All Things Must Pass

Hello all,

We write to you from the Bear Country Cafe in West Yellowstone, Montana. We left Anchorage a little more than a week ago, and went to Denali National Park for a few days. Although the cloud-shrouded mountain evaded us (save for a few brief glimpses), Denali was an incredible park full of great mountain landscapes, moose, cariboops (caribou for those uninitiated in the trip lexicon), wolves, DALL SHEEPS, and foxen (foxes).

From Denali we drove north to Fairbanks and then east towards the Canadian border. I've discovered that Canadian border guards are way friendlier than American border guards. Although, one Canadian woman did tell me I got no dessert until I signed my passport. Anyway.

The Yukon was, as always, beautiful and desolate in a way that only the north country can be. We came across the Sign Post Forrest, which is basically a forest full of old license plates and stolen signs and such attached to big wooden poles. It was interesting. Lizzie thought it revelatory. We drove south through British Columbia overnight, and hit Alberta on Friday.

Alberta might be the most beautiful place I've seen on the trip. Jasper and Banff national parks were stunning in their grandeur. We saw rushing waterfalls, jagged mountain peaks, jade-blue lakes, glacial icefields. Good stuff. Oh yeah, and mountain goats. BEARDS. THEY HAVE BEARDS.

My apologies for the lack of pictures recently, but I've lost my picture uploader cable. Once we have a little free time, I'll upload all the back catalog of pictures.

Monday (MY BIRTHDAY BITCHES) we arrived at Glacier National Park in northern Montana, one of the parks I've been most looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint, although we didn't spend a lot of time there. St. Mary Lake, Logan Pass, Many Glacier, Lake McDonald - these places I've been thinking about for years didn't disappoint. Traffic in the park was kind of insane, but it was good.

Today we're at Yellowstone. The drive through Montana to here got increasingly more beautiful the closer we got to the park. Today, we're exploring the park.

But the week brings sad news, too. On Monday, Eddie Page, my grandfather passed away. It was not unexpected, but still a sad time. Eddie and his wife Connie, my grandmother, gave me 22 great years and they will be sorely missed. Monday the 30th (of August) marks the funeral services back in Boston, and thus the end of the trip. Our last stops will be Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain National Park, Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, all in the next 5 days or so, and then heading back east.

It's been more than I could have expected.

More later,

Tom

my second leg

i only have two.

but you gotta get the other side of the story. MY side!!

I'll try to keep the parts you're familiar with brief and stick to my highlights.

so from vegas---

-death valley: like an oven, hot wind is awful, eerie, beautiful
-yosemite: need to go back and climb half dome once my knee is better, but only go when school is still in session and hopefully it's less packed.
-half moon bay: is vunderbar. oh, man. some of the sun on the water scenes that I've seen are just perfect. the water is white with the sun hovering in a white sky. or blazing orange with pinks and purples like a three year old just happened to use her favourite crayons. I think i have discovered that actually the coloration of everyting we create to imitate nature can be whatever we want it to be and it would still at some point be accurate. neon grass, blood moon, purple trees, all true to form.

BUT we went to see knight and day in San Mateo. (cute film, not the point) remember when i said i wanted to get really lost? Well, friends, I succeeded. near the end of the film I began to have the deepest, most incomprehensible sense of deja vu, so bad that I could barely tell where I was anymore. How many times have i been in a movie theater? well, i started to remember, to feel all those times. going to the bathroom, walking down the street. Everywhere I looked, a different part of my life flashed before my eyes. I've seen intersections like this, streetlamps, the sky, everything. and i just wanted to close my eyes and stop looking. where am i, really? and why? and where do i want to be? and the whole time, i know this is it. this is the moment that i just must work through.

but at the same time that i moan and shuffle my way through this, my poor friend tom thinks he may have to drop me off at the hospital and ckeck me in as having gone insane. he said he didnt think it was that deep a movie. I tried to tell him this was a good thing, but he was scared and angry and confused. I felt bad, but it was hard to balance it all in my head and i wanted to get something out of it.

and no, i dont do drugs.

moral of the story is that i am lost, lost, lost, but never quite as lost as then. i'll keep the real stuff to myself for now.

