Bulls and Texan Tourism

          My last day with Ashlee was a little hectic trying to organize everything and get some last minute tourism in my day.  Ashlee, her mom, and the 2 girls and I went to old town Fort Worth to see the cattle drive.  We got there just in time and parked along the bull's route, trusting that they wouldn't run wild and stampede my beautiful Sally.  Luckily, nothing of the sort happened.

          Old town was a neat area!  We walked along the brick road, as if transported into an old Western film,  sweating like crazy on the hot summer day.  Old wooden buildings stood tall surrounded by large shady trees that screamed with cicadas.  Tourists in their brand new cowboy hats and boots ambled about the streets taking pictures of the cows and the well costumed cowboys.  Long-horned bulls stood tethered in the shade, standing in as photo props for the non-country folk to hop on their back to get their 30 second thrill while friends take their pictures.  I watched as eager tourists payed $5 to climb up a wooden stool, hoist themselves on the massive, bored animal and try awkwardly to kick up their legs as if ridin' them cows real good.

          Ashlee's mom was the only person who jumped on that cow with confidence and grace, kicking up her foot and throwing her head back with total ease.  Snap snap snap!  We took lots of pictures of her, as she glowed, soaking up some of that country fun!

          Although I knew that this was essentially a block in Knotts Berry Farm (a Southern California theme park that showcases the most stereotypical of the country/cowboy scene), I finally felt like I was in Texas!  As I continue to learn more about Texan culture, I am struck with the vast differences in convictions, lifestyle, language, and spirit. This may be something I would like to ethnographically research further....

          After a few days spent with the Gomez's in Fort Worth it was time for me to continue on my journey and head south toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Chillin with Chilens

July 28, 2013 

The rest of my stay with the Gomez family was a relaxing break from my journey.  Other than spending a chunk of time on the phone with the bank to report my missing cards and request emergency cash, I spent my days catching up with Ashlee and playing with the two little girls of the house, Savannah who’s three, and Allie who is almost 2. 

            My first day there, Ashlee took me riding in her little car with the kids in the back.  The Texas air was hot and thick, but the windows were opened wide to allow that sweet breeze in to help cool us down.  We drove around the suburbs to some local burger joint and Ashlee was so kind to treat me to a veggie burger and a shake. 

            When we got our food stuffed into their papery bags, my job was to ensure that the french-fries did not get cold.  I guarded those fries as diligently as Big Kitty guarded the bathroom door. 

            We drove to the military base where Nate was stationed.  The base has a beautiful lake with tables and grass and local birdies; it was the perfect place to set up our picnic.  Nate joined us shortly, dressed smartly in his Navy uniform, contrasting us casually dressed girls in our cool summer attire and flip-flops. 

            Savannah only wanted to drink her chocolate milk and eat French fries, avoiding the rest of her meal.  Allie threw French fries on the ground and we all jumped to stop her from scarfing down the now soiled potato strips.  Since the wind, while acting as a relief to us from the heat, also blew our napkins from the table; I acted as the official napkin chaser. 

            After we ate, Nate had to go back to work and left us to wade in the warm lake water and skip stones over its surface.  Ashlee had gotten this art down.  She stood with her legs slightly bent, feet under her shoulders in a wide stance, extended her arm back and smoothly set those stones to sail, bounding over the water’s surface.

            The girls, in attempt to imitate their mother grabbed nearby rocks and plopped them into the water.  <plunk>  The lake swallowed the stones whole, while the girls jumped up and down in glee!  I watched these spectacles from behind my camera, standing a little further in the water, facing the shore toward the family of girls.

            When we had had enough of wet feet, we grabbed our shoes and made our way across the grass towards the car.  We sat down and were greeted by a large green grass hopper chillin’ on the dashboard.  Ashlee waited patiently as I  photographed this phenomenal insect before I escorted him out the window.  Off we went to get slurpies, go home and take afternoon naps. 

