Mile 2468

Hours in the car today: about 8
Hours in the car tomorrow: about 0!!!

We woke up early this morning and after a fight I was able to use our hotel’s “high-speed wireless” internet. Don’t believe everything they advertise. But since we pushed it yesterday, we made it to Niagara Falls by mid-morning. And here it was that Dad and I made the astounding discovery…

…the river flows east here!!!! If this doesn’t seem weird to you then you haven’t been living in the west for long enough. Dad and I had separately made assumptions about which way the falls would be but when we started walking we realized that the river was flowing in the opposite direction. Weird!

After our profound discovery, we enjoyed these views…

Then we (regretfully) got back in the car, hopped on the New York Thru-way, and drove. We made it to Vermont for dinner. I felt like we were driving through an L.L. Bean catalog (which I guess is a real possibility). Half a billion white churches, picket fences, and scenic views later we crossed into New Hampshire, our last state. Man, it is good to think that we won’t drive 600 miles tomorrow!

And now we are at the hotel; it looks like an old boarding dorm with poster beds, carved wood panels, etc.

Goodnight.

Mile 1945

States entered today: 5
States remaining on this trip: 3

In the early haze of morning we drove through Charelston, IL. We went by Eastern Illinois University where my mother taught, by the house were I spent the first three years of my life (I’m working on plans to turn it into a museum so stay tuned J), and to the town square that was vibrant before the Wal-Mart moved into town. But fortunately the South-Side Diner was still kickin’ in the square so we had a classic breakfast. After breakfast, my dad used the force and this long-term memory to find the grave stone of his grandfather in the Charleston cemetery. It was a bit weird to see my last name in this unfamiliar yet intimately related place.

We hit the road again and drove for a very very very long time. Words cannot describe how long we drove. We past corn fields, then some more corn fields, then Indianapolis, the some corn fields, then Columbus, then another field of some kind. We eventually made it up to Cleveland, OH, then to Erie, Pennsylvania. We ate dinner at a fish place overlooking the lake, complete with sunset and sail boats. For a couple moments I almost forgot how much I hate the inside of my car.

From Erie we drove on a back road through wine country and beautiful lake front homes. I can imagine waking up, picking few grapes and watching the sunrise over the water. Dad quickly pointed out that it probably isn’t quite as picturesque in winter when everything is buried under several feet of snow. But such is life, I think I could deal with it.

Tomorrow we are driving north 40 miles and checking out Niagara Falls in the morning. It is good to only have a short drive before the hope of fresh air. And the most beautiful thought of tomorrow is that it is our last day! We should make it to Exeter, New Hampshire before too late and then attempt to find my prospective apartment on Sunday. So close!

Mile 1382

Miles driven today: 714
Miles left: 1018

We left early this morning and enjoyed the empty back roads through the fields of Kansas. It was a shock when we crossed the border into Illinois and suddenly had to deal with traffic again.

We drove straight through the day; I got a lot of knitting done. The really exciting part started when we got to St. Louis. We stopped to see the St. Louis monolith…

…oh, I mean arch.

We walked by the river then had our first real meal of the day at the Old Spaghetti Factory. Turns out one doesn’t need to eat nearly as much when one is sitting in a car all day. But after a walk and some good food we were both resuscitated enough to fully appreciate the excitement to come.

That’s right, we saw the WORLD’S LARGEST CATSUP BOTTLE!!!! No kidding, it was built in the 40’s and proudly stands 10 miles off the highway in Colinsville, IL. It took a while to find it. Apparently the Collinsvillians aren’t as proud to house the world’s largest catsup bottle as one would think. If it hadn’t been in our atlas, we might not have found it. But as it is I can share this wonderful picture with you.

And now we are in Charleston, IL, the place of my birth. The circle of life and all that jazz.