-San francisco: i didnt get mugged, meet any celebs, or buy any musical instruments, amen. though i thought about getting a stick base, but it seems my limited wrist and elbow rotation may keep me from strings forever.

thursday i went to see my friend, brittany (brittanygoesglobal.com) who is a Kiva fellow and happened to be in town training for them and that night was a "social mixer." I got there and had no idea what to do once i finished looking at the art in the space. Brit had to talk to people about microloans and I was supposed to just shmooze. so i put a glass of wine in my hand and flicked on the flirt switch and had a blast. it's nice to remember that I can still work it. then at the after party I gave brittany and i gave each other a pep talk. i reminded her how she believes everything happens for a reason, and she reminded me that i'm smart and she believes in me. feel good. also, by the end of the night i had a fedora and a date, if i wanted it. but you know, its hard to date when you're skipping town.

I went to the chabad house for shabbat. got my jew on. met some very very cool girls who were hitchin around california. argued about israel and muslims and the like, which i generally try to avoid. But it was nice to be encouraged not to avoid it and realize i still have some passion about it. mostly i just cant stand all the lying propaganda and thinly veiled racism. (on both sides, but i usually end up defending muslims when im talking to jews) i hate politics, but i love people.

-crater lake, mount ranier: were pretty. not being able to hike was a bummer. the trip is starting to feel less adventurous. injury, weariness, less money, colder weather, i'm not sure what it is. but we look forward to beds and showers more than we do to rocks, it seems. just driving through parks is not so exciting. and we havent written much in the way of music since tom got a banjo. we're starting to get closer and closer to having to think about the next step in our lives. which also requires that i think about the last step in my life. what did i do wrong? what wont i do again? did he ever really love me? blah blah blah. seattle and alaska have been very family oriented. canada was very driving oriented, but we did meet shillen. (www.texas4000.org/user/profile/10311) and we listened to a book called Thunderstruck.

I've also read A Fine Balance, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Emergenetics, Dinner with Hitler and Hemmingway, and some short stories by Irish writers. We're now listening to A Wolf at the Table.

-olympic: we met a ranger who told us that we needed a bunch of different things for the car for the trip though the canada. but we wouldnt know how to use them. and mostly we just needed a fireproof car. she also let me try on elk horns in the back room. and i learned about trees and moss and nature stuff.

-alaska: ive been talking to internet strangers, something i've done since we got AOL when i was ten or so. i think i'm just craving some social contact. tom and i havent quite run out of things to say to each other, but it has been two months, and we don't do the whole intimacy bit, so sometimes we can get a little lonely. I talked to tom's aunt for hours friday night though, which was really great.
I went to a reform synagogue on saturday, which was challenging. Very anthropological, literary, or "reasoned inquiry" approach. Which made me realize that I have become quite a bit more devotional than i thought. (if youd like to understand those two sentences a bit more, read Dale Cannon's Six ways of Being Religious.)

I tried to dye my hair out of boredom and nothing changed. i guess im just meant to be this way for now.

lots of ass jokes at toms expense.

so now what?

ah, the future. My friend Amy should be joining us hopefully in colorado, which may put some spring back in my step if a grizzly doesnt get me first. I'm real excited for the black hills and all that jazz. there's gunna be some good rocks. and SHEEPS to be seen in the canadian parks. i think maybe i just need to listen to more hanson. (and probably, so do you! just TRY and tell me thinkin bout somethin doesnt make you feel a little better. you cant.)

so i know i didnt put any dicks or jokes or pics in this one. I'll make up for it next time. is that a threat or a promise?

well, you know, ive started meeting people who read the blog. and i just turn bright red. writing to the anonymous world about handjobs is one thing, but to tom's uncles whom i meet is another.

i probably just need to dance it out.

you probably wont hear from me again in a while, but it's been good. i think the third leg is going to kick some ass. but hopefully not tom's ass because then we'll have to stay by running water for a week. ;)

off to the big rock,
Lizzie

Into the Wild

Friends,

Our Alaska adventure enters its final stage today. We arrived in Anchorage a week ago today, badly in need of a shower, a bed, and real food. We leave Anchorage clean, well-slept, well-fed, and moderately infected.

We took Monday and Tuesday as rest days - recovery from the 2,500-turned-into-4,000 mile journey from Seattle. But even in these recovery days, in the company of good family, was well worth having. Wednesday we ventured down the Kenai Peninsula to Seward, where we went to Kenai Fjords National Park. We saw gorgeous mountains, rushing glacier-fed rivers, and (of course) ice-blue glaciers the length of football fields.

