Road Trip Recap

Now that we've been back for a few days and I have unpacked *most of my things, I can take a breath and recap our recent cross-country drive.

Anyone traveling in a rental truck towing a car with a dog in the cab will quickly learn it's going to be a long, slow journey. You will be passed by 18-wheelers going up hill (that's when you know you're slow), you will be boxed in between trucks at rest stops, you will pay $25 in tolls to simply drive across the "great" state of Indiana, you cannot go in reverse without blocking traffic for 15 minutes (cities are NOT your friend), and even places that are pet-friendly charge fees and confine your pet to using certain back doors. The best routes are flat, open roads and the best places to stay will have plenty of parking, restaurants that allow carry-out options and they will have a patch of grass for your dog to roam on. Our route was slightly revised early on and we ended up staying one night in the following places:

Days Inn, Cedar City, Utah —>
On the way we ate at the Mad Greek Cafe in Baker, California which makes really good hummus and flat bread. It was a long day of driving so we didn't get to see much besides the long road ahead of us. Econo Lodge, Rock Springs, Wyoming —>
Salt Lake City is on the way here—we managed to find the Utah Capital building and lawn but somehow missed the tabernacle...despite the fact that everyone says "you can't miss it." We stopped at a state park/rest stop in Evanston, Wyoming which had a big rushing river through it and a field of bison Maya seemed to mistake for a dog park with really big dogs inside it. Next time I would drive past Rock Springs...happily. Best Western, Fort Collins, Colorado —>
Tommie and I were intrigued about Colorado and planned to drive down to Boulder but then decided to save time by going to Fort Collins (slightly North) instead. There was a quaint college downtown area nestled between the mountains. We walked around the Colorado State University campus and got some yummy take-out Thai food.
Best Western, Omaha, Nebraska —> Admitedly, driving through Nebraska is not the most exciting tour but the clouds in the sky against the open fields can be pretty. We were diverted off the freeway around Sidney due to a smoking accident—I took the time to enjoy a delicious mint oreo blizzard from Dairy Queen. Our Best Western Hotel in Omaha was one of the nicest places we stayed in and it had a Perkins restaurant attached to it so we could get some real food after our D.Q. pit stop—though I'm pretty sure I could survive on blizzards alone.
Holiday Inn, Muscatine, Iowa —> Stopped in Des Moines, Iowa for lunch near Drake University. Everyone we met in Des Moines was intrigued by Maya the wonder dog. A little off the beaten path, Muscatine is along the Mississippi River.
Comfort Inn, Elyria, Ohio —>
We drove a lot this day and lost another hour in Ohio—time is also not your friend when driving this direction.
Holiday Inn Express, Schoharie, N.Y. —>
New York started to look "like home." There were lots of pretty rivers running under and next to the road with people canoeing and camping. The hotel was practically deserted and in a quiet location where we could walk to a Dunkin' Donuts and hear the peepers at night.
Home Sweet Home

Greetings From The East Coast

We made it. It was a long, slow journey from west to east but 7 days later we arrived at our final destination (much to Maya's happiness) in the Northshore of Massachusetts. The truck moved at a snail's pace along I-15 to I-80, then eventually getting on the I-86 and taking the I-90 towards home.

Maya's fear of trucks got worse when she realized they seemed to be everywhere we went (truck stops and hotels right off the highway)...just as she feared, they were coming after her. She spent most of the trip shaking in her paws, but I managed to document her adventure in some photos—kind of like the lawn gnomes people steal and take pictures of all around the world:

Maya goes Mormon, Salt Lake City, Utah

Maya meets bison, Evanston, Wyoming

Maya enrolls in Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

Maya on the Mississippi, Muscatine, Iowa

Maya in "the wild," Scoharie, New York

End Of The San Diego Chapter

Our little lives are packed into a Penske truck and we're ready to head back East first thing tomorrow morning. I'm tired, anxious, excited, nervous and probably a little crazy for doing this at all. Sometimes you just know you're not quite where you belong and need to make a change to start to get there.

