The Road Within

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Alright, so..the Big Blue Whale. This is something Roni suggested we stop and see on our way to St. Louis. Since she hadnt steered us in a bad direction yet, we followed. And there it was..in all of its big, blue glory. It was hilarious to see people actually fishing off of this thing. They had little picnic tables and chairs with whales all over them. Another great roadside attraction. We continued to drive to St. Louis with high hopes in realizing this is our last stop before home. Our last host and our last city. We got to St. Louis around 8, but only after stopping at the World’s Largest Rocking Chair off of Route 66. There is no doubt that this rocking chair was the largest. There were no climbing signs, so I respected their wishes..but I really did just want to climb all over it.

We got to St. Louis and met Andy. ANDY! Rachel and I made jokes about meeting Andy the whole way to St. Louis. We put his name in everything and made up stories about what he was going to be like. Not in a mean way, but in a fun loving kind of way. Andy is a 25 year old video editor. Basically, he follows people around while they make commercials for some companies and he assists and edits the commercials. Pretty cool gig, right? Andy had a nice apartment and he immediately wanted to get down to business. He was ready to show us St. Louis and have a good time. He was pretty bummed we got there when it was just getting dark because that meant we didnt have maximum time to see the whole city. We went a couple places and we landed on this fantastic karaoke place. We had told Andy that we had a karaoke mission and it had to be completed. He was all for it. We entered this crazy zone of people that were ready to belt out terrible song lyrics and have a good time. Everyone was happy and dancing. It took Andy and I about a half hour to pick a song because there were just too many. Andy put our names in and we were set to go..but then! The DJ said that they had to shut things down early for the night and the last songs were coming up. So, I boldly went up to DJ guy and said, “Listen, my name is Abra and I’m from Ohio. I’m only here for a night and I HAVE to karaoke tonight. Can you make this happen?” He looked around and found Pat. Pat was the closer for the evening. He was wearing big pants and a championship belt that they wear in wrestling. Pat looked at me and said “Do you like Sublime?” I said “Yes Pat, I do” and then minutes later..I was up on stage singing sublime with Pat and his championship belt. It was hilarious..fun..entertaining..and I didnt really think about what I was doing while I was up there or else I probably wouldnt have done it. All I could see was the laughter falling off of Rachel and Andy’s faces. That ultimately led me to carry on. It was a fantastic night in St. Louis, but we were all very tired and Andy had to go to work early the next day. Not to mention, we were pretty pumped to get back home. So..St. Louis was fun and Andy was a great host. He invited us back and we invited him to Ohio..so, we’ll see what happens!

More later..my dirty laundry is calling my name !

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So..Tulsa, OK was completely and utterly great! I am irrationally thinking about moving there in the near future. Rachel and I got to Tulsa around 4:30 and we met our host, Roni, at a coffee shop called Shades of Brown. Roni decided to plan and throw a couch surfing event for the day we got there. Side note: Major couch surfing (CS) cities have events all the time. The events can be meeting at a coffee shop, a pub, having a potluck dinner..the amount of options are endless! Rachel had a chance to go to an event while in Europe, but I had never been to one so Roni hooked it up for us! When we got to the coffee shop, I wasnt sure who or what I was looking for but we stumbled into a room of people that looked like they were looking for us and i wildly said, “Who the heck are you guys!” We found our people and that was that. There were about 10 other Tulsa surfers there. I cant describe the experience because you just had to be there. No one there knew each other because this was the first time Tulsa had an event themselves. So 10-15 complete strangers with one common bond and project they support..and the result was beautiful. Everyone was super talkative and eager to hear about everyone elses travels and experiences. We were there for about 4 hours talking and I wasnt even tired of it.

I cant say enough good things about Roni. She put this whole thing together and stood behind it 100%. She is very passionate about the CS community and wants to keep building it. For me personally, she was very inspiring. It made me want to go home that moment and contact everyone near Springfield that is involved with the project. Roni is 30 years old, but I refuse to believe this age she has provided. She teaches speech at a community college as an adjunct teacher and she works at a car rental place to pay the bills. She is young at heart and was really eager to get to know us and show us the best of Tulsa. Boy, did she succeed! Tulsa, like a few other cities we stopped in, reminded me of Springfield..just a little bigger and better. Tulsa has shops, vintage stores, one of a kind restaurants, local music, and art all around the town. It makes me happy to see places like Springfield because Springfield is home. But it also makes me sad because Springfield has so much potential and it is being wasted on chain restaurants and super walmarts. Bleck!

