Sunday, September 25, 20058:06 PM - Third day of catchup posts. Sorry, no title. Please see future post. Tony: After I picked up a (thankfully not enraged) Fenny on the other side of Pittsburgh, we made the comparatively short drive to Ithaca in upstate New York. We drove mostly on backroads except for a brief stint on our old friend, I-80. All of this driving has me really fatigued-- I am glad it is almost over. I went to school in Ithaca and spent quite a bit of my young childhood in nearby Cortland, where we are staying tonight. Tomorrow we are going to see the house where I lived, and we might even drive back to Ithaca for one of my favorite lunches and mochas before we make our finally short hop to Brattleboro. Tonight I took Fenny to the Moosewood Restaurant, which I didn't even realize was famous until after I graduated. I'll let her talk about it, since I've been before. Fenny: Moosewood good. Moosewood food. Moosewood...woot. We had vegetable stew. It was plain and good. Then, we had fudge brownie a la mode. Dennis' ice cream is amazing. It's sweeter, but it also tastes like there's less dairy in it. The fudge brownie was less sweet than most. Every thing about that combination was right. I've slacked off on my job of taking photos of the landscape. Here, I'm back on the job. It's nice to be here where there's less sunshine. I feel like I've just left a planet where there is no night. Gray skies are a nice break. The breeze is still warm, though. Nice. Favorite roadsign of the day: Town of Horseheads.  White lines are for wussies.
Musical selections provided by: Our own voices. Sometimes Tony was singing on the inside so as not to disturb Fenny's concentration. Friday, September 23, 200510:56 PM - Ohio scares me Tony: It was tough to leave Billie Creek Village and head through Ohio, mostly because I was born in Columbus, Ohio, and don't have a lot of good things to say about my time there. On this time through the state, we found that the drivers were aggressive, the speed limits were low, and there were police speed traps everywhere. We did stop at a newly-opened Whole Foods in Columbus, and had quite a healthy lunch once we found a place to park. I also arranged a little surprise for Fenny in West Virginia before we headed through to Pittsburgh. We arrived quite late in Pittsburgh and met up with my college friend Karen and her husband, Dave. Since I graduated college, I can almost count on one hand the number of days I've spend with Karen, and as usual, this visit was too short. Karen and Dave just moved to Pittsburgh and were incredibly generous with their space (When Dave asked how I slept, I said that I felt like the Princess and the Pea, but without the Pea). They took us out for a late-night Peruvian meal which was excellent and healthy. We dropped Fenny off at a hotel on the other side of town (since she's allergic to cats and Karen and Dave have three of them, so we wanted to make sure Fenny was as far away from the cats as possible) and then Karen and Dave and I stayed up until almost 2 am talking. In the morning we walked to breakfast and I lingered so long that Fenny had to check out of her hotel and stand outside with her bags and make a sad face until I came to pick her up. Dave took a cute goodbye picture with Karen and I, so I'm hoping to get that in my inbox any moment now. Fenny: I was a little curious, a little excited, and a little weirded out by the thought of going to Billie Creek Village. This stuff about settlers, pioneers, quilts, wood-carved decor, Americana, etc. has always been like aesthetic kryptonite to me. There's nothing that acknowledges attrocities against indigenous people, which makes celebration of settler culture creepy to me. I didn't find anything that addressed that issue in this visit. I just tried to see if I could learn a little bit and about the people who do celebrate it and why they are fond of it. A lot of people around Billie Creek Village were very warm and friendly. A lot of people, including visitors, made eye contact and said good morning. Naturally, there's a much slower pace of life here than in San Francisco, where people rush around in a way that minimizes eye contact and conversations with strangers. I contemplated the aesthetics of this culture and its tradition and the word "modest" kept coming up for me. If I put art forms that I prefer next to this art, then the stuff I like could be considered flashy, bold, colorful, or loud. To me, it feels like things here are treated with modesty. Modest colors. Modest placement. Modest amounts. I also think that these pioneer exhibits are the locals' connection with art and history. An art museum like the ones you find in urban areas would be out of place, here. So, maybe these exhibits serve a similar purpose. Anyway, I think I need a few more trips to figure this stuff out. A couple of things I like about Indiana: The only police we saw were actually helping people whose car had broken down. They weren't lurking at the roads to ticket people. The tax in Indiana is really low, around 5%. I didn't like how many police were on the roads in Ohio. Also, there were lots of people who