Thursday night we saw The Mountain River Valley Coastal Association of Indigenous Peoples (actually just the Mountain River Valley Boys, my Uncle Joe's band) open for C.A.K.E at the Moose's Tooth's First Tap. A great night filled with bluegrass, weird talk-rock, and a plum tree. Some 60 year old woman tried to set Lizzie up with her son. Good time had by all.

Friday we went back to Seward to visit the Sea Life Center, where we saw puffins (MY NEW FAVORITE AMINAL. THATS RIGHT. A-M-I-N-A-L.) Sea lions, seals, squids, salmon, and a host of other sea creatures. We ate late lunch in Seward and ventured north to Hope, where The Mountain River Valley Boys were playing at the Seaview Inn. Got a taste of real rural Alaska here, as the town of Hope is about the size of an elephant's footprint. A good show, with a half-decent crowd. Lots of fun to be had.

Mean Uncle Joe's a bastard in Monopoly. He will bleed you dry. Watch out for him.

The weekend was spent family-tizing. My cousin Alexis rolled into town with her kids last week, so between me, her, the two kids, my two aunts and uncles, and my cousin Veronica, it was probably the largest non-wedding Page family gathering outside of Massachusetts. We all got rolled in the rug. And no, that is not a veiled drug reference.

And now we head north to see the great mountain, Denali, before we blitz southwards across Canada, where there are no bears. Vat vould they vant?

And remember friends, Let's all get f*cked up for C.A.K.E!

Love,
Tom

Welcome to the Jungle

To whatever readers are left,

It's been awhile. My apologies.

I meant to update whilst in Seattle, but I couldn't get up the energy. To hugely shorten a week of the trip - we drove up through northern California along the coast, which was gorgeous. Made it to Crater Lake in Oregon, one of the most startlingly blue, deep, unbelievable lakes in the country. The Oregon coast was cold, cold, and more cold.

For the sake of time, we had to skip Portland and go straight to Mt. Rainier in Washington. On the drive, we passed Mt. Saint Helens, which was endlessly cool. The only con to Mt. Rainier is that we didn't see it while we were there - the mountain is so enormous (nearly 15,000 feet) that it creates its own weather system, and was thus enshrouded in clouds. The surrounding scenery was great, and the brief glimpses of Rainier's slopes were nice too.

After Rainier, we spent a couple days in the Hoh Rainforest at Olympic National Park. A beautiful area with some interesting hikes, but somewhat underwhelming. The truly weird thing about the Hoh is that it's near the town of Forks, Washington. Unbeknownst to me and Lizzie, Forks is where the Twilight books are set, so the town is Twilight-OBSESSED. Stores, tours, gift shops, everything. The town has been infested. It was terrible.

We spent a couple days in Seattle with Lizzie's family, who were great hosts. We had a lot of fun going to the Mariners game with my aunt and uncle, despite the fact that the Mariners beat the Red Sox. Seattle was pretty low-key for us, as we were mostly resting for the grand adventure that lay ahead: The drive to 'Laska.

We started last Tuesday, the 27th. Made it through customs with ease, landed in Vanderhoof, British Columbia for the night, about 13 hours into what would be a 46 hour drive. At this point, we had to make a decision. Take the Cassiar Highway north to the Yukon, which goes northwest through British Columbia, or take the Alaska-Canada Highway, which goes Northeast through BC. Mileage and time-wise, they are almost identical. So, I arbitrarily picked the Cassiar route. These are the ONLY two routes through northern BC. We got a late start Wednesday, drove to Tatogga Lake, British Columbia. The scenery this whole way was mostly gorgeous mountain scenery, with endless runs of pine trees.

In Tatogga Lake, we met Margaret Klocker. She was a vaguely German park official who came to collect our camping fee. Despite the fact that we were in the forest, and we had seen 6 black bears that day, she told us "There are no bears here. And no squirrelly things to eat your food. What would they want here?", all in a thick German accent. Wonderful. We also met and camped with a group of motorcycle riders bound for Prudhoe Bay on the arctic ocean. An interesting and varied group of people, for sure.

Thursday morning we hit the road at 6 am, and by 10 am, were within 2 hours of the Yukon. This means we would've been in Alaska on Friday afternoon. UNTIL, we see signs warning us of the road being closed approximately 50 miles shy of the Yukon border due to forest fire. After waiting all day Thursday for updates, the road was still closed indefinitely. Rather than wait for potentially days or weeks, we decided to drive back south down the Cassiar, around to the Alaska-Canada Highway, and up that way. This little detour would add 1,500 miles to the trip. It took us four extra days to drive around and up into Alaska, where we mercifully arrived Monday around 1 pm local time.

