Edward on Tour

I’m in Salinas, CA and San Francisco is about two hours away.

In a New York sense, from my house, a two hour drive could be either Connecticut or the city (with traffic) so I’ve been staying with Tom, had Thanksgiving dinner with Adriana and her family and have taken a few trips into San Francisco – one with them and Adriana’s (don’t call him uncle) Manny, and one on my own to hang out with Doug. We’re going back on Sunday for a full-day adventure.

Since I posted last, I went from Salt Lake City to Missoula to Seattle to Portland.

Driving down here from Portland was an experience all its own.
I left Portland at 10:30am and arrived at Tom’s at 2:15am. The road began blurring at around midnight and it was definitely a test of driving endurance, but my choice to make the drive that long was made well worth it as soon as I got to Redwoods National Park, drove amongst the massive trees, and heard the water talking to the west coast.

Tom and I tried to get to Big Sur the other day to catch the sunset, but as we drove, we noticed that it was about to tuck under the horizon, so we pulled over at an overlook of sorts that had a trail and we started hiking around, climbing rocks, exploring, and admiring the sunset. Thankfully, we had both grabbed our flashlights and marked off the trailhead using Google Maps on my phone. Once the sun set, it was very dark and we had no idea where we were, so we hiked and rock-climbed around in the dark, with the rising water and lack of light changing our route.
It was a little scary, and very amazing.

I guess I’ve disappeared for a few days, but I have been taking pictures.

Right now I’m couchsurfing in Salt Lake City and and am headed to Missoula, Montana in the morning. Denver was supposed to get some snow, and I wanted to avoid driving the mountains during a storm, so I scrambled for SLC, hiked to the Delicate Arch on the way (dedicated entry to follow), and changed my schedule a bit so that I can hit the coast a little sooner.

It’s late and I’m tired, so check out the Flickr for a few pictures from Denver, Boulder, driving, Arches, and Salt Lake City

the roads are littered with writers, many bearded with travel, and
they all have amazing stories of their experiences. wandering, but
not necessarily vagrant in the feeling the word has taken on.
they are employed by the search for love and addicted to the feeling of a new city and its people.
we share a hospitality as travelers and hosts.
”this would be the norm in europe” i’m told, and
i’ve taken to happily explaining the concept of inviting strangers into a home to share an interaction and to re-see our own familiar.
we all have seat-creased journals in our pockets, a favorite pen, and a fervor for learning.

i’ve learned so far that nebraska is long, but the sunsets seen from I-80 are amazing;
that i don’t require elaborate accommodations, maybe just a clean six feet by three, my sleeping bag, and pillow;
that i might be mildly (but tolerably) allergic to cats;
that i am more easily swung about a place by my experience with its people than the sites i see.

speaking of sites, I’m going to go take a tour of a tea factory and ride a bike through Boulder Creek

here’s a video of a Nebraska sunset

we’re going to get cheese today

we’re going to get cheese today!

I’m doing a whole bunch of driving on my trip, if I cut you off or am otherwise driving obnoxiously – I’m sorry, it’s nothing personal

thanks for checking out the site though

So far, I’ve been in Albany, Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo, Dayton, Indianapolis, and Chicago. I’ve been moving pretty quickly up until now so I’m spending a few days here in Waukesha, Wisconsin with Liz and Troy.

My arms are nice and sore from the rock climbing yesterday and I’ll get something uploaded from that soon. Milwaukee is twenty minutes away and we’re trying out a place called The Safe House tonight.

Pictures are up from Chicago and Indianapolis if anyone’s interested.

I have enough videos that I can start throwing something together.

I’m sitting at the Starbucks on Broad Ripple in Indianapolis, Indiana and going to Chicago in a little while.

This Starbucks is part of what got this trip going, and I’m sure they have no idea.

I have many more pictures, but the drive to Chicago is a bit long, and I wanted to get something here before I got going.

One more time:
something about being here started me along this trip, and they are completely unaware.

…to where I feel like this is going.