were extra patriotic. They had "Freedom isn't free" ribbon stickers on their cars. Many people had 4 support the war ribbon stickers on their cars. Big ribbons. Lots of them. Do you know what kind of car you need if you want to display that many ribbons? An SUV. We saw one SUV with 7 ribbons on it. Tony says that that's a sign of inner conflict. Tony took me to Cherokee Trading Post. Yeah, it's bad. I don't understand. But, I did want to see the bad t-shirts and bad gifts. Things you probably shouldn't give as gifts: Hillbilly Fish Finder (a stick of dynamite), Hillbilly Ghost Poop (some styrofoam in a bag), and Hillbilly Donut Seeds (some Cheerios in a bag). There are a lot of Citgos around here. We started to buy gas from them whenever possible to support Venezuela's government oil company. Tony was so happy to finally see Karen. He had been wishing we were in Pittsburgh, already, when we were all the way back in Berkeley. Karen and Dave have a neat apartment. They have some fish, four turtles, one snake, and three cats. It was fun to watch the turtles and hear stories about their misadventures. The Peruvian food was really good. My favorite was the yellow pepper hot sauce. At Tony's suggestion, we had a dessert-free day. We've been eating a lot of junk food and desserts at every meal. We went cold turkey for a day. Favorite road sign of the day: Stringtown.  Guess who doesn't love you.
Musical selections provided by: it's all reruns, baby 8:01 PM - Illinois was utterly forgettable. Tony: You might notice that today, tomorrow, and the next day, I'll be trying to talk in the present tense even though these are things that happened a couple of days ago. We didn't have good internet access and time for a couple of days, so we're secretly filling in the blanks after the fact. Shhh don't tell. We left Brian in Iowa without getting a picture together (criminy!) and headed for Indiana. My friends who live in Indiana are actually visiting Canada at the moment, so we chose to stay at the Billie Creek Inn at Billie Creek village in Indiana. Fenny discovered it on the internet and I've been a bit skeptical, but they are scheduled to have a gourd festival so we booked a room and got off the beaten trail a bit. Our dinner in Indiana was at the Castaway, which was had me shrieking in terror (on the inside) after our divine culinary experiences in Colorado and Iowa. I was able to find something vegetarian (breaded mushrooms and a personal little green pepper pizza, with some of Fenny's coleslaw) and tried to hold my breath through the smoky dining experience. The Castaway had a vaguely nautical theme to its decor, but mostly I was excited to get out as quickly as possible. Billie Creek Village was really interesting. All of the buildings had been rescued, preserved, and moved to the village, which is itself a non-profit dedicated to preserving and educating about the history of Parke county. The people we met really seemed to take pride in the history of their community. We spent quite a bit of time with Mary Margaret Skelton who taught us quite a bit about the Billie Creek Village one-room schoolhouse, and Mary Margaret herself had been educated in a one-room schoolhouse. We got to write our name on the blackboard and now have a copy of a 1915 "teacher's contract" which included clauses like: "The teacher will not loiter downtown in ice cream parlors." Fenny: Here are some excellent cooking tips from Brian: 1. If you want to brown zucchini, you should salt them and let them sit in a collander for a while (like you do for eggplants when you're sweating them). Let them sit for 10 minutes, I think. I can't remember the amount of time. Some water will drain out of the zucchinis. Then, rinse the salt off the zucchinis and pat them dry before you cook them. 2. If you like your eggs over easy, add a little water to the pan after you've put the oil and eggs in. Then put a lid on the pan. That way, you don't have to flip the eggs to cook the top. The steam from the water cooks the top of the eggs. Yum. We saw swarms of birds and and a ribbon of birds that stretched wide over the road and fields. I think they were migrating. It was breath-taking the way the swarms shifted shape and direction. We saw some light rain, too. I love the rain. I was hoping for a good thunderstorm, but it's just as well that it didn't happen because it would have slowed us down in driving. I love the way the air smells when it rains. The searing, brown desert gave way to cornfields. Now, the cornfields have given way to greenery. It's still warm and humid, but I'm thrilled to see the first signs of Fall since I haven't seen a real Fall since I moved to the Bay Area (about 10 years ago). The sky is gray and pumpkins are everywhere. The street and city signs got less and less funny as we drove eastward, but the entrepreneurs made up for it. Actual names of businesses: Kum & Go (gas station and convenience store), Settle Inn, AmericInn.  Tony in Wonderland
