Over the Mountains, Across the Desert, To Utah We Go...

Lizzie and I atop Molas Pass (11,000 feet!) in The San Juan Mountains, Colorado.

Hello again,

Tonight the road finds us in McDonald's in Moab, Utah, mooching on their free wi-fi. We've set up camp for the weekend along the banks of the Colorado River a few miles outside of town in a gorgeous red-rock canyon with steep walled cliffs.

We left Santa Fe yesterday morning and drove north into Colorado, over the San Juan mountains into Grand Junction, where we picked up Lizzie's little sister, Cayli. We explored Arches National Park briefly before sundown, and have a lot more exploring of the park to do tomorrow.

I'll keep this brief - the plan for the upcoming week is as follows: (We don't know exact dates, but here's a rough outline) - We'll be hitting Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Monument Valley, Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, THE GRAND CANYON, and Las Vegas. That takes us through the next ten-eleven days. Many more pictures to come!

Hope everyone's summer is going great,

Tom

P.S. More pictures from the road!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=438732&id=685610345&l=74e0e3e0d0

Night in the Desert

The Alamo. Don't Mess With Texas.

Hello again!

It's 6:40 am, I just slept 4 hours of very poor sleep, and we have an 8 hour drive ahead of us today, so I'm going to make this fairly quick. Any spelling errors...blame it on the sleepyness.

Monday morning we left Austin to investigate San Antonio, TX. Despite earning ourselves a $30 parking ticket for an expired meter (it was only a few minutes! grr), San Antonio was an early trip highlight. We first walked to Alamo Plaza and spent time learning about/discovering/exploring the Alamo. This was way cooler than I had expected.

After a much-needed ice cream break (If you ever find yourself in Texas, pick up some Blue Bell ice cream. It is UNBELIEVABLE), we hit the riverwalk area and were blown away. The river walk is essentially the shady, tree-covered string of restaurants, hotels, art installations, etc, that line the San Antonio River. Definitely one of the most beautiful things I've seen in an urban environment.

We went into the Hill Country west of San Antone and floated the Frio River. The river was running a little shallow, so there were some parts where we had to get out of our tubes and walk. However, it was still a beautiful float through the canyons, and a great way to spend a hot summer afternoon. We were definitely beat by the end, but a hot meal and a shower got us back on the road.

We spent the next million hours driving through the desert of West Texas. I've seen desert before, but this was something else: almost complete desolation. There'd be a town of a thousand people or so every 80 miles. Life is a different thing entirely out here. The landscape is beautiful in its desperation. This was Lizzie's first foray into the desert, and she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

We landed for the night at Guadalupe Mountains National Park/Carlsbad Caverns National Park along the Texas/New Mexico border. We saw the flight of the bats from the caverns on Tuesday night - unfortunately picture taking was not allowed, but believe you me - seeing a swarm of several hundred thousand bats silhouetted against the dusk....it's an unforgettable image. Wednesday morning we went down into the caves, and were amazed at their depth. Cavernous is the only word to describe it - it was like being on the coolest Disneyworld ride of all time. One of my favorite national parks that I've been to, it was something else.

We're currently in Santa Fe, a town filled with art galleries and artist types, etc etc etc. We found a great restaurant called The Pantry that might have the best chocolate cake in the entire world. No joke. It's that good.

Momentarily, we are headed north into the Colorado mountains to arrive at Grand Junction, CO, where we are picking Lizzie's younger sister Micayla up at the airport. Caylie has apparently become jealous enough of our trip that she has decided to join us for a leg of it! She'll be road adventuring with us for about the next ten days or so, as we wind our way across Utah, culminating at the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas.

Internet-wise, I'm not sure what the week ahead holds. Hopefully we'll be able to find internet access somewhere, but we are heading into some pretty serious high desert country, so there may be a few days to a week of radio silence. But fear not! We'll have more pictures and stories for you soon .

Love from the road,

Tom

P.S. I sat on a cactus at a Guadalupe Mountains National Park whilst setting up the tent for the night. Lizzie had the supreme honor of pulling the multitude of thorns out of my ass cheeks. It was an inspiring and glorious test of the limits of our friendship. Also: it was just plain hilarious.

P.P.S. Here is a link to pictures from Austin, TX to Santa Fe, NM:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=437927&id=685610345&l=b5d8c0a44b

P.P.P.S. Here is a link to pictures from Bonnaroo (You may need to copy/paste it into your URL toolbar):

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=433997&id=685610345&l=eb96e9c1a4

tootsies (PG 13)

hello citizens, countrymen, and other general refugees and expats.

why does everyone play the weight?

soooo ten things I (lizzie...I see your face getting excited) have learned on the trip and things i have not been convinced to learn:

1. Nachez trace=treez. not actually that exciting. most roads usually are smooth and have trees anyway. in mississippi, this is so rare it is their main attraction. but this is way better than industry and red lights.