Anyways, after the CS event..we went to dinner at another surfers house. Roni didnt know this surfer either..but somehow we thought she did. We met Jenny, Kerry, Jacob, and I think Scott all at this house. They made a great salad and veggie lasagna for all of us to revel in. It was delicious! We all sat around talking about CS and life. At this point, Rachel and I had met about 20 new people in 6 hours and we were loving every minute of it. You dont get to do that everyday. You dont even get to do that in a week usually. But, the meetings didnt stop. We went back to Roni’s apartment for a short bit and then headed to Crystal Pistol (Sassy Pistol as Rachel dubbed it) to meet yet another new CS friend. There we met Kate and her boyfriend. We watched a few bands and then ultimately decided to split to see more of Tulsa.

Roni took us to the center of the universe..and if you dont believe that it is the center of the universe, look it up! It is just this place in the middle of Tulsa where if you stand in this center circle, you can hear your voice echo. The strange thing is, that only you yourself can hear your voice doing this crazy echo thing. We stood less than a foot away from Rachel while she was experiencing the echo and we couldnt hear a thing. It was pretty cool and no one really knows why it does this..but hey, I’m not going to question it too much either!

From the center of the universe, Roni took us to her favorite dive bar..Colony. There was live music, of course, and many entertaining people. We hung out there for a bit and talked about life and love with Roni. At this point, we felt like we were just visiting an old friend..not hanging out with a complete stranger. We love Roni and I’m pretty sure she loves us back!

We crashed pretty much right when we got back to the apartment and we woke up just a few hours later. Roni took us to her favorite breakfast spot and I got a great chicken, spinach, mushroom, and swiss cheese omlet. I keep getting things with mushrooms and I’m not really sure why. I guess i like them? We honestly didnt want to leave Tulsa and Roni was making pro/con lists to convince us to stay another day. As tempting as it was, we just couldnt. But, I will make my way back to Tulsa to hang out with Roni and all the other Tulsa CS because they are incredible people!

The day in Tulsa was one of my favorite days of the trip. We just met so many people. People that care and want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. People that go out and do things, see things, and love things.

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So this is it..this is Cadillac Ranch! This was one of our favorite roadside attractions throughout our entire trip. This display was in the middle of nowhere. In fact, when we looked it up the directions told us it was “somewhere between exit 60 and 62”..so pretty exact if you ask me. There were 10 cadillacs all lined up that were halfway buried into the ground. People that pass through get a chance to bring spray paint and add to the graffiti that stains the cars. As you get closer to the cars, you can see just hundreds of empty spray cans on the ground. Some cars had actual artwork on them while others said “Tommy and Jane 4Ever” and “Your Mom”. Rachel and I showed up ill prepared and didnt have any spray paint. I rummaged around the ground to find one that still had some juice in it but no dice. I took a million more pictures because this place was far too cool. Rachel even snapped an awesome polaroid of the ranch. Choice!

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Sadly, these are the few pictures I got to take while in Santa Fe. Santa Fe is a pretty cool place. Most of the neighborhoods consist of beautifully built adobe houses. They all seem to look the same, but so different at the same time. It was refreshing to see houses that were simple and flat, yet very warm and welcoming. Santa Fe has a very cool artsy side to it and that’s where I took most of these pictures. Gallery after gallery, sculpture after sculpture..it was all very pleasing to the eye!

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Homeward Bound

Well, I’m home. But! I will continue to update and post pictures from the last couple days of the trip. I will probably continue to write about the trip and reflect here until I don’t need to anymore, so keep looking out for new postings!

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cheddars

So, I’m sitting here in a luscious, red couch in Amarillo, TX just thinking about how good life is. And how it is wrong to end sentences with prepositional phrases.

Let’s start with yesterdays events. Rachel and I left Farmington, NM and traveled to Santa Fe, NM. It was a very short drive for us and we were relieved. I’m not sick of driving yet, I feel like it has just begun in a way. We got to Santa Fe and our host, Chris, was working on some things for the school he teaches at. Another preposition..ha! Anyways, Rachel and I had a few hours to kill so we tried to settle in to the West de Vargas park. It was a tiny park and all of its inhabitants were pretty interesting. We tried to read under a shade tree, but we were constantly interrupted by these men wanting cigarettes, the time, and to know what we were doing at the park. In attempt to actually finish a page of our book, we moved onto another park. This park was grand and provided peace and quiet. We layed in the grass and rolled around until our skin turned green. We got to witness this amazing dog play frisbee with its owner. Hey Kip, if you’re reading this..just know that we have some work to do in the backyard when I get home. Around 6 or so Chris called and said he would be on his way to the park. We were getting ready to meet him and his church youth group to play ultimate frisbee. Okay, so I’ve heard of ultimate frisbee, but i didnt know what it entailed. I was pretty quiet while playing which is probably a surprise to most of you. I caught the frisbee a couple times, dropped it more than a couple times, and assisted in scoring. I guess you could say I was a hot shot out there. Okay, just kidding. Anyways, it was a really good time and great to see such a wide range of ages participating in this event. It made me want to return to Springfield and immediately organize a weekly kickball game. Who’s down? After all the frisbees were thrown, Chris took us to a place called Second Street Brew. At least that’s what I think it was called. I got a portabello mushroom sandwich. Look at me now, Mom! We all got a chance to talk and I was happy that Rachel had found someone to talk art with. Chris is a great person. It is almost blasphemy to describe him in such few words, but he just exudes goodness. He was super friendly, fun, talkative, and generous. He lives in a little adobe neighborhood which is absolutely beautiful. He has a great view of the stars from his back porch and I was happy we took some time to observe. Some things you just cant see in the city. Rachel and I woke up this morning and Chris had left for work. He left out three different types of cereals, spoons, and bowls for us. He went above and beyond to make us feel welcomed and we were so lucky. Chris, if you’re reading this..thank you again!