             

Big Kitty in a Big State

July 28, 2013- Fort Worth, Texas

            Because I lost my debit card and credit card, I found myself a little stuck in Texas.  Thank goodness those boys helped me out, because at least I was able to make it to my destination for the day: to Ashlee and Nate Gomez’ home in Fort Worth, Texas.

            For those of you unfamiliar to Texan geography, Fort Worth is located just west of Dallas.  I got there in the evening and Ashlee/Super-Mom instantly pulled out some delicious risotto pre-made meals from her freezer and I had some din-din.  Thanks Mom!

            I was greeted by such friendliness every where I looked.  Her children, Savannah and Allie were already in bed, but Savannah got up to say hello.  Her kitties, Luna and Big Kitty rubbed their faces on my ankles, begging for attention.  Luna was actually one of my kitties for a while. 

She was one of the kittens that Matela had had back in 2005 and I kept her for about 3 some years until we moved into Gabrielle’s when I was forced to find a new home for her.  Luckily, I found a great home for her with Ashlee who, during that time, was alone in her little Riverside apartment since Nate was off doing some military duties.  (Not sure on those details).So it was a lovely day to see her again, and to reunite her with her momma and brother, Matela and Darcy.  Unfortunately, they did not recognize their kinship and hissed at each other as if to say, “Hsssssss, thanks for abandoning me mom!”

“Hsssss, you’re the one who left me, bitch!”  And then they ran away from each other.

            After an evening of catching up, it was time to hit the Texan hay.  Ashlee and Nate went off to bed and I was left to get ready for bed in the restroom near the guest bedroom.  I washed my travel weathered face and went to brush my teeth only to find I had left my toothbrush in the other room. 

            I opened the door to find that friendly Big Kitty, the enormous alpha male main coon that had previously been rubbing all over me. 

            “Meooooow!”

            “Hi Big Kitty!,” I cooed to him as I reached my hand out to pet his face.

            “Meooooooooooow!,” he replied with a  little wild spark in his eye…. “Hsssssssss!”, he warned me.

            Whoa!  Friendly cat just went crazy!  I stood in the bathroom doorway a little unsure about why his demeanor shifted so abruptly.  My first instinct was to butter him up, “Hey, remember me?  I’m the one with the great ankles!”

            “Mrooooowwww…” he responded darkly….

            I shut the door between us so I could think.  This was so weird!  This cat was standing guard of the door!  How would I ever escape to the bedroom??  I thought maybe I would have to sleep in the tub…  No!  I did not travel halfway into the country just to set up camp next to a toilet!  So I called out to my friend…

            “Ashleeeeeeee,” I half whispered so as not to wake the children…. 

            … no response…

            I cracked open the door to peer at the cat without threat of him lunging in to kill me!  He looked up at me with wild, angry eyes and meowed again.  I shut the door quickly!  Suddenly his claw bearing paw shot out from under the door!  This was like The Shining, and soon this cat is going to find an ax and get me!

            I didn’t want him to think I was afraid of him, I had to be boss.   So my next tactic was to scare him.  I grabbed a towel, opened the door, and swished it in front of his face to shoo him away.  He dodged the towel, and hit it with his paw; claws snagging at the cloth and dissipating the threat of the scary towel.  Crap!  I closed the door again….

            I found a piece of an old PB&J sandwich on the floor.  One of the girls must have left it there for me to use as bait.  I picked it up, cracked open the door and let the cat sniff the yummy food.  “Mmmmmm, you like that?  You want it??  Go get it!”, I threw it away from the door in hopes Big Kitty would be hungrier for dried up bread over delicious me.  Only his eyes followed the bread, and then they looked sternly back up at me.  “Meoooooow,” he said as menacingly as ever.

            I tried the same tactic with a little squishy bath toy.  Maybe he wanted to play.  No… And then some paper I found on the floor… Nothing was working and I had been in that bathroom a near 10 minutes!  I was starting to lose hope!  Ashlee was asleep, I was running out of resources to free myself, and Big Kitty was practically marching back and forth behind the bathroom’s threshold.

