Official Hobo 2.0 Lifestyle Blog

Back in the USA, Flats in Phoenix

2009-10-03T05:23:00.000-07:00

Larry picked me up outside the airport in Phoenix, it had been a trip just getting back from Mexico. We went and got my laptop from Kelly's brother-in-law, he was the one who'd drove us over the border into Mexico weeks ago.

Larry's truck needed a new tire, we checked about 10 places before finding one who had the right 37 inch tire size. He got the new one on there and we headed out to pick up Trish. We wound up at Popos, the great mexican place Larry frequents and I get to usually every time I'm in town.

The next day I rode out with Larry to help him with a sign job, the blazing Arizona sun became reason enough to turn around and put it off until a cooler evening or morning. That night we wound up at sidebar, a bar where some couchsurfers around Phoenix meet every wednesday, I like the place for their decent beer selection. I had an Arrogant Bastard, Dogfish Head 90 minute, and a Taddy Porter after we dipped downstairs for food.

We probably would have just went home, but it came up that I'd never been to a proper strip club, so that was our next move. We went to a decent place, split into a topless and fully nude area, I ended up getting a dance paid for me. The girl sat and talked for a while with me in the corner, telling me how she was a few months pregnant or more and thinking of doing lesbian preggo porn when she started showing.

The next week I relaxed in Phoenix, getting back to Trip Hopping and improving the site. A few times I went to Jeepers during the day with Larry, an indoor amusement park that was paying him to paint a mural and things. It worked out great for his kids, who came and rode all the rides for free while their dad worked. I used the wifi there, occasionally riding a ride or playing a game.

The next Wednesday we were headed out to Jeepers again, Larry, me and his kids. A tire blew on the freeway, we managed to make it to a gas station though. The treads had come off the tire, this was the second blown tire from a set of four Larry had just gotten, the first was the one he replaced after picking me up at the airport. He swapped out the smaller tire in his trunk, and we were on the road again.

We picked up his brother first to help him out, he needed a new motor for a VW Bug, we picked it up at the shop while pursuing the camper vans they had. After a stop for food and a look around a map store, we dropped off his brother and the engine, the kids played with the goats in the backyard for a bit before we took off.

It was now too late to go to Jeepers, after the tire ordeal and helping with the VW engine, so we went to pick up Trish from work. We headed back home from there, but right before the exit, another tire blew out. We clunked along in the shoulder, but it sounded pretty bad. Larry got out into the sun and changed the tire, swapping in the one that blew earlier that day, it was in better shape than the one that just blew. We drove very slowly the last mile or two back to his place, people looking at us funny the whole way driving on the shredded tire. Beer was enjoyed when we got back, good ole' beer.

A couple days later I was to get my thumb in the air again. Northern California was on my mind, Salt Lake City was in between, and before that, of course... Vegas, that would be my next stop.

Flying is not as easy as Thumbing

2009-09-15T10:16:00.000-07:00

My couple hour nap came to a close when it reached 4am, I now had to get to the bus that would take me to the airport, from there it was out of Cancun and on to Phoenix. I walked through the streets with my bag to the bus station, about an hour or less, in time to get my ticket and soon get on the ADO bus.

The bus dropped me off at the airport terminal, I waited in a short line and turned in my ticket, I'd also split my bags up to keep one as a carry on. The small bag pretty much contained everything I owned except for my sleeping bag and utility knife that I wouldn't be able to get on the plane. The guy at the desk asked if I had a tourist card, I didn't, he said I'd have to take care of that in Mexico City where I'd have a short layover.

Next I was flying off from Cancun to Mexico City, it was a fairly short flight, I slept through a lot of it. We landed and I started asking where I needed to go to take care of the tourist card thing, I got pointed through the large terminal until I got to the little room where I was supposed to be, a decent amount of people waiting their turn ahead of me. The clock ticked away, closer to my flight to Phoenix, it was only a 45 minute layover.

I finally got my turn to talk to the girl behind the counter, she flipped through my passport without seeing a stamp, she wanted proof that I'd been in America, "a receipt from something you've bought, anything". I had nothing, I fished out a big coin from my pack, a US silver dollar, she wasn't impressed. She told me the fine would be 5000 pesos, around $400 or $500, I didn't have that so I said I'd wander off to figure something out.

Glancing at the clock it was only minutes before my flight would take off. I decided I was just gonna go for it and try to get on the plane, I had the ticket after all, just not this tourist card they wanted. I cut into security and rushed through, they wanted to look at my harmonica when they saw it in the x-ray, they knew what it was, they just wanted to see it. After this I ran for my gate, getting there right on the minute, but they said I'd missed the flight, they even knew my name.

I wandered out of the gate area to reschedule the flight and see what could be done. The woman at the desk said it would cost a couple hundred to reschedule the flight, I didn't have that. I asked her for a map, she gave me one of all of Mexico that wasn't too helpful. I wandered around contemplating what was next, I figured I'd have to hitchhike from here to the states, perhaps make a stop in Guadalajara along the way.

I then remembered my backpack, I assumed it was going all the way to Phoenix without me. I went up to a different desk to ask about it, the woman told me it should still be here. She asked about my flight situation and I explained that I had no money to reschedule and was having issues with immigration anyhow. She exchanged some words with a supervisor and scribbled some stuff on my ticket saying she'd rescheduled the ticket for the same time tomorrow at no charge.

I now had a good ticket, but immigration was still the issue, I went down to baggage claim where they were sending my bag, I watched a guy outside wearing my backpack and holding two heavier bags walk across, then throw them all on the belt. I grabbed my pack and head back to immigration.

I talked to the same girl right away, she kept talking about proof of some sort of purchase in the US. Finally we landed on a print out of a credit card or banking statement, she told me they had internet in Terminal 1. I made my way over there, a sky train connected the terminals.

I looked for signs of internet, I somehow stumbled into some sort of receptionist area and asked a lady behind the desk about where to find internet. I think she was confused, thinking I was asking if I could use her computer, and that's what she let me do. I hopped on and quickly printed out a paypal statement proving I bought a six pack of beer in Las Vegas.

Before she gave me the printout, the woman asked for my passport as if to verify that I was an employee or a guest or something else, I couldn't understand her entirely. She made a copy of it first, handing me my passport and my pay pal printout. She started to investigate the passport and I split before having to deal with anything, I think she shouted for me as I disappeared out the door and down an escalator.

Back in Terminal 2 at immigration, I showed the girl my proof of buying beer in America, it was good enough for her and she got the paperwork rolling. After filling things out and signing things she gave me the paper I'd have to take to the bank where I could pay for this "tourist card". I took it off to the bank, halfway there I glanced at the price, over 1000 pesos, about $100 all added up. I almost couldn't believe it, enough so that I brought it up to the bank window to see what they'd say when I said I was paying in US dollars. They told me they didn't accept US Dollars at all, the guy next to me told me to wait outside a second and he'd point me to a better bank.

The guy was a pilot, he inquired about my situation, saying the whole thing was ridiculous. Apparently when people fly in they get this tourist card, but when driving (or walking) into Mexico, they don't, which is why I was having the issues trying to now fly out. His advice was to go to the airline and try to argue it and not pay anything, so off I went back to the Aero Mexico desks to work things out.

It was a really long line, I waited it out. After getting my chance to talk to someone they pointed me to a supervisor across the room, who pointed me to another, who pointed me to yet another, the real one I suppose. She said they had nothing to do with immigration and I'd have to deal with them, meaning the girl who accepts a printout saying I bought beer in Vegas as proof of being in the US over an official passport.

I instead went to a different Aero Mexico desk to see if I could just swap my flight from Phoenix to Hermosillo instead, I figured I could fly that far and then hitchhike the 3 hours into the US from there, without dealing with this flying immigration stuff. They wanted to charge me up and down to change the flight, even though it would be a shorter flight and they'd just changed my flight earlier anyhow.

I went back to the girl in immigration, asking why the price was so high, she just pointed to something posted on the wall with all the prices of things I didn't understand, but the 1000 odd pesos was the lowest price on there.

I took off in search for a phone card, I'd have to let my mom know that I was either going to hitchhike out of Mexico City or score an extra $100 to keep this flying thing going. No one picked up and I left a message. With the little money I had left I walked around the food court until I found a really cheap taco, I ordered it and the girl looked confused, "that's it?", she asked me about drinks and whatnot, I showed her my handful of change and said in spanish that I didn't have much money, another guy behind the counter was laughing at her. I paid and waited for my taco.

They called me up when it was ready, she had a big grin on her face. My tray had a few tacos, mash potatoes and a coke on it. I thanked her big and enjoyed my little feast.

I used the phone card again and got in touch with my worried mom. She of course opted for the extra cash to keep me in the sky rather than me hitchhiking more. I waited a bit, then went to the bank and paid for the the tourist card and brought it back to immigration once again, the girl's work day was coming to an end, but she still had all my papers and I finally got the little notecard dealie that let's people fly. I took that back to Aero Mexico to ensure my ticket for tomorrow was good, some more supervisor action finally landed me a solid ticket and got things squared away.

The whole ordeal had taken 4 hours or 5 hours, but it was still almost a day until my flight, so I decided to wander Mexico City for a bit. I made my way to the subway and transferred a couple time until I made it to Zocalo, a big cathedral in the city. I checked it out, then set off into the streets with tacos and internet on my mind. Cheap icecream showed up first, I enjoyed a small cone and kept walking.

The streets were busy with people, tourists and working folk. I found an internet cafe, but it was full, I kept walking. I stumbled into a street that I thought was blocked off for what was probably a permanent street sale, but a big bus managed to cut through, very slowly and carefully. I got myself some fried bananas from one of the vendors, very good stuff.

I continued walking through the crowded streets, tents would go on for blocks and blocks selling DVDs and CDs, flooded with people. At last I found a place with an internet sign, I went back to ask how much it costs, the kid sitting at the desk just seemed confused, so I sat down at a computer and started getting some emails out and checking things. When I was done I just walked off, seemed to be a freebie for me that time.

I grabbed a taco, nearby to Zocalo again. I remembered then that I had David's number, the guy I'd met in Merida who was now living in Mexico City and offered Kelly and I a place to stay. I used my phone card to call him, he picked up. He said it would be fine to stay with him, but that he was at work at the moment. Before we could get to any details of meeting up, my card ran out of minutes, so that was that.

I walked around a bit more and got back on the subway headed for the airport. I figured it would be better to just stick it out there through the night than deal with waking up in the morning at David's place and making my way over, wherever that was.

I sat on a bench for a while, it was 11 or 12 hours until my flight. From there I did a search around to see if I could find any cheap liquor, it wasn't cheap, I walked past it all. I saw some big steps designated for sitting and waiting, I climbed to the top and began to nod off. I sat there quite a while as people came and went. A girl in yellow came and laid out entirely to sleep, I did the same shortly after.

I did a little more wandering as the morning slowly crept in, sitting on different benches and areas. When Carls Jr opened I grabbed a breakfast burrito and gobbled it down. At that time it was about 3 hours to the flight, I snagged a cup of coffee and got in the giant check-in line.

I checked in without a problem, got through security, showing them my harmonica again, and then waited amongst the gates. I at last got on the plane without an issue, passing out as soon as we took off.

Funny enough, the plane stopped in Hermosillo after all for immigration checks. We filed out of the plane and showed our various credentials to the people, they re-checked our carry on bags, and soon some of us were filing back on the plane for the last stint to Phoenix.

I got to talking to the guy next to me on the plane, he'd flown to Mexico for business, working with submarine and helicopter parts, things like this. We exchanged some stories on the way to Phoenix, he still had flights for the rest of the day, connecting in Denver to get to Oklahoma City. He let me use his phone when we landed to give Larry a call, he was coming to pick me up.

We had to go through immigration one more time at the Phoenix airport, a guy asked me a series of questions about where I lived, where I was going and what I was doing. I stumbled over all those types of questions, but managed to pass through. My backpack came around in baggage claim, I was off to the curbside to wait for Larry, back in the USA, back in Phoenix.

Mexico was done for now, I'd also learned that hitchhiking can often be easier than flying, and it's perhaps not the best idea to accept a free plane ticket as an alternative. Being that I wanted to be in California soon, it still worked out to be a pretty good things, taking the flight, as it got me closer quicker.

Cancun, Beaches and a Sunrise Dream

2009-09-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

I parted ways with Kelly and walked up the on ramp to the main highway, thumbing traffic as I left Merida. I was still in the giant roundabout around the city, aiming for the turn to Cancun. A white pickup truck stopped, through garbled spanish I concluded I should jump in, I climbed the giant railings in the back and took a seat. I watched the road signs to make sure I was staying on track, 20 or 30 minutes down the road it seemed we'd gone past the turn off, but that's right when they stopped and let me out.

I headed down the road, on the direct path to Cancun now. I passed a two hitchhikers, a guy and a girl with a sign that read "Cancun", they stood far off the road to stick to the cooler shadows. I walked past a bridge far past them and got to a stationary spot to start thumbing, my spot was not so shady. After a little wait I was picked up, a guy driving and a little boy in the passenger seat. I managed to tell him I was headed to Cancun, determine he was going there, and then kick back and watch the scenery from the back seat.

He stopped at a rest area, he motioned for me to come over to him when he walked into the little restaurant area, he made it clear that he was going to buy me some tacos, I ordered some. They were good, and so was the bottle of water that came with it. We got back on the road and in another hour we were in Cancun, he pulled over.

I couldn't understand totally what he was saying, other than I needed to catch a certain bus that would take me into the central area, he gave me 50 pesos and I went on my way. I thought I might be close to the house I was going to, so I just started walking. I knew I was on the right road, but not sure how far, I asked people where "Palenque" was, my turn, first a cop told me 2 kilometers. I walked and walked, then asked some other guys, same response, "2 kilometers". After yet another 2 kilometers or more I asked another guy, and he turned out to speak english. He told me it was way to far to walk to, and showed me the bus I could get on. I got on the bus and, of course, it was only a kilometer or so up the road, I hopped out.

I made my way to Manny's place, he'd be my first host in Cancun. There was a note on the door saying he'd be back soon, I waited as the stars started to come out and he was home shortly. He was a friendly guy who made his money as a tour guide in and around Cancun, he told me a lot about it. He made some really good tortillas and piled them with cheese and other good stuff. He had another computer in the room I was staying with, I was able to catch up some things and send out couch requests for other parts of Mexico.

In the morning I set out on my own to walk to the beach. Right away the round abouts and twisting roads had me off track and going in circles, after a good while I made my way to the water. I wasn't at the actual beaches though, I could see them far in the distance, somehow I'd wound up far north of them, but I could see the beautiful blue tint. I saw two spires, just past the second one was bluest of the blue, that was my goal. I figured I'd walk along the beach to get to it and avoid the roads. I walked a ways until I came up on a construction site, then I saw a giant canal that cut up the beach, blocking me from walking any further, it looked like I'd have to back track a ways.

I walked through the construction site to a road and started walking down it, a work truck pulled along side me asking where I was going in spanish, I told him, he motioned for me to hop in back. We pulled to a checkpoint, the guy in the booth asked where I was going, "Zona Hotelera", I said, and he waived us through. Th guy dropped me off at the edge of the site and pointed left, the way to the good beaches.

I walked along the bike path knowing I was getting close, then I saw a giant iguana staring me down. I walked close to it and it scurried away. I saw another, then another and realized there were tons of them, all hanging out in the sun until I walked by and scared them off for a moment.

I saw the first spire and a sign for money exchange. I'd dug in my backpack earlier and found $41, I'll often hide or forget about money in my pack, it's a great surprise when it gets rediscovered, especially when I'm broke. I took 20 of it and converted it to pesos, then continued on towards the beach.

I reached the second spire, and found an entrance to the beach. I marched towards the water shedding my shirt and hat, tying them to my shorts without missing a step as I stomped into the water, finally. It felt amazing, I dunked under and cooled down, swimming towards the horizon. Reaching the seaweed I saw a manta ray swim past. From there I slowly floated, walked and swam up further south along the various beaches, occasionally getting out and walking along the beach when the water was roped off.

I stumbled into some hotel beach and found a lounge chair in the shade that wasn't occupied, I claimed it and fell out for a little while. I got back in the water and made my way to the next beach, past some short rocky beach. I got myself a beer and some cookies to quench my needs, after enjoying those I made my way to the buses.

It had been a good day of enjoying the water after the long walk in, now I was trying to figure out which bus would get me close to Manny's place, I took a guess and hopped on one. I took the bus all the way to the end of the line, I'd clearly missed whatever stop could have been remotely close to anything. The driver spoke a pinch of english, he suggested a different bus, but I managed to determine there was one stop he'd be making that was only five blocks away from Manny's place. So far it seemed no one in Cancun wanted to walk any more than a block or two, more than that was just a ridiculous amount.

Soon I was back at Manny's we talked for a while, he whipped up the same tortilla goodness from the night before, he's the only person I've watched make tortillas before, and they were really good.

The next day was lazy to start, just taking advantage of having internet access, looking at maps and whatnot. I got a message from my mom, panicked that I was in Mexico and wanting me out. After the hitchhiking incident where Kelly and I got stranded, her sister had bought her a plane ticket out of Mexico City for earlier than her original flight. My mom wanted to fly me out as well and offered to get me a plane ticket. Being that it was a lazy day, and thoughts of California, I said sure. Of course I was not in much danger in Mexico, people hitchhiked around all the time, and the one run in we had wasn't all that bad considering the end result. She booked a flight for the coming Monday to Phoenix.

A Swedish couple arrived to Manny's place, couchsurfers that would be taking my place. We talked for a while, then they went to get some food. A while later I did the same, getting some tacos just down the street. Night came and it was time for me to meet Karla, my next host in Cancun. I said my goodbyes to Manny and headed a ways down the streets to a bar where a couchsurfing meetup was going on, where Karla would be.

She wasn't there when I got there, but some other couchsurfers were. I sat at the table, a bartender wore a backwards hat with long hair stringing from it, speaking basic english out of a 1980's smile, I managed to order a beer, it was 2 for 1. The people at the table, other couchsurfers, were talking in spanish, but eventually some started speaking in English towards me, inquiring about who I was and those types of things.

One girl's name was America, say that with a spanish accent and you'll fall in love too. Her and some others told me about things I should be doing, swimming around coral reefs and what not. One girl was from Chiapas, she told me how much she loved it, I knew of the place and it's rumored beauty, it's where Kelly had headed to. I would have been going there if not for my acceptance of the free plane ticket to Phoenix, a sip of beer was taken with the thought of missing it for the sake of appeasing family.

Karla got there eventually and we talked briefly, quickly interesting conversation erupted in Spanish, I sipped my beer while catching words I knew here and there to catch a gist of it. After a good while a girl I'd been talking to asked me if I wanted to go salsa dance, to me that meant moving on to the next thing, something I like to do, I said "sure". We left the place, an unexpectedly high bill tapped me out of pesos.

Karla didn't seem 100% on the idea, looking to me as a way out, but without too much conviction, we headed to the place which was only across the street, across the roundabout. They let us in without a cover and despite my open shoes, it took a girl's smile is all. We headed to the balcony overlooking the live band and dancing people, then we headed down to the dance floor. We moved on the floor, salsa dancing I suppose, I just moved as I saw fit, mostly watching and laughing at the scene around me.

When everyone was content we took off, I headed back with Karla to her place with one of her roommates. She lived close to the beach, actually overlooking the construction site that'd I'd walked to trying to get to the hotel zone beaches. She lived at the very top floor of the building, the penthouse, we got there and I fell asleep on her fast-deflating air mattress.

I woke up lazily in the morning to an empty house, I paced back and forth for a bit with a world of nothing on my mind, I climbed to the roof and looked out on the ocean. A shave and a shower got me out the door, a mild hunger the motivation, a destination undetermined. That brought me to the oxxo on the corner of the main road. I scanned the isles until I found a good combo of cheap pasta for later and a cheap pastry to eat on the spot, that I munched on outside while contemplating the moment and the next move.

I opted for walking towards the beach, several miles away. I walked past the iguanas again, along the bike path and to the hotel zone. I converted my last $20 to pesos at the same place as before, then made my way to the water and plopped in. I swam around for a good while, rested on a lounge chair, then headed for the bus back to Karla's.

I managed to get on the right bus, but from where it stopped I walked too far down a road, backtracking I found a place to grab a quick taco to hold me over, I had my pasta on my mind. Karla was at her place, as well as some a couple friends and another couchsurfer named Nikki, a girl full of energy eager to explore and live.

Everyone disappeared, I got to cooking my pasta. The burner couldn't get the water up to boiling, I cooked it up anyway and chewed away on the sticky pasta result. I lounged the night away enjoying the full ocean breeze blowing through the open window.

I eased up in the morning, Nikki was around and we talked for a while until we decided to take a walk for some food. I lead her towards the taco stand from the other night, but the cart was gone. We went to a place across the street and got really good empanadas, then headed back to the apartment.

I lounged out some more, Karla came back in between jobs and we talked for a bit, then she was out the door again. Towards nightfall I hopped in a car with another guy who lived there and Nikki, we headed for a house party in town. Manny was there, as well as some other people I'd met the night at the bar and salsa club.

We swam around the little pool for a while sipping on rum and cokes, the night went on for a little while until some people started taking off and discussing options to stretch the night. A few of us decided on heading to Manny's place, he rode his bike and three of us searched for a cab.

Manny got to whipping up some tortilla based goodness after buying some 40's to fill are cups. I briefly saw the Swedish couchsurfer wiping sleep from his eyes, Manny had to go in his room to grab speakers for our music. We sat around the table enjoying some tunes and conversation until talk of another party got us out the door again.

I talked to a bunch of people at the party, sharing stories about this and that. One girl in particular I was sharing smiles with scribbled her number on my arm, she came by again later and scribbled it again much larger across my forearm. I told her I'd give her a call the next day to go do one thing or another, the next thing I knew I was in a taxi with Manny and the others I came with.

I saw the sky getting lighter from the backseat, I wasn't sure what our destination was, but I was ready to hop out as soon as I saw the ocean, turns out it was where we were stopping anyhow. I booked it straight for the water, marching out as far as I could walk with my eyes locked on the horizon where the sun was promising to rise from.

One of the girls came over, I kissed her for a minute and got locked back on the horizon, entranced, drunk and wet to the shoulders. The sun began to peek over, golden orange throwing colors out around it in the sky and nearby clouds. The combination of no sleep, drinks and being in the water during this felt exactly like a dream, more than any other waking moment in my life.

When it finished coming all the way up I started swimming around. I made my way to the beach, playing on the monkey bars and the rest of the playground there, the beach was already getting populated by folks who'd probably just woken up.

After some time I noticed the rest of the people I'd come with were ready to go jump in a cab, I'd already eyeballed Karla's place and knew my way back, so I opted to go on foot. I ran at first, still filled with energy. Run, walk, run, walk; this is how I continued until I made it to her door, passing out as I got inside.

I awoke late in the day, a note from Karla said she'd gone to the beach. Nikki and the other roommate there headed out the door for a night of camping on some beaches south of town. I took a walk to the empanada spot from the day before and repeated the meal, then rested in the ocean breeze for a while back at the apartment.

Karla came back and soon a group of us were headed for the movies. It was a luxury movie theater, everyone had their own big leather arm chair. I grabbed some cookies at the store afterwards while she went shopping and we headed back to her place.

Soon everyone was asleep, I had to walk to the bus around 4am to get to the airport and venture back to the USA. I set an alarm and passed out right by the breezy window I'd been enjoying. Cancun had been a good time, all of Mexico was.

Next, on to Phoenix... but not without some extra time at the airport and an unexpected bonus trip through Mexico City.

Bus to Merida, Parting Ways with Kelly

2009-08-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

The long bus ride took Kelly and I to Merida, we'd slept mostly the whole way after having gone without sleep due to our escape from potential kidnapping rapists. We gave Karina a call when we pulled into the bus station, our host in Merida, she gave us directions that we passed on to a taxi driver.

The driver got a bit lost on the way, but at last we were meeting Karina in her driveway as her and her friend David welcomed us in. She offered us much needed beers straight away, we found a seat on the couch and sipped away. We told them the whole story of our adventure through farmland from the sketchy traffickers, at first it seemed so ridiculous to them they thought it was a joke.

Kelly got a shower first, I followed shortly after, our legs were caked in dirt and we smelled a bit like a swamp. Karina planned to go out drinking with David, Kelly wasn't up for anything other than sleep, so I hung back with her. We did go out a few blocks for some nachos, but we quickly drifted to sleep, her on the short couch and me on a deflated air mattress.

In the morning we all woke up slowly. The four of us dropped off a load of laundry at a place down the street and then got to driving. Karina and David took us to a breakfast spot they liked where we got some sort of fish sandwiches and cokes. We then drove around getting a tour of the downtown for a bit, shortly after grabbing our laundry and heading back to Karina's.

We threw everything in the dryer and were out the door again heading for the beach, Kelly and I still hadn't been to a beach in Mexico. The place was absolutely packed, from the beach to the water to the streets nearby, people were everywhere. Karina brought her dogs and stuck with them, but Kelly and I headed straight for the water. It was the nicest water either of us had ever been in, an ocean so warm and perfect. We popped out back to the beach for a minute to find some beers waiting for us, we cracked them open and headed back for the water, sipping beer in the warm blue water.

Back home we all got some showers in, then were headed out again towards downtown. We walked around the central square for a bit, Karina ran off to meet up with a friend somewhere. David took Kelly and I to a museum loaded with paintings depicting Yucatan history. We met back up with Karina and headed for a fancy restaurant, some of their friends met us there too. We enjoyed some pizza and not-quite-habanero peppers, Yucatan was known for these, but apparently we got some sub-par ones, not too hot.

Karina headed to work early in the morning, David to the airport for a flight to Mexico City, both were gone when we woke up. Kelly and I headed to the mall in search for an ATM, she was out of money, but hoping that her folks had loaded some cash into her account. They hadn't, but she was sure they would soon.

Armed with her credit card, we headed to the food court to fill our bellies. As we walked by the chineese food places they prodded samples on toothpicks in our direction. After walking by 4 or 5 of them we'd had a nice little appetizer meal. The cheap pizza place took credit cards, so that's what we got.

Next Kelly picked up some movie tickets to kill some time until her account was loaded, we got some milk shakes while we waited for showtime, then sat and talked for a bit. The movie was awful, but in the way we could laugh about how terrible it was during the whole thing, and there were only 4 or 5 other people in the theater. A cheesy movie about a girl falling for an older guy, Kelly's idea, I could have gone for GI Joe.

Sure enough, there was money in her account after the movie and she pulled some out of the ATM. We headed downtown on the bus in search of internet, we found it quickly and sat for a bit checking messages and arranging hosts in various parts of Mexico. I was leaning towards Cancun, Kelly was thinking she'd opt for a bus towards Chiapis.