Musical selections provided by: Mike P and Fenny Thursday, September 22, 20054:26 PM - Ames, where you can buy 3 muffins and get 3 free Tony: We've made it to Ames, Iowa, where we are relaxing with my former Berkeley roommate Brian and taking a day off from all that nasty driving. Brian made us banana bread and set us up very comfortably in his home. His kitty, PJ, loves to cuddle and play rough. This afternoon we had lunch at the Olde Main Brewing Company which puts bacon in its vegetarian corn chowder, but had incredible on-site-brewed root beer and a trio of supertasty desserts. I think Lisa really affected the way I've been thinking about all of this driving. Going through Nebraska, I was thinking about how idyllic it must be for some people to live there, with the warm heat and the greenery and the lack of urbanness. I remember being sad for people who live such uncomplicated lives having their children sent off to a war that, at least in my eyes, is unjustified. I don't understand and I think it's really unfair to force people to go through that. To me, Iowa looks like Wizard of Oz Kansas. Things have been getting steadily greener since Wyoming, and here in Iowa there are green, rolling hills with neatly mowed lawns, rows of crops and little houses and farms. It was supposed to rain this afternoon, and the air has a thick stormy tension and gusts of warm, gray wind. I'm almost waiting for a green woman with a crooked nose to go flying by on her bicycle. Not only did we get a full night of sleep, but this morning we also watched TV. Fenny introduced me to Celebrity Poker on Bravo. I didn't know how to play poker before, but I'm a bit fascinated by the game and how obsessed people seem to be with it. So... I watched Rosie O'Donnell and Alex Trebek get trounced at celebrity poker today. I may have to buy some cards and some jellybeans. Oscar may have unintentionally provided some of our best entertainment of yesterday's drive. The second track on his CD is some crazy thing (Oscar: is it the theme from Katamari Damacy? I've never played it...) with hyper drums, high-voiced women singing, "choo choo choo, choo, choo choo CHOO!" while a man with a deep voiced bellows regally, "Na na na NAAAAA...." Fenny and I have taken to re-enacting this little ditty in the car when we are feeling loopy. Yesterday we performed the song over top of some 1960s Mod-era spy songs about driving in the Italian countryside. Fenny's also trying to teach me to clap Flamenco rhythms. Fenny: Nebraska wasn't all that exciting, but it was at least better than Wyoming. At least Nebraska has corn. The scenery suddenly got greener as we entered Iowa. Iowa didn't have welcome signs at the border and the logo they chose for their Welcome Center signs have the outline of the state with a giant question mark inside. Does Iowa want us to guess which state we're in? Guess what? There's no helmet law in Iowa. I felt really freaked out driving on the interstate behind a motorcyclist who wasn't wearing a helmet. The restroom gods have been kind to me. It's the off season for travel and all of the restrooms I've been in have been very clean. Iowa feels a lot more liberal than the states we've recently been in. Also, they have wifi at a lot of their rest stops. It feels like an oasis after Wyoming and Nebraska. Ames has a really cute Main St. area lined by 2-story brick buildings that I'm guessing were built in the 1920s. I'm still feeling a bit tired, but better after a day of rest. The long drives can be grueling and Tony and I are mostly zombie-like at the end of the day, but we're really enjoying the places we're staying and the company of people who are putting us up. We had some really fantastic warm artichoke and asiago dip on fresh bread yesterday. We haven't really adjusted our caloric intake to the activity of sitting on our butts for 12 hours a day. It doesn't help that Brian is a really good cook and we've been looking at his vast collection of amazing cookbooks. I think I gained 10 pounds just in Iowa. Tony has been really positive about experiencing new things. Also, he is, like, the most cheerful person when he wakes up, which I actually enjoy. It reminds me of when I was at the hospital with him after his shoulder surgery and he was still under anesthesia. He was extremely polite to the staff while under the influence. I wanna get Tony drunk to see if he's super-polite when he's drunk, too. Brian and I went to Salvation Army, yesterday, so I could see what stuff people own and throw out in Ames. There sure were a lot of bad-ass mod couches and record players. Also, there were really cool records if you're into record cover art. The Bric-a-Brac section was the best. I made a little diorama out of the most interesting items. I'm practicing my new approach to thrifting, which is to take photos of my favorite things rather than buying things that will just end up in my garage sale. Check out the new art in the upper left corner of Tony's blog (from today's thrifting). Brian's caption: It's Present Day and you're not invited. Favorite track of the day: From Lauren's CD, there's a song that samples some type of self-help tape in which a woman teaches us to express the following: I want a raise. I wanna go home. I want to have sex. I want a cookie. Favorite road sign of the day: Oralabor Rd.  Nebraska.
