Even thought it's about a week too late I'll say it anyway - happy new year!
I made it from Cali back down to Texas (by the not-so-direct route of North Carolina and Virginia, no less) to spend some quality time with the fam before heading off on the next adventure. Dad took a bunch of us (no, really, a BUNCH of us) on a cruise down to Mexico to ring in 2008. While cruisin' isn't really my style can you really say no to a free cruise? Really? I think not.
And I'm glad I went. I now find myself in Chiang Mai, Thailand (long story that will probably come later) and have no idea how long it'll be until I get back to Texas again, so it was really great to catch up with so much of my fam. As usual, I didn't take near as many pictures as I wish I would have, but I went ahead and made a video of the ones I had (coupled with one of my favorite water-type songs - it should be obvious enough). So enjoy!
If you know me at all you likely know that i'm largely unpredictable. I don't only welcome change but, rather, I tend to seek it out. This tends to lead me to a largely unpredicatble lifestyle with irregular habitual occurences - like updating my website.
Even though I spent more than 4 amazing months in New Zealand I somehow only managed five, feeble posts about my stay there. Even for me, with my now notorious lack of regular communication standards, this is unacceptable. I had too many amazing experiences during my time there to not share them with you.
I took about 3,000 pictures during my time in NZ. 3,000!! That's a staggering average of about 30 a day. Wow! It feels more like 300 at the most. You've gotta love digital cams. Below is a collage of some of my favs...
So today I find myself back in the room that I grew up in at my dad's house in west Texas. When I answer the phone at the house I would swear, if I didn't know better, that the common greeting is "Louis?" Here's how every conversation starts:
Ring, ring. (I pick up)
me: "Hello?"
them: "Louis?"
This may seem puzzling until/unless you know that a) my dad's name is Louis, and b) I obviously sound just like him. Now, I wouldn't mind if it happened just every now and then but EVERY time I pick up the phone (even when it's someone that I know!) we go through this same routine. My next line:
me: *long, familiar sigh* "no, this is Jim"
Other than that I'm glad to be back in Texas but even more glad that it's only a temporary stop. This last week I clocked in about 67 hours working at my dad's hardware store. In a few days I'll pick back up and head down yet another stretch of blacktop. This time I'm bringing Gracie out of retirement. I've missed her!
"So what's the plan?"
That's currently everyone's favorite question. Over the last three years the questions have steadily changed from "how was your trip?" to "what are you doing next?" to "so when are you going to finally get a job?" to the current tie between "so where's next?" and "so what's the plan?"'
Most people know me well enough to realize that I'm a) i'm not settling down and getting a job, and b) there's pretty much always a "something next". What no one seems to realize is that I really don't plan a head very well. It's not that I'm not capable (i'm actually quite good at it when needed) but I'm just not interested in doing so. I don't have a wife or kids or a house payment or any bills other than my cell phone and insurance on whatever I'm driving (even both the last two expenses only apply when I'm in North America.) Basically, I have zero responsibilities tying me to a life in need of any type of schedule. I don't wear a watch, I rarely know what time it is. My favorite times are when I don't even know what day it is.
So, regardless of what I just said, I know what you're wanting to ask. What is my plan?
On Wednesday or Thursday of this week I'll climb on the back of Gracie (my beloved 1981 Honda Silverwing pictured on the above, right) and drive north.... or east... or west... or maybe even straight up if I can figure out how to do so. I might go say hello to grandparents and some other friends in the mountains of New Mexico or maybe I'll drive out through the middle of Texas on up to my bro's place in Dallas. Or just maybe I'll burn through a few states bck to my current favorite city in the world: San Francisco.
While I really don't know what I'll end up doing in a few days you can be assured that I'll be taking lots of pictures of all the fun I'm having. And who knows, maybe I'll even post a few of them on here for you guys to see.
Stay tuned...
By the way, I'm still looking for a replacement for my battered-beyond-repair inflatable red couch. If you have one or know where to find one (every site I look at on the internet doesn't have any available) I would be very appreciative!
I went flying today! I have a friend with an airplane who was in town today and up for a buzz around the desert. I snapped lots of pics but I'm too lazy tonight to put more than this one up (i'm blaming the copious amount of wine i've been injesting tonight).
I have a LOT to do before I take off on Thursday morning. My expected date of departure from west Texas (or my hejira, as I like to call it) has been bumped up from Thursday at 1pm down to Wednesday at 6pm and now back to earlyearly Thursday morning. I have way too much to do before tomorrow night (wash clothes, pack bags, repair tent, bottle my homebrew beer, ect ect) so I'm postponing the rushed getaway until early the next morning. Since I've been "naturally" waking up for work before my alarm clock chimes during the 5am hour anyway lately (that habit will be the first one to very shortly break) I might as well put it to postive use. The open road isn't just calling, it's screaming.
While I'd much rather be on a beach somewhere right now I'm instead getting sunburned while working in Texas. But forget about that - let's think about that beach...
Three weeks from todayI should be on my way to a beach in Florida. Well, not really a beach, exactly - more like a dock. My couch is definitely looking forward to meeting back up with Candide!