We bused back towards Karina's place, stopping for nachos first at the same place from before. Being our last night together on this Mexico trip, beer made the most sense. We picked up a few 40's at the Oxxo and walked back to Karina's, she was in the driveway when we got there ready to head out to a work party. She was happy to see us, Kelly had dropped her phone in the toilet at the mall and it wasn't working anymore, so Karina wasn't able to get in touch with us. She let us in and took off into the night.

We had the beers open quickly, Kelly checked online for buses headed to Chiapis, I took a look at the road to Cancun with the intention of hitchhiking in the morning. Kelly put in the only movie she could find, Twighlight, another cheesy bad movie, this one about vampires. We drank our beers and played cards with this in the background, the night got fairly sloppy until we were both passed out.

Karina popped in our room in the morning to say goodbye, she looked fresh and was off to work, Kelly never woke up, but I said goodbye and thanks. A while later we both woke up and got to showering, then we were out the door. We both walked to the Oxxo to return the bottles, I kept the money from that which was about 17 pesos, just over a dollar. We had a quick meal next door and then headed for the main road.

At the corner we parted ways, Kelly towards downtown and eventually the bus station, me towards the freeway bound for Cancun. The hitchhiking incident from days ago had scared her off the style of travel, maybe for good, but I knew better, either way it meant for now that our Mexican stories would split off here.

Escape from Kidnapping Rapists after days of Hitchhiking East in Mexico

2009-08-20T10:57:00.000-07:00

Even after waking up at 3pm after a long night of drinking, Kelly and I were ready to hitchhike on to the next place, we figured Veracruz was good. We didn't have a place to stay, although we'd sent out somecouchsurfing requests beforehand. After a quick trip to the internet cafe, we grabbed some bread and donuts for our bus ride, Olaf showed us the way and rode with us.

Just less than hour later we hit a gas station apparently on the edge of town, Olaf wanted to watch us hitchhike and see if we got a ride, he stood off to the side. I wasn't convinced we were on the right road, we decided to walk further down it to see if it turned into something better, we parted ways with Olaf then. We walked and walked to find the road winded and up, down and around hills into the country, there was no shoulder even for cars to pull over.

We walked back towards the gas station and took a side road I thought might lead to the main freeway, it instead took us through a tiny quiet town. We strolled through the streets until Kelly asked someone about the road to Veracruz, they pointed us to a local bus that would dump us to the road, we got on to find out the on ramp was indeed close to the gas station in the other direction than what we'd walked.

Finally on the right road, we walked up it to find a good spot, thumbing the traffic that passed. A guy worker was stacking up cones along the road and Kelly got to talking to him, next thing she's helping carry some of the cones and we're loading into their truck. The guys gave us a ride a decent ways down the road, reaches their turn off just at sunset. We waited while another hitchhiking woman got a ride, we figured ours would come soon. Darkness came first, we started thinking about a place to camp for the night.

We walked down the road in our direction in search for a patch of trees, anything, but the bush was thick and pretty much went rolled into a ditch off the road. We came up quickly on some street lights a mini half mile town, just before it was the patch of trees we were looking for. We snuck behind and rolled out our sleeping gear, then laid in the heat. Before long we both realized we were far from tired, we'd only been up about 6 or 7 hours, Kelly was also a bit paranoid about being discovered by people and mosquitoes.

We decided to pack up and try to hitch again under the street lights just after a row of speed bumps. We used the last of the pesos between us to buy a bottle of water and started thumbing. A car stopped soon, Kelly rode shotgun and talked with the friendly guy who was headed for Veracruz. The guy stopped in a small town so we could see it, there were old walls that giant trees had grown into, the roots were intertwined and seemed to be the only thing holding the walls up, it was very cool.

He dropped us off by a hotel on the far side of Veracruz, Kelly said he was one of the happiest people she'd ever met. She was ready to splurge for a hotel, our brief attempt at sleeping outside was enough for her. The hotel she tried was fully booked, she hit an ATM and we went for tacos to think for a bit, the tacos were great. We went walking and looking for another hotel after that, then decided to grab a taxi and see if the driver would know a good spot. As we hopped into one a bunch of girls shouted at me something like, "muy guapo, adios!", the driver said gringos get a lot of attention. He took us to a cheap hotel on the other side of town and let us out.

Kelly picked up a room, we made another stop at an ATM to cover the expense, back in the room we passed out pretty quickly. In the morning we were ready to go again, off toMerida in the Yucatan where we had a couchsurfer to stay with. I went to the front desk to use the internet , the night before they said it would be 20 pesos. No one was at the desk, so I waited for a minute, then just fired up the computer myself and checked my messages and the map.

I shutdown the computer and went back into the hallway towards the stairs, a woman popped out down the hallway, "hoy!", I think she said. I don't think she saw me using the computer, but was still wondering what I was doing. I couldn't communicate to well with her, I handed her the key to the room and said "checking out", which she didn't understand. I tried to say something inspanish to her, Kelly later translated my botched attempt as, "I'm going to the bed to touch my things, done!".

Of course I meant to say, "I'm going to the room to grab my things, then we're leaving", but I don't think she understood either way and I just went to do it anyhow. We quickly packed and got to walking, stopping for food first, good food,empanadas and gorditas . Asking several people for directions, we found ourselves on a local bus heading across town and further in our direction. It let us out an hour or more later along the road we needed to be on.

We heard pumping music coming out a small place and decided to grab a beer there. There weren't many people there, a bored bartender avoided eye contact and grabbed us a couple beers, we drank up and got to the road near the speed bumps. A minivan stopped for us with two girls full of energy, laughing with Kelly inspanish. One of them worked Cancun during the tourist season, she pointed at me with her eyes and said a bunch in Spanish ending with, "Gringos! Aaah!", she laughed with Kelly.

They kept on driving us, the younger one got us some cheap eats from a vendor walking around the gas station while the other used the bathroom. I noticed when they turned off the main highway, but Kelly didn't seem to alarmed. They dropped us off in a semi-deserted looking spot, but the word was that the road connected back to the main road at some point.

A couple stopped and asked where we were going, they were going to Oaxaca, pretty far away and in the opposite direction, but a place we knew we wanted to go to eventually, we shrugged and said sure. It didn't happen though, they didn't have room in their car, it wasstrange that they stopped at all. We got a ride shortly after that from a guy heading in our original direction. He took us an hour or so down the road and let us off.

A pickup truck full of guys stopped and asked where we were going, they were going a different way and drove off. They looped back around a little later and told Kelly they could at least drive us to the road we needed to be on. We rode in the back of the pickup, they let us out near a checkpoint or tollbooth, offering us a couple sad looking oranges that were rolling around in the back on our way out.

We walked down to the checkpoint past the slew of heavily armed police, they gave us funny looks. A group of them rolled up to us hanging off the truck and asked where we were going, they smiled and drove off when we told them. Soon we were in a big truck headed further down the road, the guy got us some incredible pineapple juice from some people on the side of the road, ice cold and rich with flavor.

He dropped us off at a gas station past a checkpoint which was as far as he could take us. We had great tacos again, night had fallen now. We went to the speed bumps just past the checkpoint near a streetlight and started thumbing, it wasn't the best spot and not all that bright. Some of the police came over to inquire what we were doing and say we couldn't hitchhike in that particular spot. Kelly dumbed down herspanish to avoid having to talk to them too much. They asked to search our bags, but lazily looked in a small pocket in each of ours, I suppose they were bored or curious.

Walking back towards the gas station to stand somewhere else, a guy with a small truck offered us a ride to Villahermosa, he took us a decent distance to the edge of the city. It was well dark now, and Merida was still a ways away. Kelly was still up for hitching though, so we got to walking down the dark road in search for a better place to stand and make our way across the city and down the road.

Along the walk, a car cruised by pretty close and shouted "hippies!", again it sounded like perhaps one of the few english words they knew. Kelly let out a startled "yelp!", she was in her own world of thoughts. We walked a little further and a big truck stopped for us and we hopped in. He went out of his way to take across town and past another checkpoint.

In the streetlights we started thumbing the cars and trucks that came through the checkpoint, finally a white pickup truck stopped. Kelly went to the window to talk to the two young guys inside, she said they were headed a couple hours up the road. She asked if I minded if she took the free seat inside the cab, I told her to go for it, looking up I could see he stars were shining a bit.

We cruised down the road, the stars were crystal clear, more so as we got further away from the city, it was the most I'd seen in a very good while. I enjoyed the time on my own back there, I figured I should be tired given the time, it was somewheres after midnight, but the stars kept me up. I pulled out my harmonica for a while and got to playing, shouting out songs I'd come up with in the past couple years while walking along the road.

We stopped at a gas station and the three of them got out, one went looking for beer, I talked with the driver a bit, Kelly had to translate. I managed to say, inspanish , that I was enjoying seeing all the stars. When we got to going again Kelly said she'd sit back with me to see them too, she smiled, "I've got a lot to talk to you about", in regards to whatever conversation she had been having along the ride. We didn't talk though for the next stretch, we were both lost in the stars and the wind blowing by.

We hit a big bump in the road tossing us around a bit, the kid in the passenger seat stuck his head out the window with a laugh asking if we wereok . Just up the road we stopped at the next gas station where they managed to find beer. While they were inside Kelly told me that they were talking about their job as traffickers, both humans and firearms. She'd asked about it, there response was, "Why are you asking questions about our business", and she quieted down, but I guess they talked more about it anyhow.

They popped out with a couple six packs of beer, Kelly hopped back in the cab with them. The guy handed me a beer in the back, and with a face that's asking a question he held up 2 fingers, I nodded with a smile and he handed me another. We shot back down the road into the dark, I enjoyed my sips of beer and kept my eyes to the stars.

A little ways down we pulled off into a small dirt road or maybe a driveway and stopped, they all got out. Kelly said we were stopping to enjoy the beers before the next checkpoint. The older of the two guys talked to me the whole time, mostly through Kelly's translations, the younger guy barely said a word. He said he was happy to help us and that this is what life was all about.

"Guess what my second job is", in spanish he said this, relayed by Kelly. She'd already told me, but I played dumb, he said his first job was dealing with animals on a farm where he was headed now. His hint was that it was illegal, I guess trafficking, I was right of course. He said he was dealing with getting people from Guatemala to the US, each person was paying $700USD each. Once at the border, if he got caught, corrupt border patrol would charge $100 per person and let them through. He said firearms was far more dangerous.

We drank some more beers, Kelly seemed a bit nervous while he was talking about his second job. He was the second person I'd gotten a ride from with a job like this, the first was in southern Arizona when I was headed for Oklahoma City. He then asked about the word, "secuestrar", which Kelly translated as kidnapping. He said a lot of people in that area also do that, kidnap people and have them call friends or family to get as much money as they can, and that there were also people who'd pick up and rape girl. "I don't do that though, that's not my business, just trafficking".

We finished the beers and were ready to go, Kelly said she was going to ride in the back with me, but they told her she'd have to ride in front, "because of thefederales ", we laughed it off, as I would be in back either way. We got down the road, crossing the checkpoint. The stars had their lock on me still, but I kept peeking up front into the cab at Kelly in between the guys, something seemed off.

Soon I saw her forcing the younger guys hand away, he seemed to be trying to put his arm around her. Everything would seem calm, then I saw her do it again. We kept speeding down the road, I thought about what might be going on up there. We very abruptly turned off the main road and started barreling down a dirt road going pretty quickly. Kelly's swatting away at the guy's hand continued a few more times.

I thought about what I could do, we weren't going towards Merida, I didn't know where we were going and what their intentions were. I thought about reaching through the window in some sort of attack, but that wouldn't have done too much good... hitting the driver is never a good idea, and hitting the other guy could be trouble too.

We made another turn on the dirt road, in my head I was keeping track best I could of distances and landmarks in the dark, there weren't many. The car came slowed quickly to a stop, Kelly screamed while crawling over the young guy in the passenger seat, 19 years old, she poured out the window while I went up to it ready to help shouting "hey! hey!".

She cried something like, "Kenny, we gotta get out of here!", as she disappeared running into the trees and darkness. I looked towards the guys to see what was going on, they were laughing as they casually got out, I pulled our backpacks from the back of the truck. They didn't seem phased by any of it or seem to care about chasing either of us, they both started taking a piss facing away from me. I laughed at them trying to maintain the mood, taking a piss myself and shouting at them in English things like, "How do you say this? To take a piss?".

I booked it for the woods myself a moment later, "Thanks a lot guys!", I shouted as I disappeared, my sarcastic tone and english words were lost on them. Right away I encountered a barbed wire fence, I dropped the bags and slipped through it, I was shouting one thing or another, I forget what, but something to let Kelly know, wherever she was, that it was me coming through the fence and not one of the guys.

I saw the pickup truck pull off and down the road a bit and shouted for Kelly, I found her in the field and held her for a minute asking if she wasok , they hadn't done too much to her fortunately. She turned the flashlight on her phone on, right then the pickup truck looped back around, we saw it coming and ran for a quick spell before dropping to the ground.

"Kelly. Kelly Kelly!", they shouted out the window, we stayed still and they quickly passed. As soon as they did I went quickly back to the fence with Kelly and her flashlight, we grabbed our bags and started heading down into the field away from the road, I had her turn her flashlight off. We hadn't gotten too far when the truck came back again, we quickly laid down in the dirt.

"Kelly? Kelly. Kelly.", they drove slowly and shined another light into the field. We were hardly breathing we were staying so still, mosquitoes buzzed in my ear while others enjoyed anuninterrupted feast on my legs and arms. At last they passed, we started running as fast as we could under the light of the crescent moon, unsure if they had perhaps just turned the car off or let one of them out. When we got a good distance I stopped still for a moment to listen. I didn't hear anyone running towards us, no cars coming or going.

My idea was to head towards the road we'd turned off and cross it, then continue heading back to the main road that way, I figured they wouldn't expect to look for us on that side of the road. First we were going to move forward a bit and just keep our distance from any road. Even if we'd been on the road with no threat of getting caught, we were still 10 or 20 miles from the freeway at least.

The bush we were walking through was a mix of tall grass, sharp thorny plants and cow pies. I kept my eyes open for the cows, bulls or whatever else might be lurking in the dark. We made our way quickly through a patch of trees, hidden from the road, unsure exactly how far it was anyhow, but I kept my bearings as far as direction.

After a little while of soldiering through I was convinced we were safe for the time being. The guys who let us run away and took a piss while laughing clearly weren't motivated enough to chase us through this jungle like farmland in the dark. Either way though, we had to get to a place we could camp until sunrise, or a spot on the road where we could stay hidden and identify what car was coming before deciding to flag it down to get a ride out.

We took a turn right towards the road, a patch of trees in the way. We hacked through some bush just to come across a decent sized stream. We decided to hack our way and go further to see if there would be a better crossing. We marched on, getting scraped up along the way by thorns, a few more times I had to pull apart barbed wire fences so we could cross through. Kelly changed into pants to minimize thescratching on her legs. I couldn't help but smile at the ridiculousness of it all, I shared a silent laugh with the stars above us.

After a couple hours or more we saw the lights of a farmhouse. Recalling that they'd said they were working with animals on a farm, we weren't too keen on making ourselves known. I knew if we crossed the fence though,there'd have to be a driveway that would cross the stream. Kelly touched the fence and jolted back slightly, "I think it's electric", I touched it too, and damn it was electric, a slap in the face really.

We walked along it, slipping down a hill along it in the direction of the road, roosters crying and horses on the move in the moonlight. We at last came to the end of the fence where we could climb around it near the bridge and pull ourselves up, we made our way down the driveway to the main road. It didn't feel like the main road, it seemed even bumpier and more in the trees.

We walked in the direction that made navigational sense to me until it clearly didn't make sense as far as my memory of how the road felt, then we got to walking the other way towards a light in the distance, passing the driveway to the farm house again. We saw headlights coming from far down the road and bailed into the woods to the side waiting for it to pass, it never did, a bit odd.

We got to walking again, then convinced ourselves to turn around and try the farm house for some help. Walking back, we saw headlights coming from behind us again, we bailed again into the ditch. Kelly dove in, I thought she'd wiped out pretty good, but she said she wasok. Again, the car never passed. In the distance I saw the car driving down a road running a bit parallel . I understood then that we were on a side road running along that road, my sense of navigation stayed intact and things made sense, but we kept on towards the farm house.

We stashed our packs and slipped through the locked gate, weary of the possibility we'd see a white pickup truck parked somewhere, we didn't. A dog barked as we got closer, we heard some people start to talk and a light come on, "hola!", Kelly started shouting, saying other things in spanish too.

A woman came to the window, others poked out of the small cottages surrounding. Kelly began to explain our situation, keeping in mind the possibility that those two guys were in one of the several cottages. After a while of going back and forth, Kelly explained that the woman was saying they were poor, and no one had a car there.

That seemed to be the end of it, we wondered if they'd let us camp out for a bit. The dark of night was lifting, evidence of the coming sun was showing. I went to the gates and grabbed our bags, coming back to see Kelly talking with a big group of people who didn't seem very helpful, just mildly curious. She asked for water, someone brought out a few crackers and some soda that we got to drinking. We sat by the well in the center of it all as the sky started getting brighter. Around us they started going about their morning, tending to horses, feeding chickens.

We decided we should walk to the road now that the sun was on it's way, the people were ignoring us. As we got to the gate a pickup truck pulled in with a woman driving, we didn't bother asking anything to her, she just gave us a funny look and drove past. As we walked down the dirt road to the "main" dirt road, the sun popped up at the end of it.

Once at the other road we started walking in the direction of the real main road, the one that lead to Merida. A car came from that direction, heading the opposite way, we decided to flag it down anyhow, it drove past us. We turned around and it stopped, a change of mind, we ran for it and Kelly explained we were looking for a bus station, she was done with hitchhiking, in Mexico, in any place she said.

The couple drove us a ways into a small town, stopping first at an ATM where Kelly grabbed some money, then at the bus station. She bought us two tickets to Merida, the bus wasn't leaving for another 3 or 4 hours. We sat for a bit and then grabbed a bite to eat, mostly quiet.

"We got kidnapped", Kelly said. This would be said often from that point, replacing our previous refrain of, "We're in Mexico". We sat in the bus station falling in and out of sleep. Kelly's legs were cut up pretty good, she'd run right through that first barbed wire fence when she'd bailed out of the car through the window.

Finally our bus arrived headed for Merida, we fell asleep quickly. It had been an adventure for sure, and we had some things to figure out now that hitchhiking was out of the question for Kelly.

Hitch to Xalapa, Waterfalls, Good People and Drunken Cards

2009-08-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

Parties, pyramids and general exploration in the heart of Mexico left Kelly feeling slightly off-centered, maybe a pinch sick, but both of us had a sense of happiness and readiness for the rest of our adventure. This particular morning we were in Puebla, ready to go, waiting for our host to get back from work so we could take off. In the meantime, we were sending out messages to couchsurfers in Veracruz and Xalapa, the next closest cities. I couldn't find a mirror, but shaved my growing beard by the reflection in the stove and snagged a shower.

Our host got back, vigorously trying to convince Kelly that hitchhiking was a bad idea and we should take a bus. I could only understand words like "peligorsa", dangerous, and "policia" in his fit of spanish, Kelly looked at me for another opinion, the opinion she had, that we'd be fine. He at last told us which bus we could take to get to the freeway, continuing with his warnings.

The bus he had us get on went west across town to the bus station, the opposite direction we should have been going, but once at the bus station we managed to walk a short distance to the main road headed east. By this time we'd gotten a response from a couchsurfer in Xalapa, so this was our destination.

We got a ride from a small truck, we both squished into the passenger seat and watched the street signs for a while until we reached the split, then hopped out. We walked around a big bend in the road that turned towards Xalapa, spotting an Oxxo (Mexico's always present 7-11 type convenience store), Kelly popped in to buy more minutes for her mexican phone.

While walking down the road towards a good looking pull out, a guy shouted out the window, "Fuckers!", we laughed at what sounded like the only word the guy knew in English. We were picked up again quickly by an 18 wheeler, an old woman in the back who turned out to be the truckers mothers, loud music drowning out the possibility of conversation. Kelly sat in back with the woman, I watched the the road to make sure we were staying on track while also enjoying the mountains and desert.

The driver was one of the best I've road with, his truck ran smooth and he pushed it fast, passing lines of cars and other trucks with efficient precision, watching him drive was more of a good time than actually getting to wherever we were going. He let us out at a gas station where he was turning off, telling Kelly it was a good spot to wait. We took turns thumbing the traffic in the wide open space, balancing on the curb, singing the songs mutually stuck in our heads and laughing at each other.

A nice trucker picked us up next, Kelly sat up front this time, making more sense being that she spoke spanish and I didn't. We got our first good glimpse of water besides the loose river here and there, a big lake on the left side of the road. The trucker stopped so we could get a good look, we all got out and went to the edge of the cliff to take it in.

We cruised down the road, me relaxing in the back loosely in tune with what they were talking about by catching key words here and there I could understand. I know I heard "tequila" and "cerveza" a few times and tried to keep up. Just as night fell upon us we were in Xalapa, we dropped us off right near a mall where we called Olaf, our host in town. A friendly taxi driver took us to his block across town, the driver apparently invited us to a concert later this year.

Olaf was a friendly guy going to school in town, a true couchsurfing host who loved travel and travelers. A Norwegian girl was staying with him at the moment, she'd spent a semester in school there too, but her time in Mexico was coming to a close. The four of us went towards the downtown to a place they liked, we got pasta and some smoothie type drinks with some alcohol I can't recall the name of. A guy across the room was surprised to hear people speaking english and introduced himself from being from Alabama. Next we walked to a bar for some glasses of Indio, the Mexican dark beer that kept popping up, and shortly after we headed home for the night.

Olaf made great breakfast for us in the morning, then the four of us headed for the bus where we met up with a friend of his. We rode to the small town of Xico and hiked down through some trails to the waterfalls. We relaxed there for a while, a massive tree nearby was interesting to look at as well, the mosquitoes enjoyed our visit as well.

After hiking out we walked the main road through town, grabbing a bite to eat and then some ice cream near the big church. A beat up looking dog began following us at one point too, never leaving our side until we were getting back on the bus headed for Xalapa.

We relaxed a bit at Olaf's place, made a quick stop to the internet cafe, then got to walking to downtown again. We gathered in the park that overlooked part of the foggy city, apparently it's frequently foggy like it was that evening. We grabbed some tacos nearby, great of course, then some amazing churros in back in the park.

We stopped by a lake and sat for a while, Kelly and I talked about loose plans for the future; California, South America and Australia, we took a couple swigs from my tequila flask. The go after that was cheap mojitos, Olaf took us to the spot, the Norwegian girl bumped into friends constantly along the way and said her goodbyes, it was her last night in the country.

We downed a few mojitos and talked, various people came to sit with us. We got back to the place and Olaf pulled out a bottle of tequila and mentioned cards, asshole being the game, but first he had to go take the girl to the bus station for her midnight ride to Mexico City where she'd catch her flight. Kelly and I grew restless, wrestling even while we waited, she ran out of energy and passed out.

Olaf bursted in sometime after midnight full of energy, his friend in tow, the one we'd gone to the waterfalls with, along with a big bottle of rum. We started dealing the cards. It took a couple tries, but I shook Kelly out of her light drunken slumber and she was easily convinced to be dealt in. The night went on for more hours than I thought it did, shot of tequila after another, rum and cokes, and soon shots of rum. Apparently we were at it until 6am, the night ending with a stumbling into bed, me apparently dragging Kelly out of hers determined to take another shot that never happened.

It wasn't until 3pm the next afternoon that we collectively woke up, feeling well rested at least. We had planned to hitchhike towards Veracruz this day, and even with our early start out the window, this was still the plan. We still had no set place to stay either, but we were set on our next journey into Mexico, the coming days would bring the sketchiest ride I've ever gotten.

Parties in Mexico City, Pyramids, on to Puebla

2009-08-19T05:01:00.000-07:00

After a ride with our crack smoking trucker, Kelly and I found ourselves on the streets of Mexico City without a definitive place to stay, but a whole day ahead of us. We started walking down the street, Kelly talked to a man about directions and he pointed us to an oncoming bus that would take us to a more central part of the city.

The bus whipped and bumped down the street towards downtown, I'd soon find that buses throughout Mexico were all exactly like this one, short and fat things driving as fast as they can. Kelly asked a guy next to us about what stop we could get off to find internet, the guy ended up getting off with us and guiding us around. He helped Kelly get a Mexican cellphone and then left us at a cheap internet cafe.

Kelly sent out a few messages on couchsurfing, we got a call within minutes to her brand new phone. The guy who called was one she'd been in touch with before, but we wouldn't be in town until later that night.

We went out looking for food and found 5 tacos for 15 pesos, which is just over a dollar. Just after this we got another phone call from a couchsurfer, a guy named Carlos who said we could make our way to his place right away. Kelly called the other guy and told him we'd found a place, as it would turn out we'd end up staying with that guy days later in Puebla.

A subway took us close to Carlos' and we walked up to his home, it was off the street in a colorful and bright alley. Only his mom was home at the moment, a friendly woman who just started learning english. Kelly and I both got showers in and his mom improvised a tasty meal for us which included a banana creme dessert. Carlos' sister came, and eventually so did Carlos. He was friendly too, right away talking about the party we were going to. It was recently his birthday, so there was basically a week long celebration.

Another bus took us to the party, we were among the first to arrive. I figured I'd be the only exclusive english speaker there, but after a while someone said, "So where are you guys from?", and slowly other travelers spilled in until it seemed more than half the people were speaking english. The night went on as many parties do, lots of drinking, introductions and stories about what's happened and what might be next. It was a great time, someone drove the three of us back to Carlos' and we abruptly passed out.

I woke to Kelly's phone ringing and her picking up, mumbling something to me about pyramids and soon we were walking out the door. We recapped the night best we could as various subways took us to a bus station across town, there we met a couple people from the party the night before and hopped on a bus.

The bus ride was just over an hour and landed us at the gates of Teotihuacan. We walked in and through the Aztec ruins, eventually making our way to the sun pyramid, the largest one there and almost the largest in the world. We made our way to the top, shortly after getting up there the rain came down as well as many other people who'd gone up. Soon it came down even harder in little ice pellets, an interesting thing to happen on a sun pyramid. We enjoyed it and continued to explore, making our way next to the smaller moon pyramid, vendors trying to sell necklaces and trinkets at every turn.

We got some really good corn as we exited the park and waited for the bus, mixed with some spices and whatnot in a cup. The bus took us back into the city, a subway ride late Kelly and I were at Carlos' again where there were incredible tacos waiting, we chowed down. Carlos was home soon and we were off to another party.