2. there is NO reason to make a penis go in circles. (handjob lesson number 1. and there was a banana)

3. bats come out at night. key word night. its hard to see small, fast moving black things in darkness. you know who you are.

4. supposedly, when you dont know where you are or where you could be, you should take the road you know won't lead you through danger. I'm not really sold on this one. I enjoyed the 7th ward, other than the dogs.

5. tom's car doesnt have automatic locks, but it does have automatic lights. duely noted.

6. don't leave your wallet in gas stations if you dont want to drive ten needless hours. but if you do need to leave your wallet somewhere, paki-owned gas stations are fairly reliable.

7. semen tastes like guiness. well, joes does. reportedly.

8. 50 cent is gay. so says rufus. and did/does not know what a grapefruit is. so says aziz.

9. the south is hot. like sweaty hot. and sunburn hot. purple nips!

10. two things i shouldnt have said in nola: "I'm so white I'm black" and "The Saints can suck my big, black d***k." fuck it, dick.

11. Where are the black people in Austin? It just seems wrong.

12. Nola has shitty pizza.

the blog is not rated G!

I've had more wine in the past two days than...well...since passover. which isnt really saying much, since i never drink. almost never now i guess. i dont think the road has gotten to me yet. i think lots of desert will do me some good. and a few more lost nights. im so lost that im not quite lost enough. i guess at this point most people would take some kind of drug. or maybe all you need to do is watch fear and loathing in vegas like 100 times. same thing.

oh, update on the books: I read the Post Office by bukowski. good times. in book terms.

i would tire of austin too soon.

ive been sick over a week now, despite stomaching nasty nast thera-flu.

and my sister is a high school grad!

tom wants to be able to speak our language. i think he just may.

until next time, poppets!

-the queen of armpits

All the Way From Beaumont

Hello readers/fellow adventurers-in-spirit,

I'm writing from the Apple store at the Barton Creek Mall in Austin, TX. My laptop has decided to completely stop working, and thus I am waiting for my appointment for the technician to look at it.

We spent Wednesday in New Orleans, exploring the Garden District and then walking along the riverfront watching the Mississippi River boats and exploring the French Quarter. The poverty and squalor we saw throughout New Orleans is astounding. NOLA is an incredibly vibrant, beautiful city, but so much of it has fallen into decay, both before and since Katrina. Definitely an experience we are glad to have had.

On the way into New Orleans, and whilst there, Lizzie wrote a mind-blowingly incredible song that is as yet unnamed, but is just devastating. The song essentially deals with the poverty we saw throughout the south, and I can't wait to get my laptop working again so we can record it and post it on this site.

Thursday we left NOLA for Beaumont, TX and spent a great night/morning with Donnie, a long-time family friend. Donnie took us to Courville's, his brother's restaurant/concert venue, and was an incredibly gracious host. We stayed up till the wee hours playing songs, and had an overall great time. Huge thanks to Donnie.

We rolled into Austin last night, only to discover that I had left my wallet 3 hours east at a gas station in Houston. Miraculously, I called the gas station and they still had my wallet! Joe, my friend in Austin that we are staying with, was gracious enough to drive me back to Houston to retrieve the wallet. Even more miraculous? All of my cash and credit cards were still in the wallet! Such a huge relief.

Today's a lazy day - we're going to explore the town a bit tonight and tomorrow, and then off to San Antonio. :)

Later,

Tom

P.S. If you're ever in Austin, hit the Ironworks Barbeque. It's the best I've had.

"YOU WENT WHERE!?!" - Our First Night in New Orleans

The Little Big Horns at the Spotted Cat in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Hello all,

Lizzie and I arrived in New Orleans last night around 7pm, and quickly and easily found the house where we'd be staying. Lizzie found Ben and Jim via CouchSurfer, a great website service where people offer their spare rooms/couches/floors/etc to travelers. Ben and Jim were both in their mid-20s and both decently cool people.

Lizzie and I decided that we'd do some exploring of the French Quarter and try to see some live music. Ben gave us very explicit instructions on how to get to and from the French Quarter. We went down to the Quarter and walked past an enormous amount of music clubs, all of whom had free shows. We settled on The Spotted Cat, a bar where The Little Big Horns were playing. They played old-time jitterbug jazz, and the dancing that was taking place was incredible. I felt like we had stepped into the 1930s.

