haven't lived on the road for weeks

After leaving Marisa's cousins in North Carolina the truck had a little problem on the way to Graveyard Fields and for the second time we aborted our attempt to hike there. Apparently the truck was angry with us after sitting so long and decided to cry, the water pump sprung a leak. Unsure if we could make it to Albert's Uncle's house in Jedburg, South Carolina, we decided to go for it anyway when he told us he had a mechanic for a neighbor. Once we were there and not worried about a place to stay Albert tore apart the truck with the encouragement of his Uncles and Dad and got the Problem fixed. Had we taken it into the neighbors shop it would have cost a whopping $700 to fix!

At Uncle Stephens place the family time continued, eight of us converged on him and Anglia and filled the house. We checked out downtown Charleston on a carriage ride, walked the slave market, sat around the house and talked a lot. It was good times had by all for nearly a week. Early thanksgiving dinner plus home cooked meals most every other day and candy bowls full to the top added an inch or two to everyone's waistline.

Lucky for us we weren't done with Thanksgiving, all that goodness above happened the week before thanksgiving. We headed a few miles over to Marisa's friends Christina and Steven's place for real Thanksgiving. On that little 25 minute drive the truck reminded us that it is not going to last forever but this time it only requested a break job and tire rotation. There was only four of us for Thanksgiving but that didn't stop us from making a deep fried turkey, a ham plus all the sides and 3 pumpkin pies. Oddly, we don't feel burned out on ham and turkey, I guess months of ramen noodles and oatmeal has burned out our food burnout circuit.

Charleston has a restaurant called Justine's Kitchen and Marisa has been raving about it since she went there a year ago. "The best fried chicken I have ever had" she said, we went there and Albert concurs, that is some damn good chicken! Crisp brown crust and juicy savory meat, this chicken is phenomenal, the sides are good and the dessert is great.

We are also back to our beer sampling ways plus some. Our house and the two neighbors loaded up and drove out to Coast Brewery for some local brews. This is a husband and wife operation based in a warehouse funded by a second mortgage on their house and they are making some good beers, we left with a growler full. Next stop was Firefly Distillery for some sweet tea vodka and more. They also make other infused vodkas, a couple rums, and a sweet tea bourbon that we decided to take a bottle of. Crazy thing, right on the same plantation as the distillery is a vineyard, so we tasted some wine too... We made it out of that place without a bottle of something so no need to worry about us having a "problem." We were only a couple miles from a tea plantation to so we checked it out. It turns out tea grows on hedge with medium sized leaves. It just seems like it would be different for some reason, they trim the top of the hedge, dry those leaves and depending on how long it's dried you get green, oolong or black tea.

Albert and Steven were both due for new running shoes and when black Friday rolled around they were inspired to go for an early afternoon shopping trip to get some Vibram five fingers. These shoes aren't shoes as much as they are gloves for your feet and running barefoot apparently uses completely different muscles than with shoes. The next day a leisurely 1.25 mile jog resulted in nearly debilitating calf soreness that lasted four days. The next few days were spent struggling to get up and down the stairs at the house.


The fun and games are over once again, our hosts must get back to work and we must move on. Unfortunately the weather has gone from warm and sunny to cloudy and cold with rain coming. Fingers are crossed that the truck is satisfied with it's repairs and the weather doesn't treat us too bad because soon we'll be homeless and on the road again.

We're not sure exactly where we're headed yet, it's a toss up between back tracking to Great Smoky National Park or moving on to Georgia. Either way we'll be in the Everglades with Marisa's mom and her BF in two weeks.

four days apart

M: So, Albert's back after spending five days away in California for his grandma Elinore's funeral. It could be considered as cheating on the road trip, but I don't think of it that way and I'm glad he was able to fly back and be with his family to celebrate his grandmas life.

Albert drove to Charlotte, NC on 8th, right after I finished cutting his hair. I spent the week at my cousin Joe's house in Hendersonville, North Carolina. For the first couple of hours the house was empty and I was alone for the first time in four months. It was pretty odd. I didn't know what to do. I felt so lost. Where was Albert, Amber...anyone??