Before we left Santa Fe for the day we went to a little artsy area on Canyon Rd that Chris had suggested. Apparently Santa Fe’s art scene is on the rise. There were some amazing sculptures and art pieces in these galleries that were just completely open for anyone and everyone to explore. Very cool! We couldve spent the whole day there, but..well, you know. We headed to Amarillo and made it there in record timing. We went to the grocery store to buy mushrooms and corn on the cob for our hosts birthday potluck dinner. I dont know where we were, but they had a total of 4.7 ears of corn and I wasnt about to trust it! So, i settled for extra mushrooms. We went to our hosts house and we actually beat her there, so we waited patiently on her front porch like any complete strangers would. Rachel and I were guessing the type of car Debra would have and we were totally blown away by this wacky, but cute little yellow thing she pulled up in. I think it totally fits her personality. Debra greeted us with hugs, just the way I like to be greeted. It wasn’t long before her best friend, Marion, showed up. Marion, and I apologize if I’m spelling this wrong, is an 82 year old woman who has developed a close relationship with Debra through her daughter. They love each other and it shows. Marionwas a hoot. She thinks out loud, voices her opinion, and lets everyone know that she is independent. She was a very sweet lady and I enjoyed getting the chance to talk to her. She had never been around any couch surfers, so it was nice to be that first glimpse into the world for her. We ate dinner and talked for hours and hours and then Debra showed us around Amarillo. The town is small and comparable to Springfield. The neighborhood she lives in is exactly like Northridge, so I felt at home. Debra works as a Nanny for a family in the summer and she also does real estate. She gets to travel all over anytime she wants and I admire that. She is very talkative, straight forward, and kind. I’ve enjoyed hearing her Nanny stories and exchanging tips on teaching young children. I’m in my element!

Rachel is in bed right now, what else is new? Tomorrow we are headed to Tulsa, OK and then to St. Louis, MO. After St. Louis, we are home free. I still cant get over the fact that any of this has actually happened. We actually left. We have been gone. We have seen amazing things. We have met amazing people. And we are on our way home, to our normal lives. Tonight, I am excited to come home. I miss my family and friends and all that gushy stuff, but I really miss my spiritual routine I had going on. I thought it would be easy to go to church while on the road. I thought I’d have a lot of time to just be quiet, pray, and reflect. And I’m sad that it hasnt ended up that way. There is something going on around me constantly and I’m ready to rest up and dive back into what I was doing in Springfield before I left.

In other news, while in Vegas Rachel and I ran into some karaokee action. We stumbled upon this piano bar while walking through some casino, I dont even know. I heard terrible singing and my ears automatically perked up. We sat down and began to watch the madness. This elderly woman got up in front of everyone and sang “I’m Proud to be an American”. It was certainly memorable. Everyone in that place, including myself, was singing at the top of their lungs and throwing their fists in the air for America. It was hilarious and the song seemed to last forever. Rachel caught the whole thing on video, and I’ll work to get that uploaded but it will take great skill and determination and I’m feeling pretty tired lately. And speaking of that feeling…goodnight!

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The Grand Canyon was amazing. I do want everyone to know that it cost us 25 dollars just to drive through. After crying about that for ten minutes, we got over it and were able to look all around the canyon. There were so many people there, yet the area remained pretty silent. It is nice that nature can do that to people. It was very bright and sunny out while we were going through the canyon, so the pictures are not the best.

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A few fotografias from California and what not.

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wish i could’ve packed you in my suitcase

Quick update: Rachel and I are alive.