Despite the fun we were having, it was getting late and we decided to call it a night. That's where things started getting sketchy. We made the poor decision to walk back to Ben/Jim's house a different way than they had instructed....and ended up walking through the poorest neighborhoods in the city, in the middle of the night....alone.

We weren't terribly uneasy, but mostly because we just didn't know where we were. Had we known some of the neighborhoods we were walking through, we may have been terrified. At several points, packs of dogs began to approach us, snarling.

About half of the houses in the neighborhood were empty, boarded up, condemned. Grass was overgrown everywhere. Shiny new cars sat in front of dilapidated houses that I can only assume to be drug dens. There were some nicer houses, but many of them were in disrepair.

Eventually we realized we were terribly lost in the middle of the ghetto, and called a cab. Whilst we did this, a young woman approached us in her car and asked if we needed help. We told her the situation, and she immediately told us to get in the car and she would drive us home. Turns out, we were miles away from where we needed to be, and so Lizzie and I are both forever grateful to April for getting us out of that jam. April, if somehow you ever see this: THANK YOU AGAIN.

When we finally got back to Ben/Jim's (along with their third roommate, Troy, who we had not met earlier in the day) at about 3 AM, and told them the names of the streets we had been taking, they told us "YOU WENT WHERE!?!?!" and stressed to us that we had been walking through some of the roughest areas of the city.

Hey, a little adventure never hurt anybody, right?

Later,

Tom

Broken Computers and Empty Malls

Hello all,

We are currently in Jackson, Mississippi using the complimentary computers available at the Apple store. The reason? The battery in my laptop decided to stop working, so we are waiting for a technician to look at it now. Worst case, I have to buy a new battery, which isn't an end-of-the-world sort of problem. So, no worries.

In other news, we camped last night at Tishomingo State Park in (you guessed it!) Tishomingo, Mississippi. We arrived after dark, and the park was absolutely terrifying. Our terror was greatly increased by the fact that there was only one other set of campers there. Ax-murder horror movie, anyone?....Yeah, we were pretty terrified.

But this morning we awoke to discover the campground was quite beautiful in the daylight. Only problem? The car didn't start! We had left the light on inside the car, and the battery was drained. However, our one set of neighbors came over to jump us and all was well. Turns out our neighbor-campers were from Claremont, NH :). Good ol' NH people, taking care of one another. Also: LIZZIE PICKED UP A SNAPPING TURTLE AND LIVED TO TELL THE TALE!

The large mall in Jackson, called the Metrocenter Mall, is nearly empty. Empty of stores, empty of people, empty of happiness. Lizzie commented, "Nowhere have I felt the impact of the recession quite like I do right now." We chatted with a woman in the cookie store who told us that many of the stores had been closed since the mid-1980s. Scary.

Ok, technician should be just about ready. Until next time.

Tom

So, we're here

Post-Bonnaroo Blues

The countdown on the main-stage Saturday night, waiting for Jay-Z's festival-defining performance.

Bonnaroo 2010 was a resounding success! Highlights include: Mumford and Sons, Daryl Hall w/ Chromeo, Aziz Ansari, Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers, and of course JAY-Z. A full review will be coming soon when I have more time to fart around on the Internet (Probably Thursday, but maybe not until Friday).

Right now Lizzie and I are in the Chattanooga Airport, dropping Mike off to fly home. We've enjoyed having him on the first leg of the trip, but alas, he has to return to the real world. Tomorrow we'll be in New Orleans. Thursday we'll leave NOLA for Beaumont, TX, and then we'll be in Austin for the weekend. More to come when I have more time, but we've got to get going so we can get at least partway into Mississippi before dark.

In the meantime think about this: Lizzie and I want to make our trip a nationwide scavenger hunt. In the comment section, let us know what sort of people, places, and/or things you want us to find along the way. If it's reasonable and legal, we'll do it. If it's at all possible to get a picture with that person, place, or thing, we will also do it.

If you don't know how to make a comment, it's this easy - click directly below this post where it says "0 Comments" (of course, once people make comments, it will no longer say 0 comments.) Then say whatever you want to say, sign your name, click "publish post" and that's it!

Catch ya later,

Tom and Lizzie

All Roads Lead to Bonnaroo

Crazy car at a NJ Turnpike rest stop.