It's been fun staying here. Going to the gym with Paula and playing with Abby 8, Emily 6 and Sam 4. The kids are constant free entertainment and there's daily WWF style living room wrestling. Christmas music is already on the radio and there's a chorus in the back seat every trip away from the house. After the kids got to sleep the evenings were pretty much spent making fun of reality tv shows (Top Chef: Just Desserts and Billy the Exterminator). Albert's next haircut just may be inspired by Billy, it could be awesome.

Joe's a Pastor at the nearby SDA church, it was nice going to church today and hearing his sermon on forgiveness. I forgive Albert for not calling me back on Thursday, but instead sending me a text message to call him after he was done having drinks with his friends and in need of a diversion at his aunts house. Keep in mind, it was 10:30 here and I was already down in the basement, cozy in bed, watching House on the interwebz.

A: it was earlier in CA and I haven't seen them in months... the only time I haven't been right next to M for the past few months is when we are pooping.

M: It's ok Albert, I forgive you.
(We spent two hours apart when I wanted to see the Art Museum and he wanted to see the Air and Space museum in DC.)

A: I know you miss me every moment I am not there.

M: With the cost of the flight and everything, we're thinking it's getting pretty close to being time to get into bubble making. Giant bubble making--we will be giant bubble making street performers. It's just too bad that Amber isn't with us anymore to be our plant, you know; the person that puts in the first few bucks to get the giving going.

A:I was thinking about picking pockets but bubbles could work, maybe both would be better. We have to decide if we are gypsies or tramps, there is a difference you know.

The way I seen it there weren't many choices. I was going to Bakersfield and Marisa was staying, so I could either push her out of the truck in front of a women's shelter or have her traveling on the other side of the country by herself. One of those options is no good but thank God there was a third option. Marisa stayed with her new found family just 2 hours from Charlotte ,NC where I flew out of. The luck we have...

So, I cheated on the road trip... but I was happy to see the family and honored to be a pallbearer for my grandma. It cost a little much for my cheap ass taste but hey, I have missed plenty of other family stuff for work or because of distance and usually regretted it. This is important.

The journey began with a last minute hairs cut to tame the fro and a two hour drive to the airport. once there I it was a piece of cake getting through with no checked baggage. The trouble started when I got to LAX.

My cheap ass wont pay 40+ bucks for a cab and I'm a little rusty on the bus riding skills so I missed two buses, waited at multiple stops for hours and managed to catch the last possible bus form the airport to UCLA . Marisa's friends mom works at UCLA and she gave me a ride to Bakersfield in the AM after a night spent sleeping in a hospital chair, she works the night shift there.

In Bakersfield I got to spend all kinds of good time with the family and I was honored to be a pallbearer for Grandma. The service and everything went great. There was hardly a down moment and I spent a lot of time with my Soza family, it was like a booster shot of crazy. I also got to see some good friends, they don't know it but I just hang out with them so they will buy me beer when I'm in town... (readership check)

Traveling back was so easy I got on the wrong parking lot shuttle just for kicks! I am back in N.C. and the journey will continue in a few days. Marisa and I have the house to ourselves for a few days so we will be going on hikes, riding our bikes, hanging out downtown, sitting around watching TV and sleeping indoors out of the cold on real beds.

We are off to a great start and we have been sitting on our butts for hours. Leftovers are calling my name from the fridge so I will say bye for now suckers, don't work too hard.

A Mammoth bike ride and news from home

So all of a sudden we are Giants fans and we have been watching the games when we can. It really started when we were in Philly and the Giants were playing Philly. All of a sudden we have SF pride and whatever, we only went to a hand full of games while we lived in SF and never sat through a whole game on TV.

So, the last game of the world series and we are camping in the Walmart parking lot trying to get the game on the radio and the radio breaks! We cannot say who's fault it is that it broke because that is unresolved...but it stopped working after M found the station it was on then A accidentally changed the station and tried to find it again but couldn't, then M tried to find it and the radio gave out. There was no violence against the radio before or after its demise and the cause and culprit are unknown to this day.