This one was a little more low key, a different group of people that were nice to talk to, we ended up following Kelly's lead and passing out there at the party. In the morning the three of us headed back home, munched on some leftover tacos, and passed out again.

We woke up and had to get going, Kelly and I said our goodbyes and made our way to the bus station where we met the host we'd almost stayed with, now we were heading to his other place in Puebla a couple hours away. They caught up on the bus, he didn't speak great english and my spanish doesn't do much in conversation, I watched a cartoon in spanish about surfing penguins instead.

As we entered Puebla we passed a never ending VW complex, arriving at the bus station we got a taxi that took us to his place. After sitting down with an Indio, the decent dark beer out of Mexico, we took a bus to the central part of the city to walk around. First was a farmers market, then a big church and then through a big celebration in the park with some good music going on.

We grabbed some food and beer, all the food in Mexico is good, then bused it back to the apartment stopping for juice first. We sat around talking and drinking tequila sunrises, Kelly translated for me, even when I spoke in spanish, which I tried more and more with every sip.

I woke up first and got a shower in, I took advantage of the computer and caught up on some writing as well as getting out some more couchsurfing requests for the places we may be going to next. When everyone was awake we jumped in a taxi to meet one of our host's friends at the mall, then we took his car to the town of Cholula.

We went through a giant market in a warehouse, settling on one place to eat that had good mole sauce with chicken, drinking horchata and then having a good quesidilla, mexican food is good food. We climbed up the hill to the big church next, sampling some fried bugs on the way from a vendor, there's apparently 365 churches in the town. From the top we had a great view of the nearby volcano, there was a cermony of some kind going on to with chanting and fireworks, we could see the whole city from up there.

After some more walking and relaxing on benches, we made our way home. I had a beer and quickly passed out, waking up a hour or two later when everyone was ready to go again. We went to the mall for food where I got a fast food burrito of some kind, I've been told burritos aren't really a mexican thing. The guy behind the counter spoke english, he was from Madrid and bummed to live in Mexico, but his grandfather had somehow kicked him out and he was forced to move to Puebla. I finised my burrito while Kelly and our host had some italian food, then we all headed home. Back there, we watched some cheesy movie about a time machine, some VH1 countdown and then made our way to sleep.

We were both ready to go, in the morning we'd do so. Mexico City was a party for sure, Puebla wasn't bad, but beaches and others things were on our mind.

Welcome to Mexico and a Crackhead Trucker

2009-08-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

Kelly woke me up somewhat early, this was the morning we would finally starting hitchhiking through Mexico. Our bags were packed, I had a separate yellow bag I was leaving with her family that they would bring to Phoenix for me to get later. In it I had things I wouldn't be using in Mexico like my laptop, phone, gloves and other little small things.

We had a little breakfast and were soon on the road, her brother in law gave us ride right up to the border by Nogales and we hopped out. We started walking along the road past some of the booths and buildings, no one seemed to care. Kelly wanted some kind of tourist card, so we found a small room to go in and asked a guy about it, he gave us some paper work to fill out. I'm still not sure why we did this, and we've since been told it's useless.

"We're in Mexico!", said a smiling Kelly, a phrase that would be echoed many times that day and further into the trip. We found the right road and got to walking down it, thumbing the odd car that would actually drive down it. Kelly went to explore behind a fence and some rocks, at this time a security van stopped and asked what I was doing, or if I was waiting for someone. I explained and he offered a ride as Kelly reappeared from behind the fence.

He took us 5 or 10 kilometers to a checkpoint which was as far as he could go, even this little stretch showed me the rolling hills with tightly packed houses and shacks, including the abandoned lone dwellings to the right side of the road he said we're illegally built. He dropped us off with the warning of bandits, we continued on.

We walked past the checkpoint by a line of parked trucks, a couple truckers started talking to us, or Kelly at least, my Spanish is not too good. Apparently they offered us a ride to Hermosillo, our next destination, but weren't leaving for 4 or 5 hours. We got a ride quickly anyhow when another truck stopped, but he just looped us around a little ways down the road, then off the exit and back into Nogales a bit. He also warned of bandits and let us out.

Kelly asked about where we were to a guy working and we started walking down the road, construction workers giving us interested looks and shouting things to us. Another truck stopped soon enough, and he was going a decent distance. My lack of Spanish left me mostly watching the scenery pass by and hearing an occasional translation from Kelly. We passed through some more checkpoints, one of which we had to briefly get out for the cab of the truck to be searched, it only took a minute. We went further, seeing pickup trucks loaded with heavily armed police of some sort in back, and the various towns that went by.

He let us out when he forked in the road towards wherever he was going, we walked through the small town of Imuris, catching the attention of many people along the road. We walked past the main part of town and around a big bend in the road, then a minivan pulled over and let us in. "Gringos, I haven't seen that for a while", he slightly chuckled, his name was Bill. We cleared off the seats and put the stuff near his wheelchair. He was originally from the US, but met a girl down in Mexico and got married. He said he didn't speak Spanish for the first 2 years of his marriage, she still doesn't speak English, "No fights for the first 2 years!", he laughed.

We stopped for a bathroom break, Kelly and I went into a diner bathroom while he just stayed in the car, being disabled he had a rig to pee there, "I don't care if you stay in the car or not, I'm not embarrassed anymore about these things. People have seen me completely naked, I used to mind it, not anymore".

He was going all the way to Hermosillo, we had a couchsurfer set up there. As we got closer Bill used had a phone we used to call Rafael, our host, he told us where to meet him and Bill said he'd take us right there. He stopped again for a bathroom break, Kelly and I just sat in the back this time while he took a leak into whatever bottle or tube he had, and soon enough we arrived in the city of Hermosillo.

Bill took us to the fish taco place where Rafael was, once there he gave us his phone number saying he'd take us out for dinner or beers that night or the next, or even give us a place to stay if we needed it. He exchanged our US dollars for us into Pesos too, 13 Pesos to the dollar plus a little extra.

We went over and met Rafael, it turns out he owned the place, Pescadito, and in fact had started a franchise with it, there were several in town. He set us both up with a couple tacos and horchata, a rice milk drink that's pretty tasty. We sat and ate the tacos with him and talked a bit, they were incredibly good and a great welcome to Mexico. He was extremely friendly and outgoing, we were glad to have arrived.

He was just closing the shop, he explained that many taco places close around 2:30, but he had some errands to do now too. His first stop was the Cocacola offices, "12 years ago they wouldn't even see me, no they're coming to me", he told us. He served Pepsi at his Pescaditos, but coke wanted him now and he was considering it since Pepsi had just changed management and fired all the employees that he'd been happily dealing with before. Kelly and I sat in the waiting room for a short while until he was done with his meeting. He made a stop at the mall to pay a water bill and was done with everything, food was on his mind now.

We went to a restaurant he said he liked and he ordered some food, sharing some with us even though we'd just had the fish tacos from his place. This food was good too, steak and tortillas with great salsas. We got in the car and headed back top his house, halfway there he realized he'd left his phone at the restaurant, we went back to get it only to discover it wasn't there, likely stolen by one of the waiters. He was a bit upset, not because of the cheap phone being gone, but the action of a waiter stealing from him, something he said would never happen at the Pescadito. He told us about a woman who'd left an envelope of cash, and they held on to it for 2 or 3 weeks and she actually came back looking for it, of course extremely happy that they still had it.

We relaxed at his place for a bit watching cheesy music videos, Kelly and I took hits off one of the three flasks we had filled. Rafael's friend came by and we got to talking, again mostly Kelly got to talking, he didn't speak much english nor I spanish. Between Rafael and Kelly being bilingual it worked out.

We went to the corner store and picked up some beers, after a few cans each they wanted to show us a bar on this first night of our trip to Mexico. We drove to the bar as Rafael pointed out things along the way in Hermosillo. As we walked in we were somewhat of a spectacle, I hadn't seen a blonde head of hair all day, so I stuck out a bit. We got big glasses of Indio, a dark beer that was pretty tasty. A red headed girl kept her eyes and eerie smile on me the whole night, a tall guy nearby kept a similar lock on Kelly. We were having a lot of fun, drink after drink, it didn't seem to stop.

An older man tapped my shoulder, he grinned at me with scattered teeth and began speaking mostly in spanish with bits of english excited to see where I was from, he was very drunk. He started singing Mexico's national anthem, when he was done with that we began the first part of the US national anthem, rolling his waiving hand at me to get me to sing it, I sang part of it through the laughter, Kelly and all were watching and laughing.

The man kept singing and talking to me, then walking away, then coming back, I kept drinking. Kelly disappeared in the bathroom for a bit, she couldn't keep up with the pace, but was having a great time anyhow. After one more round, we were out the door, the red head and I shared a look on the way out, hers of somewhat frustration, mine a drunken grin.

We landed at Rafael's friend's house and opened more beers, Kelly went and passed out on a couch shortly. I talked to Rafael outside for a while, his friend's dogs ran around and played frantically around us. At last he decided to call a taxi back to his place, we woke up Kelly and headed home where we quickly passed out.

We showered late in the morning and headed for the car with our bags, we were to hitchhike south. First though, Rafael took us out for some food at a little place, it smelled incredible walking in, the decorations on the wall were strange though, like a picture frame featuring a real dead squirrel spray painted green. We got a meaty stew and tacos, all kinds of great salsas and onions and other things to go along with it.

We made a brief stop in front of one of his Pescaditos to say goodbye to his friend from the night before, then he dropped us off at the gas station on the far end of town. We started thumbing under the hot sun just past the station. A truck that had been parked pulled up and stopped where we were, Kelly spoke to him and he said he was going all the way to Mexico City, about 1,800 kilometers away, we hopped in of course. We had a place to stay in Obregon, a city two or three hundred kilometers away, but we decided we should just get as far as we might as well take advantage of this long ride and get deep into Mexico right away, although this would prove to be sketchiest ride I've ever gotten.

The driver didn't speak an inch of english, and his spanish was a bit rough even for Kelly to understand completely. He didn't talk a lot anyhow, so we cruised down the road enjoying the ride, me in the passenger seat and Kelly on the bed in back. He made the first of what would be a lot of stops, this time at a small truck stop where he wanted to shower. We headed under the shade of the gas station while we waited for him, Kelly got us a couple little chocolate bar kind of things.

He whistled to us from across the lot and we headed back to the truck, we sat in the truck for a good while, he was on the phone and futzing with tools and things. After a good while we were driving down the road again. He took a wrong turn and we had to back track 10 or 20 minutes, but were on the right road again and going. He would stop pretty frequently along the road and get out, I was never sure what he was doing. At times he would drive unnecessarily slowly, less than half the speed limit, and for short bursts he'd cruise and pass everyone he could.

After nightfall we stopped at a gas station and he pointed at a hotdog stand where we could get food. Kelly bought a few hotdogs, they were covered in all sorts of things, like cheese, salsa, mushrooms and more, very good. The beady eyed trucker came over with a cup of coffee and Kelly gave him one to munch on too. We got some drinks in the gas station while the trucker wandered around, Kelly told me he said he was looking for candy or cookies, but later she found she mixed two similar words in Spanish and he'd actually been looking for pills.

Just up the road we hit the city of Obregon, he pulled into some back parking lots and stopped again at a mechanic. Something must have been wrong with the cooling unit on the back of the truck, some guys and him were working on it for a while, he was hauling tomatoes back there. An hour went by and we at last got on the road again. It wasn't long until we stopped again, this time for him to fuel up. He ran into a friend there who was driving for the same company, we stayed there a while too.

We drove into the night, Kelly was passed out in the back, I nodded in and out of sleep as he made his frequent stops to wander out of the truck for a few minutes or more at a time. We took one dirt road where he again went incredibly slow as trucks and cars passed us, he did it to save money by not taking the toll road.

At last the light of the morning came, just before sunrise, he pulled over near a gas station and stood outside his truck getting the attention of guys biking and walking by. I overheard "marijuana", and he seemed to turn that down. After a couple more interactions like this he was back in the truck and began crushing something up in his hands. He loaded a pipe, a light bulb, and began heating it up, then went towards the back of the truck away from the windows and began to smoke, it was crack. He took a good many hits, 9 or 10 abouts, Kelly didn't budge despite him kneeling on the bed a bit, she was well passed out. He stopped smoking and he started shaking back and forth a bit over her, I though he might be jerking off or something, but couldn't be sure, it didn't last more than a minute or so though and back in the driver seat firing up the truck again, off we went.

Kelly woke up shortly after the truck started moving again, we were out of the desert and into vast green rolling hills, she told me it looked like Guatemala. The beautiful drive went on for a while, I saw my first agave plants too, this drive was of course not without the truckers strange pit stops. Eventually we hit Mazatlan and I got my first brief glimpse of a Mexican beach as we went over a bridge.

We made a stop in another back parking lot where he again told us to get some food if wanted, as we pulled into the truck stop there were guys jumping on the truck holding on and asking him things while he turned them down. He was loading some tomatoes in a pickup truck in what seemed like some sort of sketchy side deal, Kelly and I headed to the nearby market where we got ice cream and apples. I told her about the crack smoking session she'd slept through, she didn't believe me at first, then lightly punched me several times for not waking her up while she was getting clam baked with crack and possibly masturbated on. We laughed about the ridiculousness of the situation as we sat and waited, our crack head driver who didn't sleep.

We kept on driving, stopping and driving, passing through little towns, villages and cities looking colorful and rundown at times, but mostly bustling with people. Every traffic light was lined with people walking through the cars selling food, drinks and trinkets.

At another stop Kelly passed me a note, it said that her extra money and camera were gone from her bag, the clear assumption being that the trucker had snagged it at one point when we left the truck one of the times. We decided to stay in the truck, as opposed to just leaving the ride, and that she would confront him about it when we arrived in Mexico City.

More and more driving, through patches of rain, beautiful scenery, big and small agave plants and onward towards the heart of Mexico at the slow and spotty pace of our thieving crack head trucker. He'd take a hit every now and then as we went along to keep it up. We reached Tepic, at a gas station he open the hood and sprayed things down. Just outside of town, he stopped in another parking lot along the road where a couple mechanics were working on a truck, he waited his turn. Kelly and I walked around a bit, there were tiny statues in a sort of outdoor museum nearby that weren't too interesting.

We waited in the truck, it was nightfall now, the trucker and a mechanic stoop up working on the engine, Kelly and I laughed and the whole thing. We each took a sip from the flask I'd dug up in Tucson, it had a strong taste of rust or corrosion, probably the effect of sitting buried beneath the arizona sun for almost a year.

After more than an hour we rolling again, Kelly sleeping, me nodding in and out of the same up front. We came into the city of Guadalajara pretty late and kept rolling. Passing through an intersection a girl on the side of the road was waiving her hand straight up the air frantically, I'd find this was a common hitchhiking gesture, he stopped for her and I hopped in back with Kelly. That girl got out just down the road, she seemed uncomfortable. Soon he picked up another girl and took her a little ways, I was mostly passed out in a strange position against my bag in the back.

Come morning we pulled into a place along the freeway with many vendors with food, he took a strong hit from his crack light bulb as Kelly and I got out and grabbed a bite to eat. He opened the back of his truck and was giving away tomatoes to different people I'm not sure he knew or not. He'd told Kelly his boss was going to give him a bonus if he got to Mexico City by 4am, it was well past that now, but I wondered how his boss would feel about these side deals with his tomato cargo. I also thought it was funny that he was smoking crack in order to stay awake and keep driving, when all he did was make ridiculous stops and drive painfully slow at times. If he'd drove normally, he could have taken some naps and not smoked a bunch of crack.

When we were getting back on our way he took one last pull from his crack pipe, as we were pulling out he tossed the light bulb out the window and let it shatter on the pavement, we pulled on to the freeway again... and stopped a couple kilometers up again. He bought something in the store and we were rolling again, getting close to Mexico City finally.

He picked up a red headed girl hicthhiking, I moved to the back again and caught some more sleep. When he dropped her off, we were just 50 kilometers from the city. The traffic got pretty heavy as we rolled in, he bought a few ice pops for us from a vendor at a red light. At last we were a decent part of the city, at another red light he let us out. Kelly quickly confronted him about the money and camera, she'd brought it up earlier in the context of "have you seen my stuff", but now was essentially accusing him. He seemed offended and there wasn't anything we could do anyhow, we hopped out and he drove on.

It had been quite the ride and a long one at that, about 48 hours with the truck. We'd had a great welcoming to Mexico though in Hermosillo, and were now in the heart of things in Mexico City ready for whatever was next.

Unexpected Vegas and down to the Mexican Border

2009-08-03T20:02:00.000-07:00

After a couple thousand miles across the country, I landed in Vegas unexpectedly. The guy who picked me up was off to LA after dropping me off at the New York New York hotel and casino where I had some room comps to share with Kelly (my friend I'm going to Mexico with) and her friend Alex.

I crossed the bridge to the MGM, I had to wait for the girls to get there to check-in, I didn't have a debit card for the room deposit. I caught up on some messages and writing hidden in the business center until I got a call that the girls were arriving.

I met them at hotel check-in at NYNY, we headed for the elevator to our room and aired out some excitement, over Vegas, and over our impending Mexico trip. We didn't take long in the room, we headed first for the penny slots to get the free drinks that come with it, a couple martinis later and we were headed down the strip.

I'd seen earlier online that my friend Shana that I'd couchsurfed with in town was having a party, we decided to hop on the Deuce bus and go downtown. I picked up a six pack on the way and we were soon amongst the house party of good times, "Kenny Flannery!", Shana shouted with a pinch of an Irish accent as she saw me.

We drank the night away, beers, mixed drinks, shots and jello shots. The original intention was to go and enjoy a bit, then I would show the girls Freemont Street, it was their first time in Vegas. That never happened though, the fun never died down at the party, but we eventually found ourselves stumbling back to the Deuce bus and headed back to the hotel. We got into a lively conversation with some other drunk folk on the bus, the girls left the conversation and went to the bottom floor of the double decker bus. I soon realized I only had one shoe on, and was holding another that didn't match, I followed them down.

I found the girls and my shoe, I had one of theirs, it worked out nicely. We wandered into the casino and got split up almost immediately one way or another. I decided to go to the cashier and pick up my $75 in promotional chips that were part of the comp package, I took those to the craps table to make some field bets. I turned around at just the moment Kelly was walking by looking confused, I got her attention and she stood with for a bit while I turned the promo chips into $75 of regular chips and walked away.

We stood nearby contemplating the next move, it was either penny slots or back to the craps table, in either case the reasoning was to wait for the drink lady to come around. She put two hands behind her back and I picked the one that represented the craps table and back we went. My chips went way up and then down to nothing, the lady never came during this, we headed for the room. Alex was pretty much passed out, soon we were too.

We woke up in the early afternoon with heavy heads, but ready for more. Alex made us up some sandwiches we munched on then we headed out to the strip to see what we could find. Kelly spotted an ad on a passing bus, "$1 margaritas at Sahara". Our passes were still good, we hopped on the bus and took the ride down to the other end of the strip.

We got to the bar to discover they no longer had the margaritas, but they did have dollar beers and kamikaze shots. I stuck a few bucks in the video poker machine while we had a beer and about 5 shots a piece. We saw something about a 6 pound burrito and went looking for it.

We found another bar first where we got some hotdogs and another shot. We were about to leave, but caught the beginning of a burrito eating contest, two guys given 45 minutes to eat as much of the 6 pounder as they could. They started slow and stayed that way, I laughed at the thought of them trying to compete with mustard-belt-holder Joey Chestnut I'd just seen in Coney Island earlier that month down 68 hotdogs in 10 minutes.

We hopped on the bus back to our hotel, but another $1 margarita sign caught our attention at Bills Casino, and they actually had them. We had a few of those and then got back to NYNY shortly after.

Another part of my comp package was $50 in resort credit, so we used some of that to get a meal of our own. Feeling slowed down from the food and the bout of drinking followed by a longish bus ride, we headed to the room and caught an hour or so of sleep to be ready for the night.

We woke up to a Friday night in Vegas. To use up some of the rest of the credit, we headed to a beer bar in the hotel, the girls got Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA while I got a cup of Stone Ruination. We wandered a magic shop for a moment and then made our way to the penny slots where we waited a while for the drink lady to come around, she finally did and it was vodka martinis for me again.

We walked down the strip with one intention or another, but wound up in a market buying an 18 pack of beer. I rested against a cop car whose lights were flashing while we waited for Alex who was inside talking with a guy who worked there, we cracked into the beer.

Shortly we were back in the hotel room with the beer and a deck of playing cards, I suppose we were playing a game, but we were pretty much just throwing cards around and drinking. One of the cards sent me out in the hallway to strip, but I instead disappeared down the elevator to the casino floor. I found myself a big slice of pizza and munched away in drunken fashion, making my way back up to the room.

We got fairly routy when I returned, Alex went to go meet a guy downstairs from the store, I got into a bit of a wrestling match with Kelly. Alex came back with her new friend and we had to vacate the room for a while, we headed to the Monte Carolo not too far away, drinking our own beers at the bar there.

Not too much later we headed back, having a beer fight along the strip, I doused her pretty good with cheap beer and I got the same treatment. We kept up some typical drunken behavior back in the room for a while until we found ourselves turning out the lights and going to sleep.

We got on the road in the morning, Phoenix bound. We drove down the 93, through the slow traffic at the hoover dam, the desert beyond that, and the stretch of joshua trees closer to Phoenix. The girls dropped me off at Larry's place, no one seemed to be home. I set my backpack in the backyard and walked to taco bell for some food.

On the walk over I talked to my dad on the phone, we was trying to convince me not to go to Mexico because of some perceived danger. I talked to my mom next, I could hear the same thing in her voice even though she didn't come out and say not to go. Mexico was the go though.

I got a message from Trish saying she was home, so I walked back and came into the house and relaxed, catching up with her a bit. I hopped on a bike and went to the store for some beer, a New Belgium mixer pack. I relaxed the night away with a few beers, eventually Larry came home with his kids. We caught up a bit, he passed out soon and I did shortly after that.

More relaxing in the morning, we had some breakfast and watched a movie in the cooler room in the house, Phoenix was smoking hot outside. I got a shower in and we were out the door headed to Kelly's place. Before Larry and Trish dropped me off, we went out for a good meal and a couple big glasses of Guinness, then some Cold Stone ice cream to seal the deal.

We waited a few minutes at Kelly's until she arrived, the three of us talked for a bit. I said goodbyes to Larry and Trish, and then watched Kelly get to packing for the trip, I went through some of my thing contemplating leaving things behind or shuffling things, but just tossed a couple things instead.

We got on the road headed for Arivaca, a small town just north of the border where her sister and some family lived. We hit the freeway just as the sunset was peaking, and Arizona has some of the best. I knew we'd be passing through Tucson too, I had a flask buried there. It was the flask my friend Aaron had gotten me and the other guys in his wedding last fall, but I'd left it in Berkeley. Charish and Mandie took it to Tucson with them, filled it up and buried it, then gave me directions to find it.

Kelly and I veered off the freeway and went to the Mission San Xavier del Bac and parked. In the light of a nearly full moon, I climbed a hill, went past a gate and found the altar. To the right of that there was a pillar with dirt and rocks to the side of it, I was instructed that far and then to dig. After a little digging I hit it, the silver flask with my name engraved and all. I brushed the dirt off and took a shot, then passed it to Kelly with a smile on my face.

In less than an hour we arrived in Arivaca, a small spread out place in the middle of the desert. I met some of Kelly's family and we talked for a little while. Later, Kelly and I sat in some chairs outside staring up at the stars for a bit, the yard was extensive and well landscaped with little sitting areas all over.

In the morning we had some breakfast and then Kelly took off to Tucson with her sister for an appointment, I hung back with some others and relaxed getting some writing done. The day continued like this, I hadn't typed up anything in a while and had to catch up. Between this I peeked at maps of Mexico in anticipation.

Tomorrow we head over the border and into something new. Our plans are loose, our destinations within the country are still undetermined. We have a road to start heading down and some suggestions, but we'll see what happens. If I had to guess, I'd say it's gonna be good times.

HItchhiking from Toronto to Phoenix... or Vegas as it turns out

2009-08-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

I woke up in Toronto not knowing where I'd be that night, only that it would be on the way to Arizona. I threw my clothes in the washer and got a shower in, then switched to the dryer and was out the door for one last meal. I only had 50 cents left, then 60 when I found a dime, but I got another 40 by returning some empty bottles to the beer store. Equipped with a solid dollar, I headed to the chineese bakery and got a few buns.

My clothes were dry when I got back, I packed up and was out the door again for good. It took a good amount of walking to get to an on ramp headed west, the freeway was raised up without many entrances, but this at least put me on the edge of the city with my thumb out. The first guy to pick me up had done some hitchhiking himself when he was younger, mostly just around this immediate area.

He got me to the east ramp to highway 403 and gave me some poor advice, saying I should hitch that way to get to the 401. While this was true, going west was the direct route by a longshot. I stood in between the ramps after he drove off, unsure of which way to go after his injection of confusion. I finally took a look at a map and it was clear that west was the way, I headed down on to the freeway and was picked up quickly.

This ride was also from a guy who'd hitchhiked around Ontario in his younger days. He'd recently been to NYC with his son, a "right of passage" for him when he turned 16. We talked about hitchhiking a bit and he was interested to hear my experiences, he thought it was "a dead art" these days.

We got off at his exit to discover that it was just an exit with no on ramp back on, so we drove through the little town a ways and up to the next entrance. He gave me the rest of a veggie burger he'd gotten earlier and I went on my way, down the ramp and to the side of the freeway.

My next ride came from a once UFC fighter from Columbia. I'd told him I was on route to Arizona and then Mexico, he told me to be careful. He'd been down there once riding in a taxi when two guys came riding up on both sides on motorcycles telling the taxi to stop, he believed he was going to be kidnapped. He had a gun in his belt, so he pulled it out and put it to the drivers head saying "don't you fucking stop!". At this point he put a bullet in the leg of the motorcyclist on the left who tumbled over, then took aim and fired at the guy on the right who also wiped out after getting shot. He drove a distance and then reported the whole thing to the police.

I went as far as he was going and then walked down to the freeway again for the next ride, a car pulled over from the main flow of traffic before I even got to the spot I was walking towards. A bigger guy jumped out from the passenger seat, "We already got one! This guy's from Edmonton.", I slipped into the backseat next to another hitchhiker who was headed to the town of London, he had a beer in his hand. The big guy looked back with a big smile, "you drink?", and he passed me a beer too. A girl was driving who didn't say an awful lot, but the music was cranked pretty loud anyhow.

The guy shouted back again at me, "you do ecstasy?", and now he was handing me a little green pill. The glazed over look from the hitchhiker next to me was the clue that he'd already taken a pill himself, I instead pocketed it for another time, I still had some hitching ahead of me and a border crossing this day.