Mile 668

Miles from Las Cruces, NM to Manchester, NH: about 2400
Miles driven today: 668
Miles left: 1732

Today I woke up in New Mexico, stopped for gas in Texas, drove across the Oklahoma panhandle, and am going to bed in Medicine Lounge, Kansas. Let the road trip begin!

My dad and I are driving my little “go fast” car loaded with all my possessions across the country. When we get to New Hampshire I’ll start an Americorp program called City Year. I don’t know exactly what I’ll be doing, but I’ll let you know when I do.

Armed with our books Roadside America (© 1987) and Eat Your Way Across America (© 1997), we bravely explore as many diners and tourist traps as possible. Today we drove past White Sands National Monument (it’s only a couple miles out of Las Cruces) but had few other tourist opportunities. The food, however, was delicious; Penny’s Diner in Vaughn, New Mexico for lunch and a family BBQ joint in Liberal, Kansas (I can’t be to *liberal* with my praise!) for dinner. We saw cool architecture, a rainbow, and a movie-sized orange full moon. Good day.

Hey, food grows in New Mexico too!

So, when I was in high school my mom planted a pomegranate tree in our back yard. I remembered this yesterday and went to check on it. To my great excitement there were half a dozen ripe fruits ready for picking. So, now that I have learned about gardening and eating from the earth, I picked them. I was going to make ice cream, but that seemed a bit risky (I just started this whole eating from the earth thing, I'll work up to the ice cream :-] ). Instead, I made pomegranate juice. Here is my documentation.





















The tree...

The seeds...

I put the seeds in a food processor (not for very long, just enough to break the juice pods) then strained it and squeezed a lot to get all the juice out. Four small to medium fruits gave me half a cup of juice. Mix with water and sugar and voila!

This makes me think. If food grows in Arizona and New Mexico, I bet it grows in New Hampshire too... Excellent!

Driving.

"Be honest. And if you realize you are not being honest, be honest about not being honest... Be vulnerable. And if you're not being vulnerable, be vulnerable about not being vulnerable."
-James Finely

I have a hard time being honest about what I am feeling. So I'm going to be honest about that. I don't tell people how I feel while I'm feeling it, which is just a way of avoiding the scary emotion. But I know I do that.

Today, I left Flagstaff. I thought that on my eight hour drive home I might get some things straight in my mind. Not quite...but I did see some pretty flowers.

Before I left, I went to say good-bye to the garden. Here are my last pictures of the (this) garden.

I'm not quite sure how it is that I came to be so attached to this pumpkin, but here it is!

The garden! Look at that pumpkin vine taking over everything!

My garden feast for the road. That, Village Baker bread, and a new mix CD makes a long car ride bearable.

Seven hours later and about 30 miles from home I realized why I love the southwest...

And now I am home. It is good and comfortable.

Winding down.

There comes a time after every milestone (such as college graduation) when things start to change. I've managed to postpone this eventuality quite successfully, if I do say so myself. But even I, with my avoidance and denial, have to face the music.

I am very mixed up in my emotions, which makes this all the harder to sort out. I am excited about moving to New Hampshire to do Americorp for a year. I am looking forward to meeting new people, having new experiences, and putting my beliefs to the test to see how they stand up in the "real" world. But I am also sad. Deeply sad to leave this town and these people. That is hard for me to express, but somehow it is down there. I feel like I have grown so much here, like I have come to life. I would like to turn this sadness into celebration for all the wonderful things that have happened. I would like to be dancing when I leave town.

Today we had evening prayer like we have been doing for most of the summer. We practiced Lectio Divina or Holy Reading which is something that I have read about but never tried. We read Psalm 139, each of us read it out loud twice with periods of silence for meditation. The idea is to be present. To be present to the words, to be present to each other, to be present to ourselves, and to be present to God. Honestly, I found the last two the hardest. The best way I have to describe this "being present" is kything from Madeline L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time trilogy. If you haven't read these, stop reading this blog and find a copy. Kything with each other and kything with God are both beautiful images to me.

Psalm 139: 9-10

If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.