The night of the radio was a cold one and the first one that we slept in the back of the truck for a night that froze. We usually have space between us but we were so cold we were like little puppies trying to stay warm on each other. In the morning we woke up and found that we had a dead battery! A's parents neighbor Dennis had warned against setting out with that battery when he saw how old it was and the how corroded the terminals were. The good news is Walmart had a new one waiting for us just on the other side of the parking lot, how convenient.

Finally on the road by mid afternoon we made it to Shanandoah National Park for a scenic drive and a short hike. It is a pretty place and we enjoyed the visit but it doesn't have a schtick like other parks do and it couldn't keep us for more than a day, we headed to Kentucky.

Berea College in Kentucky is a regular college BUT it is free. The students work combined with federal funding pays their tuition and the college has a craft program that teaches things like pottery, iron work, broom making, weaving and woodwork. As a result of the craft college the town is overrun with high quality hand crafted things. We found lots of great stuff but decided that our money was best spent on fine, hand crafted pumpkin walnut fudge...

High on the list of national parks with a schtick is Mammoth Cave N.P.! It is beautiful above ground, but the highlight is the worlds longest cave system. Nearly 400 miles of cave! People go on expeditions inside this thing and they still find miles of new cave every year. We opted for the 2 mile, 2 hour historic tour which was pretty cool and took us 300 feet below ground. Back above ground we had a good bike ride through the woods and just barely avoided being out in a hale storm. It was good to be on the bikes again.

We have moved on to Tennessee now and we got a new stereo and spent our morning in starbucks hatching our plan. The call of country music is in the air(they only have country radio stations here).

This morning Albert also learned that his Grandmother Elinore died in her sleep last night. That is by far the best way to go and I am thankful that she is herself again, happy and with the Lord.

A well rounded D.C. experience

It was a full day of travel to get from Boston down to Virginia. We set up camp about 12 miles outside of Washington D.C. in Mclean, VA. with couch surf hosts Paul and Lois. Lois and Paul are super cool people! It was so nice to hang out for the week and enjoy their company and Lois' delicious cooking.

For six days we traveled into D.C. and saw the sights. Paid for parking a few times and parked outside of the city and biked in a couple times.


Washington D.C. has so much to see and do that we don't feel bad at all that we did not see it all, we saw plenty for one visit. The Museums on the Mall are amazing! We saw amazing art, airplanes and a lunar lander, ancient stuff, money being made, the holocaust museum, Kermit the frog, the botanical garden and Julia Child's kitchen.

Thanks to Marisa we got approval from the Gov via our congressman to tour the White House and the Capitol. The White House is something you should definitely see for yourself, its opulent.

We have been known to run a little late from time to time (every time) and that was not a problem at the White House. As long as you have an appointment you get in, the Capitol on the other hand is not that way. Fortunately for us you can just go into the visitors center and get a tour anyway, but the day we went to do that we were not prepared for the rain. There was a 90% chance of rain this day and when we parked the sky was dark, but no rain yet. We left the umbrella in the truck and walked out of the garage and it began to sprinkle, by the time we walked to the capitol building it was pouring. A mad dash back to the parking garage to get the umbrella resulted in complete drenching, there were sheets of water flowing over the sidewalks and our legs were soaked up to the ankles. It felt like there was puddles in our shoes. Naturally our next stop was the closest attraction, not the Capitol but the National Art Museum.

We did get to the Capitol later with a friend and his senate staffer friend. It was a reunion for our friend Mike, Arie, and Vic, who were all former college room mates--it was nice of them to let us tag along. The Capitol was incredible! The walls and ceilings were covered in fresco's, fancy chandeliers, marble statues, intricate iron banisters...and a trolley connecting the senate side of the capitol to it's center.

The library of congress was similar with frescos, mosaics, murals and marble everywhere. The reading room looked amazing! But is apparently only open to the public two or so days a year, otherwise you have to put in a request to use it if you're not satisfied looking at it through the glass of the observation landing.