            I peeked again, and to my joy and surprise, Big Kitty had gotten bored and wandered off into the kitchen!  I made a mad dash for my room.  Free!!!  … except I still hadn’t brushed my teeth…  

I considered going to bed all gross, but this was a rare night that I wasn’t stuck in a public Walmart bathroom; I needed to go back into the fire, so I grabbed a weapon: a plastic bag.

            As soon as Big Kitty saw me again and began to approach me, I cocked my weapon and shook it loudly and abruptly in his face.  He was out of there faster than lighting streaking across the mid-western sky.  I had won the battle!  I brushed my teeth and went to bed, but I kept that plastic bag nearby just in case the wild animal came back.  

            The next morning, I left my room gingerly,  half expecting Big Kitty to be there waiting for me again.  But he seemed to have forgotten the whole ordeal.  It wasn’t long before he was back to rubbing his face on my ankles in purry ecstasy.  It is this neurotic and unpredictable behavior that leaves the average person to question the legitimacy of cat-friends.  But I am not the average person; I accepted his rubby apologies and had no other dangerous confrontations with Big Kitty.  I passed my initiation.

Yay Texas!

July 8^th, 2013

Earlier today I was thinking it would just be a boring day driving through a bunch of the same stuff I’ve been seeing all along this trip: extensive green prairies, cows on farms, big sky... And although I saw those things, it wasn’t boring.  Usually the exciting adventure stuff happens when I stop my car somewhere- for gas, for a drink somewhere, a good picture; ya know?  The adventure continues.

This morning was dedicated to repacking my car.  Somehow in the 1 week visit to Cat’s, I managed to empty out my entire vehicle of my belongings.  A good chunk was in the guest bedroom I had been enjoying, and everything else was in their car since I insisted on vacuuming all that litter from Darcy’s mishap.  No, I am not driving into another state with a dirty interior!  The exterior, on the other hand, is a massive graveyard for all the bugs I’ve picked up since California… Anyway, it took me a bit longer than expected to reorganize.  Come 11ish am I said my goodbyes and drove away from la casa de Cat y Seba.

I drove 1 mile to the gas station to fill ‘er up and get some snackies for my Icee Cooler.  I also forgot to potty so that was on the station agenda, too.  I walked around and around and around that store- people kept getting into that stall before I could.  So I made a mental list of the items to purchase once I was done in the bathroom: iced coffee, string cheese, mixed fruit, and Spitz chili-lime sunflower seeds.   Weird combo, I know.  And after I was done, I ran over to the milkshake shop next door to grab a peachy shake!  (Even better combo!) 

The milkshake stop, however, didn’t accept debit cards for purchases under $5, so I ran allllll the way back to my car for my last five dollar bill, and ran aaaaaaaaalllllll the way back to the shop next door.  Success!!  And then I walked back satisfied with my awesome purchase.   FINALLY I was ready to drive! 

I had to make it to Fort Worth, Texas by a reasonable hour since I was planning on staying with the Gomez’s, so I didn’t pull over every 10-20 minutes for some amazing photo opportunity.  Only once… I saw some cool wind mills….  

I actually saw a lot of cool things on the road.  There were lots of run down shacks with vines and stuff taking over, LOTS of farms and grain mills, funny Texas road signs warning people not to litter with the headline, “Don’t mess with Texas,” a beautiful sunset over the lake, and of course that crazy sky.  I’m starting to think that California is missing out on sky potential! 

Regardless, I only stopped 2 other times in Texas: to check a warning light on my dashboard, and to get gas.  The light was just notifying me that I was out of window wiper fluid… no biggy.  And the gas… uhhh… here is where my adventure really started….

I got to the gas station after driving for a good 5 hours.  I turned off the engine, grabbed my wallet, looked inside… and my debit card was not there… It wasn’t anywhere!  I ran around my car, opening doors, looking around and trying not to panic yet.  After all, I still had a dollar left from that five I relinquished for my peachy shaken up ice-cream treat… Oh right, and my check book. 

