyone singing along. It was a great southern experience. Everyone took turns dancing and singing.
One of the waitress' directed us to a hole in the wall bar. We went to the first one, it was reservation only but the bartender let us have a drink. We walked down the street to the DeSoto. It was a fun, hip, little bar that had a DJ. We got to meet one of the regulars, he was that guy that everyone knows but avoids. He is a one-upper, he had champagne that they serve in the Whitehouse and the other bottle was 1 of 1000 made, not sure if any of that was true but it was free. :)
The waitress from earlier showed up with one of her friends, we had a great time hanging out with them. They were super sweet and kind to us. It was a good place to ring in the new year!
1/1/11
The first day of the new year was a little painful, more painful for my dear friend Katie though. The guy at the hotel told us to stay as long as we needed, this ended up being after 2 P.M. What a nice fella.
We finally checked out, still not feeling up to par. Katie was pretty miserable, watching her made me feel better. We drove through South Carolina and ended up outside of Savannah, GA for the night. We both felt pretty drained from the damage the night before. Happy New Year!
1/2/11
We drove into Savannah and got on a trolley tour, highly recommended. I think we were both pretty taken aback by the beauty, amazing history and awesome trees. The old architecture was wonderful to look at and learn about. They are very proud of their city and make sure that it stays old and full of history, they have a committee that meets two times a month to ensure this.
I could spend more time there, we only got to scratch the surface of all the history there. I would've liked to do the ghost tours, maybe next time. There are apparently quite a few ghosts there.
I tapped on the same window that Julia Roberts did in, Something to Talk About, just for you Lisa. :)
We left Savannah and headed to New Orleans. Seemed a pretty bleak trip there. Drove through Jacksonville though, I can say that I've been in Florida.
We finally got outside of New Orleans and got a room. We were both looking forward to seeing what New Orleans had to offer.
1/3/11
New Orleans was also pretty fascinating. I love old towns and cities, when we first pulled into the city we seen the catacombs. It was kind of spooky but super interesting. We then went to the welcome center and a nice lady there gave us a map of the city but warned that the Sugar Bowl was going on.
We just parked there, after I pulled out in front of someone who wasn't very happy about it. We walked in the French Quarter and daydreamed about what once happened there and how much history every building must have in it.
We walked directly into a marching band performing and lots of drunk fans. We could hear Bourbon Street before we could see it. This of course was the overflow from the Sugar Bowl.
We walked to the oldest flea market in the United States. I bought a few homemade voodoo dolls from a lady that seemed to know how to use them. The rest of the flea market seemed like all new junk such as purses and sunglasses. I like flea markets that have old treasures or homemade goods, this was mostly not that way.
We walked up and down some of the streets and window shopped and people watched. We went into a corner restaurant and tries some alligator on a stick. I was a little weary about trying such a thing but it wasn't that bad. It had a little spice to it and came on a skewer with onions and peppers and yes I did think it tasted a bit like chicken.
We walked by a lot of local artists in the streets, we came across a woman who read tarot cards. Katie sat down for her reading and I sat on a bench, with all the junkies and drunks. Didn't make any new friends but it was kind of funny. I don't think Katie was too impressed with her reading. We went into a very old Catholic church, that i can't remember the name of right now. It was so beautiful, so stunning and felt so holy. I had to sit down at one point because it was overwhelming me a bit to think of all the ceremonies that had taken place there. We left there and headed back to find the car, on the way there we stopped in a voodoo shop where Katie convinced me to get my fortune told by some old lady that has been doing it for 30+ years, when I did finally agree, a group of guys jumped in line before me and the wait would have been too long. I think it was a sign for me not to have anyone read my fortune.
I really think now that New Orleans would be funner than Vegas. Well it would be close, New Orleans just has so much history, music and goodness.
1/4/11
We got into San Antonio around 12:30 A.M.
Katie left and went to see her boyfriend in Medina, TX, they ended up coming back to San Antonio and spending a couple days here in the city.
1/6/11
We met Katie and Aaron at What-A-Burger and ventured downtown to do the tourist thing. We went to the Alamo and walked around downtown. We took Aaron to the airport in the early afternoon and then came back to the house.
1/7/11
Katie drove herself and the rental car back to the airport all by herself with the help of Freddy's map and directions.
We had a great trip and got to see and go a lot of places in just a short time. We truly are Road Warrior Princess'. We did have talks about if we would still do this when we had kids and were older. We agreed we could just strap some car seats in the back. I am truly thankful to have a friend that is willing to go on these crazy adventures with me. I did figure out that I have been to 16 states and 2 Canadian provinces since October, kind of cool. Peace.
Katie got here at 1:45 PM, flying into San Antonio. Freddy drove us to the rental car pick-up, after losing the parking ticket and having to pay $24 for a lost ticket.
