Where The Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down The Plain: Weeks 42 and 43
Hello again faithful readers, as we check in from Rogers, Arkansas. “Where?” you ask? Or maybe “Why?” We’ll answer both of those a few weeks hence, but suffice to say this was a deliberate stop and not another car-related stranding.
This blog is instead about Oooooooooooooooooooooooklahoma, where the wind does, in fact, come sweeping down the plain – though not often or strong enough, and sometimes with the heat of a clothes dryer exhaust vent. We endured basically Vegas or West Texas heat for our entire two weeks there, without the benefits of Vegas gambling or West Texas scenery.
This is, essentially, my only complaint about our time in Oklahoma. Forgive me if I gush like an Osage oil well, but my expectations have been absolutely blown away in just about every way – excellent food, great museums and attractions, a cool bar scene, and a general amount of underrated weirdness for a state that quite literally no one has ever told me I should visit.
Continue reading “Where The Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down The Plain: Weeks 42 and 43”Misadventures in Mormon Country: Week 37
Greetings from Wyoming, as the Great Swing Back East continues, Cowboy-edition. When you last heard from us, we were wrapping up our time in Sin City and nursing what was essentially a two week hangover mixed with mild dehydration.
The time since our last post did not go as smoothly as it could have, to say the least, which forced us to miss quite a bit of our week in our last stop, Salt Lake City, Utah. Things had gone too smoothly thus far on our trip, and we were due for something like this.
Continue reading “Misadventures in Mormon Country: Week 37”The Best and Worst Place in the World: Weeks 35 and 36
Hello to all our loyal readers – here is proof of life that we have survived our two weeks in Las Vegas, and at least haven’t lost so much money that I’ve needed to pawn my computer.
The title of this post comes succinct piece of wisdom delivered by a slightly buzzed Morgan on our first night here, marveling at the chaos of the Strip. After all, we’d just spent a week in a town where the excitement was limited to minor league baseball and watching a semi-regular flow of people hotboxing cars down the street from our Airbnb.
Continue reading “The Best and Worst Place in the World: Weeks 35 and 36”Condors in San Diego, Zebras in Tijuana: Week 31
Hello again from California, where Linus and I have arrived at our second (and final) Morgan-less stop on our father-cat son adventure through the Golden State.
For the next week, we’ll be in the town of Cambria, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco on California’s Central Coast.
Continue reading “Condors in San Diego, Zebras in Tijuana: Week 31”From Sea to Shining Sea: Week 30
“San Diego has always been where Americans go to escape America and find they have run out of country.”
Charles Bowden, Red Line
Greetings from San Diego where, it’s true – I’ve run out of country on our journey west, even though escaping has never been our goal. It’s taken a little mental adjustment not just leaving the desert, but coming to California, with everything that means. Morgan is firmly settled on a different coast, enjoying a quiet few weeks in one of the quieter corners of Florida.
Continue reading “From Sea to Shining Sea: Week 30”Meth and PBR in ABQ: Week 25
Hola and buenos noches from our new home for the next month, Tucson, Arizona – set in the Sonoran Desert less than an hour from the Mexican border, and home of Saguaro National Park. I’ve always had a fondness for cactuses – probably because I’m not nearly as good at keeping plants alive as Morgan thinks I am. In any case, we’re sure to make plenty of spiny friends over the coming weeks.
You’ve Got A Friend In Me: Week 20
Greetings from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where a whirlwind of visits, day trips, hikes, border crossings, and roughly 1,500 miles of driving have unfortunately delayed this dispatch quite a bit longer than I’d hoped for.
Then again, I don’t think even our most dedicated readers (Hi Mom and Dad, and Danny and Daphne) were anxious refreshing the site, wondering why they haven’t been able to enjoy my can’t-put-it-down prose.
When we last left you, we were preparing to host the first friend visit of our journey, our dear friends Joe McGrann and Morgan Yarnoff. (Yes, both myself and one of my oldest friends ended up in long-term relationships with women named Morgan, who themselves are good friends. You’re just going to have to use context clues here.)
Continue reading “You’ve Got A Friend In Me: Week 20”Somebody’s Poisoned The Water Hole: Weeks 18 & 19
Hello once again from Austin, where I promise our relative lack of posting isn’t the result of general sleepiness from eating too much barbecue – not to say this isn’t a problem. We’ve been quite busy over the last two weeks – surviving a winter storm, a dayslong citywide boil water advisory, and the effects of plentiful Tex-Mex and barbecue on our digestive tracts.
Keepin’ It Weird in Austin: Week 17
Greetings from Austin (as the mural says), where we are experiencing our first snow day in what feels like quite a while in Texas, of all places.
I’ve been looking forward to coming back to Texas since I visited in late 2018 and road-tripped along the border and through Big Bend. We’ve already been in Austin more than twice as long as I was in Texas last time, but I think it’s important to clarify something. We’re in Austin. It feels like Texas, but only peripherally – it mostly just feels like something different, like Austin. To say this city has some unique vibes would be an understatement.
Continue reading “Keepin’ It Weird in Austin: Week 17”Goin’ Mobile: Week 16
Greetings – or should I say, howdy? We have arrived in a rainy and chilly Lone Star state, our home for the next five weeks – first, here in Austin, and then Alpine, in the heart of West Texas. Our drive here Sunday was a fairly grueling one of about ten hours, leading Morgan and me to conclude that Texas is simply too big, and something needs to be done about it.