We saw lots of good wildlife, including black bears, moose (and baby moose), coyotes, and a couple herds of bison/buffalo.

Thank goodness there was family, showers, laundry, and overall hospitality awaiting us. That drive was truly brutal. And now, we're going to spend the next week exploring Alaska!

More later,
Tom

Call of the Wild

Hello all,

Not a lot of time to discuss the week prior, but a brief note - we are safely in Seattle. Saw the Red Sox lose yesterday. Saw Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Parks. Nothing really all-that note-worthy has taken place in the last week. Saw some great scenery, met some great people.

But tomorrow. Tomorrow, the real journey begins. Onwards to Alaska in the morning, with an expected arrival Friday afternoon. Cell service and internet may be lacking for the next several days, I'll update as I can.

Later,

T

Worst (Or Maybe Best?) Night of the Trip

First things first, Pictures!:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=451382&id=685610345&l=8b14f878f2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=451377&id=685610345&l=69c6bb17da

Saturday night in San Francisco. Endless possibilities. Drizzly fog coming in off the bay. Possibly the greatest/worst night of the entire trip. You'll find out why.

I went to an open mic night. For those unfamiliar with the concept, an open mic is where basically anyone can take the stage for a few minutes; typically, they play songs, usually just an acoustic guitar + vocal. But sometimes comedians and poets attend as well.

The open mic was advertised as being at 1748 Market Street, not four blocks from where I was mugged the night before. Oh joy. I walked up the stairs, entering what appeared to be a doctor's office. WTF? I thought this was an open mic....and then I realized that it was not a doctor's office, but rather some kind of addiction clinic. From behind a closed door I hear someone say "Hi, my name is XXXX (name removed to protect anonomousness), and I am a clutterer". That's right, folks. There is a group called Clutterers Anonymous.

So I go into the open mic, and meet the guy running it (Rick). Within 2 minutes of meeting him, he explains to me that as a cab driver, he never picks up black people, so that way he never gets mugged. He apparently thought this would endear himself to me, when in actuality, it just made me think that he was a jerk. I had the joy of going first, and played 3 songs that were pretty well received. We all had 15 minutes to play.

Next, a middle-aged guy went up and played "Get Together" by Joni Mitchell. Then he proceeded to talk so much about peace and love that he didn't get to play another song. That means he talked for approximately 11 minutes. Craziness.

Next, a woman got up and sang La Vie En Rose along to a karaoke machine. And let's just say that Marion Cotillard she is not. She sang two other songs in what I suppose was French (although it was hard to tell, since she sounded like a dying cat), and then mercifully ended her set. Oh, but then. BUT THEN! Her husband Arnold took the stage and also sang along to the karaoke machines. Except, he didn't use karaoke CDs. He used just regular CDs. SO, as he sang three Johnny Cash songs, not only did we hear Arnold singing, but we also heard Johnny. This all would have been ok had Arnold been singing on the same beats as Johnny. But he didn't! He was always either a beat ahead of him or a beat behind him....sometimes four beats. Sometimes five. It was dreadful.

Following Arnold, the host got up to play. And despite the fact that Arnold had just "played" Folsom Prison Blues, Rick played it too! Except he played it at 2 beats per minute, so it was as slow as possible without stopping altogether. He played a couple of Merle Haggard songs the same way. It was infuriating.

Following Rick was a comedian named Chris Capabacasasabchakajcaaaaaafffabbas. He did 15 minutes of one-liners. Almost none of them got laughs. It was an eternity. Except his one-liners weren't even jokes - for example, "I was standing on the Golden Gate Bridge, and then my hat fell off." Or "My mom cuts my hair. I want to go to Supercuts." or "It's 95 degrees where I live. I don't know about where you live."....His only laugh occurred when he accused the one woman in the audience of having poor vaginal hygiene. Also, when he said he was homeless except for the one day of the year when he was gay.