We kept cruising, stopping once for the guy to piss along the road, then another time for gas. While we filled up I was able to talk to the guy, he'd hitchhiked himself a number of times and made sure he always picked people up, "I don't care if I'm not even the one driving, I make sure they stop no matter what". We both laughed at the guy from Edmonton, we saw him go towards the gas station to take a leak, but then run across the road towards the freeway to take a piss there instead because of the line to the bathroom. This guy was in fact going out of his way a bit in order to get the kid to London.

We kept on down the road, again he shouted back, "You do oxy?", he handed back a CD case with two lines laid out of oxycontin for us hitchhikers. I hadn't done the ecstasy given the circumstances, I wasn't about to do the line and wander on to the freeway again. I passed on it, and we soon passed London by a couple exits on a mistake, but it worked well for me and put me to the fork in the road where I hopped out of the car on to the shoulder of the busy freeway.

Both roads led to the US border, one to Detroit and the other just north of that. I opted for the one going north of detroit to avoid any unnecessary inner city hitching. A little sports car pulled over and I ran up to the window that was rolling down, an attractive girl from Ecuador was in the drivers seat asking for my ID and if I was a good guy. She was satisfied and I got in.

She ran through the typical questions I get, once through that we got to talking. She told me about her missed opportunity to go to Columbia, two of her friends had set everything up, she would have had a free trip down there for a little while when she was about 20. She had a serious boyfriend, who became her husband, and eventually an ex-husband, but at this time he didn't want her to go down, assuming she would find another lover down there, and she admitted at that age she almost certainly would have. Since then, and especially after the divorce, she'd regretted not living her life at the time, always hearing her friends talking about the trip to this day and seeing the pictures.

We talked a bit more about traveling, she'd heard of couchsurfing before, so when I mentioned it she made me tell her everything about it. Her new husband was a bit more into traveling, so she figured she'd give it a shot in their travels and perhaps open up their home to travelers as well.

My next ride came from a guy originally from Cuba whose english was still not great, but he had a big smile and drove me to Sarnia, his exit was exactly one kilometer from the border. He left me off still on the freeway and I got to walking towards the border. I knew that the chances of someone picking up a hitchhiker right before the border were very slim and didn't bother sticking out my thumb, I also knew that pedestrians were not allowed on the freeway, but I kept walking right towards the border.

I walked right by the lines of trucks waiting to talk to the booths of border patrol, and kept walking right by all of it. Ahead of me I saw a duty free liquor store and a big bridge going into the US that didn't seem to have a pedestrian walkway or even a shoulder wide enough to walk in. None of that mattered, because a truck with flashing lights cut across the lanes of traffic from the main building and pulled up right next to me, asking me what I was doing. "Going to the US" was my answer. They told me there was no way to walk across the bridge and pointed me to a pay phone where I should call a taxi, my response to that was my lack of money. The girl driving looked at the guy and said she wouldn't mind just driving me over, "You have a US passport, right?"

The guy hopped out and I took his place, throwing my bag in the back, she said a few things over the walkie talkie alerting the rest of border patrol about what she was doing. On the other side of the bridge there were a few patrol guys waiting for me, asking a number of questions and mildly amused and confused, apparently not too many people try to walk across the border. They had me leave my bag outside and I got in line at customs.

After a short wait, I was presenting my passport to one of the officers in front of a computer. I didn't have the slip people in their cars are given, "ah ok, are you the walker?", she seemed confused too, but started pecking away at the keyboard in front of her. She asked how I was getting around, I said hitchhiking, she told me that know one does that anymore and I probably wouldn't get picked up, I just laughed. After she was done with her typing away she turned to the guy next to her, "... so what do I do with someone who's walking?", the older guy replied to her, "just send him on his way", so she pointed me to the door and handed me a slip of paper to give to the officer outside.

I went out and handed the officer my paper, "where are your car keys?", he asked, I explained my situation. Confused as well, he asked where I was going then, I just pointed forward. "You can't walk on the freeway...", he warned.

"Ah ok, I guess I'll just stick my thumb out over there and catch a ride then", I gestured to a pullout next to the road.

"Hitchhiking is illegal, if you go over and do that I'll arrest you on the spot", I looked at him with a smile as if to say, "then what other options do I have?". He pointed to a building ahead and told me to walk around it to the back where I'd find an elevator and could go down to the street level, so I headed that way. As soon as I got to the building I was stopped yet again by an officer, and other swarmed around asking where I was going and asking for ID, I explained what the other guy had told me to do. They said the elevator was back where I came from and escorted me over to the guy who'd given me the poor advice and told him where to take me.

He called another officer and finally I was going down the elevator. The original guy questioned my journey, I cited hitchhiking and couchsurfing which confused him, but the older officer knew couchsurfing well and explained it to the guy, this perplexed him. We walked down a long hallway and reached the exit, the younger officer pointed, "That way has some fast food places, and that way is the main drag of town", the other officer smiled at me, winking without winking, "where are you headed?", towards Flint was my response, he pointed to his right, "then you wanna go that way, just be careful by the freeway, some guys might give you a hard time if you're walking on it", and off I went.

I was walking through the little town of Port Huron, Michigan. I saw a sign outside a diner looking place that said "Coney's $1", so headed inside to get a bite. After a quick meal and some glasses of water, I got back to walking. Across the street I saw a guy playing the keyboard with his case out looking for handouts, I looked over nodding my head to the beat, amused that it was coming on dusk and he was playing to the empty streets of this little town.

A little ways up the streets he caught up to me, "are you hitchhiking?" and I told him where I was headed and all. He said he did some hitchhiking all around and was just staying with his family here in town a bit. That was about the end of it and I kept on walking. It was a number of miles until I made it to the entrance of freeway 69, light dwindling, but a guy in a pickup truck stopped for me. He wasn't going far, only a few exits, he was from North Carolina originally, but had found work here in Michigan. He let me out along the freeway with these words, "You believe in Jesus Christ? He's all we got these days."

Just before the light went away I got one last ride, two young teachers on their way to Chicago, not directly though, they were visiting some friends or family in between. They said they'd passed a hitchhiker earlier, but went by too fast and couldn't stop, so they'd promised to pick up the next, which happened to be me. They gave me some granola bars to munch on while I told them some stories.

They told me about getting into teaching, one of the guys had moved from Fort Collins (home of Fat Tire beer from New Belgium brewery) and was looking for work in Chicago. They were going as far as Flint where they'd have to turn off and head south. Before the turn off we pulled off an exit to get some food, they let me choose from the few spots around, and we went to Wendy's and they got me and themselves a good meal, we stood around the hood of the car and chowed down.

Down the road just a little ways I was hopping out into the dark and they drove off, with no more sun or street lights I decided to set up my sleeping bag just off the road by the tree line and call it a night. It was a hot night, I rested on top of my sleeping bag, but still in the bivy sack, the mosquitoes were feeling vicious that night. It rained pretty good at one point in the night, but only lasted a 10 minutes.

I woke up to sun light in the morning after some disjointed sleep, I discovered that I rolled over the ecstasy pill I'd been given, crushed green powder covered the inside of my sleeping bag. I brushed it all away and packed things up, rubbing sleep from my eyes as I walked up into the shoulder of the road in search of my next ride.

A local guy with sun glasses picked me up, he only went a few exits and dropped off, there was a truck stop nearby. I thumbed on the on ramp for a bit before deciding to walk up the main flow of traffic. After a little walking, a motor cycle cop flashed his lights and stopped before anyone else did. "You can't be up here! You wanna go to jail?", I shook me head, "Well that's where you're going", he pulled out some papers and asked for my ID.

A regular cop car pulled in too, a guy got out and hobbled over, he seemed a little more free spirited. He asked where I was going and laughed at the answer, Arizona. "You're braver than me!", the motorcycle cop was waiting for the folks at the station to run my ID.

"If this guy's clean and green, you wanna give him a ride to the county line?", the other cop agreed. They repeated that it was illegal to be on the expressway, even on the ramps, as that was part of the expressway too. He got the OK from the station and I hopped in the cop car with the other officer, 10 or 20 miles down the road he pulled over and let me out, we'd crossed the county line, and I was still on the shoulder of the freeway far from any exit. He wished me luck and that was that, I guess as long as I wasn't there problem they didn't care what law I was breaking.

I did a little more walking, a golf course came up on the other side of the freeway, little houses on my side. A pickup truck eventually stopped, the guy was Mike, he was headed towards Gary, Indiana for work. He was involved in building the robots for building cars on the assembly line. Some girl from his office called that he didn't like, "a real bitch", trying to give him some orders, he blew her off and laughed about it after, "I don't like taking orders from women, especially not this one, she's not even in charge of anything".

He was on and off the phone, mostly work related, he saw me dozing off at one point and told me I could put the seat down, I did so and passed out for a good while. I woke up as he was pulling off an exit, "I'm gonna get us a meal and then we only have a little ways to go". We stopped into a Panera bread where we got some soup and sandwiches with some frozen lemonade, it was a nice big tasty meal that hit the spot.

Down the road a little ways he pulled over just before his turn off and let me out, I looked up at the incoming clouds and started walking. A small dropping of rain hit, but stopped just as quickly. Soon the rain started up again coming down a bit harder, and right then a mini van driven by a Korean guy pulled over. He went a little ways, but a good ways. There was a major turn off heading north to Chicago that he got me passed, and then past another major fork in the road, finally letting me out on a more peaceful stretch of freeway with better odds, he gave me a donut too.

The next guy to stop had one bloodshot eye, driving a pickup truck towards his town. He seemed down on his luck and cited the economy. He dropped me off along the road waiting for my next ride. A cop sped by me that I hoped wouldn't come back around, before he'd get a chance too an 18 wheeler skidded into the shoulder of the road. I hopped in saying I was headed for Arizona, he felt bad that he wasn't going too far, but in fact he was going 80 miles or more which was pretty good.

He was a cuban guy interested in my travels, saying that he thought about ditching his trucker lifestyle at times and doing something similar. We stopped where he was going for the night, a truck stop in Illinois. He had some credit at the truck stop, enough to get me a shower, he did the same, then got us sandwiches at subway. In the time I took a shower and ate the sandwich, it started down pouring outside, but the rain stopped just as we were done and I went back to his truck to grab my backpack.

I thanked him, I was clean with a full stomach, and still had 1,800 miles of road to cover until Phoenix. I walked down to the freeway and started thumbing, a cop sped by shaking his forearm back and forth with an angry face. It took a little while for a car to stop, at least longer than it would have taken for the cop to turn around and give me a hard time, so I guess he had more important things to do.

The car and the guy inside that did stop were both pretty old, probably the oldest guy to ever pick me up, certainly the oldest looking. I tossed my bag behind the front seat and hopped in an we started driving. The first thing he said was, slowly and pronounced "I just came from that adult thee-A-ter and I'm feeling awwfuly horny...", I laughed it off, laughing harder in my head at the scene all together, I asked him where he was headed. His answer was a bit dis-jointed with some mentions of towns I didn't know about, but for the moment we were on the right road in the right direction, even though he had one hand on the wheel and one hand over his crotch feeling around.

"I picked up one of them adult magazines", he tapped it on the console between us. I started asking him some more neutral question, "do you live around here" and "how about the family", I got him talking about his kids and grand kids for less than a minute, while also trying to figure out how far he was going, down the road that is.

Alas, there was an empty moment that he seized first with, "You don't mind if I play with myself, do you?". He was doing this anyhow it seemed, but I assumed he was gonna break out of his pants and go for it, and maybe he did, but I kept my eyes glued to the road straight ahead.

"As long as it's just with yourself, you can do what you need to", I told him.

"How big are you?", he asked me. I said something along the lines of "huh" or "what".

"How big is you cock?", he said with the mild frustration of having to repeat himself.

"I'm not sure that matters", and I changed the subject back to his family. Minutes after that he was pulling off an exit and I told him he could pull over straight away and I'd hop out there, I grabbed my bag as he drove away, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all.

An SUV stopped very shortly after that, I ran up to the car hoping for a good ride after the short and strange ride from the old man. The younger gray haired man inside was pleased to hear I was going to Phoenix, he was going all the way to Los Angeles, he was even happier to hear I would be able to share some of the driving. The golden ride had arrived.

We got moving and I told him how awesome it was to be getting in a car going so far, especially after the "how big is your cock" ride, I told him about what happened.

"I hate when fags pick you up, I don't put up with it", he told me. He'd hitchhiked before a decent amount and got picked up by guys who had made passes at him. He told me that one guy picked him up and did this, so he told the driver they should go back to his place. He lead the excited driver to a random house, they got up and headed for the door, then he turned around and smashed the guy up pretty good, knocking him out. After, he went to the bar where some family was and told the story, they nodded their head in agreeance.

He was headed for LA to start over a bit, he'd lived there once before, but recently had been living up near Michigan. He'd fallen pretty hard for a girl, hardest he said he has, but she broke it off saying they weren't the same anymore. He knew he'd changed a bit since his bar burned down and he lost his business, but all the same he was a little heart broken. Either way, he was off to California to make something happen.

He pulled out a map for us to look at and see if there was another route he could take that would get me closer to Phoenix. His planned route was to head west until he hit I-15 in Utah, then take that south through Las Vegas. I told him that may still work, I gave Kelly a call to see if she was up for a little Vegas trip. She took a minute to decide, then said she was up for it and was to bring her newly 21 year old friend. Things were shaping up pretty perfectly, as I still had room comps to use.

We got to a gas station and the guy decided he would pay for my food along the way in exchange for me helping with driving, as I'd be getting him there quicker and thereby also saving him money on motel rooms along the way. He grabbed some burgers at McDonalds and I got in the drivers seat, shooting down I-80. We talked about a lot of things, he went on about poker for a while though, he'd played a lot of games and even knew some pro players.

After a whole bunch of driving we got closer to his dad's place in Nebraska, he wanted to stop there for the night and also drop off some guns. He'd already given his dad a heads up about the hitchhiker, I met his dad and everything was fine. They caught up for a bit and his dad asked me a few questions too, but soon we were falling asleep.

In the morning we woke up later than what was planned for, but the plan had no meaning anyhow. His dad made us breakfast - sausage, eggs and toast along with some coffee. We got some showers in and I was given a clean shirt to wear, soon we headed down to the car only to discover the battery had died. His dad gave us a jump and we were on our way.

We cruised through the day, stopping for gas, snacks and to switch drivers a couple times. We got into the mountains of Colorado, one of my favorite drives across I-70 into Utah. He was ready for "some real food", which sounded fine by me. Past Vail in the town of Avon he found an Outback Steakhouse where we had a great big meal, then got back on the road.

I drove into the night a few hundred miles or more, he couldn't sleep while I was driving, he'd been up for a while. He saw a sign for a rest area and said we should pull over and sleep for a while, we tried to for a few minutes and he gave up trying to sleep in the car, deciding we'd push further. We made our way all the way to Mesquite, only 80 miles from Vegas. Once their he got a motel room and we passed out.

In the morning we got back on the road, he had In-N-Out Burger on his mind and I knew exactly where one was, right at the south end of the strip where I was headed anyhow. The place was swampped with people, but he got us burgers. This would be the second time I was driven into Vegas and bought a cheeseburger at this very In-N-Out.

We went to the New York New York Casino next, this is where I'd booked a couple nights for free, the girls were just getting on the road and set to arrive in 4 or 5 hours. He had a giant check he tried to cash with thoughts of playing some poker or even spending a night, they wouldn't cash his check though. He looked around, maybe looking for an excuse to stay that he couldn't find, so he got back on the road to finish up the last chunk of his ride to LA.

I had yet another short Vegas trip ahead of me...

Walking and Hitching through Montreal and Toronto with Veronique

2009-07-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

Everyone woke up late at Noemie's place in Quebec City, I showered and sat in the living room listing to the buskers play some guitar and whatnot. I had Montreal on my mind, my second stop in Canada. I twirled a drum stick around for a while and eventually people started getting up and out for the day, I got my backpack together and said various goodbyes as I headed down the hill and towards the road to Montreal.

After some walking I found a place to start hitchhiking from, my first ride came quickly and I was off. He spoke french with only a hint of English, we did our best to communicate through the language barrier and he dropped me off somewhere outside the city a little ways. The next guy to pick me up was only going 10 kilometers and spoke less English than the first guy, he just cranked the music, which was in English actually, and dropped me off shortly.

I thumbed the oncoming traffic until I saw a car pulling over behind me a good ways and ran for it, by the time I got to the car he was out and opening his trunk for my bag and I said hey and thanks for stopping. "This is English you're speaking? OK", and we hopped in, he was bilingual and I was happy to be able to communicate better with him, and he was going all the way to Montreal.

He was a happy guy in nature, we cruised down the road enjoying good conversation. We got to a gas station and he made sure I got something to eat, a good sandwich, a drink and even a chocolate bar. "If you'd said no", he started, referring to the him asking me I wanted anything, "I'd of gotten you something anyway and made sure you ate, I'd hope someone would do the same for my kid", he laughed. He pointed across the street at a Walmart, "Do you need anything, anything at all? Food for the road, some clothes?", I thanked him but declined, at that moment I had everything I could need. "This is my pleasure, believe me, P-L-E-A-S-U-R-E", laughing again, mentioning the concept of karma in so many words.

He worked with IT by trade, but had dreams to become a wine sommelier, which is someone who comes to your table and suggests what wine would go good with your meal. He was on his way home to a town near Ottawa, but had a hotel in Montreal for the night to break up the drive a bit, he was coming from a conference outside Quebec City. Talk of wine lead to talk of beer, he told me about a good spot in Montreal near where I was headed and that he'd love to buy me a round and some food if I was up for it, of course I was.

He parked at a garage in downtown Montreal and we got to walking, some streets were blocked off to traffic for a "Just for laughs" festival. The streets were flooded with people, bands playing and goofy costume folk on stilts. We went to a brewery in the thick of it called "Les 3 Brasseurs", which translates to "The 3 Brewers". He ordered us both the samplers and a sort of thin crusted pizza. We chowed down and enjoyed our selection of beers, after which he had me decide which was my favorite and ordered me a pint of it, their Brown.

We left their and went straight to a cart and got plastic cups of Labbat Bleue to carry around as we enjoyed various music going on. There was a van rigged up with instruments that we watched and listened to for a while. He suggested we could get a bunch of beer and head to the hotel room, but I figured I should be getting to Vero's house, she was my couchsurfing host in town I hadn't yet met, and in fact likely didn't know I was in town quite yet. Eager to keep the night going, he suggested we go to the sheesha spot and have another beer, which we did.

Finally we'd expired the night and it was getting close to midnight, so he drove me to Vero's house so I could see if she was still up. Just before this he stopped at a bank and handed me $40 in Canadian money insisting I have a good time. We got to Vero's address, I knocked on the door and got no answer, we started to dial her number when she came opening the door peeking down the street. I said goodbye to my new french friend who'd treated me so well, and entered into Vero's life.

She'd been sleeping, but couldn't care less, we sat up and talked for a while getting to know each other a bit. She proclaimed herself as a bit shy, and wasn't entirely confident with her english, but I understood her fine and loved talking with her. Soon we both went to sleep with the gentle rain coming down outside.

Vero made coffee and breakfast in the morning, we sat in her backyard which was surprisingly big being that it was in the middle of downtown Montreal. She had work in an hour or so, she worked on the street finding children and reading books to them, she absolutely loved it and smiled hugely every time she mentioned it. We went walking into the thick of the action on Ste-Cathrine and all the way down to the waterfront. Eventually Vero had to go to work, so I wandered back the way we came while she hopped on her bike with her books to find some kids.

I did some pretty big loops walking and explored all the streets I could, after some hours I settled at a little cafe to enjoy a chocolate croissant and check some messages. I noticed that Kate Micucci was in town playing her show all week, I'd briefly met her in LA almost 2 years ago. She's a comedic musician mostly with a knack for building sand castles. The theatre she was playing was just a few blocks away, I went there to check times and ticket prices, then headed back to Vero's place.

Vero got a nice little meal together, we enjoyed that with some beers she pulled from her fridge. She too loved beer, mostly dark beers, I liked that about her. We decided to seek out a good beer and got to walking. Along the way she ran into a couple she knew, the four of us met at a little pub 10 minutes later and had a round of drinks.

We split off from them and headed back to Vero's place, grabbing a six pack of some buckwheat beers at the corner store. We were looking for an IPA, Vero had never had a proper one and barely even heard of such a thing, we couldn't find one though, that side of Canada seemed to be oblivious to the beauty of the bitter style beers. We sat in her backyard enjoying the beers and talking for a while, I counted 10 stars in the sky, some barely visible due to the bright lights of the city.

In the morning I heard her wake up and slip out the front door, I got up and took a shower. She'd gone to get syrup, Quebec is known for having some of the best in the world, and she already had what was needed for pancakes. I got to making the pancakes, as best as I could, she laughed at me in the process, but we got to smothering them in the tasty syrup and chowing down, I don't think they were half bad myself.

We walked to a nearby cafe she frequents to get free wireless internet, we hung there for a while until she had to go to work. I went back to her place to find her still there, she'd got caught up on a phone call and was now running a little late, which didn't seem to matter too much. She pulled out a map and showed me Mont Royal, telling me if I climbed to the top I could see the whole city.

I walked the city streets towards the park, some promoters were on the street passing out free microwavable rice and I grabbed a pack. I found my way to the base of the little mountain, it was bigger than I'd expected, but not too big. I skipped the windy walking/bike path and went straight up it, taking off a sweaty shirt halfway. From various spots I could see the whole city like Vero had said, from a few different vantage points.

I made my way down and headed for the theater, the ticket to Kate's show was $15, but I figured that's why I'd been given $40 the other day from Jean, the guy who drove me into town. I made it just in time and found a seat, the show was an hour and a pretty good one. She switched between playing some quirky tunes and telling some stories, she even had a guy with puppets playing to some of her songs. She ended the show with a great song I'd heard her play before, Walking in Los Angeles.

I opened the door to Vero's house and was greeted by the wonderful aroma of sauce cooking, she had pasta on the stove underway and a smile on her face. We chowed down on it and made plans to go to a brew pub she loved specifically so I could try their stout. I loved talking with her, she was firey for sure, subdued only by her vocabulary in English, I wished I could have spoke french to hear her let everything out. At the same time, our conversations were forced to be rooted in the essence of our feelings and ideas, which made for a deeper understanding in this way, where facial ticks and the look of the eyes said more than any french or english. Whenever something was good or I'd find the word in English she was looking for she'd growl out an enthusiastic "Yes!" as her eyes would light up into mine, it was addictive.

We wandered through the "Just for laughs" street festival, stopping to watch the musical van again, and then on to the outdoor patio at the brew pub. We both ordered the stout, she was right, it was really good. The people next to us got up and left, leaving almost a full beer behind, we caught each other's eyes with the same though. As soon as they were gone for sure we snagged the beer to enjoy once our stout glasses were empty.

We found ourselves in her backyard again at the table enjoying the last few beers from her fridge. The sky was was a dark gray pink of cloud cover one sees in almost any city, we sat talking about life, what mattered, what didn't, both of which apply to everything depending on the person and their mood.

I mentioned my morning plans to hitchhike to Toronto, "Can I go with you?", she asked me as the night weaned down. She'd never been other than passing through, I told her she was more than welcome to come, and we went to sleep with the day ahead of us.

She had work early in the morning until sometime after noon. I stayed back and showered and cleaned things up so we'd be ready to hit the road when she got back. We quickly made a "Toronto" sign and were out the door. A subway took us to a bus, the bus took us a long ways to the far eastern outskirts of town where we got to walking to the freeway. We stood by highway 20 for just a little bit, but the shoulder was narrow making it difficult for any cars to stop. A mile up the road we stood at highway 40 instead, which I mistakenly thought went all the way to Toronto. There was plenty of room for cars to stop and a lot more traffic as well. Despite this, we waited around an hour until a truck pulled over for us.

The trucker was headed for Vancouver and informed us we were on the wrong road, but the split back to the 20, the good road, was 5 kilometers up and he would take us there. "I usually don't pick up guys, never when they're by themselves", he said, "I picked up a gay once, never again". He spoke with Vero in french, he wished we were heading all the way west with him, it would have been a hell of a ride if we were going that far. He gave Vero his phone number in case she ever needed a ride in the future, and dropped us off.

Back on the right road, we got our next ride fairly quickly from a couple headed just a little ways up the road. For most of the ride Vero and the two all spoke in French, apparently they were starting a publishing house, and with Vero being a writer, they hit it off right away, they even discovered they had a common friend. They made a few attempts to speak in English and I told them a bit about myself, but mostly I was content to listen to the french fly back and forth.

They dropped us off along the freeway and almost instantly another car pulled over, Vero hopped in front and me in the backseat. Our driver was a bit of an older hippie headed just north of Toronto to finish his classes in solar panel technology. Vero discovered she had a common friend with this guy too. We spoke in english mostly, once in a while he'd make a laughing remark in French to her I could never understand. He told us about a couple who'd been living with him while building a full blown tipi, explaining how simply efficient it was.

As we got closer he said he'd be heading back on sunday night and wouldn't mind giving us a ride, I was of course going to continue on, but Vero jumped at the chance. He dropped us off north of the city and they setup a time on sunday to meet and head back to Montreal.

From a pay phone I called Jasmine, the couchsurfing host I'd set up for Toronto. No one picked up and I left a message, it was around 11pm on this Friday night. We got to walking down Yonge street towards the city deciding we'd figure out the whole sleeping thing one way or another for the night. It was a long walk, we kept on going, garbage cans were surrounded from litter, the garbage men had been on strike in Toronto for over a month. We walked by one bar that bragged to have craft brews, we kept on walking and decided to stop at the next one we saw, which we did.

We grabbed a sort of generic beer and were happy to set our bags down and drink in the first sips of Toronto. We still weren't sure how close we were to the downtown, but there was a Subway, Tim Hortons and a Starbucks about every three blocks, we laughed every time. We nursed our beers and got to walking again, it was about 2am anyhow which was last call in this city.

We at last made it into the downtown, drunks were spilling out of bars and things were alive still. Eventually the road stopped at the water, "The longest road in the world" we were told about Yonge street, and this was inscribed on the sidewalk at the end of it too. We'd walked about 15 kilometers of it this night. We flipped a coin in our heads and chose to walk to our right along the waterfront road.

Passing a hotdog stand a guy shouted at us, "Are you backpackers?", he was amongst a group of button shirted 30 year old drunk guys. "We are hammered!", one said, another came over devouring a hotdog, "I can't believe stumbled upon such a great restaurant this time of night!", he said. His friend replied, "It's a hotdog cart you idiot".