Then a couple friendly fellows must have seen me panicking and asked me about my travels; they saw my sweet Cali license plates.  So I took a break from my troubles and talked to these Texan folk.  Turned out they were traveling themselves, to go on some radio interviews.  They told me they were a part of a country band that had gotten on the radios here.   The name of the band was called 121 North.

Anyway, we chit-chatted for a few minutes and I enjoyed that little break from reality.  They even offered me a sandwich, which I declined since I was still so full from all that milk shake and sunflower seeds.  At some point I mentioned, chuckling at my bad luck, that I had lost my debit card.  My theory is that it is either lost in my car, or fell out of my pocket when I was running around earlier. 

After helping me search my car in vain, a couple of those dudes went inside to see if they would accept a check.  NO.  So, to my very appreciative surprise they pitched in to get me the rest of the way to my destination.  Oh thank youuuuuu!  And as a thank you, I took their picture and will have to find them on Facebook to give it to them.

After I left that gas station, I was filled with a sense of love for Texas.  Thank you Mother Gaia for sending me some help!  It was the highlight of today’s excursion.  Thanks to their generosity I was able to make it to Fort Worth where I got to sleep on a bed!

Independence Day and Aliens (Part II)

July 8th, 2013

Home With Cat

Since the day I arrived here in Portales, NM, Cat, Seba, and I have been enjoying the most relaxing time together.  Most days we’ll go out for a walk where we meet friendly horses,  or we snooze away the afternoon, or enjoy a milk shake or a malt(I still don’t know the difference).  Yesterday we hung out at the neighbor’s garage sale and made grilled pizza.  Life in Portales is so laid back; I don’t even recognize the word ‘stress’ any more. 

Close Up of Freedom

We did have two major outings, however.  The first being our Fourth of July celebration.  Independence Day held particular significance to me this year, as I have just recently declared my own independence from life at home, a job that proved injurious on bad days, and a miserable feeling that this was it.  So this year I celebrated my true and extensive freedom from all those things that were holding me down; here I am taking my dream vacation and going back to Florida where my life began.

Pals

The other outing was a trip to Roswell to go to the Annual UFO Festival.  After two hours on the road of nothingness, we arrived in this very odd town and stopped at Taco Bellico for some Crunchwrap delight with delicious cheesy nacho saucers.  There were alien billboards and murals of UFOs and interplanetary scenes on nearly every brick-built wall.

The festival was scorchingly hot, there were unique people all about, and my tangerine shaved-ice was the best thing around.  We got to experience a festival dedicated to life on other planets, and we had a lot of laughs.  But then we decided that no amount of frozen shavings could make up for the intensity of the heat, so we drove back home.

Now it is time for me to head out on the road again.  I will miss my dear sister and Sebastian, but my stay here must end.  Tomorrow I am on my way to Fort Worth, Texas to see another dear friend, Miss Ashlee Gomez; choir nerds unite! 

Creepy Bat Bike

A Week in New Mexico (Part I)

July 7, 2013

I’ve been in Portales, NM for a week now and the experience has been awesome!  After my last night sleeping in my car, I wasn’t exactly eager to get back on the road, so my sister, Cat, her husband, Seba, and I have been spending lots of time together and relaxing. 

Darcy Wants to Eat the Birds

Loud Bird that Darcy Wants to Eat

The morning I woke up at the random rest-stop, I got to see where exactly I had adjourned my trip.  I mean, it had been pitch black when I arrived so I didn’t know what my surroundings really were.  I peaked out from my littered up bed and saw that there were lots of dirt, lots of trees, a public bathroom and some benches.  And, I got to see the little birds that had kept me up all night, along with a wild rabbit hopping about, so I may as well have been camping.  Luckily for me, the bathroom was in fair condition and I was able to freshen up, though.  Unluckily for me, when I got back to my car, Matela had left me a very special treat on my makeshift bed...