After Chris LongLastName, a homeless poet took the stage, and he was actually quite fascinating. Great sense of rhythm and pace. I liked him a lot. But then.....oh man. I had been waiting the whole time to hear this guy Kai, because he seemed like a cool dude and had liked my songs. But his set consisted of 15 minutes of him picking the most discordant notes possible on the guitar while squealing in as high a register as possible. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

It got to be my turn again, but somehow Arnold the Karaoke man got ahead of me in line. And despite the fact that in round 2 we were limited to one song, he played two! Two off-beat Elvis karaoke songs.....Kill me now.

I played my last song, which they seemed to enjoy, and they I got the Hell out of there.

Now were in McMinnville, Oregon. Thank God we're not in San Fran anymore.

Tom

Muggings, Musicians, and Marvels

So I got mugged in San Francisco this weekend. I was walking through the 1200-1400 section of Market Street at 2 AM. Probably a mistake. While giving a beggar some change, a few dollar bills fell out of my pocket, which he quickly told me to pony up. I basically blew him off, and said "Hey man, I gave you change, that's all you're going to get."

Two blocks later I felt a knife blade pressed against my back and I heard him say "How 'bout the money now?" I quickly turned around and gave him the 7 dollars in my pocket. Then he said, "Ok, now the wallet." I had about 120 bucks in my pocket, so I threw the money on the ground and ran down the street. Luckily, he didn't chase. He just stood there counting my money and laughing. Cackling. Fucking thief.

I'm ok, just a little ticked off. Overall, giving up my money was a lot less expensive than getting stabbed would've been (Oh the joys of having no health insurance). Not to mention, I would've been stabbed. And that would have been a pretty shitty way to spend a couple extra days in Frisco.

So I stayed up the rest of the night, went to IHOP, slept in the car. I woke up early Saturday afternoon and went to Guitar Center on Van Ness to buy some picks and strings. Whilst passing the time playing guitars, I started playing a banjo. And I fell in love. So I bought it - I now am a proud owner of a 5-string banjo.

Oh, by the way, I also met Neil Diamond in that Guitar Center. He walked in, and a few people flocked over to him saying "Oh my god, you're Neil Diamond!" I walked over and said hello. He was a cool dude.

The road beckons, more later.

T-Minus 7 days until we hit the Canadian border.

Tom

Be Sure to Wear A Flower In Your Hair

It's July in California. You know California - you see it in all the movies and TV shows, and thus you know that summertime in California is Mustang convertibles full of buxom blondes with their hair blowing in the hot summer wind.

WRONG.

San Francisco is freakin' cold. Like, 50 degrees, foggy, windy, cold. Walk around the city at 2 AM after a late movie freezing your ass off cold.

We left Fresno sometime earlier in the week (The days are blurring together somewhat), and arrived at Yosemite National Park. Lizzie's knee has been pretty weak, so we decided not to do some of the strenuous climbing that we had initially thought we would do. We took a few short hikes, saw bears in our campsite (BURRRS), and had a good time. Yosemite is insanely beautiful, and would've been one of our favorite parks if not for the BILLIONS of people that mobbed the place. We definitely could've done without the crowds.

After a botched attempt at camping (Let's put it this way - almost all campgrounds at Yosemite were full. The only open one was 5 miles down a pot-holed filled gravel road, and the only available campsite had a pair of abandoned hiking boots on the table that creeped us out to no end), we stayed the night at a motel in Modesto, before moving on to San Fran.

We've taken San Fran as a veg-out weekend, although this city is EX-PEN-SIVE, and it's easy to get yourself in a lot of trouble if you're looking for it. But there's also a lot going on too! Saw a Mary Gauthier concert, went to a Giants game, and have been exploring the city. Barry Zito threw a 2 hit shutout of the Mets. There is almost nothing I enjoy as much as seeing the Mets lose. Tomorrow we head north along the coast to Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.

In 2 weeks we'll be in Alaska. The pull of Alaska is getting stronger. May the road go on forever.

Tom

From Vegas to Fresno

Hello all,

To get this out of the way: LINKS FOR PICTURES

Southern Utah:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=443361&id=685610345&l=675afa64d5

Zion National Park:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=445182&id=685610345&l=8f9ed9d76d

So as Lizzie described, we last talked to you all from the Sahara Hotel and Casino in shiny Las Vegas. Vegas is basically an extravaganza of sin, sex, and neon. We had a pretty low-key Vegas experience, which is to say we only indulged in three or four hookers each....