Musical selections provided by: Jennifer, Lauren, Morgan, and Fenny Tuesday, September 20, 200510:45 PM - Long boring states make Tony sing crazy songs. Tony:I think "Wyoming" is a mistranslation of "Why? OMG" because that's mostly what we were thinking through that state. Lots of boringness. It was really cool to see Pam in Utah and we had a fantastic breakfast this morning in Salt Lake City. I think we have breakfast pictures, even. Mmm. Tonight in Boulder, CO we are staying with Lisa, an aerial dancer who's studied with Terry Sendgraff, who I took classes with when she lived briefly in San Francisco and who took incredible care of me last year when I was here for the annual Aerial Dance Festival. Lisa took us out for a great Ethiopian meal (where we ran into another aerialist!) and then took us out for a walk through the park. She's even stretched us out on the junglegym and is making sure we are getting plenty of water and protein. She seems to have an antidote for car cramps, aches, and pains. Tonight I'm probably going to sleep outside on the porch under the stars. We also hit Whole Foods here in boulder for supplies. The deli guy, when he found I was from out of town, told me there's a club in town that might interest me, and proceeded to make sure I had the name and directions. Leave it to me to interact with one local person and end up getting directed to the gay bar. Tomorrow I've got my favorite sesame cucumber noodles for lunch, gay bar or no. Hooray! Fenny: We heart Lisa. Lisa is from Boulder. People in Boulder are extra nice. We ate outdoors at an Ethiopian restaurant. Great food, plus there was a stream, tiki torches, and a warm breeze. People who were not nice to us on the road today: Some old man and his wife from Nebraska tried to tailgate us in their SUV. They sped up going uphill and slowed down going down hill. I think he flipped us off. We were going 75mph, but apparently that's not fast enough. Why do they have a place in Wyoming called Little America? I mean, it's not like they left the country and got homesick. Favorite thing on a sign yesterday: Secret Town Rd. Favorite road signs from today: Fossil Butte and Flaming Gorge.  Pam with a groggy Tony.
Musical selections provided by: Kara, Greg and Heather, Peter, Oscar, and Fenny Monday, September 19, 20059:47 PM - Tony's favorite state. Tony: Saying goodbye so many times in a row has been exhausting. Jennifer was incredibly generous with her time yesterday, helping me finish cleaning the apartment, storing packages to ship to me, and getting me set with a hot meal to set off in the morning. And we set off. My two favorite memories today were sunset at the salt desert west of Salt Lake City (soundtrack by uber Japanese pop, Psycho le Cemu) and finally being able to see the stars. I haven't seen real stars in quite a long time. We are staying with Pam in Salt Lake City and she's taking good care of us. I'm going to shower now, here's Fenny. Fenny: I got cravings for bad roadtrip food pretty shortly after we took off from Berkeley. I caved in in Reno. I had a chicken strip basket at Dairy Queen. It was so good, especially the toast that came with it. We watched a really dumb dog show at Circus Circus and I lost a whole dollar trying to get a My Little Pony out of the crane game. (I was robbed.) We didn't have time to stop at the Donner Museum in Truckee. Tony said he thought it might be bad luck considering we've just started a long car trip (and that he's vegetarian and I'm not.) My favorite track of the day was the Spaghetti Western theme-style cover of that Titanic song. Way better than the original. Second favorite track of the day was something that used sounds from old, janky video games. I don't know who the artist is or what the title is. I think it's on one of the CDs that Morgan made. (Edit by Tony: it was from Matt!) I liked watching long cargo trains go by in Nevada. Nevada was gorgeous. I finally got to drive all the way through the state. Guess what? The east side looks just like the west side. Tony got really bored and loopy toward the end of the day. He actually sang. Then, he made up some songs. That's how bored he got. We saw the moon as it was rising over a hill just outside of Salt Lake City. It was dark orange. Beautiful. Pam makes kick ass Thai food and has a really cool shirt that says, "Microbiologists have culture." This is my first time in Utah. Wassup, Utah! 