On Saturday we woke up at 6:30am, got ready, drove to a park outside of the city and biked into the "rally to restore sanity and/or fear." It was awesome, lots of people with amusing and ridiculous signs, lots of people. We were sort of in the front middle section and it looked like there were people all the way to the Washington Memorial. The music guests were pretty random and awesome, the stand up was ridiculous and at the end verged on the serious side, and called for people to be sane and vote.


The rally wound down at three or so and we biked back to the truck and headed back to the house for a post rally nap, which turned into us watching a movie. Lois and Paul got back in the evening and we borrowed a couple of their spare costumes and headed out, a leopard, a caveman, little red riding hood and the big bad wolf in grandma's pajamas. The Halloween party was pretty incredible! Excellent music, great decorations and food and pretty much everyone in costume. We partied and fell asleep in the car on the way back at around 4am or so.

We've spent the last day and a half recovering and are fixing to get on the road and get headed to the Shenandoah mountains, it's been a while, but we're going to try our hand at camping again!

Amber's last days...

Overall this entire trip has been an accidental Ivy League tour, from picking up Amber near Harvard , to a couple days spent around Princeton, NJ and on toward Yale in Connecticut. Look for the flashback post about the Yale Museum of Art in days come. We have come full circle with Amber and are back in Boston.

Our couch surf hosts have been gracious enough to let us stay four nights so that we could see everything that Boston has to offer. Unfortunately we've been sick and lazy. The three of us managed to get out of the house just a couple times but we saw what we felt we needed to and we relaxed and had a great time at the house.

For our first outing we went to Salem, MA. one of the worst historical tourist traps around. Cheap occult souvenirs and store front "museums" were everywhere and we just walked around feeling cold and complaining about how Salem has no reverence for their past (fake witch killin'). When we got "home" Alberto made some paella (chicken and rice is what mom called it...) and Ethan, one of our hosts, attempted to teach us the card game Pitch over drinks.

Day three started unusually early for us. We were out the door by 10am and followed Ethan to the Docks to watch sailboat racing and motor around Boston Harbor. After we had enough time on the water we headed over to the USS Constitution for a tour of the oldest winningest original ship in the US Navy. Some of us were a little under the weather but we rallied to do a part of the Freedom Trail that we missed last time we were in Boston. There is a lot of old stuff in Boston and we saw about as much as we could manage to in two half ass attempts, this leaves something to look forward to next time we pass through.

Upon returning to the host house we settled in for a quiet night of movies and hot tea but then people started showing up and all of a sudden we were playing drinking games.

Today's obvious highlight was pumpkin carving. The reason that it is obvious is that we did little to nothing else. The day was spent with our butts on the couch eyes staring blankly at a TV screen. Amber's flight leaves at 8am tomorrow and that means we must wake up earlier than we have grown accustomed to. We intended to go to bed early tonight, unfortunately we have not done that yet and it's getting late now. Good night.

Philly

We left New York and paid $11 in tolls to drive two hours to Philadelphia. On our arrival the host house, a three story, six bedroom, nine roommate community in West Philly provided us with a fantastic dinner, drinking, and games!

On our first day in Philly we attended Bloktoberfest, a music and beer block party south of South Street. While drinking, we discovered that the best cheesesteak is a huge point of debate for locals and everyone is friendly, we even made friends with people that lived in a place over looking the fest and went up and had a drink and hung out while Blocktoberfest ran out of beer.

Once the festival ran out of beer and the strangers let us leave, we went on the search for food, a sports bar, and a Giants game. We were warned not to wear Giants gear, as Philly fans have a reputation for being insane. After three hours sitting in a sports bar, quietly cheering, purchasing one too many half priced hot wings, we learned that violent homophobic epithets are the venting method of choice when the Phillys get defeated.

On our second day, we decided to explore the traditional tourist routes. We drove over to the historical part of town, toured Independence Hall, gazed at the liberty bell, and wandered the streets searching for cheap food.