They were amused by the backpackers that had walked into their night, one guy was more amused with Vero and her accent. "Say 'three'", he said. "Tree", she responded. He laughed, "now say 'tree'", and again she said "Tree", he laughed again. One guy started throwing his cell phone across the street, at walls and on the ground laughing hysterically as it shattered in more pieces, we got to walking away and closer to the water, now in search of a place to sleep.

We came across a giant cement ball along the water we could walk inside, it wasn't a great place to sleep, but we laughed about it wondering about it's purpose. We decided that we'd head back to one of the benches we'd passed, we wandered over and found a good one facing the water in a darker spot than the rest. We munched on some granola bars from my bag and took in the view of the misty water while reflecting on the day of hitching and walking. Soon we were pulling out our sleeping bags, I slept sitting up for a while, but soon found myself stretching out just under the bench while she did the same on the bench, sleep...

I loosely woke up hearing people taking their morning walks, no one seeming to notice or care about us sleeping there. Finally a dog came close to investigate while his owner scolded him for waking us up, but it was time to do so anyhow. We smiled at the site of the water in the sun lit morning, we packed our sleeping bags up and got to walking again.

We were in search of some internet access to see what the deal was with finding Jasmine, we found a coffee shop to do so. I had a message from her with the address to go to, and she was online so I talked to her and let her know we were on our way. We walked about 4 kilometers across over there, nothing compared to the night before, passing through sections of the city like chinatown.

Jasmine wasn't there, but a guy staying there let us in, he seemed confused. We saw a few other people pass by and give a quick hello, it seemed to be a busy place. We were happy to find our seats on the comfy couch, Vero even got some sleep in. Jasmine soon arrived and we talked for a bit, she was feeling a night of drinking and disappeared into the house, Vero and I were happy to close our eyes again and catch up on a little more sleep.

In less than an hour we were ready to fill our bellies with something, the rain was pounding down but we went out into it loosely aiming for chinatown. We didn't see anything cheap right away, but I'd remembered seeing a sign on the walk over that said 2 for $1, I didn't know know what there was 2 of, but I knew it was food and we headed for it. It turned out to be a chineese bakery, and it was actually 3 buns for a dollar, and they were incredibly good. We got six each, and with that I found a new resource that was probably hidden in every chinatown.

We stepped back out into the heavier rain headed back to Jasmine's place, stopping for six pack at the government run LCBO liquor store. The first choice we saw was Mill Street's Coffee Porter, "This is the beer we're getting", Vero smiled, I knew she was right, but the beer lover in me made me peruse the entire selection anyhow only to come to the original conclusion.

We met Josh on Jasmine's porch coming back, he was visiting from England for a week of relaxation, Jasmie has stayed with him at his home once before. We enjoyed our beers on the porch watching the rain, it soon stopped as the sun broke out of the clouds.

We discovered there was a jazz festival across town and decided to go. We brown bagged a couple coffee porters and started walking, all and all it was about 10 kilometers to get there. The festival itself was on a couple kilometers of the street that was closed off to traffic, but flooded with people coming for the good music. Every half block or so was another band setup playing. Vero had the same mindset as me, we didn't stop to listen to any one band, just kept walking and digging whatever music was in earshot each moment.

We reached the end and headed down towards the beach, walking along the boardwalk with the moon lit waves splashing the beach. We paused on a bench, we'd done a lot of walking and knew we had a lot more ahead of us to get back to Jasmine's place. We got up and got to walking, about 8 kilometers or more, which is about 5 miles, across the city and to Jasmine's doorstep. Waiting for us was a note saying they were at a bar a few blocks away and would be back at 2am, it was just after 1am.

We grabbed a slice of pizza and headed for the bar, we didn't see Jasmine or anyone else we recognized. We were set on a beer however, so we went across the street to a place that was more our scene and grabbed a stout, another Mill Street Brewery beer, like the coffee porter we got before, it was good. We soldiered on back to Jasmine's place, everyone was passed out or in the process of doing so, we joined them in this.

In the morning Vero was ready to go right away, one last morning in Toronto before heading back to her home in Montreal. We went first to the chineese bakery again, she made a stop for some fruit too and we filled our bellies in a nearby park. Artists were painting pictures of trees nearby, a girl playing frisbee, and black squirells with blonde tails begging for food from the painters.

We got to walking, again, and wandered the Toronto streets. The time was coming near where she'd have to catch a subway to the gas station to rendesvous with Louie, the guy who picked us up hitchhiking and offered her a ride back to Montreal.

My mind was on one last beer, I scanned every bar we passed searching for something good. I finally saw Alexander Keith's IPA in a window, I'd been promising Vero that IPA was something of greatness and this was a chance to prove it. The place was closed, but just down the street we wandered into a bar to default to Guiness, but they too had Alexander Keith, I bought a couple pints. It was a sad excuse for an IPA, it tasted like a budweiser at best, I told her to disregard it. To Vero, this made the "perfect trip", imperfect, and imperfection is what she craved in life, so I told her that actually, in that way, it was perfect afterall.

I walked her to the subway and said goodbyes, planting the idea of California in her head as a place to visit soon with promises of good beer, a legitimate IPA to try. I headed back for Jasmine's place, shaking into something new.

I fired up the free rice I'd gotten on the streets on Montreal and enjoyed the little meal. Next thing, there were plans for a sort of dinner party at her place, a few of them went out for supplies. Jasmine came back throwing a bag down shouting about a drum circle down the street and rushed as many of us out the door as she could. We caught the tail end of a big group of street drummers on the closed down street, then headed back to her place.

A brazillian couple was staying there too, a bite of the leechee fruit reminded them of a vodka drink, so the three of us got to peeling and using the last of the vodka and gin to make a similar drink. The night roared on with good conversation and a big meal that we enjoyed while sitting on pillows circled in the living room.

Another great trip through a different part of Canada, next is the hitchhike down towards Arizona and on to Mexico.

Quebec City, first stop in Canada

2009-07-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

After waking up and grabbing a shower I was ready for the road, Portland had been good. Jamie was on her way to work, a quick stop for coffee and gas and I was hopping out of her car as a red light turned green saying thanks and goodbye, once again I was at the on ramp to my future.

Cars went by, and soon one honked and pointed behind me, a minivan had just pulled over. I ran up to find a girl in big sun glasses asking where I was headed, Quebec City was my answer, she was going a short way in this direction.

She lived near Portland, she said she came to town to get a coffee and changed her mind once she arrived. There was the clam festival going on a few towns up, she told me about clam shucking competitions and things like this. As we got closer she gave me the option, drop me off at the festival to check it out, or she'd drive me another 30 minutes or so up the road, I chose the festival.

We pulled into the street filled with people and tents on both sides, she gave me $10 insisting I try the fried clams. She drove off and I got to wandering through the tents, mostly people selling trinkets, books, clothes and things. I found the clam tent and bought as much as $10 would get me, a half pint. The guy who handed them to me pointed me in the direction of the closest freeway entrance and I headed that way while munching on the fried goodness.

I was picked up by a car after a half hour wait, he took me up near the town of Freeport. The next spot I found myself in had no shoulder for a car to pull over. I decided to walk down to the freeway itself despite the "No bikes, no pedestrians, no hitchhikers", etc sign. Before I really got to walking a car stopped, he didn't need a shoulder, he just stopped in the middle of the road and I hopped in. He said he was headed to a town, I didn't recognize the name and didn't know how far it was, but we were speeding in the right direction.

He was tall, 6 foot 5 inches he said, he'd gone to Yale and lived in New Haven, Connecticut for about eight years. Now he was to live in Maine, starting a new job where he'd asses chunks of forest for companies that wanted to invest. He told me about a time he went train hopping from Boston to Los Angeles with a couple of his friends, it took eight trains and was a great time he'd said. In Denver they'd hopped the wrong train headed north and wound up in Cheyenne, Wyoming. From there he said they tried hitchhiking for an hour, but thought no one would pick up three tall bearded and dirty looking guys, so they got back to train hopping.

I never made it to the town he was headed to, my turn off came first and he let me out on this new smaller road. In only minutes a car with a Quebec license plate pulled over and a young guy got out of the passenger seat to make room in the back, this would be my 3 or 4 hour ride to Quebec City. His girlfriend was driving, they were both about 20 years old. We talked about different things, and in between they would talk to each other in french.

They bragged that Quebec City was far batter than Montreal, this had a lot to do with a hockey rivalry. They stopped every now and then to take turns driving, the girl was afraid of moose jumping in the middle of the road and the guy laughed at her for it, she got nervous every time a "moose crossing" sign appeared.

Eventually we hit the border checkpoint, I hoped I wouldn't have to get out for further inspection and lose my ride or some such. The guy spoke through the window in French to the couple, then started questioning me. Where I was headed, how much money I had, who I was staying with and so on. I knew to say I had plenty of money in my bank account, a lie, I don't even have a bank account anymore. He was satisfied, and we moved along, I was in Canada again.

Alas we were passing over the river and into Quebec City. I had my couchsurfing host's address scribbled on a piece of paper, they punched it into their GPS and dropped me off right at her door where we parted ways.

I knocked on the door not expecting an answer, one never came. Noemie was my host here through couchsurfing, she'd told me to come to town whenever, but that this particular day she wouldn't be home at night. I wasn't sure when she'd be getting back, so I decided to haul myself and backpack towards the downtown.

It was a decent walk, into the cobble stoned streets and old looking buildings, passing narrow streets heading flat to the left and uphill to my right. Around when I hit more of a downtown type of area I made a loop and headed back towards Noemie's place. An old interesting looking man started talking to me, I couldn't understand a word of his french, but mirrored his smile, I could tell he was saying something funny about me or my backpack perhaps. I just said only english, he smiled and said something else realizing this, and walked away.

Back at Noemie's doorstep, I waited. I curled up by the door and caught a pinch of on and off sleep as darkness solidified itself. I left my bag on her doorstep to investigate the park across the street quickly, then is when I peeked up a street and realized that there were streetlights and stores. It had been so quiet, I thought I was deep in a residential area up on this hill. Confident my bag was safe, I left it behind and went to explore the neighborhood. I walked by some shops that had closed and mostly empty restaurant and bars. I peeked through the window of a gas station at the beer, nothing interesting, and kept walking, I hadn't any canadian money anyhow.

I eventually came back to the doorstep and continued to wait until I wasn't sure if she'd be coming back at all until the next day. I broke out my sleeping bag in the small patch of grass between her house and the neighbors, losing myself to sleep and thoughts.

At some point later I heard car doors closing and people walking up the steps to the door, then a "What... what's that?", from a sleepy haze I popped my head out of the bag to see Noemie walking up to me smiling in realization, "couchsurfer, Kenny?", I shook her hand and we laughed as I got out of the bag, there were two other guys with her standing on the steps. I met them as well and we all went inside, she quickly showed me a futon in the basement and asked me if I needed anything, they were all ready for sleep, it was around 1am and they'd been out drinking the last day of the Summer Festival. I awkwardly accepted an unexpected double cheek kiss, "Oh, you don't... in Quebec we do this", she told me.

In the morning I woke up in silence and went upstairs to an empty feeling house, by noon I was unsure if everyone was still sleeping or had gone out already. I was going to take a shower and wander myself, but then a guy came downstairs that I'd met the night before, couchsurfing from Russia, I called him Artie. He said he was going to wander downtown as well, he'd been in town a couple days already. After some showers we were on our feet heading towards downtown, a more direct and interesting route than the one I'd chosen with my backpack the night before.

We wandered the streets of Quebec City from uptown to downtown seeing what there was to see. Everyone had ice cream cones on the street, I got one myself as we continued walking. Artie had hitched over from Vancouver having a great trip. He told me he'd slept inside every night along the way without the aid of couchsurfing, just friendly folks he'd met while hitchhiking. One guy gave him the option to sign a contract to take a job and make $30 an hour, he was tempted, but continuing his trip across Canada was more appealing.

We grabbed some big muffins from a place, Artie flirted with the cute blonde girl behind the register who didn't speak much english, he had me take his picture with her while she was on a smoke break. We continued wandering along castle walls and the winding streets of the city. A tourist saw us and wanted her picture taken with Quebecians, she was even more excited when she Artie said he was in fact Russian, not from Quebec.

We went back to Noemie's place to find her with Heiko and a girl who'd just arrived from Australia sitting with beers, we joined them. More friends began to arrive, four of us went to the store for some more beer and pasta. The night went on with some drinking and eating and even more people arriving, a couple musicians from Vancouver and Montreal came to spend the night and busk the streets the next day. They shared some free bread they'd gotten and told me about their drumming and busking.

Good times getting to Canada and Quebec City, the next morning I'd have Montreal on my mind as the next step.

From NYC to Portland Maine, Gritty McDuffs!

2009-07-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

My last day in New York City wrapped things up nicely. First was a trip to the sushi sake spot where "wasake" was invented, a shot of hot sake with a chunk of wasabi mixed in. Mark went to work after this, I headed to the apartment to gather my things and get a shower in, as well a half way decent attempt to buzz some of my hair off.

I met Mark at work and grabbed a beer from his smiling coworker, they let him get off early and I finished up a second drink that was poured for me. We had a train to catch eventually, but a one last trip to the Ginger Man was in order. We had a couple new beers each and caught up with the girl working there we'd met the first time around. We got one last beer, Kwak, and handed the bartender and empty growler for her to fill up, soon we were off to Grand Central.

We enjoyed our beer on the train, sharing some with the women next to us. One of them women particularly enjoyed the beer, and quizzed Mark on different drinks, she also told me she could publish a book for me. She gave us a business card that we later read to discover she had about eight different professions. Sean picked us up at the train station in Connecticut and we headed to their folks' place and shortly passed out while watching a movie.

We were up early with Portland on our minds, some goodbyes to the folks and the three of us were on the road. We made the all important stop for McDonalds breakfast and continued up I-95. After about 5 hours and some coffee breaks we arrived in Portland Maine, in search for Gritty McDuffs, a place I'd been hearing of for years, known for good beer and food.

We found our way and got a pitcher straight away of their bitter beer. We had some great food and more beer, finally deciding to take a walk down to the pier. At this, Mark and Sean were ready to get on the road again back to Connecticut. Three hundred miles to have a few beers, then three hundred miles back. I planned on sticking around though, I got in touch with my couchsurfing host and the guys dropped me off at the place and said their goodbyes.

Jamie was my host, her boyfriend and mom were at her place shooting zombies on the TV screen and drinking a couple beers. Her mom disappeared and her dad showed up shortly after ready to take her out to dinner. I opted to go walk around the city a bit.

I first went to the nearby park, it had an overlook that was high above the city where everything was visible. There was a few guys on a bench working on some bud lights, soon another group of people came and sat down too. I went over and got to talking with them all about what was going on in the city and in general. One mentioned an observatory nearby, they also told me about the tripping tree across town where people climbed up into a sort of natural tree house where people smoked and whatnot.

Half of them took off and I did the same, walking down the hill towards town to see what would happen. I saw the observatory one had mentioned and climbed the steps into it, there was a young guy sitting behind a table counting up money. He told me it was closed, but if I waited a minute for him to finish that he would take me up to the top. We went up several flights of spiraling steps until we reached the deck above that overlooked everything, it was originally built to see ships coming in and alert the town and docks by hanging certain flags.

The guy was nice and seemed somewhat bored, not with the moment perhaps, but with things in general. He gave me a map and pointed downtown to where I might find some good times. I got to walking in that direction, the one I was headed for anyhow. Ten of fifteen blocks later he rolled up next to me in his car saying he'd forgotten to give me another pamphlet or some such and handed it to me. He asked if I wanted to check out the lighthouse he'd pointed out to me earlier, apparently the second oldest in the country. I said sure and hopped in the car and we cruised across town.

When we got there a sign said the park was closed, he drove right by it saying that it was probably just closing now and they wouldn't notice, they didn't. After seeing the old light, we headed back to his car where he continued to give me an impromptu tour of the city. Things like old forts and the mansions in Cape Elizabeth. After all of this he dropped me off back in the thick of things downtown.

I wandered for a bit popping in and out of places and following the sound of live music when I heard it, then decided to head back to Jamie's place. She was with her boyfriend, talking of a couple small get togethers that may be going on. One of their friends came by and the four of us headed to Kennebunk, south of Portland.

We arrived at a farm house far off in the back roads, one of their friends waived us is. There were just three people there, lounging in a loft area of the old farm house that was clearly laced with memories of good times past and accepting of the good times at hand. With beers in hand we got to talking, mostly them catching up, I don't think they'd seen each other in a while.

Soon a bit of jam session broke out. Mike was a tall skinny guy who'd apparently been the type to wear tight snake skin pants and surround himself self with fake breasted rocker blondes. He played the guitar as did his friend, his girlfriend smiled in the devilish and loving way one does when they're on acid, chiming in lyrics as they came to her, laughing on the inside if not forthright.

In between jamming and playing songs from a scrap book and memory, discussion of somewhat philosophical things would break out. From the meaning of the stars to saving the earth, the night went on. Eventually we were on our way, the girl gave us each a cherry from a bowl in the kitchen. In the car driving away they laughed about the whole situation, saying that the group had changed quite a bit since they'd last seen each other, but all and all everyone was pleased with the experience of the night.

In the morning I was ready to leave Portland and move on to Canada. I was glad to have finally made it to Portland in the style in which I did, and also happy I'd got to share a chunk of it with Mark and Sean. Next stop, Quebec City!

Drinking up New York, with a sip of Connecticut

2009-07-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

After some good times on the 4th of July, I was ready for more in NYC. I sat down with Mark and helped mix their latest song, Cyderobin (the band) has been sending out a song every week to their email list and it's been keeping them busy.

The next night brought a small group of people to the house, drinking on the roof top and enjoying conversation. I also managed to sell some old audio gear no one had been using, a good way to keep Sallie Mae at bay.

Connecticut was the plan for the next day, with my folks across the country in Wyoming it seemed like a good time to invade their empty house and have some drinks. Before this though, we had to make the mandatory trip to Shake Shack, a great burger hut on 23rd and Broadway in the park.

Mark and I filled up on burgers, cheese fries and shakes, and with Elvis torso in tow, we headed up to the Ginger Man to get our beer fix. We knew it would be odd to show up with Elvis a third time, but we had no choice, as he had to come to Connecticut with us. We sat him on the floor with our bags until the bartender asked about him, then up on the bar he shined while we drank good beers.

We filled up a growler on the way out for the train ride, and headed to Grand Central. Mark secured a seat on the train and I waited for Charish, she showed up just minutes before the train left with two beers in hand thinking she'd have to wait for us. We drank her beers and cracked into the growler as he shot down the tracks to New Canaan.

Once in town, we made a quick stop at the market to pick up some beers for the night, a mix of good beers and coors light to fill in the gaps. A cabbie took us to the house, beers were quickly popped open and into the pool we went. Some friends I hadn't seen since high school showed up, we all enjoyed the pool and hot tub into the night, splashing each other, "Taste the rockies!".

Mark organized an impromptu cook off breaking into teams, I got to be the judge of the drunken midnight snacking. Soon enough people were leaving and we all passed out. In the morning I drove Mark and Charish to the train station, then headed off to my dad's place in New York about 45 minutes away.

I stayed there for the night, catching up with family and eating good food. In the morning I headed back to New Canaan to wash my clothes and relax a bit. I walked a few miles to the train station. One truck pulled over, I thought perhaps to offer me a ride, although I hadn't been thumbing. He just wanted to ask about the Elvis torso I was carrying.

The train got me to Grand Central, then the subway to Astoria where I dropped off my bag and Elvis, then I headed right back into Manhattan and to Mark's bar to have some beers. When he got off work we once again went to the Ginger Man. We had several good heavy beers before calling it a night.

We met some friends the next day, among them was Will, we made a stop at guitar center where he picked up a new guitar. From there we headed to the sushi sake spot where we got loaded with rolls and shot after shot of hot sake and bonzais. We left with smiles on our faces, Mark went to work and I followed him for a beer before heading back to Astoria. Carl gave five dollar bills to dispose of recently deceased snake, Dr. Strangles.

The next night was another one for drinking, Mark's bar first where Charish and I met up again. When Mark got off a group of went to a spot and got Mexican Bulldogs, a margarita with an upside down corona in it. From there we were Brooklyn bound to a bar his friend worked at for all types of margaritas and shots on fire.

The next day we caught a movie before going to poker night at one of Mark's co-worker's apartments, at this point I'd already met a number of them. Mark spotted my $20 buy in, there were about 8 of us playing. Mark got knocked out, bought back in, knocked out again. He decided he'd rush home to try to catch Sean, he'd just flown in from a trip to San Diego with Kelly, they'd also drove up the coast to Spokane and Idaho.

I stayed until I had all the chips, leaving one guy silent staring at the cards on the table. I took the pile of money and walked quickly through the streets hoping I too could catch Sean before his first sleep from a long trip. I was successful, they were happy to hear I'd won the game, "Where's my beer then!", Sean said, and nothing made more sense. I ran to the corner and grabbed a six pack, running back even quicker and got to popping and cheers while we caught up a little bit.

I caught up with Sean more the next night, Mark went to his folks place in CT and Kelly was at work. Sean made up some awesome baked ziti and we headed Sunswick after, a decent beer bar in Astoria.

The next night was a party, come 11 the apartment filled up along with our cups and glasses. At midnight our shot glasses clinked as it was officially Mark's birthday. Even Alex dropped by unexpectedly, good timing, he used to live on the first floor of the building, but had moved out just weeks ago.

As the party winded down just a tad, one girl had the idea to crash the party next door, I went with her. We were followed by Carl and others who I assume were trying to stop us, when they busted into the party behind us, we were quickly asked to leave as it became apparent we weren't welcome.

We met some Irish men spilling out of the party later who swapped us beer and swigs of whiskey, apparently some were later looking for a fight as well, one that never came. I found myself on the roof as I usually do during Astoria parties, in this time some commotion occurred. I made my way into the kitchen, everyone had dispersed besides myself, Mark and Carl. They got into it a bit arguing about one thing or another that had happened, I sipped some tequila standing by and let them get it all out, or as much as they could.

Soon I thought Mark went to bed, as it turned out he had gone walking down the street to blow off steam and sort of passed out on the steps to the library. I decided to wander over to the party next door again, I brought a bottle with me as a peace offering. They weren't happy to see me, I stood by the gate with one of the guys who lived there, him nicely asking me to leave, me asking him to do a shot. I left the scene shortly.

Again I was on the roof, hurling empty beer cans nearby to spark some more action out of the night, not much came of it. They soon filed out of that backyard as things died down, a small fight broke out among them, and that was that.

I woke up in the morning, Mark had gone with Carl to clear things up from the previous night. I met up with him later and we headed to the new beer garden in Astoria where we had a couple pints. From there we headed into the city where we planned to rendezvous with a big group to go to a spot for his birthday dinner, we met at Mark's bar.

There was a beer and sausage tasting going on as it turned out, Mark finagled a wrist band and we made the rounds trying several different beers and food as the rest of the crew assembled. Shortly after we walked into the crowded streets of Times Square and on to a restaurant called Dallas BBQs. We drank big drinks and ate good food. I almost got kicked out for going down an up escalator, but a combination of my ignoring the shouting management and our good waitress talking them down spared such an exit.

From there a few of us went to another bar until it closed, we stumbled over to the Ginger Man, but it had just closed as well. Mark and I dropped into the subway, a drunken and tired tangle plopped us in a 34th street station after a ride or too. I tried to convince Mark that we needed to change trains to the uptown N, but he wasn't buying it and opted for staying put on a bench in a haze of sleepiness. I went to the right train, sleeping most of the way to Astoria, but waking up for the right stop and making the walk to apartment. As it turned out, Mark did what he's done so many times before, winding up in Brooklyn and going through a series of transfers and sleeping through his stop several times, not actually getting to Astoria until the sun came up.

This day has been a day of total relaxation in the humid heat of the city. Tomorrow will be the last day in the city, then Mark, Sean and I hop a train to Connecticut where we'll jump in a car the next morning to go to Portland, Maine. They're set on driving back that same day after having some good times, but I intend to stay a night or so, and then journey up into Canada to a few cities like Quebec, Montreal and Toronto. From there, it's one route or another to Arizona and on to Mexico City.

It's been another great time in the city I once lived in for some solid years, and it may be the last time I see this apartment that was once my home. I'm happy to see my friends are still keeping things going, and I'm happy to keep going myself. Good times.

Start of NYC and Nathans Hot Dogs for the 4th

2009-07-16T12:45:00.000-07:00

My visit to NYC kicked off straight away and kept up the pace for two weeks, fueled by great beer and friends. I woke up on the futon on the 3rd of July, Mark and I got to walking down Steinway on route to the subway and into Manhattan where he worked. Along the way we came up on a clothing store that was going out of business, "Every thing's $1" the sign said. I peeked in as we walked by and saw an erie manikin head poking out of a box and instantly thought of the world of possibility. We stopped in and pulled the bust out of the box as people smirked, we left a dollar and carried on down the street with this shoulders and up life-like elvis style head.

We got looks from just about everybody, laughs, momentary terror and plenty of smiles. This continued on the subway ride as people asked about it, we popped up into Manhattan at 51st and Lexington. I took the Elvis torso into starbucks while Mark went a block away to his bar to work.

After some time passed I headed over and sat at the outside bar, Mark gave me a beer and I relaxed while different people asked about Elvis. My friend Charish was in the city these days, she met me at the bar and we caught up. Finally Mark got off work and the three of us headed to a beer bar called the Ginger Man. We drank the night away, starting with Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA and never slowed from there.

The late night drunken subway ride landed us back in Astoria, I promptly fell out on the futon. The next time I opened my eyes the sun was pouring through the window, Elvis was wearing a trench coat on a stool hovering over me, Mark was by his side telling me what time it was, 9:27. I shot up, grabbed my Nathan's hat and chugged a nearby bottle of water as my shoes went on and we headed for the door.

We'd meant to be in Coney Island by this time and had slept in, it was time for the long awaited hot dog eating contest that has kicked off my last four 4th of July mornings. We raced down Astoria Blvd and hopped on the subway, an hour or so later we were weaving through the masses in Coney Island getting on line for hot dogs and beer. We then watched Joey Chestnut eat 68 hot dogs in 10 minutes, beating Kobayashi yet again. The subway brought us back home where we both passed out for a spell to catch up.

We woke up and were ready to go out again, burgers and beer on our mind. Elvis torso tagged along with us, we were going to a party later and knew he'd be a welcomed guest. Our first stop was the Ginger Man, we were greeted by a couple familiar bartenders who laughed at the sight of Elvis again.