Not so quick update: I have been losing all my fire and burning passion to blog. I admitt to slacking, my apologies! I think I left off in San Fra and on the way to LA. LA was pretty interesting. If I can be honest, and I will be, we kind of had a flop of a host. He was a super nice guy and everything, but he was also competing with all of the other fabulous hosts that we have so far and not everything added up. When we arrived, he was busy playing Magic and was getting ready to head to a Magic tournament so we didnt really have a chance to talk or share much of anything. Rachel and I were set loose into the world and felt kind of funny about it. We saw the Elliot Smith wall and then we took a crazy route to get to the Hollywood sign. It was a must, dont you know. We drove around a bit and tried to take everything in and we ended the night with pizza. Surprising? We had a terrible time finding parking that wasnt going to be a bad situation in the morning and ended up getting lost on the way back to our hosts house. Nobody walks in LA, so it was a little spooky. However, we were cautious of our surroundings and I had my mace on standby. The first time I felt slightly out of my element the whole trip. We made it back to Todd’s house and finally got a chance to talk to him and get to know him a little better. We all went to sleep, woke up around 9, and headed for the beach. It was a really brief visit and Rachel and I left feeling like we didnt get to know him as much as we would’ve liked. We went to Manhattan Beach and it was…awesome! The water, the waves, the sand, the textures, the people..everything about it was way better than I had imagined. It was very unfortunate that my camera decided to take a long nap while at the beach, so Rachel has all those wonderful pictures. We spent a couple hours at the beach and then headed for Vegas.

The drive to Vegas was..well, it was. It got up to 111 degrees and we had to drive with our windows down in order to prevent the car from overheating. It was not terrible, but it eventually made me very sick. We got to Vegas, met our host Sarita and got to check out her and Joaquin’s apartment. It was absolutely adorable and they even had a whole room dedicated to couch surfers. Ballin! Sarita had to go teach a class, so we headed for the strip like any visitors would. The strip was interesting. Massive buildings, lights, crowds, and surprsingly enough elderly beings. It was a sight to see, but ultimately it felt weird being there. Rachel and I spent about five dollars each and that includes buying sparkling water and snapple. I played a few slot machines, but I didnt have a clue what anything meant so I just hit the buttons I felt like hitting. I won 20 cents. Vegas is truly in the middle of the desert and for the fact alone, it is a crazy place. Everything you think it represents, it does. It was weird to think that for my last birthday, I was going to come to Vegas. The 20 year old me would’ve loved the crap out of the place and reveled in all that it has to offer. However, the current me had no real interest or desire. It was hard to justify spending..no, wasting money on gambling, drinking, and everything else there. It is a loud, booming place..but it was also very sad. Materialism and consumerism is astounding in Vegas and consumes most everyone there. It makes me smile on the inside to recognize and acknowledge this stuff and not buy into it. Moving along, Rachel and I went back to Sarita and Joaquin’s apartment at a respectable 10:15 pm. We got to hang out a little more and we met there friend Adolfo. He was somethin else!

We left Vegas super early this morning. We saw the Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, and the Four Corners all before arriving to our current stop, Farmington NM. Our hosts here, Monica and Cecilia are nothing short of amazing. They are undeniably hilarious and their banter back and forth is great to witness. Monica is an orchestra teacher at the high school here and Cecilia works for the credit union. They have an incredible house that they have been remodeling all by themselves. Dad, you’d be impressed with this new sink they put in! Anyways, Rachel and I love them and I wish we could stay here for another day just to hang out with them alone. But alas, Santa Fe is calling.

I dont even think I am covering everything. So much happens in a day and even in an hour. One hour we’re on the Pacific Ocean and another hour we are in the middle of the desert listening to Ricky Martin on the radio. We have run into some humourous characters all throughout our travels, but the one I want to mention is Glen (one n) in San Francisco. Rachel and I were at Wendy’s and a funny little man named Glen came to our table and asked if he could sit down. I jumped at the chance and told him if he really wanted to, he was more than welcome. He laughed and said he was just kidding. He sat one table over and I thought that was going to be the end of that. But oh no, Glen is a talker. As he is pouring bbq sauce all over his chicken nuggets, he is asking us all sorts of questions and just being real silly with us. We eventually had to leave Glen and I was pretty bummed about it because he seemed like a guy that just wanted some friends to talk to for a little bit. He didnt want money, he had some already. He wasnt asking for food, he had the chicken nuggets remember! He was just asking for someone to talk to and I wish our exchange could’ve lasted longer.

Rachel is always asleep when I write..it’s like her snoring brings out all the words I think and want to say. It is truly a beautiful thing.

We have less than a week and I could say I’m ready to come home and I could say tag on another week. I am feeling really great about the trip and really great about going home. That is the problem, I’m always nonchalantly stuck in the middle. It’s going to be weird to witness rain again. If you think it rains in the desert, you’re wrong.

If you’re wondering where the pictures are..you’re going to have to wonder and wait until tomorrow. Oops!

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