As we were returning home, Amber announced that she saw something fantastic down the street. Turning around, we discovered the magical unicorn castle which may also be known as city hall. We circled city hall and learned that Philadelphia has a grand downtown center consisting of magnificent buildings and beautiful sculptures. This side track also led us to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, better known as the place with the Rocky steps, and the Magical Garden, better known as mosaic art madness/the place where we were too cheap to tour and too lazy to find parking so we just took photos as we drove by.

Our evening ended with an awesome beer bar, watching the Giants lose, and Amber wishing she could make out with our host Jeremy. Nobody made out and we left before the end of the game to watch the extremely graphic cartoon Afro Samurai.

On our last day in Philly, we drove out to the suburbs for the best yelp reviewed Cheese Steak. Our review: Amber-it was bland and boring, canned mushrooms are disgusting. Marisa- It was good it just needs more cheese and peppers. Albert- I don't know what the big deal is about these things. After the cheese steak, we got lost in the ghetto searching for the "great monument"(ghetto sculpture garden). We found the sculpture garden and learned that Philly is a juxtaposition of grandeur and destitution.

A&M&A 2010 Adventures in Brooklyn

After one too many dog farts in Boston, we drove 5 hours to visit the city that never sleeps. After 8 requests, we found Francis a marathon running, french speaking, at one point homeless in San Francisco, just finished writing his memoir, super cool host in Brooklyn.

On our first day, we decided to take a 7.8 mile "hike" through Manhattan as directed by our backpacker magazine. This hike included a walk along the Tribeca boardwalk, a frantic search for coffee and a bathroom, central park and a stroll along Highline Park--a former elevated train track repurposed into an elevated park. At some point between boardwalk and parks we made a stop at Gray's Papaya for some awesome papaya juice and two dogs also known as the "recession special."

After Highline Park we got lazy and stopped for a beer at the nearest bar. We were stoked to discover they offered free food during their 4 PM happy hour. Tipsy, stuffed and happy, we then took the subway to Central Park where we got lost, posed for photos, and found a new method to make money: giant bubbles!

While leaving the park, we found an art auction preview. Despite Amber's fearful attempt to run out the door at the site of such extravagance, Marisa blocked the door and Albert distracted an Auction Dealer with his bright red t-shirt and interest in non auction items.
Marisa enjoyed the free wine, Albert and Amber the fancy cheese plates and we all enjoyed looking at the $30,000 pieces of art for sale--silently wondering when we would be kicked out. Our original intention was just to use the toilet, but the perks kept us there for at least half an hour.

Our day ended with a visit to Amber's friend Chris and Caitlin's place in Brooklyn for dinner, delicious homemade pizza, local beers, and exhaustion.

On our second day, our host gave us a tour of Harlem, Spanish Harlem, the upper east side, and central park. He left us to meet with his editor and we decided to visit the tourists destination. Time Square and Rockefeller Center were lame. Crowded, with neon signs, they felt more like a giant mall than a place to visit. We then wandered through the rain to FAO Swartz where Marisa lusted over Muppets and Amber cringed at the bad music on the giant piano.

As the day turned into the evening we headed to Greenwich Village to see Francis' friend perform. We sat comfortably in a small cafe, drank wine, and watched the performer play a grand piano and belt out songs of broken hearts and men who use women. After the show, we joined Francis and his date at the nearby Thai restaurant for more alcohol and conversation. As Francis and his date decided to head home (those people with jobs go to bed early), we decided to walk the Brooklyn bridge at midnight.

Prior to our arrival there was a"Light the Night, Luekemia Walk" over the bridge and the party favors were balloons with lights in them. Albert noticed that they had all been thrown away and decided that digging in every garbage can on the Brooklyn Bridge is a perfectly good way to come up with 3 dozen slightly used AA batteries. The next day Amber got a message from her friend Chris asking if we left any suspicious packages on the bridge--apparently someone found a box with wires poking out of it and the bridge was shut down due to a bomb scare.

NYC wrapped up with free ferry ride to Staten Island and back, famous Nathan's hotdogs, and a walk along the desolated off-season Coney Island.