We had some great beer, then one of the girls there told us the fireworks were going on. We stepped outside and looked down 36th street where we had a great view. After another beer or two, we filled up a growler and headed to Jackson Hole to get a burger, great big burgers, then we were off to Manny's party on the upper westside.

It was a good scene with a rooftop to relax on. I got some messages from Heather from Philadelphia, she was in the city for the night and looking for me to come downtown and meet up with her. The party started to take a turn as a fight almost broke out, it was a good time to leave, and everybody did. Mark and Carl headed home, I headed downtown.

I got off the subway and landed more or less in the area Heather had told me to go. Walking down the street, a small blonde girl suddenly jumped on me in a hugging embrace, I didn't even realize it was Heather at first, I thought it was an over the top reaction to Elvis torso or something. It was her though, we started catching up and I met some folks she was drinking with, she got me some beers and a shot of whiskey at one point. The bartender and everyone else took there shots at Elvis, once again he was the life of the party.

We did some wandering after that, eventually sipping coffee and eating soup in a diner as the sun came up. I left from there and made my way back to Astoria, it had been a good 4th of July and start to my time in NYC.

Grand Canyon and Speed Hitchhiking to NYC

2009-07-05T11:25:00.000-07:00

I wandered about old town Flagstaff anticipating the week ahead of me, camping in Havisupai and what would need to be a brisk hitchhike across the country to New York City in time for the 4th of July.

Some friends connected me with some folks who lived in Flagstaff where I could catch a little sleep. I first grabbed a burger and beer at the brewery, and then headed to their place. I found my way in and met a girl there who'd just got back from traveling over seas and we talked for a while. I never ended up meeting the people who actually lived their, they may have come in while I was passed out on their couch grabbing some sleep before getting a call from Larry sometime after 2am. At that point I wandered down the block where I met Larry and two pickup trucks loaded with people aiming for the grand canyon.

We cruised through the night and arrived at the trail head just sometime after sunrise. There was about 30 of us gathered there, couchsurfers organized by Larry for this trip into Havisupai, we started down the trail.

We went down into the canyon and the trail flattened out, all told it was about a 10 mile hike, give or take. We passed through the village at the bottom, passing that the waterfalls from the creek started to appear. The water was a teal kinda clear blue color. Turning a corner on the last downward part of the trail Havisu Falls itself appeared, a beautiful pool of water below it with people swimming and smiling.

I was ahead of the bunch, I went straight to the pool below the falls, shedding my backpack and shirt emerging myself in the cool, clear water. Eventually I met up with the group as they made their way down the trail, we juggled campsites amidst the scattered and short downpours of rain, the only rain we'd see that trip.

We stayed for three nights all together, climbing behind waterfalls and jumping off, digging through caves and finding quartz crystals, stargazing and eating some great cooking. Mooney falls was 200 feet, we watched as they repaired the bottom that had been wiped out the last season.

On the last full day a group of us hiked to the Colorado River, a 15 mile round trip. It was a great hike, flat at some point, ropes required at others to climb up the rocks. We saw a group of big horned sheep who investigated us from across the creek less than 20 feet away. We also saw a rattle snake and big birds as we hopped down the trail. The best moment was coming up on the Colorado where Havisu creek flows into it. The blue water of the creek met the furocious brown river definitively, instead of fading into it, there was a strict line where one ended and the other began. I stood with one foot in the cold brown river and the other in the teal warm creek.

On the way back we stopped at a 60 foot cliff where another guy jumped off, I followed his lead a minute later and flew through the air leaping off the cliff into the deep pool below. It was one of the great hikes I'd been on, swimming and jumping all along the creek.

The last morning I awoke to people packing up their tents and other gear preparing for the hike back to the village and out of the canyon. A guy Matt and I ran up into a side canyon to do some last minute exploring, we went up a good ways and spotted a line in which we could make our way to the top of the canyon wall, an idea for the next time we may find ourselves back in Havisupai.

On the hike back a few of us stopped at some upper falls, waterfalls that had only been created after some landslides a year ago. I jumped in and washed up in preparation for the hitchhiking I had ahead of myself, I would have to pop straight out of the canyon and start making my way towards NYC if I were to make it in time for the 4th of July and Nathan's hotdog eating contest.

Up at the village we waited as we were flown out by helicopter four or five at a time, something Larry had set up. It was my first time flying like this, a great experience to cap a incredible camping trip.

We drove out of the canyon and towards Flagstaff, I was dropped off at a truck stop to begin my eastbound hitch while the rest continued on to Phoenix, it was mid afternoon.

The particular on ramp I stood at had been hitched from before, I saw a couple dozen notes on the lamp post written with sharpie markers, things like "Rainbow bound '09" and "hitching east '98". Despite the apparent popularity of this hitchhiking spot, I had no luck with rides. Another hitchhiker appeared at the bottom of the ramp, stopping to wait and lay in the grass below when he spotted me. Eventually he walked away, probably tired of waiting. Later still another hitchhiker appeared, also walking towards the gas station upon spotting me occupying the spot.

A total of 3 hours passed with no rides, not the best start, I needed to get about 2500 miles in less than five days. I left the apparently frequented hitchhiking spot and walked up the on ramp and on to the shoulder of the freeway, this turned out to be the right move, a pickup truck pulled over for me fairly quickly.

A mexican woman drove eastbound with her teenage son in front and a small child in the back with me. We didn't talk much other than to say where we each intended to go, she got me an hour or so down the road to Holbrook, AZ at the brink of sunset.

A short wait of thumbing yielded a car with a young Navajo couple. They were interested to hear of my travels, Calvin, the driver, was particularly into it as this lifestyle was a dream of his. They offered me bottled water and leftover pasta with chicken I munched on in the backseat smiling and sharing stories. They offered to let me sleep under the canopy outside their home on the reservation, I accepted and we turned off the freeway at their exit and went a ways down the dirt road to their home.

I met Calvin's mom, brother and dog, he also made me aware of the sheep in the distance, as well as horses and warning of early rising roosters. I got my sleep atop a picnic table in the comfort of my sleeping bag and sure enough, I awoke to a chorus of four roosters at the first hint of daylight in the morning. One of them made a point of shuffling his way right next to the table I laid to cry out a "Cockadoodledo!", I laid out for a while still listening to their continued cries until I sat up, packed up, and waited for Calvin and all to awake.

They let me take a shower after some coffee, then I sat at the table with them as Ashley, his girlfriend, peeled potatoes before he shredded them. They made a mighty breakfast of hashbrowns, eggs, bacon and the fluffiest and tastiest pita bread I've ever had. I talked with them and his mom, and soon his aunt joined us too. His uncle and grandpa were also there, but mostly spoke Navajo.

We soon got on the road, a late start for me given the time frame, but I was happy to have a full belly and a goodie bag of apples and other food and water Ashley made up for me. They dropped me at an on ramp to I-40 somewhere between 11 and noon, I'd have to start making some distance if I wanted to make it to New York in time.

I started down the onramp to the freeway immediately thinking their would be little traffic coming on the entrance, but a cop drove by from the jump warning me to stay on the on ramp if I was hitchhiking. Despite the sparse traffic, I was picked up quickly by a guy who took me just up the ways to the Arizona / New Mexico border.

From this spot I thumbed the traffic hoping to get another quick ride. After some time, I turned behind me to see another figure on the side of the road just behind me with his thumb out. I couldn't figure how he'd sneaked back there, thinking he could clearly see me and wondered why he was trying to hitch this same spot with me. I walked in his direction with the idea to walk down the freeway and give up the spot to him, despite the fact I'd gotten their prior. It was a friendly but oblivious Navajo guy, I told him I'd let him take over the spot and get to walking.

I walked about a mile further around a bend and soon was running up to a car pulling over for me. I opened the door to the car to see a simple smiling blonde girl with a discrete nose ring, "Are you headed to the gathering?", she was referring to the rainbow gathering, a sort of subdued Burning man event where people who loosely fit the various definitions of "hippy" get together in a peaceful setting. I told her I was headed to New York and hopped in, she was going as far as Albuquerque, a good distance away.

She was from santa cruz, she lived in the woods near her campus for a stint, had even built a small tree house for herself. "The one thing I never foresaw was the mold, everything from my blankets to books was covered in it after a while", she told me about it, this was the one downside, other than that she had had it pretty good. She dropped me off in Albuquerque, I showed her my bag of quartz crystals I'd gotten from the grand canyon and let her choose a few to take, then went on my way.

I stood at the on ramp, flash backs of my first long distance hitchhike more than a year ago from California to Oklahoma, Albuquerque was the first place I experienced a long wait for a ride, a few hours or more in the sun despite the heavy traffic that passed me by. This time would not be like that, after just a little bit I heard the honk from a pickup truck at the stop light, a girl my age in the passenger seat waving me over, I hopped in just as the light was changing.

They said they'd just passed me and turned around to pick me up and help me if they could, they were willing to drive me across town to a better spot. It was a mother / daughter combination, they had to make a stop at the pawn shop first. When they dropped me off they left me with a phone number asking that I shoot them a message when I made it to New York.

An old Navy guy picked me up next, he was just going home to the next town, "I live outside of the city so I can smoke my pot", he had a scratchy voice and a smile. He let me out near an on ramp, but I soon found out it was under construction and had to get to walking down the frontage road.

I walked a couple miles or more without finding the next entrance, but someone stopped for me, "jump in quick, the car's over heating!", I sat in the passenger seat with my bag on top of me. I had a short conversation with the guy, he lived in town, but was able to get me a few more miles up to an open freeway entrance. "Snake a beer if you want", he said eyeballing his 30 pack by my feet, I slid one out and into my bag, then headed on to the freeway.

A painter who worked in Albuquerque was my next ride, he drove me a short distance and let me out into the nearing sunset and threat of light rain. I walked down the freeway thumbing rides again, knowing I still had a ways to go and needed to cover a lot more miles tonight. A car stopped ahead and I ran to it, the license plate came into view, Pennsylvania. I got in and the guy asked where I was going, New York City the answer, he laughed in amazement, he said he was going to Philadelphia, "I could use the company and conversation, this is perfect". I thought so too, and as I got settled in the car I saw a giant rainbow that had formed in the distance, it remained visible for more than an hour.

His name was George, originally from Brooklyn and now recently living in Vegas for his job, but his accent was heavy New Yorker. We drove into the night until he couldn't drive any more, we stopped at the first cheap motel in Texas where he got a room with a couple beds and we fell asleep with the TV on.

We got on the road in the morning early and started putting miles behind us. We talked about Vegas, he was excited to start seeing what types of girls were running around, a self described player with stories to verify this. He was also a huge nascar fan and a racer himself, he told me his plan to pitch to the company he worked for to sponsor him and officially become a driver as soon as next year.

We made a short stop in Oklahoma City where he got a money order from his folks so he could cover gas expenses for the rest of the trip. We drove and drove until we were just shy of Indianapolis sometime just after midnight, we pulled into a rest area to sleep in the car with the idea to make the final push after a few hours of rest. I was laid out in the passenger seat for about 5 minutes, all of the sudden he reached in the glove box for some cigarettes and started driving again, I stayed half asleep.

About a half hour later we stopped at a gas station, when he was done filling up we started driving and I perked up. "Change of plans", he said, "I'm gonna stop in Columbus to hook up with queefing girl and catch some sleep there, is that cool?", he was referring to one of the girl's he'd hooked up with a while back. It appeared I wouldn't be going all the way to Philly after all, but I was happy to have gotten the 1,400 mile ride with him.

He dropped me off at a gas station just west of Columbus, OH, it was about 3am. I got to walking down the freeway to get past some major turn offs, loosely thumbing traffic under scattered dim street lights. I came to a bridge that looked like a good place to catch some sleep, I drank my "snaked" beer from the other day and slipped into my sleeping bag listening to the traffic pass by below.

I packed up quickly in the morning and made my way to a decent spot near the closest on ramp hoping to get across Columbus and keep shooting east. I got picked up quickly by a musician, he drove me clear across the city and gave me a yogurt when he dropped me off. I got picked up quickly again after this by a dreaded out guy headed to the doctor, he was originally from Detroit.

A ride after that came from an auto parts delivery guy in a minivan. I went with him into a small town to make a drop off at an auto shop, then he dropped me off up the road at a truck stop. I took a piece of cardboard to make a big "NYC" sign and headed for the on ramp. Someone stopped right away, an older guy with a hard italian edge. He told me how his son was traveling all over, but was more or less "jerking off".

He started ranting about the economy and countries and leaders, "Every one's jerking off, all this war bullshit, we should be working together to get into space and beyond like star trek, but no! They're just jerking off! Who are the people who think they're better than everyone else? Come out and show yourself? No? Then stop jerking off and let's make some progress, let's be human beings!", I did what I could to fuel his rant as we cruised down the road, he was headed to see his daughter in State College, PA.

He went a pinch further to drop me off by I-80, I walked down the freeway until a guy stopped for me, a student at Penn State. He took me to the next big truck stop, I got out and started thumbing cars at the on ramp until deciding to walk up on the freeway. An 18 wheeler saw my thumb and made a wild maneuver across lanes and into the shoulder ahead, I ran for it.

It was young trucker from Ohio, currently Brooklyn bound, my final ride that would complete a 2,500 mile hitch in an even 3 days, time to spare for my 4th of July target. We shared stories back and forth, he was interested in my travels and outlook on things, I was interested in hearing about his family and toys, like his plane and boat. He was doing pretty well for himself trucking, he'd learned from his dad and been going forever. He was about ready to get out though, and had started making some real estate moves to make enough money to leave the truck behind for good to spend more time with his kids and toys.

The New York City skyline showed itself with a pink swirling sunset clouds as it's backdrop, soon I was jumping out of his truck at a red light on to the streets of brooklyn, that's where I hopped on the subway, a familiar N train. I tried making a call to Mark, no answer, I headed for Astoria.

I got off the subway and made the walk up Astoria Blvd, popping into the deli along the way to grab a six pack. The neighbors buzzed me into the apartment building, Mark and Carl weren't home. I found a hidden key and showed myself in. I relaxed the night away waiting for someone to return to the apartment, Sean and Kelly were in San Diego, but I figured Mark or Sean should roll in at some point. Finally the sparse and scattered hours of sleep from camping and hitchhiking caught up with me and I passed out on the futon.

I awoke to excited shouting at 3am, Mark's shouting, Carl's and mine, they'd discovered the hobo sleeping in their place as they stumbled in from the party they'd been at. We immediately cracked into the six pack I'd picked up and got to catching up over a couple beers a piece. The light of the sun shined through the windows by the time we got to sleeping.

It feels good to be back in the amazing city with lifelong friends, and I'm sure it's got nothing but good times in store, including Nathan's Hotdog eating contest and plenty of beer from all over.

Westerns, Model Ts and Crystal Cars, Jackson to Flagstaff by thumb

2009-06-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

I woke up in Jackson with the road ahead, it would be one of my more memorable hitchhiking trips. I got my things together and snagged some sample toothpaste packets from the fancy spa on the lower floor. My mom drove me to Hoback Junction, about a half hour away, this is where I'd begin my thumbing towards what would end up being Flagstaff, Arizona.

There wasn't a lot of traffic, but a pickup truck eventually stopped and I hopped in the back seat, I'd opted for route 189 rather then going back through the busier road to Idaho Falls. The driver was a friendly guy off to work, his son sat in the passenger seat with headphones on, I never heard his voice or saw his face.

He dropped me off a ways down in Daniel, a junction town with a population of 100 odd people. I got picked up by the first car I saw there, a young guy headed to Big Piney just a little ways down the road. He dropped me off at the far edge of the small town and I got to walking for the sake of moving forward. Two cars in a row mirrored my thumb with their middle finger, young guys in flashy pickup trucks.

A state trooper passed my extended thumb, he turned around twice to pull over behind me, got out and asked me the basic questions, taking my drivers license back to his cruiser. He came back with a written warning, the second of I've ever gotten. He told me I couldn't hitchhike in Wyoming, but walking was OK, and if someone happened to stop and offer me a ride I could go for it.

I kept on walking, my thumbing powers disabled, or at least mildly paranoid out of commission. Eventually someone stopped at the site of backpacker trekking through the middle of nowhere, someone always stops. "I've got my guard dog here! Hop on in", I threw my backpack in the bed of the pickup truck and jumped in the passenger seat and met his "guard dog", a tiny pug named Lucy, really his road dog. The guy himself had a slightly scratchy voice and a big presence to him, he was off to his job in Beaver, UT. He offered to take me all the way, I had ideas of stopping in Salt Lake City for the night, but there was plenty of miles to decide what to do.

We cruised down the road talking about things until we stopped at a gas station where he said I could look at a map to decide whether I wanted to get dropped off at the turn off that would lead to Salt Lake, or continue on to Beaver with him. I knew the roads pretty well, but looked at the map anyhow while I thought about it.

I decided to stick it through with him, he said I'd be able to crash in the hotel room he was staying at, paid for by his company, plus it was extra couple hundred miles down the road. While at the gas station he picked up some up some CDs, books on tape, specifically westerns featuring "Smoke Jensen", who he said was "the biggest bad ass the west had ever seen, this guy kicks every one's ass, no bullshit!", he popped it in.

For the rest of the ride we were transported to the old west, Smoke was being forced to defend his land while old rivals came to town along with miners and people chasing the gold rush. He told me he'd listen to a good 15-20 other stories from the same series.

We stopped at a Wendys where he bought me a burger and we kept on going. In the meantime, I got a message from a girl in Cedar City who said I could stay on her couch the night, Cedar City was just less than 60 miles south of Beaver.

When we got close to Beaver we made a quick detour to his work spot so he could drop off the generator he was towing, he was working at a geo thermal site. He explained it to me, they were drilling into an underground volcano where essentially they'd pour down water, this would heat up and create steam, the steam would power turbines that would provide great amount of power, "It's goes along with that, what is that they're always saying... 'green' shit people are always talking out nowadays.", it sounded cool to me. His voice sounded a bit like Smoke Jensen's.

We rolled into Beaver with about an hour or so of daylight left, we were only on CD 4 of 6 in the old western shoot 'em up. A part came up where Smoke put his guns down and fought his rival fist to fist, kicking his ass thoroughly. "I told you!", the driver said, slapping me on the shoulder, "Smoke is no bull shit!". He dropped me off at the gas station on the south end of town, "I'll tell you how it ends, Smoke kicks every one's ass.", I was glad to hear it.

I walked down the on ramp to the shoulder of the freeway looking for my ride to Cedar City, it came quickly. A slick car picked me up, the guy driving had an earring in one ear, a bluetooth headset on the other and sunglasses across his eyes. He was probably about 30, hyped up, he may as well have been coked up, maybe he was. He'd been driving all day, coming from Wisconsin on his way to Vegas where he'd stay for the night before continuing to LA.

He was interested to hear how'd been moving about the past two years and told me about his travels over the years. He dropped me off at a gas station in Cedar City, one that I'd hitched from going north twice before, including just a week or so ago.

Jessi came and met me there, a girl I'd found on couchsurfing who offered me a place to stay for the night. She was a nice girl with an itch to travel, an itch yet to be scratched. She made some grilled cheese for us both and we talked a bit before she went to sleep, she had to be up early in the morning for school and work. I stayed up for a bit, enjoying one of my last two beers from a six pack I'd got in Wyoming.

I was up around 6am in the morning when she got up, she pointed me to the shower. When I got out she had scrambled eggs waiting, we chowed down and hopped in her car. She dropped me off at the mouth of the valley headed east and went her own way towards school.

I stood at a pull out on the road next to a sign that was supposed to say "Falling Rock" but someone had scribbled on to now say "Falling in love rocks". The sun was starting to shine on the valley, but I was still in the shadow of the cliffs next to me. I got to walking down a ways down the road to see what was ahead, but a pickup truck packed with three guys stopped before I got too far, they had me hop in the bed of the truck saying they were headed to Duck Creek.

The drive ahead was unexpected and one of the most amazing rides I'd had, it also showed me how Cedar City got it's name. It was thirty miles of riding through cedar trees in a national forest, wind blowing through my hair, the smell of cedar, whipping through turns along the river and towering cliffs of different shades and shapes. A smile never left my face, at one point we were so high I could look out and see what I thought had to be Zion in the distance.

We at last got to a gas station where they dropped me off and asked where I was from, they were all smiling, I think they'd probably looked back and saw my perm-grin of awe during the whole ride. They told me that what I saw in fact was Zion.

I got to walking down the road, it was still in the national forest, they said I was 10-15 miles from the turn to route 89 which lead to Flagstaff. As I walked I saw old school cars passing me I'd later discover were all Ford Model T's. I guy stopped for me and gave me a ride the 10 miles out to the main road, he'd been a guide at the grand canyon for a while and told me how much he wished it was him going to Havisupai, the falls where I was eventually headed to.

At the gas station there were a dozen of the cars parked, I asked an older couple next to one what the story was, apparently it a national Model-T day of sorts where they all got to caravaning around. I walked down the road a hundred yards, thumbing the southbound traffic and waiving to the northbound Model-T cars, they were driving much slower than the other traffic on the road, I must have seen two hundred during the day.

An older couple picked me up after a long wait, a wait I didn't mind at all with the parade of cars passing me, some honking with their swamp style horns, awooogah, awooogah!

The couple took me to Mt. Carmel Junction where they turned off towards Zion. I stopped in a diner to relax for a minute grabbing a cup of coffee and a half order of biscuits and sausage gravy, then headed to the edge of town to start hitching to the next spot. I stood for a while beginning to feel the effects of the sun burning on me. An older couple in Model T passed me, I recognized them from before as they did me, awoogah! They honked at me as they passed for the second time smiling.

I was on the edge of a golf course where I was standing, a guy working on the course approached me, asking where I was headed. He told me his girlfriend worked at the Thunderbird, a nearby diner, and that if I went there he'd be sure she hooked me up with a free meal, I couldn't turn that down. To add to it, he shoved a $10 bill my way saying hitchhikers gotta help hitchhikers.

I walked to diner and was greeted by the girl, he was in the doorway already having just talked to her. She took me to a table with a menu and a smile. Before long I was sitting in front of a bowl of chili and a chocolate cream pie chowing down. I ate every last bite until I was entirely full, she left me with a to-go cup of water and said I was all set, back to the edge of town I went.

My next ride arrived shortly after, a middle aged guy headed to Kanab, yet another junction town. He worked at a place along the way and said he'd show me around if was interested, of course I was. It was called "Best Friends", a haven for recovering animals. He noted it's relative fame in that it had spurred a show about it's Dog Town on National Geographic and also currently housed Michael Vick's fighting dogs.

We passed dog town, cat town and the bird place where he worked, then went on to a "hidden lake", that's where we got out of the car to check it out. It lived up to the name, it was a small lake mostly under a boulder through a cave entrance. I took note of the location as a cool place to go back to some day and camp.

We drove me through the rest pointing out horses and other things while telling me about everything, apparently many old westerns had been filmed there as well, I wondered how many bullets Smoke Jensen may have fired in these parts.

Kanab split in two directions, both of which lead to Flagstaff, he dropped me off in the direction that would go through Page saying it was a more popular route, seeing what happened next, I'm glad he did.

I stood by the road with an extended thumb, cooking under the sun a bit more. As always, someone stopped in the shoulder ahead, a young couple in a mini van packed with camping and outdoor gear. They made room in the back saying that they'd hitchhiked earlier that day after hiking through Zion to get back to there car. The young guy drove and the red headed dreaded girl sat in the passenger seat with a friendly smile as we swapped hitchhiking and camping stories.

They were going as far as Page, and then splitting off. They intended to go for a swim when they got there, as some more miles went by I became a part of this plan too. We stopped while they picked up some lunch for themselves, I was still filled up from Mt Carmel, and then headed for Lake Powell at Antelope Point. We found the beach area and made our way to the water.

Kristen, the red headed girl, leapt into the water straight out, losing her sun glasses to the bottom of the lake all at once. She tried looking for them, but they were lost. We swam around for a couple hours, they had inflatable fish rafts they floated around on. We decided to hit the road eventually, they had to find a camping site and I had to get down the road, there was still a couple hours of daylight left. They went to a Walmart at the edge of town to get some things, like new sun glasses, I headed up to the road to catch my next ride.

A pickup truck stopped for me full of Navajos, I said Flagstaff and they said they were headed that way, I hopped into the pickup truck bed in the back like I had to start the day, off we went. I watched Lake Powell fade away while the warm air whipped around me. We wound down a road tight on the cliff, I had an incredible view the valley in the impending sunset. They finally pulled into a turn off where there was a group of others packing up there jewelry stand, that was as far as they were going.

Ten minutes later another Navajo guy stopped for me and I was shooting down the road again. This guy had been living in Denver for 15 years working as an inspector for large scale pipes, up until a month ago, he was now living back on the reservation with his family and had gotten a new job with a towing company.

He was headed for Tuba City, he dropped me off a couple hundred yards past his turn to a roadside pull out where there were about a dozen wooden booths used for Navajo jewelery sales, they were all abandoned at this moment. He drove away, the sunlight was dwindling. An empty motorcycle stood in the lot, a couple was sleeping in the booth, each on their own table, the guy looked up at me and I waived.

I thumbed out for rides for a while, eventually the biker couple got on their way wishing me luck. Daylight disappeared quickly without any cars stopping, there wasn't much traffic anyhow. I made myself at home in one of the booths deciding this is where I'd sleep for the night. I pulled out the last beer from my Wyoming six pack and cracked it open. It was easily the warmest beer I'd ever drank, hot really, the unique Lagunitas hoppy taste sizzled on the way down.

I started to sleep the night away, popping my head up every time a car or truck pulled in, people either stopping to take a leak or catch a few hours of sleep themselves in their vehicles, I don't think anyone noticed me there.

I woke up for the final time in the blazing morning sun, blue skies and scatter white clouds. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and lugged my bag to the side of the road and started thumbing the scattered patches of cars passing.

A pickup passed by and I my eyes locked with the woman's at the last moment, I turned my head with the truck as she pulled in to stop for me. "I hope this isn't a mistake", she said, clearing things off the passenger seat, "I'm joking of course, I'm a good judge of character", she laughed, I hopped on in.

She was a slender Scottish woman heading for Sedona to work a new job at a gallery in town. She was interesting to talk to, very into crystals and this type of thing. So much so in fact, that she had invented a system with crystals that increased her gas mileage by 20% and had just started to sell it, the truck we were riding in was fitted with the system too. I asked a lot about it and she told me even more, quartz was the crystal she was using, she told me all about the powerful qualities of it and other uses for it, how to program it and so on.

She went on telling me about her thought on the universe in general and how it works, essentially saying that whatever you wished for is what was returned to you, think one thing and it's mirrored back. She went as far as to talk about bending time and connecting with people across the planet.