I'll be MIA for a week or so as we make our way along I-70...that is, if Maya and Tommie can get up after a rough day of packing...
Thanks to the people and places of San Diego that gave me so many good memories to take with me.

A new chapter begins...

National Poetry Month: Charles Olson

In preparation for my journey back to my hometown of Gloucester, Mass., I have chosen Charles Olson as the last poet to blog about during National Poetry Month.

Olson, the author of a well-known epic poem about Gloucester, The Maximus Poems, grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts but spent his summers in Gloucester before relocating there in his final years. The Maximus Poems, which he began in the late 1940’s and continued to work on until he passed away in 1970, captures the historical effects of industrialization on a place such as Gloucester, which was once (only) a small fishing community. Olson mixes his own personal knowledge about Gloucester and mythology with the research he gathered about Gloucester’s early history and settlement to express his concerns about the gradual movement of human beings away from a more modest and simple way of life.

Bk ii chapter 37
By Charles Olson

I. Beginning at the hill of Middle Street the city
which consists mostly of wharves & houses
reaches down to the sea. It is bounded
on the one side by the river Annisquam,
and on the other by the stream or entrance
to the inner harbor. In the Fort at this entrance

are the images of stone and there is another
place near the river where there is a seated
wooden image of Demeter. The city's own
wooden image of the goddess is on a hill
along the next ridge above Middle Street
between the two towers of a church called
the Lady of Good Voyage. There is also a stone image
of Aphrodite beside the sea. 2. But the
spot where the river comes into the
sea is reserved for the special
Hydra called the Lernean monster,
the particular worship of the city,
through it is proven to be recent
and the particular tablets of Poseidon
written on copper in the shape of a heart
prove to be likewise new.

the rocks in Settlement Cove
like dromlechs, menhirs
standing in the low tide
out of the back of the lights from Stacy Boulevard
at night

out of the back of the light,
from Stacy Boulevard on the water
at night

No Longer Numb

I'm not even home yet and I can already feel myself filling up with all kinds of emotions that I haven't experienced since living in California for 3 years. Living out here was "easy." I escaped here right out of college. Tommie moved out here six months later. For the most part, we have lived harmoniously with little distractions from the outside world. Sure, there were times I worried about my parents and sister or they drove me batty, and I had stressful moments at work but otherwise we have been isolated out here. (Not to mention the perpetual nice weather makes it difficult to be upset for longer than five minutes tops.)

But now, on top of worrying about the open-ended questions like what will I find for work (will I even find any at all?) I have lots of people back in my life; I have extended family, friends, neighbors...people who know my life story and who bring out different sides of me. It's no longer only about the future because no one knows my past...back home they know my past; they are my past. I'm finding myself having trouble understanding my own feelings at the moment because I haven't had to think about feelings for a while. In a way, I feel as though I have been pleasantly numb for the past 3 years and now I'm suddenly and quickly getting feeling back in me (and not always good feeling) as if some part of me had been asleep this whole time. I know this is life...life is not easy. We are social beings who, like it or not, have other people and situations intersecting our lives. These people challenge us. These situations test us. This is reality...I just hope I'm ready to face it.

San Diego Scrapbook

T minus seven days before departure. I have actually found it more difficult to accept leaving San Diego than leaving my hometown. I knew that place would always be my "home;" I knew I would visit as often as possible; I knew I had ties there, but San Diego doesn't have a clear label in my life...it was a place I spent 3 years of my life...it was where I had my first real job, where I had my first apartment, where I had plenty of adventures. I am leaving with much more than I came with...more perspective, more memories and more things to miss.

Things I'll miss most about California:

Avocados

Citrus trees










Sushi Deli










Dog Parks/Dog Beaches









Surfers













Calls from base













Steven Jekyll Webb









Sunsets










The fact that rain dates don't have to exist

Everything being "10 minutes away"

South Park and our apartment









Craftsman Houses

The Adventures













Exploring the West Coast













La Jolla Shores










Comic-con













Gay pride













Being 3 hours behind everyone else

And, of course, my family