The End of the Beginning

It's hard to believe I have reached the end of my road trip...

On Wednesday, I arrived in San Diego, where I stayed with some old friends of my father. My father and Jerry Muinos grew up together in Tampa, FL, but Jerry moved to San Diego a long time ago. He lives there with his wife, Joyce. I hung out with them the first night at a bar with some of their friends, and then the next day I went out for their "one day tour" of San Diego. I think this may be the most beautiful city I saw on my trip. The whole mountains/beaches thing really gets me. The plant life there is really impressive. We took a trip to the Balboa Gardens which are near the San Diego Zoo. The gardens have all kinds of amazing plants and trees from all over the world. They also took me to the Coronado Hotel, which was built in the 1880's and still stands as one of the most exclusive hotels in the area. We did lots of sight seeing and had delicious seafood. I had a great time with Jerry and Joyce.

On Friday morning, I headed for LA. I had lunch with a friend of mine, Melissa Schmitz. I was friends with Melissa when I lived in Kenosha, WI but she now lives in LA. Then I went to Ventura, CA where I stayed with an awesome girl named Sharnell. Sharnell took me out to the beach (which she lives very close to) and then we went to a concert and hung out with a bunch of her friends. I had a great time. Then on Saturday night, she had a concert to go to out of town, so she let me have a key to her house and said goodbye because I planned to leave before she returned. That night, I had dinner with one of my best friends from elementary school, and his family. They live in Thousand Oaks, fairly close to Ventura. That was really cool, as I had not seen them in years.

Next, I'm taking CA-1 up the coast to Santa Cruz, for my summer as a camp counselor.

Oh, The Grandness of it All

I stayed in Albuquerque a bit longer than I had planned. The people I stayed with wanted to go hiking by the Rio Grande. I thought it would be worth delaying my trip to Flagstaff a bit. I was glad I went. We took their dogs and played catch with them, letting them swim into the river after sticks. It was a blast.

Then I made my way up to Flagstaff, AZ, where I stayed with an awesome guy. He and his wife have a beautiful home and allowed me to stay in the guest room. Unfortunately his wife, Kate, was out of town 'cause she sounds like she would be a cool person to meet. Dan, the husband, has done a lot of cool things in his life. Currently he is a river guide in the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. Years ago, he was a special ed teacher, and we talked about those experiences a bit. He was more than hospitable to me and even gave me some tips for my visit to the Grand Canyon.

I visited the Grand Canyon yesterday and it was amazing, as you would expect. I walked along various parts of the rim, and made a short video that I had trouble loading. Maybe I will get it to work later.

The drive from the Grand Canyon to Phoenix was also incredible to see. I just can't believe how much the landscape changes as you progress through the country. I saw cacti for the first time. They are so strange looking, and they are everywhere.

In Phoenix, I stayed with some friends of my family, Michael and Jessica Reynolds. I hadn't seen them in years, so I caught up a bit with them and then headed for San Diego on Wednesday morning.

America the Beautiful

On Saturday, I drove up to Boulder, CO and met a bunch of other Couch Surfers to hang out at the Boulder Creek Festival. It was interesting to talk to some CS ambassadors, and learn a little more about the network. Boulder is a pretty cool city and we had lots of fun. We even got to see "Zip Code Man," a guy who knows the cities that relate to every US zip code, and even some in other countries. (zipcodeman.com)

Then I headed southwest to Dillon, CO where I met up with my friend David Carr. Dillon is about an hour drive west from Denver, in the Rocky Mountains. I'm so glad I went to see him there because otherwise I never would have driven into the mountains. Instead, I would have just gone directly south and missed that experience. That night, I felt like I had entered a different world when I entered the mountains many of which were still covered in snow. David lives in an amazingly beautiful part of the world. We hung out that night, and I left in the morning. He says he is going to come visit me in Portland next fall.

On Sunday morning, I started heading south through Colorado to New Mexico. I just cannot express how awe inspiring it was to see that part of the US. The climate slowly changed from high altitude mountains covered with pines to a desert mesas with hoodoos and buttes. I've seen these landforms on television, but it's truly

I arrived in Albuquerque and met Allison Pierce, a roommate of the guy I had contacted through Couch Surfing. She asked if I had ever had, "New Mexican Food." I told her I had had Mexican, but not "New Mexican." So we tried that for dinner. Then we went back to the house and hung out with the other roommates Will Phillips and Landon Finch. They were really fun people and I had a great time. Will totally looks like Thom Yorke. Check out Will's music at www.myspace.com/deafsmith. Among other random facts about Albuquerque, I found out that they have a lot of volcanoes nearby. Who knew?