Thanksgiving lasted a full four days this year. Here's a pic of the grand finale at the fam's place in Paint Rock, TX. Of course The Couch came, too.
The cast of players are:
back row, left to right:Lisa and Casey (my new-ish brother), Julie (my brother's wife), sis Abbey, Joe (dad's wife's father), Barbara (dad's wife), Louis (dad), Joey (another new-ish brother), and his fiance Megan (there's no way I spelled her name correctly, i'm sure). on the couch, left to right:bro Michael, new sister Taylor, my other brother Michael, and me!
Here's the lineup of who's who (as requested by The Savage):
back row, left to right: uncle Freddie, aunt Debbie, the most handsome grandfather I guy would have ("Papa" or George), my lovely grandmother "Big Mama" or Katy), aunt Jincy. front row, left to right:cousins Jessica, Zoe, "Trouble", Natalie, Josh, and Cami.
Almost a full year after Ente, my first experience hosting someone from CouchSurfing, stopped by I finally got the chance to welcome another stranger into my home in Texas. Heather from the Bay Area of California stopped by to say hello with her dog Beau.
Click on the pic above and you'll not only see Heather lounging on The Couch but some other random pics that i've taken over this last month. I haven't posted anything in a while (sorry!) so I hope this makes up for it.
It looks like I'll soon have more to write about. A day or two after Christmas I'm planning on going back to Montreal for New Year's Eve. While I'm not at all a fan of cold weather it still sounds like somewhat of a good idea to go to Canada during the winter. Does anyone know of a place where I can get my head examined?
While I've been searching out flight deals on the internet (by the way - my new favorite airfare search site is now Kayak.com! - what an awesome site!) I'm thinking now that I'd love to drive. But it would be way more fun to drive with someone the 4,200 miles there and back so I called up my friend Brad. Here's how the conversation went:
"Hey Brad. Wanna go somewhere with me for New Year's Eve?"
I'm a terrible blogger. I'd love to keep this website up to date with all of my happenings but I obviously suck at it. I keep saying i'll do better but, well, I keep failing anyway. I've gotten better with posting pictures but that's really been it. Do you guys want more stories or do the pics do it for you? It's feedback time. Give it to me.
For the last week I've been back in west Texas. It's hard to say I'm at "home" but if I had to put that label on anywhere it would be here. I've never really liked coming back for extended stays here but lately I've been seeing things differently. I've become aware of how fortunate I am to have a place like this to come back to whenever I wish. My dad has a business where I can work for however long I want, whenever I want, to fill my travel coffers. I get to live rent-free and don't have to spend any money unless I just want to. It's a sweet arrangement and I feel lucky to have it available.
Since I've been back I've been seeing my hometown through different eyes. I've never in my life thought of the landscape as being anything in the realm of picturesque but I keep finding myself snapping pictures of views I've never taken notice of before. Expect to see pictures of a couch surrounded by mesquite "bushes" and infinite amount of beige when I finally replace my broken camera.
I'm glad to live, at least temporarily, in a small town that's friendly to friends and strangers alike. When driving down any road within 400 miles expect to wave and be waved at by passing cars. Knowing the other driver should not be considered as a prerequisite. It's such a small town that you can expect most doors to be unlocked. This brings me to an funny story that happened a few days ago...
My dad's business sells, among other things, appliances. While I'm employed there I deliver quite a few of these an install almost all of them. The last one I delivered was to a guy ordered called in from work, told us what kind of washing machine he wanted, and asked us to deliver it to his house while he wasn’t there and he’d just come in after work and take care of the bill. This is the perfect illustration of how small, friendly, and trusting the town of Crane is. So I glance at the address and I truck the machine over to his empty house (the door, of course, is unlocked.) I knock anyway and then go inside – all the while saying “hello?” so as not to surprise anyone who might unexpectedly be home. I hear no one so start looking around for the laundry room. After I finally find it I start moving furniture around to get the old one out, clearing a path, ect. Finally I get to the washing machine and am surprised to find wet clothes in it. I’m thinking “why are they getting a new one when this one seems to work?” Right about the time I’m pulling wet clothes out of the machine a woman walks around the corner.
“Oh hi,” I say. “I didn’t think anyone would be here.”
She gives me a bewildered look so I go on with “should I take this machine with me or just leave it in the garage?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she finally says slowly. Then, quizzically but plainly, adds “why are you in my house?”
“Is this #204?” I ask while my face quickly reddens, finally catching on.
“#202”
The funniest part was that here I am, surprisingly to her, standing in her laundry room, her wet jeans in my hands, and she didn’t seem the least bit fazed about it. She assured me that the man on the ticket lives next door and, no, he wasn’t home either. She just happened to be driving by, noticed that her door was open, and popped in to find out why. While she looked vaguely familiar to me (like most of the residents of this town, these days) I have no idea who she was or if she knew who I was. More than likely she knew me, or at least knew of me (not unlikely in this town with my dad being someone everyone knows), but she didn’t acknowledge it or anything. She just pointed me in the right direction, I put her wet clothes back in the wash, and left. Just to be sure, I double checked the address of the house next door before going inside.