She dropped me off in Flagstaff, she gave me a card so I could check out her crystal invention some more, the website is aqt4all.com, AQT stands for Advance Quartz Technology, pretty cool stuff with implications greater than just better mileage.

I walked down the road in the direction of down town and made my way to the Flagstaff Brewery, which is also a coffee house. I grabbed a cup and caught up on some things online, also getting in touch with Larry about getting picked up later for the Grand Canyon trip. I easily got talked into a pint of beer, and then another cup of coffee.

I wandered around a bit after that in search of a place to catch some sleep, I found nothing but park and city benches to rest for a bit. I finally settled in a different coffee shop to put off the need to sleep. Later on Larry should be passing through town, around 1 am, and then it's on to Havisupai and the falls in the Grand Canyon. It promises to be good times, then I'm bound for NYC.

Jackson Hole is always a good time

2009-06-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

Jackson Hole, Wyoming was my destination this blue skied morning, beautiful scenery and family in the area was my motivation. I got a phone call from Anthony saying he'd found me a ride part of the way from a guy headed to Yellowstone. Unsure if the ride would come through or not, I headed for the freeway on foot to appease the beautiful day. I said my goodbyes to Kate and Candice, she had an increasingly familiar reluctant smile on her face, as if I'd forgot to say or do something.

I started thumbing by the freeway, another hitchhiker came by who was headed in the opposite direction saying he was having a hell of a time getting out of town. I told him about a spot a couple miles east where I'd gotten out once before headed the way he was going.

My phone buzzed in my pocket before any cars stopped, it was Andrew, the guy Anthony had told me was headed north. He was ready to go, I abandoned my hitchhiking spot and met him at the gas station up the road. We picked up Anthony on the way.

Anthony got dropped off about an hour up the road, he was headed to Logan. Andrew drove me all the way up to Idaho Falls where we parted ways and I got to hitchhiking, much closer to Jackson now. A guy picked me up with slick black hair, his wife in the passenger seat and two babies strapped into car seats in the back with me. He drove me across town to a much better spot.

A little walking and thumbing, then a Mexican guy picked me up with two girls in the back, perhaps his wife and daughter, they didn't talk much other than to translate the occasional word he couldn't say in english. We talked the whole to the junction, two roads that both lead to Jackson.

I stood just before the split, it was a great looking day. A guy in the parking lot nearby came walking over to ask where I was going and offered me a ride that would get me closer. I rode in the back next to another car seated baby, a girl was driving and he rode shotgun and we headed for the Alpine. They were a cool couple of folks, telling me about camping they did in the area. He was also going to jail, I didn't ask what for, but it was some sort of program where he only went on weekends and was then released during the week.

They dropped me off in a nice spot near a gas station as far as they were going, soon enough a car full of people stopped in the road and waived me over, "You don't mind sitting in the trunk, do you?", they laughed and I crammed into the trunk of the station wagon type car. There were five of them, sort of camp counselors all about my age. They'd been in town a couple weeks having a good time and the kids were finally getting into town the next day for the summer.

We laughed the ride away to Hoback Junction, they were planning one more good night before camp started. They dropped me off and my next ride wasn't far behind, a pickup truck with a raft in tow, two guys originally from Montana driving. They were headed into Jackson and said they could give me a lift to the village road. We made one stop at the grocery store where they loaded up on supplies for a barbecue they were going to.

One of the guys had started working at a nuclear power plant and told me as much as he could about it in the time we were driving. He liked it, saying it was the direction the country should go in terms of power. A couple times he cited that someone riding on a plane is exposed to more radiation then he'll ever be working at the plant.

A sunny sky rain shower picked up when he dropped me off, I only had 7 miles to go. I was picked up quickly before the rain even had time to get me too wet, a nice couple who lived just down the road. To my right I saw the biggest rainbow I've ever seen, so big in fact that it had a mirror reflection above it, what they told me was called a "double rainbow", the name made sense.

The man dropped his wife off and then took me the extra few miles to Teton Village where my mom and sister were staying. I made my way up to the room and got a hug from my very happy mother, I went to the balcony to show them the rainbow, but it had disappeared.

We immediately walked down the hill for some food at the Mangy Moose, a Lagunitas IPA and some buffalo meatloaf hit the spot perfect as I caught up with the family. I picked up a six pack of Little Sumpin' Ale, having a couple before calling it a night, sleeping on a bed in a room by myself for a change of pace.

We went into town the next day, I got a new pair of jeans to replace my increasingly torn up pair, holes around the knees and thighs, the bottom part of the right leg mostly missing from getting shredded riding bikes, the bulk of which had occurred during "Tour de Laramie" a month or so back.

We enjoyed cheeseburgers at Billy's in the town square after that, we heard stories of bank robbery in town, a guy had apparently escaped in a silver camero. We headed back to the Village to relax for a bit, took a short hike up the mountain, then relaxed some more at the place before heading out to dinner.

We met up with my aunt and uncle at an italian place just down the road. It was great to catch up with them a bit, they both have a lot of energy and spirit about them no doubt derived from living in Jackson Hole. The mountains are beautiful in every direction, the snake river flows through offering opportunity for good times and the winter brings some of the best skiing conditions you could ask for.

With my stomach filled to capacity, we headed back to the village. I talked with my mom for a while and my sister wandered the village. Soon enough I was the only one awake, enjoying a couple more beers from my six pack before calling it a night. The next day would bring the beginning of a trek southbound towards the grand canyon. The trip to Jackson was a short one, but as always, a good one.

Tripping in Utah

2009-06-22T22:58:00.000-07:00

I woke up in Salt Lake City with tripping on my mind, and that would define the day. The new roommate and a couchsurfer were headed up to Yellowstone and offering me a ride, I declined it after a bit of consideration, I had ideas for some days in Utah still.

Candice went to work at the crystal shop and I tweaked the Trip Hopping site a bit, hours passed and I decided to hop on the bike and bug her at work. I got there and mentioned the magic chocolate I'd been given saying today was the day, she agreed. I left her at work and went to the coffee shop waiting for her shift to end.

She swung by later just to say she had a few things to do, and sure enough she was back about an hour after that ready for a trip. We decided beer was the thing to kick it off, we walked down the block each eating half of the ice cubed sized mushroom chocolate I'd been given while hitchhiking days before.

We had a beer at a bar she'd once worked at, we talked with the waiter she'd once worked with. The chocolate kicked in quicker than expected, we finished the last of our beers and headed for the door, down the street and to our bikes, smiling wide.

We rode back to her place, me slightly ahead of her, glowing and smiling while riding along. We landed in her backyard, her garden, and plopped on the grass staring at the sky. It had been a gray day with fits of rain, but now the skies were blue with giant white fluffy clouds passing by. Kate came into the backyard at one point realizing what was going on and let us be.

We laid in awe at the magnified beauty of it all, laughter and uncontrollable leakage of tears from our eyes. We'd decided that we'd personally sucked up the moisture of the stormy day, this being the reasoning for the sunny skies and our overall moisture coming from seemingly everywhere, eyes, nose, pores, wetness.

We wandered around the yard once we were able to tear ourselves away from the clouds, investigating a wooden box, her garden and the sights and sounds from beyond her yard. The one thing that remained consistent was the smiles on our faces and overwhelming feeling of awe. We found ourselves on the grass a few more times, peering at the vortexes and kaleidoscope effects of the clouds.

We found ourselves near her car, unable to get inside since it was locked, the car had been broken down for months anyhow. All at once I felt a tightness in my stomach and throat, a shortness of breath and a feeling I'd only felt once or twice in my life, as if the end was upon me, death as it were. I walked into the yard to contemplate this before alarming Candice or anyone else, I peeked into the sky again. At that moment death didn't matter as much as it did a second ago, it didn't even mean the same thing. I laid out in the grass again as the feeling continued, a smile was on my face that pushed the limits of my cheek muscles.

As I laid there the feeling of death evaporated leaving me purely with ecstasy. Candice looked over at me from her thoughts to say I looked peaceful and happy. Her blonde hair fell from her knit hat to the side of her face, clean and pure adorned with a simple natural smile, I'd never seen her more beautiful. My eyes were glued to her for a moment, then my head turned back to the sky and my fleeting but extensive thoughts.

Candice mustered up the motion to go to the bathroom and went inside, I wouldn't see her for hours. I laid out for a while with my thoughts until standing up, I wandered inside. I filled up two glasses of water and wandered downstairs, I found Kate watching a movie, smiled and walked into Candice's room. It was dark and smelled like of purposeful scents, candles or incense or some such, no sign of Candice though. I wandered back upstairs and forgot about her, thoughts were racing through my head so quickly that focusing on any one thing became ridiculous and boring.

During the next hours I went through fits of genius and insanity, banging the side of a banjo in between. At times I felt twisted and demented beyond recognition, I imagined I may never come down from my current state and couldn't be happier. My mind scrolled through all the stages of my life in great detail at a rapid pace. I considered many of the people I'd met in my life and projected times yet to be had. A few times I wandered downstairs to find a movie being unwatched, something about a wedding, I contemplated going into Candice's room, her door was now shut. I decided not to disturb her knowing that any number of things could be going through her mind as they were with me.

Later in the night she emerged upstairs, at that moment I was pacing the room still entranced with various thoughts, coming down from the height of it all though. She turned on the lights wanting to use my phone, I dug it up, I'd been ignoring it all day despite the occasional vibrating growl it produced from it's spot buried in my bag.

We shared insights and stories from our various experiences, which were identical in nature and varied only in specifics. Then night calmed down from there, we rested in her room with a movie and eventually found a way to put some food in our stomachs, ending the night with more talk about our thoughts and slowly waning to sleep.

I woke up the next day feeling refreshed. The day went by without much incident, a bike visit to Candice's work, her head hurt. Later we had dinner and beers as some people dropped by to enjoy.

The following day we found ourselves at Peter, Denny and Parker's place. Candice got to cleaning, a big party was in the works. As the night came in, so did people. We all got to drinking and whatnot, eventually Bobby showed up with kegs, he's the brew master at the Bohemian in town. The party raged on, a beer pong table emerged, the cutest girl at the party got paid $40 to punch her boyfriend in the face, things were looking good.

The night finally began to fade as the beer ran out, eventually Peter, Denny, Candice and I were laid out in one of the bedroom's laughing the night away as the sky became bright and the birds got to chirping.

After perhaps an hour of actual sleep, I was up and out the door with Peter and Candice, off to REI where Candice was in search of a cheap sleeping bag. We left her there and made a visit to Cam's place, then came back when she was just checking out. We got some baked goods at the grocery store only to decide that we wanted to go to the Blue Plate Diner. We enjoyed a nice breakfast there, I slammed down a coffee in the wake of drinks, trips and little sleep.

After a brief stop at Candice's we were back at Peter's relaxing, and then finally back at Candice's where I crawled into my sleeping bag for a few hours. I woke up and grabbed a couple slices of toast, then chased Candice down to a brewery a good 20 or 30 minute bike ride away. There was a monthly couchsurfing meet up there, I drank a stout and had some conversation with various folks until it was decided that there was a party worth going to.

I biked the good distance back where I hopped into a car and headed to the party, hosted by a guy Phil who I'd met a time before. I drank beers and cups of jungle juice while sharing some hitchhiking stories with interested people who were traveling though. The night started winding down and Candice and I caught a ride back home where we faded.

I woke up in the morning with the road on my mind, I intended to go up to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to visit my mom and sister. It had been a good trip in Utah, but a packed bag and blue skies always begs for motion.

Back on the road, Surprise to Salt Lake City

2009-06-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

I spent my lasting morning in Arizona wrapping things up, anticipating the road ahead after a long stint of staying put. We grabbed some lunch, Larry, his dad, Trish and I, then they drove me up to the outskirts of the Phoenix area to a spot in Surprise I'd hitched out of before. Larry made me a cardboard sign that said Vegas, I was off to thumbing.

Soon I was in the backseat of a minivan, an attractive blonde driving with her teenage daughter in the front and her young son in the back playing with a godzilla figurine. The kid smiled and laughed while throwing godzilla around and telling me all about how he could breathe fire and these types of things. It became a quiet relaxed ride once he fell asleep, I too went in and out of sleep as headed north.

The family was headed up to Provo, UT, they dropped me off on Las Vegas Blvd just north of Freemont street, right where I needed to be. I gave Shana a call and then met her at her apartment. I caught up a bit and then opted to go get a beer.

I went to the Main Street casino and sat at the bar, popping $10 in the video poker machine with the thought that my beers would be comped by doing so, the beer there was pretty good too. After a draining the beers and my money down the bill came, the waitress told me should couldn't comp the drinks because I wasn't doing the max bet. I emptied out my pockets to pay the bill, leaving with nothing but some loose coins to my name.

I'd already booked a few free nights at the Luxor, part of the comp package included $75 in promo chips, so I wasn't all to concerned with my empty pockets. I wandered back to Shana's place where I'd be crashing the first night in town. Her and her boyfriend were looking to go out and do a little drinking, I decided to go along with them just to get out again, flask in tow.

A joint burned down on the ride to the M, the newest casino on the strip. We went through the night going to a few different spots, I was noticeably out of it, few words escaping my lips. We wound up back at their apartment for a moment and I passed out while they went back into the night.

In the morning I Shana cooked up one of the better omelette's I've had, a good way to kick off the day. I grabbed my backpack and got to walking to the Luxor on my own, a good 5 miles or more away. When I arrived and tried to check in I was told I would need a credit card for the deposit, I had the numbers to one, but they needed a physical card.

I walked to the side to figure things out, a mess of phone calls to people I knew in Vegas and people I knew who may know someone in town who could help, but no dice. The Lakers game was about to start, so I just went to the sports book to watch the game and decided I figure things out after.

The Lakers beat up the Magic and won their 15th championship, something I'd been looking forward to for a while. During this, I was going back in forth sending messages to Kelly, who I'd met in Zion through Molly from Flagstaff, she was considering coming to Vegas, but instead decided she may come the next day.

I got the idea to go to CVS and try to get a Visa gift card or some such to try and check in with, it didn't work out. At last I decided I'd try to check in one more time and see if I could catch some luck, or at least collect the promo chips. The girl I talked to at the desk had some words with her manager and worked things out, she told me they'd let me stay the night, but if I didn't have my friends come with a deposit by the next day I'd have to leave, fine by me.

I went up to the room and plopped down my stuff, happy to have a bed for the night. I immediately went down to the casino to collect the promo chips, and then on to the craps table, a 10 dollar minimum table. I figured I'd just make field bets $10 at a time to see what would happen, a field bet is betting that one of the listed numbers will be rolled on the dice. I hit once, then twice, then missed a few times. At that point I had $20 in real chips, that I could turn into cash, and $15 left in promo chips. I put the rest on the field and the dice rolled, a 12 came up, this is the most unlikely number to come up and pays triple, $45 in one roll giving me $65 all together. I left the table and cashed in my fortune, then promptly got some food in my belly.

I woke up peacefully in the room in the morning unsure what the next move was. I finally got word from Kelly, she was feeling sick and wouldn't be coming, which meant I had to be going too. I checked out before they had a chance to ask me to leave for not having a deposit, I got to walking back up the strip towards the I-15 on ramp near Sahara.

I thumbed out for a little while until a young guy from Brooklyn stopped and I hopped in the backseat. He was only going up to Freemont, but he gave me some junk food before letting me out. I decided I'd catch the bus up close to the speedway like last time, and headed to the bus stop.

A couple street dwellers sat on the bench, one wanted water and I gave him some, he talked to the other guy and then got to walking towards a shelter. The other guy talked to me for a while, he'd been on the streets since his whole life, he wanted to be in Oregon. It seemed like he was stuck in Vegas, I told him how I'd escaped a number of times. The bus came, I got on and he stayed behind.

I got off down the line and got to walking towards the Speedway, loosely thumbing rides as I went. A mini van passed me, then stopped in the shoulder far ahead and backed up towards me. A friendly looking guy popped out with his wife, he had me put my bag in the trunk and I took the front seat while the wife slipped in back. There was no air conditioning he said, so the window would be staying open, I couldn't be happier. The wind rushed across my face and through my fingertips hanging out the window the whole ride.

They took me as far as Saint George, a good ways up the road, the woman gave me a walmart gift card she had as I was getting out, the told me how much they loved helping people, I was grateful for it.

I got picked up pretty quickly from the next spot, a couple guys and a girl about my age just going up the road. He dropped me off in Toquerville, the sun was on it's way down and headlights were turning on. Just before it vanished, I got picked up again. The guy driving this time was a zip line specialist, he'd just been talking to someone about a job giving nature tours along a river, shooting from zip line to zip line while explaining the surrounding nature.

He took me 15 miles past where he was headed to get me into Cedar City, dropping me off at a Chevron gas station and pushing a $20 bill in my direction saying I deserved a good meal. I walked into the gas station all smiles, I grabbed a burrito and a 24oz Pabst thinking I'd likely be camping out. The girl working the counter was cute, she smiled and asked me about my backpack, my answer interested her. I used the microwave to warm up the burrito and took a seat at the counter and she got to asking me more questions - where I sleep, if I get scared, where I've been, where I'm going. She was on the cusp of offering me a place to stay, I was asking her about any wooded areas that may be nearby.

I decided to give the on ramp a quick try, and that's all it was, there was a blind corner and little place for cars to pull over, it was late and dark anyhow. I wandered back to the gas station to use the bathroom and see the girl again. She suggested a few more places I may have luck camping out, she looked at me apologetically as if she wanted to offer her place, but couldn't bring herself to do it.

I got to walking down the road in search for the next on ramp and a place to camp nearby. It was quite a walk, hitting some dead ends along the way. I came across a KOA and talked to a guy outside asking if it cost anything to camp without a trailer, he said $20, too much for me and I kept walking. I soon came close to the next on ramp and saw a really nice patch of trees and a big field, I wandered in and set up my sleeping bag and popped open my beer.

I slept great, a bird chirped above me early in the morning as a wake up call. I got packed up and headed for the on ramp, I made a quick stop for a snack at the gas station first. I thumbed at the on ramp, I'd been in the same spot once before months ago when some traveling sales folks picked me up. In no time a car had pulled in across the street, I didn't realize he was stopping for me at first, but then ran over when he started waving his hand frantically at me.

His car was loaded up with gear and instruments, we made a quick stop at what I think was his folks place and then got on the road. He was an interesting guy, telling me about rainbow gatherings and things like this. Talk of acid and mushrooms came up, he told me about his experiences with this.

Getting closer to Salt Lake City we stopped for a bite, he got me a couple burgers. Before we got on the road he dug through his trunk and handed me an ice cube sized block of chocolate with some special ingredients. He drove me just shy of Salt Lake City telling me to enjoy, dropping me off next to the freeway.

I got picked up right away again by an air force guy in full uniform. He was headed to Ogden, but happy to get me to where I was going. He went out of his way to take me directly to Candice's place in Sugar House, it seems every time I hitch to her place people drop me off at her doorstep.

I went to the door and met Lars who was making pancakes, a couchsurfer who was also staying there. Kate came from around the corner, laughing as she saw my face with a hug, I tend to drop in on the house unannounced and it all works out. Candice was at work at the crystal shop at the time, she didn't know I was coming either. I went downstairs to throw my bag down and discovered Anthony was there, one of the guys I'd drunkenly biked around with in Laramie, Wyoming a month or so ago.

I caught up with everybody and had a pancake. I plugged in my phone to find a voicemail waiting from Candice, she'd called only minutes ago apologizing for never showing in Vegas and saying that I should come visit her in Salt Lake sometime. I laughed at the timing and headed for the bike, riding towards the crystal shop. I rolled up and set my bike against the tree, she'd seen from the window and came at me with a huge smile of surprise and a hug. Her boss stood by with a smile too, Candice had cut her off mid sentence to come running. The woman wandered away and took off, I caught up with Candice for a while in the shop, I told her about the magic chocolate I'd been given on the road.

After a while I headed to the coffee shop to catch up on things and wait for her to get off work. I got in touch with Cameron after a while, he came and picked me up when he got off work. We dropped my bike off at Candice's and went and saw Peter, he'd just gotten back from a camping excursion in California.

Cameron had moved into a new place with his brother and dog who'd moved from the east coast, I went and checked out the new place and we got to playing some beer pong. We soon hit the road and met up with the whole crew at half off sushi night. After I hopped in a car with Candice, Peter and some other folks and we went to a garage party, enjoying just one beer and some relaxing before heading back to Candice's place and calling it a night.

Good times behind and ahead, talk of a big party on Friday and ideas of hitching to Jackson in the future. It should be an interesting week or three ahead.

Trip Hopping in Arizona

2009-06-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

My time in Arizona was all about Trip Hopping, peck peck peck at the keyboard getting things rolling. Trip Hopping is the rideshare and travel site I started with my friend Larry a year or so ago, and an idea that has really been in the works since I first started HoboLifestyle.com a couple years ago when I started traveling.

We had a "Brew" here at Larry's place in Arizona, a solid couple weeks or so of us tweaking the site with some help from volunteers. We ended up getting a lot done, one guy, Mark, flew in from Rochester, NY just to help out. He turned out to be a pretty smart guy and contributed a lot. Check out the site if you're interested in traveling, it's a good way to find rides, hitchhiking tips and keep up to date with your friends' travels, it's a hobo's dream.

In between and in the midst of the 15+ hours sessions of coding away, I enjoyed quite a few brews, good ole' beers to enhance the setting, a Dundee Pale Ale is by my side at the moment. I also got to enjoy a whole lot of basketball playoffs, namely the Lakers rocking through teams and at this moment, one win away from a championship.

We spent one day on the salt river tubing, it was quite a trip. There was 13 of us, volunteers, couchsurfers and Larry's kids. It was a party on the river flooded with people drinking, beautiful girls who likely couldn't show ID offering beer bongs and a never ending marshmallow fight all the way down.

In the mix my phone got wet, not sure why I brought it anyhow, but none the less it got damaged beyond repair. With that, all my stored phone numbers were gone. It was hard to care too much being that there wasn't much to do about it, and luckily Larry had an old phone that I was able to activate. I'll no longer be able to connect my laptop to the phone to get internet anywhere, but perhaps I'll come across a new phone capable of this again down the line.

Vegas, yes Vegas, again, is on the future's list. Candice said she'd meet me there for a day or three of Vegas type things, and then head up to Salt Lake City. Either way, I'll be headed through and likely on to Jackson Hole, WY for a day or two with some family before racing back down to the Grand Canyon to do some camping in Havasupai at the end of the month. Good times, always.

Camping Adventure in Zion

2009-06-05T05:20:00.000-07:00

After a wild Vegas birthday night, I awoke to a quiet morning with a the road to Utah ahead of me. Peter from Salt Lake City had a little camping trip in store. I washed up and got my things together, my ass was bruised purple from the birthday paddle that had got passed around the night before. Shana took a picture of it before I left amongst the shock and laughter of the scattered friends and couchsurfers in the room.

I headed towards the bus stop, I planned to take it as close as it would get me to my favorite hitchhiking spot in Vegas when heading north, the speedway. It turned out to be a decent walk from where it left me off to get to the freeway, around an hour of walking. Water sounded like a good idea during this stroll through the desert, I didn't have much.

I thumbed out for a ride until someone stopped, a guy who worked at the Sahara Casino headed to his home in Loganville, and that's where he dropped me. I got out a little more thirsty than before, I imagined the water bottle I'd find in the next car. A young guy pulled over, barely out of the freeway, I hopped in quick and we got going. Sure enough, he had a water bottle waiting for me and I chugged it down.

He was a poker player who lived in Springdale, which is just about Zion, where I was headed. He stopped once so I could fill up the water bottle again and we kept going. He was an interesting guy, he told me about machines he built to collect pollen and seeds that he was able to sell really easily to make plenty of money.

The idea was to meet Peter in Saint George, Paul, my driver, was happy to take me exactly to where I was supposed to meet them. We stopped first at the grocery store so I could buy a loaf of bread, I had a single $5 bill and some loose change at this point, bread can go a long way.

I got dropped off and found a seat on a nice shady bench to enjoy some slices of bread, fancy cinnamon bread at that. I got in touch with Molly, my host I met in Flagstaff a week earlier, her and her friend were coming to meet us too for a night of camping. They were already in the park and had been hiking more or less all day.

Peter finally arrived, it turned out to be just him and Parker, everyone else had flaked out in one way or another. They got some food at a little cafe, the place was giving out free cupcakes so I ate one of those. We stopped for various supplies and beer and got going towards Springdale to meet up with the girls.

We met them at a gas station, they'd had a trip of a day and told us the story, I drove their car and followed Peter towards some campgrounds to crash for the night. We got there and winded through the bumpy road until we found a sandy spot, there were people almost everywhere being that it was memorial day weekend.

Some beers, some joints and alas, a fire. We all had reasons for feeling spent, but the fire kept us glued together with conversation and relaxation. We burned out when the fire did, the girls in one tent, Peter and Parker in another, and myself under the cloud cover in my bivy sack. A few stars broke out to show themselves, and a few rain drops too.

We woke up in the morning and were rolling in no time. We got to Zion park and caught the shuttle to the base of Angels Landing, a good hike I'd been on once before with Candice and her dad. The five of us made our way to the top and enjoyed the incredible view. On the way down we spotted an interesting hole in the rock and climbed up in it, it lead to a deep crack. We caught it at the perfect time, the 10 minute window of the day where the sun shined through.

We headed all the way down, Peter got my attention at one point asking if I'd seen a guy's glasses who walked past us, I hadn't. We all got on the road, the girls and I followed behind as Peter whipped up through the roads to a spot he had in mind for camping the next couple nights, the scenery was deep, red rocks, wide open spaces, very cool to see.

We got to the spot and got some food in us, we were essentially on top of a plateau in one of six camp sites. I saw what looked like a hell of a view through the trees a couple hundred yards away, we all headed in that direction.

It was an incredible view of a number of plateaus in the distance, popping out of the ground like rigid marshmallows. We all laid out for a while taking it in.

We relaxed back at the campsite later, light rain here and there, and finally a decent down pour that sent some of us into the tent, Parker to his hammock, and Kelly to the car for some sleep. We talked for a while until the girls had to get on the road.

We stayed up for a little while, but the incoming dark and rain made sleep seem like the thing to do. I had my spot in the hammock with a tarp over it, playing my harmonica to match the whipping winds and rain pounding down.

We woke up in the morning at the same time, relaxing with some cereal. We decided to walk further down the dirt road the another view point. We ran into a guy who said he'd been sleeping in his car pulled off the road a bit, but ran off by a ranger for not having a legit camp site. Peter recognized him, he was the guy with the thin glasses he'd pointed out to me on the hike the day before.

We got to talking with him more and told him he could pull into our campsite for the night, he was also up for going on a hike with us. He went to grab his car, we finished a joint in the woods and went back to to the camp spot.