We picked up the rental car and then my boyfriend led us out of town. Yes, still very unsure of my way around the city. I bet the guy(s) that designed the freeway/interstate here sit at home twiddling their thumbs, laughing a deep laugh (BwaHaHaHa) at his power to confuse the shit out of small town girls such as myself. We got on the right interstate and pretty much followed that all the way with a few switch offs here and there.
I guess I should insert here that we were on our way to Asheville, NC. North Carolina was where I wanted to end my trip and beings Katie was coming to visit, we decided that it was only right to end my trip together.
We got to Houston and it started raining. Right outside of Houston it started terenchally down pouring, this gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "it's raining cats and dogs." I in my life have never seen such rain as this. Sheets and sheets of rain, slowing traffic to almost a halt at times. I couldn't see anything in front of us at times, except the frogs that seems to be committing suicide by jumping up off of the road and slamming into the front of the car. It took awhile to figure out what they were. It was so bad we had people looking at the weather, kind of thinking we were driving into a hurricane. Freddy just said there was a big blob along the road that we were driving, a big, ugly blob that followed us all the way to Louisiana and then led us into Mississippi. We at least found the humor in this, thinking it couldn't be a Melissa-Katie trip without it. We were a bit confused at times when people were driving really slow with their flashers on, which we discussed and decided was really stupid.
We didn't get to see much of the landscape due to the velocity of the rain. I don't think that we missed much though. Interstate traveling is not the best sightseeing trip, seems like a lot of industrial crap.
At 2:30 A.M. Mississippi welcomed us. We got a room at the Motel 6, yes, they left the light on for us. They didn't give us the right key, twice. Finally we switched rooms. Katie got to wash the travel funk off, she had been traveling since 3 A.M. the day before. She did come out in disgust upon finding someones pubic hairs on the shower wall. We finally got nestled into our beds and hoped for a bed bug free stay. I went to bed dreaming of a dryer day.Peace
12/30/10
We woke up and decided that we should eat some southern food, when in Rome. We ventured down the road to a Waffle House. The south has them like Canada had A&W's when we traveled though ten years ago, that is a lot. (We eventually started playing Where's the Waffle House on our trip.)
I thought it would be good of me to try some grits, I don't like them, but I tried. I tried to put Tabasco on them to add flavor- no such luck. They are a mix between tapioca and malt-o-meal minus taste. The waitresses were all behind us while we ate and broke out singing "Redneck Woman," how ironically perfect for the time.
After getting our fill of a Waffle House breakfast we hit the road again. We crossed through Alabama, the scenery was nice it looked like fall. I didn't get to look at too much, I was busy trying to keep up with all the crazy drivers. Note: Whatever the speed limit is in Alabama add 10 mph and cut people off and pass like an idiot then you too shall fit in.
It seemed clean and filled with plenty of trees and greenery. I bet it is a pretty state. Any place that we stopped had plenty of pork cracklins, to which Katie had to show me that they still had hair on them. They really do, how gross.
We crossed into Tennessee around night fall. It seemed very nice, I'm sure during the day it was really beautiful.
We got to North Carolina and it was already early evening. I had a smile so big, after, finally reaching my final trip destination. We drove through numerous small towns that seemed very tourist oriented. They all had clever little signs and cute little houses. I would love to come back sometime and explore more of this area. You could tell even at night that it was really beautiful. We started to notice that there were little piles of left over snow on the side of the road.
We got to Asheville and drove through downtown in hopes of finding a room down there. The one that we did stop at was expensive and doubled in price the next night, it was almost New Year's Eve after all. We stopped at a few places, they seemed a little expensive. And alas, we spotted the Thunderbird Motel. We got 2 nights for the price of one night at different hotels. It was very old school, we parked in front of our window, old school. The couple running it seemed nice. The room's wall were cement, so the fact that our heater wasn't working made it quite cold. The guy did come and fix it. It was dingy and old but was the right price. Katie had to check for stains, bugs and hairs, she said there was a stain so guess who had to sleep on that side? Ah, bring on the gross hotel rooms, I've already stayed at the worst hotel room ever years back so, nothing really surprises me.
12/31/2010 New Year's Eve
We spent our last day of 2010 wandering around Asheville being excited about everything. It was beautiful and laid back. We wandered from store to store admiring all of the locally made art and goods. We went into vintage shops, hippie shops and also found a two story building that was filled with local artists wares. It was nice to see how aware they are of shopping and making locally.
The architecture was that of shock and awe. It was quite stunning to see and get to walk around and see it all.
We stopped and got an appetizer of fried green tomatoes, delish!
We got coffee at a double decker bus converted into a coffee shop, I was in love. It was so cute and creative. There was seating upstairs and some down too. Half of the bottom of the bus served as the kitchen. It seemed like a popular place.