I left Mountain Jam in Hunter, NY on Sunday night after Levon Helm's festival-defining 3 hour set ended at midnight. Mountain Jam was a great time, highlighted by sets from Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, The Avett Brothers, Yonder Mountain String Band, Matisyahu, and Gov't Mule. Other than being surrounded by people dropping acid at Matisyahu, it was a good time. I drove overnight back to Boston to visit family before departing for Georgia.

Mike and I stumbled into Lizzie's house in Grovetown, Georgia last night around 2AM after driving all day from Boston. Not surprisingly, Georgia is hot. Very very very hot, and so the night was somewhat uncomfortable. But I slept in a real bed for the first time in 6 days, so I can't complain too much.

Highlight of the drive? The "Cafe Risque" topless diner. We did not go in, but the tacky billboards advertising the cafe miles in advance were priceless. Not to mention that the diner, from our viewpoint on the highway, looked like an absolute pit of despair.

Today brings the exploration of Augusta, GA, a dip into Strom Thurmond Lake, and preparing to leave for Bonnaroo at midnight. Oh yeah.

- Tom

P.S. Internet access at Bonnaroo is non-existent. So see y'all after the weekend.

P.P.S. This site is not conducive for posting many pictures, so I set up a Picasa Web Album account where you guys can see pictures. The web address is: http://picasaweb.google.com/TomRoadTrip1

Catch y'all later.

Apologies for Lizzie, and the Week's Schedule

So, you may have gathered that Lizzie will occasionally be making guest posts on this blog. I'll go ahead and apologize in advance for anything and everything she says.

In other news - the week's schedule:

Tues: Drive to Georgia.

Wed: Bonnaroo preparation!

Thurs - Sun: Bonnaroo!

I'm lazy now, but look for a Mountain Jam recap in the coming days, as well as maybe a Bonnaroo preview...? Hmm.... We'll see how ambitious I am.

On the road to Georgia in 4 hours. Driving overnight. Bring it the hell on.

well, hello there, funderlings!

greetings!

I am a pirate! goo goo ga joob!!!!!! I came in discord! I have taken Tom and his booty!!!!

...nah.

welcome to your first guest post by Lizzie. You see, i saw this here blog and I was kinda like oooooOOOooooo....blog...num num num. Kind of like my puppy with shoes.

Speaking of my darlingest dearest puppy. My sort-of boyfriend left for florida on Friday and took my pooch to his mother's house, which has left me desperately sad. on the plus side, it has led me to baking. yay brownies!

So I realise that many of you readers do not know me. or at least not well. Maybe you've heard stories. But you've probably wondered who is this chick that Tom will be within two feet of for like...months? or, as cakemom would say (are you reading this, Kathy?) WHO IS THAT LESBIAN JEW IN A MEXICAN FIESTA DRESS? HOW MUCH IS THAT DOGGY IN THE WINDOW? (Mine has such a waggedy tail.) And seeing as how I don't have a facebook, you'll never know!!! MUAHAHAHA.

just kidding.

well, for one, I just graduated from the coolest of cool schools that you wish you went to: http://www2.brooklyn.liu.edu/globalcollege/

Secondly, I am fairly religious, which is why we will not be traveling on saturdays.

Tricycle, my day gets messed up if i dont have a good breakfast. usually raisin bran.

i love npr and dancing; i'm straight-edge but not lame; i am a census enumerator; I know good grammar but I hate to use it; and I’m not nervous at all for the trip. Just kidding — I am, but it’s all under control. Just kidding — it’s not under control, it’s under a bus. Just kidding — there’s no bus in here, but there’s one on the corner. Just kidding — there’s no bus. Just kidding — there is, and it comes at 10:00, 12:00, 2:00 and 4:30. Just kidding — it comes at 11:15, 2:30, 6:15, and 7:00. Just kidding — that’s not it, but the nighttime schedule is changing and it’s not out yet. Just kidding — it is out. it’s out on the town with its new girlfriend, I wonder where they’re going? Just kidding — schedules can’t have girlfriends. Just kidding — they can, I dated one. Just kidding — I did, but it didn’t work out. Just kidding —

So i still have to pack, clean the whole house, work a few more hours so i can eat for a few more days on the trip, and get over the breakup/lack of puppy. which is nothing compared to the amount of stuff i want to do once we begin the trip! mainly see the country, meet awesome people, and figure out myself and my life and what i want to do, and read a hundred books...right.

the good news is I have over a grand saved up for the trip! woooot!

AND i have secured us a place to stay in NOLA. couchsurfing is the best!!

Don't worry, you wont get posts like this from me all the time. You'll get your regular Tom fix. He'll be back from mountain jam soon so I'm sure you'll get the report on an awesome possum time!