Prior to the Vegas, we spent a couple days at the Grand Canyon. Day 1 was mostly walk-around-the-rim, set up camp, eat some food stuffs, gaze at the sunset and be mystified. Day 2 we decided to do an evening hike of the canyon. My naive self thought maybe we could make it all the way to the river at the bottom. I WAS WRONG. We got three miles into the canyon, and while the sun was setting, decided to head back up to the rim. Turned out to be a good thing, because I got a horrendous nosebleed about halfway up.

But we didn't get back up to the rim until after midnight, and on the path there were FOUR, count-em, FOUR elk just sleeping. It was so dark, we almost stepped on them. And they are some big mother-flipping aminals. Yeah, that's right, I said aminals.

Anyway...after Vegas we drove through Death Valley National Park, a bizarre array of purple rocks, white salt flats that glimmered like water, and 124 degree temperatures. No joke. 1-2-4. It was hot hot hot. I think the car liked it even less than we did, as we had to keep close watch so she wouldn't overheat.

But we made it out of the desert and up into the green pine-tree covered mountains of the Sequoia National Forest on Friday evening, where we camped for a rest day on Saturday. Saturday morning I left camp to drive down the mountains to get food and supplies in town. While driving, I came across two young hikers thumbing their way down the mountain. I pulled over and picked them up - their names were Evan and Jocelyn, and the three of talked bluegrass and hiking all the way into town. Both of them were super cool people who had lived all over and done a lot of cool hiking trips. They're currently on a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border northwards (their blog is pctsouthbounders.blogspot.com - check it out!)

We got supplies in town, and then the three of us drove back up the mountains, where I invited them to spend the night at camp with me and Lizzie. Evan and Jocelyn obliged, and we had a great night sharing food and music. When we woke up the next day at 8 am, they were long gone, heading back on the trail.

Yesterday morning we drove to Sequoia National Park, home of the big trees of the same name. Four of the five biggest trees in the ENTIRE WORLD are in this park. Words can't really describe the gargantuan beauty of the trees, so y'all will just have to wait for the pictures.

Today was spent exploring the park, and now we are in Fresno, California at the Manchester Shopping Center while Gracie (car) gets her oil changed. Fresno looks like the filming location for all those mall scenes in Terminator 2 and Kindergarten Cop and whatever other Arnold Schwarzenegger movies took place mostly in malls.

Tonight the road will hopefully take us to Yosemite, and then on to San Francisco in a couple days. Probably no internet for a couple days, so catch y'all on the flip!

Love,

Tom

my darlin, clementines,

VEGAS BABYYYYY. let me (YIPEE! Lizzie! can't you always tell?) just say for those who weren't sure: vegas is sex. everywhere.

all the magazine stands,

the billboards,

the streets,

tom and i like to people watch and play "hooker, stripper, or party girl?" (HSP) (this is in addition to FKM, tourist or townie, map games, and phase 10)

i think maybe from my posts you may have the wrong idea about me, like i'm all about HS and P. well, that's pretty far from the truth.

the road has many gifts. and vegas came up to me with one last night as i was sitting on the rail at the bellagio waiting for the fountains that were over, or something like that.

two armenian women came up to me out of nowhere as they were strolling with their family to tell me my aura was good and energy strong. i was a warrior in a past life and all that jazz. lots of happy good stuff. all things probably anyone would want to hear. and i have two guardian angels. and that october through december will be good. well, lets hope so friends. i mean, i dont take much stock in palm readings, but it was the pep talk i needed.

i been down about the whole breakup. yada yada. cried a couple days at the grand canyon. and like i said to tom and my sister, he was my last foot on the ground. and now im really free and independent which sounds great, just takes a hard swallow of courage and big decisions. and of course i miss him, seeing as he was my best friend for the time. it's tough because theres no anger, no regret...just having to move on.

we lose so much on the way, ehy? and oh, all those fucking love songs.

the good news is...two more songs have emerged on the trip! (one just finished in the hotel bathroom in vegassss. tom said he feels like a rockstar.)

the bad news is that i really hurt my knee and its hard to walk and shit.

hopefully by alaska all this will sort itself out. you heard me, ALASKA!

and the grand canyon hike was pretty awesome, as i'm sure tom will tell.

its been nice to have my own bed and enough private time to masturbate. orgasms are so great, aren't they?

well, gosh, we gotta get goin to see girls dance on boats. also free concert tonight at the rio. which classic legend, you ask? HOOBASTANK!!!

on that note, i shall sign out for another while. yours,

stankini Liz