Asheville is a place kind of hard to explain, a small city with a small town feel. People were so nice and helpful. Everyone seemed so earthy and trendy at the same time. People filled the street corners playing music and enjoying the sunshine. We had a great day just browsing around.
We went back to our home away from home, The Thunderbird, to take a disco nap before finding something to do for New Year's Eve. The nap thing failed but it did feel good to lay around after driving.
We decided to go eat and then find somewhere to ring in the New Year. We found the Fiddlin' Pig. We walked in and saw a stage set up, no one was on it at the time. We ordered our food, I tried fried okra, collard greens and catfish, none of which I really loved. I had some amazing macaroni and cheese though. The band started playing and a tapping-Appalachian dancing group came in and started dancing. Everyone was clapping and having such a good time. This is what I was wanting. A woman got up and sang some Dolly Parton and another sang a couple gospel songs that had everyone singing along. It was a great southern experience. Everyone took turns dancing and singing.
One of the waitress' directed us to a hole in the wall bar. We went to the first one, it was reservation only but the bartender let us have a drink. We walked down the street to the DeSoto. It was a fun, hip, little bar that had a DJ. We got to meet one of the regulars, he was that guy that everyone knows but avoids. He is a one-upper, he had champagne that they serve in the Whitehouse and the other bottle was 1 of 1000 made, not sure if any of that was true but it was free. :)
The waitress from earlier showed up with one of her friends, we had a great time hanging out with them. They were super sweet and kind to us. It was a good place to ring in the new year!
1/1/11
The first day of the new year was a little painful, more painful for my dear friend Katie though. The guy at the hotel told us to stay as long as we needed, this ended up being after 2 P.M. What a nice fella.
We finally checked out, still not feeling up to par. Katie was pretty miserable, watching her made me feel better. We drove through South Carolina and ended up outside of Savannah, GA for the night. We both felt pretty drained from the damage the night before. Happy New Year!
1/2/11
We drove into Savannah and got on a trolley tour, highly recommended. I think we were both pretty taken aback by the beauty, amazing history and awesome trees. The old architecture was wonderful to look at and learn about. They are very proud of their city and make sure that it stays old and full of history, they have a committee that meets two times a month to ensure this.
I could spend more time there, we only got to scratch the surface of all the history there. I would've liked to do the ghost tours, maybe next time. There are apparently quite a few ghosts there.
I tapped on the same window that Julia Roberts did in, Something to Talk About, just for you Lisa. :)
We left Savannah and headed to New Orleans. Seemed a pretty bleak trip there. Drove through Jacksonville though, I can say that I've been in Florida.
We finally got outside of New Orleans and got a room. We were both looking forward to seeing what New Orleans had to offer.
1/3/11
New Orleans was also pretty fascinating. I love old towns and cities, when we first pulled into the city we seen the catacombs. It was kind of spooky but super interesting. We then went to the welcome center and a nice lady there gave us a map of the city but warned that the Sugar Bowl was going on.
We just parked there, after I pulled out in front of someone who wasn't very happy about it. We walked in the French Quarter and daydreamed about what once happened there and how much history every building must have in it.
We walked directly into a marching band performing and lots of drunk fans. We could hear Bourbon Street before we could see it. This of course was the overflow from the Sugar Bowl.
We walked to the oldest flea market in the United States. I bought a few homemade voodoo dolls from a lady that seemed to know how to use them. The rest of the flea market seemed like all new junk such as purses and sunglasses. I like flea markets that have old treasures or homemade goods, this was mostly not that way.
We walked up and down some of the streets and window shopped and people watched. We went into a corner restaurant and tries some alligator on a stick. I was a little weary about trying such a thing but it wasn't that bad. It had a little spice to it and came on a skewer with onions and peppers and yes I did think it tasted a bit like chicken.
We walked by a lot of local artists in the streets, we came across a woman who read tarot cards. Katie sat down for her reading and I sat on a bench, with all the junkies and drunks. Didn't make any new friends but it was kind of funny. I don't think Katie was too impressed with her reading. We went into a very old Catholic church, that i can't remember the name of right now. It was so beautiful, so stunning and felt so holy. I had to sit down at one point because it was overwhelming me a bit to think of all the ceremonies that had taken place there. We left there and headed back to find the car, on the way there we stopped in a voodoo shop where Katie convinced me to get my fortune told by some old lady that has been doing it for 30+ years, when I did finally agree, a group of guys jumped in line before me and the wait would have been too long. I think it was a sign for me not to have anyone read my fortune.
I really think now that New Orleans would be funner than Vegas. Well it would be close, New Orleans just has so much history, music and goodness.
1/4/11
We got into San Antonio around 12:30 A.M.