As long as it's necessary to spend time at work (i've clocked in 100 hours in 10 days) I'm glad to find a place that works well for me. While I can instantly think of 100 other places I'd rather spend two months I'm glad to find so many things - old and new - that I enjoy about a place I call "home".
I made it out to Dealey Plaza in Dallas right before the sun set earlier this week. Jason, a local photographer, met up with me to snap a few pics. Above is one I took of him. You may recognize Dealey Plaza as the place where JFK was assassinated. The Couch in the pic above is parked on the spot where he was shot. Does this strike anyone as too morbid? I'm unsure how I feel about taking playful pics of a couch on the spot. What are your thoughts?
Today I met with "Mr. Stone's" class at Christway Academy in Dallas. Mr Stone is my brother who teaches a class of highly energetic 6th graders. They were nice enough to have me show them pictures of my journeys with a couch around the US. Afterwards we took a picture outside (as seen above). Thanks for having me!
So FINALLY I have the chance to say hello to everyone. No, I didn't die in a firery crash on route to Austin. Instead everything went almost unordinarily smoothly. Well...almost.
As you may have read the beginning of my journey didn't have the best of starts. I was delayed by several hours by rain covering the first hour of my route but that turned out to be a good thing. It so happened that, true to form, I was nowhere near prepared to just jump on the motorcycle and ride off into the horizon.
First, I hadn't really packed. I threw some things into a bag at the last minute but that wasn't abnormal. This is how I always pack - right before I leave for a big trip. Some could call that lazy but let's just say it's time efficient. I've always been better under the gun than with worlds of time in front of me to squander. But I've found that the times spent in between trips not living out of a bag does make me a little lazy, at least in respect to my organizational skills. I couldn't find anything I needed. Everything was spread out in 100 different drawers, closets, boxes, bags, and definitely some rouge black holes since there are some things that just were not to be found.
After getting enough stuff together to feel sufficiently satisfied (hey, this IS a tour of America - I can replace anything within minutes) I started packing up the bike. That's when I had the thought, "is that inspection tag out of date?" One hour later (that included four trips to two different inspection garages, another run to the hardware store to replace two burnt out running lights, and $12.50 later I had a new tag. As he was putting it on I noticed it wasn't even the tag I had noticed as being expired! It turned out I needed a new registration tag. Oh well, at least I have working (useless) red lights. Add $32.60 for the inspection 15 minutes later and I was finally off.
Waving goodbye Dad and Barbara (see, I did mention you two) I was on my way to Austin. I did catch a little rain during that first hour or two but it wasn't bad at all. The full face helmet was definitely a good idea. The rest of the ride went smoothly while I listened to four or five Modest Mouse albums on my iPod until I made it to Austin. No problems, no close calls, just a good ride.
In Austin I made it to Lael's house just in time. Even though there was only one car outside the house seemed full of people. While I was a virtual stranger to them all, especially the woman who's house I was staying in, they wasted no time in welcoming me into their fold.
Until late into the night (or early in the morning, depending on how you want to look at it) we went on and on. We started with yummy Mexican food, almost worked out a ride in a yaught taxi (still not sure what that is) an ended up at a karaoki club. It was my first time ever doing karaoki but I loved it! We had the best time and stayed for hours.
The weekend didn't stop there. I had another day in night in Austin. While we woke up tired and very hungover in the morning (what did we drink last night?) we still managed a big night on Saturday. We stayed in but that didn't stop the fun. And old friend of mine from my rock star days came stopped by. The last time I saw Darrien we were jamming in the band Deep together in Denton. It was great to see him.
Austin turned out to be the best place to begin my long journey. In the planning stage for visiting there I didn't think it was going to work out. I had emailed several people to stay with through CouchSurfing and didn't get much response. Luckily Lael signed up just two days before I was to leave and things worked out better than I could have imagined. Thanks Lael!
It's just before 9am and I'm all finally all packed up and ready to roll. I look outside to the sky to smile at the sun...and rain slaps me in the face. Rain + Motorcycle = No Fun At All.
Ok, it's not raining that hard and it looks like it won't last too long. But is it a bad sign? I think not.
Almost all of my trips have started with something seemingly bad happening. The very first time I ever took off on my own with a backpack it happened on the plane. While halfway across the Atlantic I held a woman while she died and then helped carry her body to the front of the plane. True story. While each other time wasn't near as extreme something negative always happen.
But I don't mind, really. Actually, judging by how amazing my trips have turned out I should consider these preceeding events as not just signs but a positive ones at that. There's some quote that says something about bad things happening is just opportunity in waiting. I wish I could remember how it went but at least I know what it meant. The events before us can be taken through a number of perspectives. I prefer to see them as an added adventure and, at least in the case of this morning, something to write about while I wait for the weather to clear.
In Austin I made it to Lael's house just in time. Even though there was only one car outside the house seemed full of people. While I was a virtual stranger to them all, especially the woman who's house I was staying in, they wasted no time in welcoming me into their fold.