Yesterday, September 5, was the anniversary of the publishing of Jack Kerouac's famous book, "On the Road." This book is only a small piece of the puzzle that was his life, but it was the focal point for his influence over what he termed "the Beat Generation." That influence, in effect, was to inspire inquiry into and rebellion against 1950s "American" values. Today this book is venerated and in the same vein I have been praised for my courage; to quit my job and just leave town with no particular plan. Was I influenced by Kerouac? I suppose... I read all [View Full Entry]

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So, in Douthat State Park, VA, I was told to sleep in the unoccupied group site. As such I was questioned by the park rangers who asked me to stop by their cabin on my way out. As I had no money at the time, I instead opted to sleep on a picnic table with few leisure accompaniments and instead just jet out of that place at dawn without paying. My moral thinking on this issue is as such... I pay taxes (still!) and I didn't use any of their facilities. Therefore, my plan of leaving without paying poses a dilemma [View Full Entry]

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Well, I am now back home in Chicagoland, LaGrange, specifically... my parents house. It's an odd situation, because all my siblings and I are planning to move out soon, my bro and sis to college and me back out on the road. It's been nice to take care of some administrative issues, making sure my bills are paid, my accounts are in order, and in addition use my brother's toolset to do some preventative maintenance on Gretchen. In Champaign I experienced my first mechanical malfunction, my clutch cable broke and I had to do the "Miss Sunshine" thing all the way [View Full Entry]

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So I'm here in DC still, it's so hot I can barely stand to be outside during the day, but I've given some motorcycle-tours at night and in the morning. The other day I jetted up to Bob's BMW in Maryland and got myself a new tire. Dave, one of the mechanics kept asking if I wanted these various little rubber plugs or plastic caps put in to replace the pipe cleaners or duct tape I was using to improvise. So I ended up getting some things fixed up and a new tire, and some new handgrips I'll have to install [View Full Entry]

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Well I am now in Washington DC. More appropriately, the metro area thereof... Arlington, VA. My last post was in Connecticut! Wow... so much has happened since then. But then, the time has flown by so fast I haven't bothered to post anything. Grandma's house was relaxing, but I wasn't supposed to spend much time there either. I love my Grandma, she's so cute and it's amazing to hear her talk about her life and how much things have changed since she was young. And she's seen so much! From farm life in Massachussetts to being a teacher, taking car/trailer trips [View Full Entry]

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At long last, I have escaped New York City. This place grabbed me and spun me around like a roller coaster. It's easy for me to see how people fall in love with the place, as there is everything and more importantly, everyone there. I met all sorts of people, which of course happens in every city, but even *unique-er* here. As it happens, the blog I wrote about the steam explosion was a "featured blog" on xanga.com, so my email was flooded with comments and still is. The day after the steam explosion I did nothing all day but think [View Full Entry]

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In an upward turn of events, I have made an important discovery. Yesterday I met a few more amazing people, totally randomly, and while I was extremely unsure of the purpose of my travels. Watching the news, one mostly hears about tragedies and upset. Yesterday I went to Trader Joes to buy some Pita Chips, the cinnamon kind, to share with the couchsurfing community who gather at Revival in the East Village on Thursday nights. While in line I met Tedevan, a healer carrying a huge sign advertising what he does. I felt like I needed to talk to him, so [View Full Entry]

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Holy cow... So I just witnessed a frightening, intense event here in NYC. I was riding the bus south on Lexington, and just a block south of Grand Central Terminal this deafening rumbling sound came from nowhere... we looked around and saw to the North that there was a geyser of dirt brown substance jetting from the middle of the intersection. Literally, the entire corner was exploding into the air. Everyone including the driver ran from the bus and part-way up the street. I turned around to see insanely frightened people, and I mean I have never seen people look so [View Full Entry]

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Here I am in New York City! Wow is this a change from living at Gema's house. 0-60 in an hour and 20 minute ride on the Metro North commuter train. People in NY (and I suppose this is sort of true of most cities compared to smaller towns...) walk fast, go fast, everything is very quick and a little stressful. I've had to be careful not to be "that wandering gawking idiot tourist that made me walk around them". Constantly. But it's nice for me, because in the past day I've had enough things happen to warrant pages of journal [View Full Entry]

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Its been a while since I've written anything... I have been here at my Grandma's house in Stratford, Connecticut, since July 4th. My ride out of Quebec (beginning July 3rd) was very very nice, Northern Maine is stunningly beautiful. I had sort of assumed that the entire east coast was overpopulated, hence everyone going west. Not so, there's hardly anyone up there. I took a state road (201) halfway through the state and ended up camping a night at a trailer place for the price of "whatever's in my pocket", a deftly negotiated fee that ended up being $13, when [View Full Entry]

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