I'm including a video from my road trip near Dillon, CO.

Tap the Rockies!

I never drink Coors Light, but I might have to grab one while I am here, just so I can say I did.

The road to Denver from Omaha was rough. I drove through a severe thunderstorm, a windstorm (about 40 miles per hour), and a hail storm. During the windstorm, tumble weeds assaulted my vehicle. Not cool at all. I made it through all of these challenges fairly unscathed. The wind hurt my gas mileage and instead of 28 miles per gallon, I was getting about 25.

At times during this difficult leg of my trip, I thought about whether or not it would have been better to fly. But when I saw the Rocky Mountains begin to appear on the horizon, all those thoughts disappeared. It was so beautiful and awe inspiring for me. The mountains became more and more clear as I approached Denver. After a day traveling through plains, grasslands, and farmlands, it was truly remarkable to have this change of scenery.

I met my Couch Surfing host around 5:30pm. He's a really awesome guy named Sean Ryan, a kindred spirit. He has been a Spanish major for two years and is going to take some time off to go travel around Latin America for a while. He had an extra bike and took me on a bike tour of Denver. I absolutely love this city. It's really clean and there are great alternatives to driving a car. They have a good bus and rail system, and biking around was no problem at all (I know it's a bit tougher in the winter). Sean and I ate at a Japanese restaurant (Taki's) for dinner. The guy knew Sean and gave us free drinks and coupons for free meals on our next visit.

Sean and I stayed up late talking. I'm really glad we got to hang out. We'll be keeping in touch, and hopefully he and I will meet up in Latin America when I am in the Peace Corps.

Somewhere in Middle America

So, I made my way from St. Louis, MO to Omaha, Nebraska.

In Omaha, I stayed with a really genuine and friendly guy named Pete Bataillon. Pete is going to be leaving in a week to do the "Texas 4000" a cycling fundraiser in which the participants ride from Austin, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska. They are donating all of the funds raised to the American Cancer Society for research in fighting cancer.

Pete was a great host, and took me out for dinner on Wednesday night. He gave me some tips on where to go in Omaha the next day. I had some errands to run and things to do. I went to this really cool coffee house and spent some time there on the net. 

On Thursday night, Pete and I participated in the local "Taco Ride." Rated as one of the best weekly bike rides in the world, the Taco Ride goes from Nebraska to Omaha. At the end of the run everyone goes to this restaurant, eats tacos, and drinks beer and margaritas. Then everyone heads back to Omaha. It was lots of fun, except when Pete dislocated his shoulder. We had stopped to rest for a few minutes, and there was some really slippery mud on the side of the road. Thankfully, another rider was really familiar with how to set a shoulder back in place and she helped us out. Pete seemed okay afterward, although he did say it hurt this morning. At the restaurant, I helped Pete run a raffle to raise money for his trip.  (www.tacoride.com)

On Friday morning I made my way to Denver, CO...

The Beginning

On Monday morning, I left my home in Acworth, GA and headed northwest for St. Louis, MO. My little blue Mazda was packed full with just about every object that I own. The eight hour trip to St. Louis was the first leg of a series of trips I had planned for the coming couple of weeks. On June 1, I would arrive in Santa Cruz, CA, where I had landed a job as a camp counselor.

In St. Louis, I stayed with Kit Kellison, a person I met through www.couchsurfing.com. My stay in St. Louis was amazing, thanks to the incredible hospitality of Kit and her family. She cooked for me and made me feel like family while I stayed at her place. The first night, I went out with her son, Stevie, who goes to school at Reed College in Portland. Stevie is a cool kid and a talented musican. He told me about some of his experiences in Portland, and I told him I would catch up with him in the fall. The following day, I went to the St. Louis City Museum, which was described to me as "a giant touchable and interactive piece of art that inspires creativity." And it was just that. Hard to really explain, but I wish I had been able to go there as a kid (www.citymuseum.org). Then in the evening, I went to the music venue that is owned by Kit and her husband, Off Broadway (www.offbroadwaystl.com). Kit and I listened to a Beatle's tribute band there and then went to another venue to hear some St. Louis blues. It was an amazing stay.

After St. Louis, I made my way to Omaha, Nebraska...

[By the way, I am having trouble with my camera. So, I'm using my computer to take photos and Photo Booth flips everything like a mirror. I really drive on the left side of my car.]