Katie left and went to see her boyfriend in Medina, TX, they ended up coming back to San Antonio and spending a couple days here in the city.
1/6/11
We met Katie and Aaron at What-A-Burger and ventured downtown to do the tourist thing. We went to the Alamo and walked around downtown. We took Aaron to the airport in the early afternoon and then came back to the house.
1/7/11
Katie drove herself and the rental car back to the airport all by herself with the help of Freddy's map and directions.
We had a great trip and got to see and go a lot of places in just a short time. We truly are Road Warrior Princess'. We did have talks about if we would still do this when we had kids and were older. We agreed we could just strap some car seats in the back. I am truly thankful to have a friend that is willing to go on these crazy adventures with me. I did figure out that I have been to 16 states and 2 Canadian provinces since October, kind of cool. Peace.
Christmas a month late.
12/24
I had a fun filled Christmas and just have not made time to blog about it. So here goes.
We went to Freddy's aunts house in Poth, where he is from and got to hang out with all of his family. I met some new people and of course loved seeing those that I had seen before.
His cousin Cathy arranged for everyone to get on a trailer and go caroling. This for me was a first, I hadn't sang those songs since being in school, at least for the public. I of course have sung along to the radio and such. It was a blast lots of laughs and felt good to be surrounded by such Christmas spirit.
Back at the house, they had a Chinese gift exchange. I read up on this before we went and I guess some people are offended by the name now, so it is called many different things other than Chinese. No matter then name it was another first for me and so much fun. I saw someone open and hold up the best Christmas sweater ever, I had my eye on it right away. It came with a thong and heels too, my feet are above average size so I knew those wouldn't fit. His cousin Melody said she wanted them, so we made a deal that one of us would get the gift. I got it, and sported it with complete confidence and happiness. (The wine may have helped in this.) So there I was at my boyfriend's family Christmas for the first time, with a thong on over my pants and the funniest sweater I've ever seen, walking the cat walk in front of the whole family. I'm sure there are some very funny pictures, I've only seen a few. Thank you wine for the boost of confidence. We finally called it a night somewhere around 4 A.M.
12/25
It seemed the wine hadn't left a very big mark on me, I didn't feel too bad for being up so late and finishing a couple of bottles of wine with Jenny. We went to their Mom's house in the afternoon to eat more and hang out with more family. It was a good time. The Mexican Lotteria got pulled out and that is always a good time. I only won once but the ladies playing made it fun, even if I was a loser. :)
Freddy and Jenny's presents got mixed up, kind of funny to see Freddy act excited about getting a bread maker. :)
What I really got was a great Christmas, with fantastic people. So happy to get the opportunity to get to be a part of such things. So I guess I can say that Christmas really is better with family. Seems kind of silly that I would spend so many Christmas' working. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Peace.
I had a fun filled Christmas and just have not made time to blog about it. So here goes.
We went to Freddy's aunts house in Poth, where he is from and got to hang out with all of his family. I met some new people and of course loved seeing those that I had seen before.
His cousin Cathy arranged for everyone to get on a trailer and go caroling. This for me was a first, I hadn't sang those songs since being in school, at least for the public. I of course have sung along to the radio and such. It was a blast lots of laughs and felt good to be surrounded by such Christmas spirit.
Back at the house, they had a Chinese gift exchange. I read up on this before we went and I guess some people are offended by the name now, so it is called many different things other than Chinese. No matter then name it was another first for me and so much fun. I saw someone open and hold up the best Christmas sweater ever, I had my eye on it right away. It came with a thong and heels too, my feet are above average size so I knew those wouldn't fit. His cousin Melody said she wanted them, so we made a deal that one of us would get the gift. I got it, and sported it with complete confidence and happiness. (The wine may have helped in this.) So there I was at my boyfriend's family Christmas for the first time, with a thong on over my pants and the funniest sweater I've ever seen, walking the cat walk in front of the whole family. I'm sure there are some very funny pictures, I've only seen a few. Thank you wine for the boost of confidence. We finally called it a night somewhere around 4 A.M.
12/25
It seemed the wine hadn't left a very big mark on me, I didn't feel too bad for being up so late and finishing a couple of bottles of wine with Jenny. We went to their Mom's house in the afternoon to eat more and hang out with more family. It was a good time. The Mexican Lotteria got pulled out and that is always a good time. I only won once but the ladies playing made it fun, even if I was a loser. :)
Freddy and Jenny's presents got mixed up, kind of funny to see Freddy act excited about getting a bread maker. :)
What I really got was a great Christmas, with fantastic people. So happy to get the opportunity to get to be a part of such things. So I guess I can say that Christmas really is better with family. Seems kind of silly that I would spend so many Christmas' working. I hope everyone had a great Christmas. Peace.
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