The four of us hopped in two cars and went towards the trail head. The hike was pretty flat at first, a peaceful forest. We at last got to a an opening that looked out on some peaks and the wide open. We ventured down the trail some more and stopped for some food once we hit a shady spot, then continued on.

We got to the flaky slope, indian paint brush flowers growing from the rock. We decided to soldier up to the top, it was steep going. We at last made it, Pete, the older guy, just a pinch behind us. The view from the top was the most amazing geographical sight I've seen. Red rocks of all shapes, scattered greens and it was in all directions. We stayed up there with a celebratory joint, Pete didn't partake, saying he hadn't smoked in years.

In the distance we saw a pyramid looking rock with a flat top and spires in all corners. We were intrigued, after a bit of debate we were set on getting to it. As mountains go, it's tough to say just how far away it was. We started going straight down another face, different from the trail we came in on. It was much steeper and flakier, but we made our way down.

Instead of jumping back on the trail we spotted, we headed along a little valley until deciding to cut up. Before long it was clear we were well off the trails without a clear sense of where one was. The pyramid itself that we were headed for was of questionable location now too. We kept trucking in the general direction.

Parker questioned whether we should turn around or keep going, it wasn't clear which would even be quicker to do. Peter and I were set on adventuring forward, Pete was somewhat indifferent, but clearly wondering what he'd gotten himself into. His water bottle was dwindling, all of our water was, we'd come with just enough for a short hike.

We ventured down the side of the slight hump we were on, down towards the dried up river bed. We came across a human looking footprint in the rock down there and continued on. Parker became a bit frustrated with our situation, water was on his mind. We wandered out of the river bed and up towards a peak. We finally reached the top to realize that we were in fact on top of the pyramid we were looking for in the beginning. It was pretty amazing, like a courtyard on top of the world, a decidedly great camping spot for a later date.

We were still a bit disoriented and off trail, unsure of the way out. We climbed out of the courtyard and winded around a bit more until we found a high point to get a view. Sure enough, we spotted a road in the distance. We were high above, a valley and another small mountain range between us and the road. Peter scouted forward down a crack to see what it looked like as far as getting down, turned out it was a sheer cliff, so no getting down that way.

At this point there were increasing murmurs about the possibility of forced camping out in the wilderness, without water or much, if any, food left. We opted to head for the river and follow it, if we could find it. We curled around the way we came, back through the high pyramid courtyard, down and around a ridge. We found ourselves following animal paths most of the time, seeing all type of cat tracks and droppings we couldn't reliably identify.

After cutting through some pretty thick bush we finally found the river bed and got to rock hopping our way down it. Alas, we came across a small stagnant puddle of water. Parker took out his water filter and him and Pete crouched around it filling up their bottles, Peter and I watched and waited. I still had a few sips left in my camel bak, I figured there'd be more water later.

They drank their slightly tinted water and we continued on. A ways down we came across a whole mess of running water, Peter and I filled up at that point, it was cold and refreshing hitting the spot, we'd been hiking for five hours or more.

We finally came across an actual trail, and then people. "You're almost there!", a group of older guys shouted to us, they were loaded up with gear. We skipped down the trail, it eventually started to go straight up. Pete stopped a few times on this stretch to catch his breath, he'd soldiered through the whole ordeal with us for the most part with no complaints. The steep bit was through and turned to a nice flat home stretch that led us, finally, to a parking lot.

We all headed for the road to get to hitchhiking to get back to the cars. A perky girl called to us from the parking lot and we went over to her, she was drinking a sierra nevada pale ale. She told us her boyfriend would be back in a minute and could shuttle a couple of us up, and that's what he did when he got there.

Parker and I waited while Peter got shuttled up and then came back with his car to take us back to the camp site. We reflected back on the day, estimating between 15-20 miles covered, the sun was just dropping from the sky now. We got some food in us back at camp, then I got a fire going. We sat by that discussing the stars and whatnot until sleep was the thing.

We packed up pretty quick in the morning and got on the road. Outside of the park we stopped at a diner called the Wagon Wheel, Peter picked up my breakfast which was a tasty one. I went into the bathroom and cleaned up a bit, I had to wipe a few days of camping off me in anticipation of hitchhiking to Vegas where Nick was waiting.

Peter and Parker dropped me off at the south end of Saint George and I was on my way. I stood by the on ramp until a pickup truck with an older couple inside picked me up. I sat in the backseat amongst tools and other things they'd just picked up form home depot, they were headed back to their home in mesquite.

My next ride came from a guy who'd been out driving in search for future camping and fishing spots, he lived in Vegas. He got me to the far north end of town and dropped me off near a bus. I barely had enough money, but I hopped a bus, switched to the Deuce, and made my way all the way to and down the strip past Mandalay Bay. I had some time until I had to meet Nick, I scraped up just enough coins to get a burger at McDonalds and sit there for a while with my laptop, left with about 30 cents to my name.

I wandered down the way to what I thought was the shopping center Nick said his friend worked at. I went into the book store there and waited for his call. I shot him a message after a long while, turned out he was and had been 10 yards behind me in the same store for a little while with his friend.

We got on the road and drove all the way to Phoenix, Nick dropped me off at Larry's place somewhere around midnight. It'd been a good week, and now in Phoenix I was ready to put in some time getting Trip Hopping rocking, this would be the story of the weeks to come.

Spanked in Vegas, Court and a Birthday

2009-05-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

Vegas again, with a court date looming I spent my first morning in town relaxing at the coffee shop catching up on things. I wandered over to the bar with Shana worked, the girl with whom I was staying with. She poured me a beer and I drank it down before heading to the Golden Nugget to watch the Lakers game.

Watching games in Vegas is more exciting, the surrounding people have all kinds of agendas other than who wins or loses, but by how much or how many total points are scored in the game. After seeing the Lakers win I headed back to Shana's bar, she poured me another beer and got me a burger that I happily munched into my mostly empty stomach.

She shortly got off work and we sat at the outside bar with one of her friends and did a shot or two of whiskey. She had the idea of taking me around to a few bars, I briefly thought about my lack of money and morning court date, just as quick as I thought of it I forgot it and was ready to see what she had to show me.

Her friend's eyes were lingering and deep, yet glazed over, here and there, everywhere. She came along, the three of us marched down Fremont in search of good times. We stopped into Hogs and Heffers all doing a shot. The bartenders were fiery girls wearing little to cover, shouting into megaphones and dancing on the bar. Shana and her friend got on the bar and danced too, shaking, squeezing, and motor boating away the night away.

We moved on, slightly more buzzed now, arriving at the bar in one casino or another. We all put a bill into the video poker and started playing, we were rewarded with free drinks for doing so. Shots and beers went down, Shana's friend vanished for a while, perhaps to the bathroom.

We headed back to Shana's bar to pick up our things, but the girls got caught up in the live music. They got on stage and even sang and danced a bit. They of course knew the musicians very well and the bar was fairly empty, it was a good time.

We stumbled a few blocks away towards the car and got in. Shana went to go grab something from the apartment, her friend grabbed me from the backseat and a brief drunken make out session ensued while we were alone. We dropped her off down the road though, and continued on with the late night.

We landed in a dark bar attached to a pharmacy you'd never know was there until you were inside. My out-of-towner status was reason enough to get free drinks from the old man behind the bar. Another one of Shana's friends came through and we talked for a while until the night started to fade, we headed back to Shana's.

Shana thought she may know someone who could help me in court the next day, as late or early as it may have been she went through her phone searching for numbers. We ran back into the night to another apartment building and knocked on the door of one of her friends, waking her up to get a phone number. Eventually we would up back her place and had to pass out, my time in court was in a matter of hours and some sleep was in order.

I woke up in the morning in time to shower and throw on my button adorned shirt and some nicer pants borrowed from Larry. Shana woke up around that time and told me I couldn't wear the wrinkly shirt I had on, she grabbed an iron from the closet. She had another couchsurfer who had just arrived at the greyhound station down the street, so she ironed my shirt while I ran to the bus to guide a french girl back to the apartment.

I put the fresher shirt back on and ran out the door and headed to the court house 10 blocks away. I was pointed to a room on the 7th floor and took a seat in the court room. About an hour went by of watching various people getting accused, punished and speaking legal jargon. Finally my name was called and I stepped up alone before the judge.

He mentioned trespassing and asked me what happened, I explained, "I got punched in the face and security guided me off the property, a bit disoriented I came back and went up to my room. At that point they came up and told me I was trespassing and wrote me the violation that brought me here".

"So you were going to your room, you were staying at the hotel?", he asked me, I confirmed this and he continued, "and you came from Connecticut for this?", I told him that was true, my license is from there and it was easier than explaining my current lifestyle. "Case dismissed", the prosecutors agreed, I was out the door and free again.

I jumped down the court house steps into the desert sun of Vegas, happy to be free. I got back to Shana's where she and the french girl were both asleep, I got to doing the same. We all woke up a little later and Shana whipped up a tasty breakfast along with one of her friends who'd come over.

The four of us headed for the Golden Nugget, they had passes to the pool. It was a great pool, a shark tank in the middle and a water slide you could take from up above that actually shot through the shark tank and back into the pool. We relaxed there for a while until heading back.

The I headed back out to Fremont with the French girl, Nelly. This was her first time in Vegas, so I took her down and showed what she wanted to see, we played some penny slots for a while so she could pull the lever and these types of things.

Later that night we caught up with Shana and her boyfriend and were back on Fremont looking for drinks, our first one came free at some casino with Mermaid in the name. We then headed to a brewery in one of the casinos, I got free drinks for putting a five dollar bill in the video poker machine at the bar. I drank stout after stout watching my money go up in the machine.

Shana and her boyfriend decided to turn in, Nelly and I stayed drinking and playing. After a good amount of tasty beer we left, I'd turned my $5 into $35, considering that the $5 was just about all I had it was a pretty good turn around. We stopped in a casino and got dollar hotdogs and deep fried oreos before heading back and passing out.

I woke up the next day, my birthday, getting messages from friends and family to send some good vibes and wishes my way. I relaxed the first part of the day away before heading out to Shana's bar where I was instantly greeted with a birthday Guinness. I sat for a while drinking beers, eating a cheeseburger layered with chicken strips and poking at the video poker machine.

Shana organizes a monthly pub crawl, tonight was the night, the reason she said I should stay for my birthday. She gave me the free pass book for the night, meaning free drinks all night. We headed back when she got off work so she could change, then went back to the bar where people had already started gathering.

Shana got on her megaphone telling people the deal with the pub crawl and also letting everyone know it was my birthday. We stood around drinking and talking a while until it was time to move on to the next bar. A crowd of us herded up the block to the Beauty Bar where we all at once handed the bartender drink tickets. Shana broke out a wooden paddle, there's no telling where she got it from, announcing it was time. Girls in the group took turns smacking my ass with it, pretty tamely at first, but as the night grew on and the drinks went down... things got pretty heavy.

The bartender took a swing with the paddle as I stood on the bar, rewarding me with a free shot of vodka afterwards. We were soon off to the next bar, marching in a pack down Fremont. Beers, spanks, jaeger shots - the night continued. We wound up in Hogs again, the girl behind the bar fed me free beers and shots and took her turn with the paddle as well.

We wound up in a bar next door to Shana's, I was pretty sure my friend Iris worked there. Sure enough I spotted her serving drinks, dressed in pirate garb of sorts. I got her attention and she told me she'd be getting off work in a while and we should grab a drink. After some time at this bar we headed upstairs to a place with a big dance floor and a mechanical bull. I was given a free ride on it which didn't last very long.

Shana soon faded, the night had been long, I gave her the set of keys she'd given me and she headed home. I stayed put, on the dance floor with Nelly and some other girls who'd been on the pub crawl.

Eventually Nelly on sloppily wandered back to Shana's place, Nelly quickly passed out. I grabbed a set of keys and headed back into the night. I sat at a machine in the Golden Nugget until Iris got off work and gave me a call, I met her back at the bar. She bought me a drink at a dark bar nearby and we caught up a bit. We grabbed a beer back at Shana's bar and sat on the patio a while talking about all kinds of everything until the night was coming to a close, she gave me a ride back to the apartment and dropped me off.

The next morning the idea was to head to Utah and meet up with some folks for some camping. It'd been a great Vegas trip and a successful court appearance. As always though, I was excited for the next thing.

Grand Canyon, Flagstaff Fun and Hitchhiking to Vegas

2009-05-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

I woke up Friday and got straight to playing with Trip Hopping, but I had the road on my mind knowing I'd be hitting it later. Larry and I took a quick bike ride for food, then relaxed back at his place a bit . We enjoyed a few beers while we waited for Nick to arrive, he was coming to pick me up and go to Flagstaff for the night.

We got on the road just as the sun was going down, aiming for Flagstaff with thoughts of the Grand Canyon where we'd be hiking the next day, the reason for the trip. We caught up on the ride, sharing ambitions of future travels to places like Australia. Nick had some extra beans, rice and "half a pig" for me, I chowed it down while we rode.

We were greeted in Flagstaff by Molly and her friends and roommates, I'd found Molly on couchsurfing the night before and she was up for hosting us. She was well traveled and had yet another Europe trip in the works coming up soon.

All but Nick and I went to sleep, we decided to head into town so Nick could show me some spots and live music. We first stopped at a corner store that was also a bar, Nick got a root beer and we walked to a bench on the corner, as per his Flagstaff tradition. I spied a beer on tap, Lagunitas Maximus, I took note of it, it's one of my favorite beers and I've never seen it on tap before.

We wandered around town, dipping into different places for a few moments to enjoy live music and take in the different scenes. Flagstaff is a young town and has a real good feel, we were both digging it. Flag Brewing seemed like a great place - beer, coffee, live music, burgers and a generally good feel. We headed back to the place with Maximus to find they were closed, I decided I'd get there another time. We caught a little more music and then headed back to sleep.

In the morning we got on the road to the Grand Canyon. Just outside of town we picked up a hitchhiker, Zane, who was also headed to the canyon. He'd just left his life in the northwest and had an open calendar, he figured Arizona would be a decent place to be. He told us stories about his life, a lot of which spent on the go.

We dropped Zane off at the back country office once we got to the canyon, he was going to look into camping for a while. Nick and I headed to a shuttle that took us further west to a trail we wanted to hike, dripping spring. It was a warm sunny day, and turned hotter as we made our way down into the canyon. We looked out into incredible views of the massive canyon cut through the earth, red rocks and layers, greenery speckled in patches throughout.

After a full day, we climbed out of the canyon bit by bit and hopped another shuttle back to the car and headed back to Flagstaff. We enjoyed good music and the breeze from the open windows. We decided to go to the root beer spot again so I could get myself a pint of Lagunitas Maximus, one sip and life was perfect. Despite my dwindling cash stack, I had little choice but to pick up a six pack of a beer called Modus Hoperandi.

We got back to Molly's and Nick cooked up some soup and potatoes while I enjoyed a couple of my beers, it turned out to be a great choice. We headed out to meet Molly at a friend's place, but she was on her way back already so we just met her back at the house. We talked into the night until sleep was the thing.

In the morning Molly and a group of friends were ready to go to Sedona for a day of swimming. Nick had to get back to Scottsdale, but I gladly accepted the invitation. We piled in a car and headed south, shortly arriving in the incredible scene of Sedona. Red rock spires towered above everything twisting around, we parked along the freeway and got to walking.

We veered into the woods down a steep slope and hopped rocks to cross the creek until we came to a sort of beach. There was a little rope swing into the water, and on the other side was a rock wall about 40 feet high that people could jump from if they were willing to make there way to the top. We had a few beers and cooled off in the water, swinging in and enjoying ourselves.

Another car full of friends showed up, along with other folks coming to enjoy the secluded spot. No one else was up for it, but I ventured into the woods across the creek until I found a good spot to climb up the wall with jumping on the mind. I made my way to the ridge that looked like the best spot while everyone watched below. I launched off and plunged the 40 feet or so into the water below, a pretty awesome feeling that reminded me of good times in West Virginia.

We enjoyed the spot for a while longer until we decided to move on back to the car. One car load of us went to a brewery in town, the prices for food didn't match what I had in pocket, but I managed to cover a beer for myself. I instead munched on a loaf of bread back in the car as we headed back to Flagstaff.

Back at Molly I relaxed the night away, watching the Celtics get beat by the Magic and seeing highlights from the Lakers game, they'd blown out the Rockets in game 7 to move on to the next round against the Nuggets, good times. I had Vegas on my mind now, as that was my next move.

In the morning I had a couple pieces of toast and headed out the door, walking down route 66 towards the I-40 on ramp on the west side of town. I walked two or three miles, a packed car stopped for me before I even made it to the freeway, I knew it would be going a distance before I even got in. The drive was Peter, a guy my age tripping around before going to work at Yosemite for the summer "removing invasive plant life".

At the moment he was headed loosely to San Diego to see some friends, thinking he'd stop at Joshua Tree for a night of camping on the way. We got me as far as Kingman, the halfway point to Vegas. I walked across the little town to the edge and stuck my thumb out until a jeep wrangler stopped for me, a car that reminds me of good times with my brother... and sometimes without him, doing things with his car he'd of killed me for in the moment.

The driver was an older guy who wasn't going way to far, but he was happy to help me out. He had a son who'd hitchhiked a bit in this same direction, he dropped me off at a filling station where he said his son had great luck getting to Vegas. He actually took me off the route I'd originally been on, US-93, I was now on US-68 which he said could be better since trucks were allowed on this road since it avoided the Hoover Dam, and would also avoid the slow moving dam traffic.

I didn't wait long before an old station wagon pulling out of the gas station waived me into the car, a man driving and an old woman who remained silent in the passenger seat. They were headed to Laughlin just over the hill a across the border to Nevada. In fact, we all remained mostly silent that ride accept for the radio. The driver didn't seem too keen on conversation and a bit hard of hearing anyhow, but friendly none the less. I even found myself falling in and out of sleep a bit.

We reached Laughlin and they dropped me off at the turn off to Vegas next to a copper statue of a man who probably had something to do with the town. As I got out of the car, the woman spoke her first and only words, "Be careful".

I walked to a sandy pull out on the road to Vegas and thumbed the cars that came my way. In just 10 minutes or less a pickup truck aimed for me, an older guy at the wheel and a smiling blonde pointing at me in the passenger seat. They pulled up next to me and asked to see my ID, I started to pull it out and asked why, the pumped up blonde said "So we know we're not harboring a minor dude!", she took a look at it and told me to hop in, "You're a baby!", she laughed.

"This is Bob and I'm Jennifer, Bob is awesome!", she was full of energy and had the look of slightly strung out hooker, cuts up and down her arms. Bob told me to take a look at the sticker on his back windshield that read "Highway Patrol", he just looked at me as if to say "so no fucking around", but he was friendly too. Jennifer was overly excited, she stuck her finger in her mouth as they joked about how young I was and stuck it behind my ear, "You're still wet behind the ears!", she laughed and cranked the ACDC on the stereo.

Their story changed a few times, she told me she was on the side of the road like me and got picked up by Bob too. She wanted to stop for a beer and a bathroom break, Bob told her she could use a bathroom, but would have to wait until we got to Searchlight to have a beer. We stopped at a small roadside casino and she ran in, I stood by the truck while Bob smoked a cigarette. "Kids", he said and shook his head smiling. He told me how he used to travel all the time, living in all 48 states for a good amount of time in each learning about different types of people and how they lived.

We hopped back in the car. "I really want that beer, we should stay here.", Jen said.

"We can stay in the backseat, are you gonna pay me here?", that was Bob's reply.

"Well how's this payment gonna work?"

"I have needs you know", Bob's flirty response.

"Well what's your specific need then?"

"I have a whole bunch of needs, should I go down the list?", "Let's just get down the road for now" and we got going, Jen continued her energetic antics, rubbing elbows with us both and jamming to the music. The two of them danced in their seats, Bob playing air guitar to rock music and squeezing her slim giggling body.

We got to Searchlight at a gas station and Jennifer grabbed a couple beers from the back of the truck for herself. A guy walked by and she shouted to him asking about a cigarette, he said he was buying some now, "Menthol!" she shouted back and laughed. "Sexy vato" she said to me about the trucker. She crept into the backseat and began to down her beers. She asked me what I was running from, I didn't have an answer.

The trucker came out empty handed, "They didn't have the kind I like", he came over smiling flirtatiously at Jen.

"Well where are you headed?", Jen mirrored his smile, he said he was going to Miami via I-40. She perked up, she was apparently trying to get to Carlsbad, New Mexico, home perhaps, and asked if he was going near there. He wasn't sure where that way, but said he'd grab a map and would figure it out.

"But who is this guy, I can't be taking you away form your man ya know", referring to me, she assured him I was just a friend. He went off to his truck for a map.

Bob stepped in, "well there's the ride you've been waiting for", she seemed hesitant though, something was calling for her in Vegas. She grabbed Bob's phone to make a call, but accidentally picked up an incoming call from his wife. Drama ensued as she tried to explain who she was facing heavy scrutiny on the other side of the phone call, "Oh my god! Your husband is just helping me out, and that's it! I'm not sleeping with him or anything like that, he's just a good man helping me!", things like this. Bob kept telling her to hang up, she ignored him.

He looked at me mildly frustrated, "Women, they just keep talking and making things worse". The young trucker came back with the map, Bob just ushered him away saying things had changed, he didn't seem to mind and went his way. Bob ushered for me to hop in the car and he started it up, Jen hopped in the car still on the phone. We got to driving and he at last grabbed the phone from her and hung it up. "You just gotta hang up, the more you talk the more information they have to get things twisted and come up with their own ideas. Now they'll call two or three more time and you just gotta let it ring, I'll deal with them later."

She was upset, they argued a bit over the ordeal. She thought he must be shady if they were so suspicious of him, he told her that's just the way they were. Jen pouted for a few minutes looking out the window, but soon the music had her fired up and they seemed to have made up and got back to their air guitar and dancing.

She looked into the mirror and did her makeup. She looked back at me, "You wanna turn out like this?", her mascara lined eyes sadly pleading into mine. "Go home" she whispered, and turned back around.

We stopped at the Railroad Pass casino, the same one I'd hitchhiked from a couple times going the opposite direction. They both had a beer in the parking lot, she ran in for the bathroom again. Bob started telling me more of the story, he said he'd picked Jen up near the Tropicana a week back or so with his wife sensing that she was down on her luck, he told me she'd been tricking around for a while which was no surprise.

He'd been partying with her a bit and putting her up in a casino, but eventually his wife called the casino and somehow got her removed from the room and he'd lost contact with her, and then ran into her again a couple days later closer to Texas of all places. He hadn't told his wife, but after the phone call earlier she'd obviously found out they were back together in one way or another. He said now he was just getting her back to Vegas and she'd offered a few bucks for gas.

She came out of the casino and we got back on the road, the towering casinos soon popped up in the distance. She got on the phone with some guy she was going to see, he started feeding her directions. We got off and headed west on Tropicana, then turned around to go east, and then back west again. Bob got frustrated a bit with the poor directions saying we should just stop where we were and have the guy come to us, she ignored him and demanded he keep going straight, I was happy with this as we were getting closer to the strip.

He'd eventually had it and we pulled into a parking lot near the Hard Rock, she seemed to be fine with this. I hopped out and said my goodbyes, "women and directions, bah", Bob's last words, I got to walking in the direction of downtown.

I shot a message to Shana, who I'd be staying with in Vegas, she told me a bus I could catch. I walked up Paradise until I found a stop and waited for the bus. A woman at the stop spotted me a quarter to pay the $1.75, the bus came quickly and I was on my way.

I jumped out at 4th and Bridger and got directions to Shana's place from there. I spotted her from a block away coming out to find me, we went running for each other laughing as if we were old friends who hadn't seen each other in ages and hugged. This was my first time meeting her though, but I could tell she was going to be awesome.

She had some friends over for dinner, I was just in time for some good food and we all had glasses of Jameson. The group of us talked into the night over whiskey and an interesting cinnamon moonshine from a mason jar. I eventually passed out on an air mattress watching a movie Shana had put in for me.

It's good to be in a different part of Vegas than usual, despite the looming court date. It should be an interesting trip with some good times, we'll see how it goes.

Coding in Arizona

2009-05-15T01:43:00.000-07:00

My time in Phoenix has gone how I could have imagined it, a lot of time pecking at the keyboard writing code for my site Trip Hopping. It's not without excitement of course, the site is growing faster every day and it's fun to make it better with every key stroke.

We've been organizing some volunteers who will be coming from all over to our Trip Hopping Brew in June, helping with various parts of the website to get it going even stronger.

Between Trip Hopping sessions at Larry's kitchen table, I've enjoyed a great meal here and there and watched a lot of basketball, it's the playoffs after all. Larry also put together an impressive pirate ship bed, part of his recent custom kids beds endeavor to get some cash coming in.

This morning I went with Larry to a storage unit to help move things. Him and a guy Jon went to a sort of auction where defaulted storage units were up for grabs, people who hadn't paid for their storage or some such and it was all up for grabs. The doors get opened and people can merely peek in, the auction begins, Larry and Jon had chosen one the day before.

The storage unit revealed the story of a porn addicted sex offender, boxes of junk and papers from court houses and letters to his girlfriend. Home sex vhs tapes with labels like "wrecking the love tunnel" more or less. Categorized porn, dirty mattresses and couches. Nothing much of value, it was basically a bust. Apparently some of the storage units can turn quite a bit of a profit, not this one.

We loaded up the trailer with the sad possessions of a sexually driven pack rat. I wondered where he was at the moment, if he ever thought about the items in his storage unit, what he'd think or even care if he knew they were being ransacked by treasure hunters who'd deemed his cumulative possessions as a failed endeavor. We drove the bulk of it to the salvation army, only a few miscellaneous items were kept to perhaps be sold.

After a quick meal, Larry and I headed to Trish's apartment. The plan was to pack up her stuff, she was moving back to Larry's place. We got there only to find a note on the door, the landlord had changed her locks over some sort of financial dispute.

Back at the house I played with Trip Hopping of course, and then watched the Lakers fall to the Rockets who forced a game 7. Tomorrow there's plans to move on, my friend Nick wants to go to the grand canyon so I'm going along with him. The idea is to spend tomorrow night in Flagstaff and go from there.

After this I have to make my way to Las Vegas, I have a court date for the trespassing incident after I got banned from all MGM casinos. I also confirmed that security did in fact steal or misplace my wallet at the time, despite my drunken adamant attempts to get it back. I know this now because I looked at the ticket the cop wrote me, which has my drivers license number on it, which means they of course had my license when I went in, so I couldn't have lost it before hand.

No matter, I've replaced everything without missing a beat, but soon I'll have to see what the consequences are for that Vegas night. I'm ready for the road again.