I was excited and scared to come to the South. Apart from New England, it was the only part of the country I'd never seen before. I had little idea what to expect, my mental picture of the region just a cluttered kaleidoscope of stereotypes. My grandfather in Albuquerque ground his teeth when I mentioned …
Highway 61 and the Nashville Skyline
"Chi-town, huh?" I gave the man a scrutinizing glance, then remembered I was wearing my Cubs shirt and hat. "Yeah, I was born there. But I'm actually from Wisconsin." "Mmmph. Wisconsin. They still got Jesse Ventura as governor there?" "No, you're thinking of Minnesota." "Mmmph." I leaned back into the bench. I was in a …
BBQ, LBJ & BAT(s) in ATX
Sitting here at a swanky coffee shop in downtown Dallas - brief pit stop on the way to God-knows-where, Arkansas - it occurs to me I should have done the Austin post last night. I had time and more than enough material. Something was standing in my path, blotting my vision, a metaphorical storm cloud …
Carlsbad Caverns and the Texas Flood
I woke up this morning to the sound of a rooster's crow, another first for me. I had spent the night at a dumpy motel in the sleepy town of Junction, TX, a place I hadn't heard of until I landed there after a tiresome drive of about 10 hours and, according to Google Maps, …
Albuquerque: A city of 300-year-old Churches, Native Art, and Hip Restrooms
It's become an all-too-familiar theme. I arrived in town behind schedule, during rush hour, disorganized and acutely malodorous from three days without a shower. Only this time I felt even worse about it because I was staying with relatives. My Grandparents live in a gated retirement community in Bernalillo, just outside of Albuquerque. They come …
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Appraising Arizona: Part II
Oh yeah, baby, here we go! Big beautiful nature pics... Yes, as you can see I visited the Grand Canyon (two days ago, that is. I'm slowly catching you up, ghostlings). But before we dive into that, let me relate my last few hours in Phoenix. I had a couple hours to kill after the …
Appraising Arizona: Part I
I'M BACK, GHOSTLINGS! You'll notice that this post doesn't include the "Day" in the title. To be perfectly honest I've lost track of what day I'm on. Living on the road combined with being unemployed has disoriented my sense of time; I have to check my watch several times a day just to remind myself …
Day 16/17: L.A. is Awesome When You Don’t Have to Drive in it.
Wow, ghostlings, we have a lot to catch up on. I don't exactly have a good excuse for not posting anything yesterday, but L.A. is such a rich tapestry of sensual stimulation that it's hard to find time to step back and reflect. So now, as I sit here in the obscure corner of a …
Continue reading Day 16/17: L.A. is Awesome When You Don’t Have to Drive in it.
Day 15: Firebaugh and Fury
"Write this down," he said. "Firebaugh, California." I left it up to the last minute to decide exactly how I wanted to get down to L.A. I had been told to avoid the efficient-but-supposedly-boring 6-hour tour down the I-5. Various friends as well as internet travel guides insisted upon the more scenic 7-hour drive on …
Day 14: Ghostly Oddities, pt. I
Good afternoon, ghostlings! Today my Impala and I reached a milestone: 100K!!! And I managed to snap a pic of it without causing a major accident on the 580! This is definitely the last hurrah for my Chevy; I can't imagine it surviving much long-distance travel after this Tour. Which is a shame, because the …
Ghost on the Highway 