Musical selections provided by: Morgan, Matt, Karen, Lois, AJ, and Fenny Sunday, September 18, 20055:07 PM - it's not a "travel blog" if you stay in the same place... Tony: We're almost off. I still have to pack/discard a few things, have someone pickup my futon, and clean like the dickens. But then... I'm gone! Hooray. But wait, what is that red "Berkeley" in the upper corner? And where is Tony now? And why is he disorganized enough to leave all the cleaning until the last possible moment? Answers to these questions and more, coming soon! *scrub scrub scrub* Saturday, September 17, 20053:15 PM - um.... bon voyage, then?wares successfully peddledI now have a couple of pearls of wisdom about running garage sales: --Announce on Craigslist. --Make signs with BIG letters that you are sure people can read before they get to the intersection. Poster paint is faboo. --It's amazing how much stuff you can get rid of once you let go of, "well, this item is worth X dollars..." and instead make your priority getting rid of things. People want to think they are getting a good deal, and I need their help in reducing the amount of things I need to pack. The weird thing is that I don't miss any of the objects. --Check on your sign, in case it falls over. --Furniture gets a higher price on Craigslist than it does from random passersby. I think having a different attitude made it really easy to sell most of my things. Also, I found it easy to open up to people in my community and say hello, watching the day wake up. I've gotta go drop off some donations before I head into the city this evening, but it went really well. Thank you, AJ and Judy, for stopping by to help. Thank you for taking my beautiful pots, which really have a special place in my heart, and it makes me happy that someone special is getting them. Thank you also for lunch, and for making the special effort to come up today. It meant a lot to me. Finally, I think it's time to introduce Fenny, who will be joining me for the travel blog. When she says:  What she probably means is something like:  6:26 AM - peddling my dreammoving sale today!I'll be out on the street this morning and afternoon trying to sell my stuff. If you'd like to hang out and have some lemonade, etc., please stop by! Wednesday, September 14, 20054:42 PM - bursting with flavorsmall packagesI sorted out the margins trouble I was having in CSS. Yay! Now I know that once I set all of my sizes and limits and boundaries, it's really important not to just start placing images willy-nilly that are way too large for the boundaries I've set. Gigantor images breaking my boxes! I'm still just packing and getting ready to leave. My last day of work is tomorrow. Sunday, September 11, 200511:07 PM - watch this space...a big thank youI just wanted to give a big thank you to everyone who came to the going away party today. I know that you all traveled great distances, made a special effort, sometimes even got lost, or opened your home to me... and I really appreciate it. It was hard to say so many good-byes in one day. Watch this space-- coming up next: travel blog. 1:19 AM - yeah, I should be packing.CSS = painPardon my dust... this site is severely under construction. I'm having a lot of trouble as I try to convert from mostly EvilTables to mostly CSS. I've updated the costumes page and that seems to be doing quite well, but this journal is having all kinds of layout issues. For example, why are my paddings not being implemented here? And why are my columns so far apart all of a sudden? If you are a CSS or Blogger guru, please send your thoughts my way. I'm going to try to sleep.... going away party tomorrow. I'm starting to get emotional about this whole moving thing. |