After taking care of THAT, I was able to hit the road for Cat’s place.  I pulled onto the highway was welcomed by the most amazing view!  The sky was decorated profoundly by vast cloud formations!  Light pierced its way between the dollops of whipped cream sky and radiated to the end of Earth.  I drove my humble self along the straightest road, going up and down the miniature hills that popped up from time to time.  As I went up a particularly buoyant hill, I realized that I was driving as if ascending into the heavenly realms of life.  I cannot describe adequately to you the elation I experienced traveling that early morning.

Santa Rosa

I stopped in Santa Rosa, a smallish town sprinkled, too, with gorgeous clouds.  I stopped there because I caught glimpse of a gas station sign offering $.95/gallon.  (WAAAAT!)  It turned out to be an old decrepit station that’s been out of business for years.  (oh...)  Oh well, I figured I could make use of the station and get some photos in.

After expending my energy photographing the road, the signs, the sky… I decided it’s time to go.  So I set out again.  But I think I stopped every 10 or so minutes, due to the fact that I was driving through the high plains on a 1-lane highway with no other cars, the infinite grassy fields, topped with that crazy sky above.  So it took me a few hours to get to my destination.

Once I reached Portales, I actually laughed out loud: This is where Catherine and Seba live; in the middle of nowhere!  The town is considered a micropolitan- population 12,000, and surrounded by rural farms on all sides.  It takes less than 10 minutes to drive from one side of town to the other.

I turned into the neighborhood and was struck by the quaintness of the community.  Neighbors waved friendlily at me, kitties sunbathed in unkempt lawns, and the wind offered a cool relief to a warm afternoon.  I arrived at Cat’s house and in immense joy, I walked up to her porch and knocked on the door.

A Warm Welcoming

Headlights, Litter Trials, Ants and Birds

That night was one of the most stressful of nights.  The chaos started when after all day of driving, my muscles were screaming at me to stop.  I needed to take some medicine for my pain, but since it was pitch black out, I could barely see the side of the road to stop at.  I pulled into the first stop I found and paused at the stop sign at the end of the ramp.  My choices were: nothing to left, nothing to the right, or go straight ahead and get back on the highway… So I just stopped there hoping nobody would come up from behind. 

Well, someone did just that.  A big vehicle, judging by the 4 lights that were leering at me, ruining my plans.  I continued straight ahead… So did they… Were they following me??  I think they must have thought I was headed for the next rest stop, too.  It was so dark outside with no street lights, I was trailing behind some cars to steal some of the light they were projecting out onto the road.  When I reached the rest stop 20 miles further down the road, that 4 head-lighted truck showed up, too.  To my relief, it was just a van full of friendly travelers.  Phew! 

I decided that this would be a good place for some quality slumber.  But getting to that point sure was a hassle.   I moved my stuff around to make space for me to sleep, and set the litter box to the side.   The problem was, it was raining so I couldn't put the box outside in the mud.  The kitties hadn’t used it in a while, so when I saw them sniffing around I opened the protective garbage bag to allow for some feline relief before bed.  After 2 days, Darcy was finally ready to venture into the box...

Darcy is my man cat and he’s a clumsy one.  He jumped into the litter and tipped the box over, spilling litter all over the foot of my little bed.  And then he ran away, startled by his lack of grace.  I had to bribe him with a treat to come out of hiding so we could try again.  It worked!  I got him safely back in the box and the poor guy had a hard time…. doing his business.  (sorry if this TMI, but I didn’t know that cats would grunt in similar fashion to humans when they have a stubborn poo).  Fact of the day… or another horrific thing to discover in my brand new car??  

Once that was over and I cleaned up the mess, it was time to sleep.  The rain was going strong, but I needed some freaking fresh air!  I opened the window and stuck my umbrella out, securing the end tightly to a pillowcase. 

Sleep was not happening.

The rain stopped and whatever junk was in the tree above, fell abruptly on the car roof, startling me awake... again...  The box will now spend the rest of the night outside with the ants.

Oh the ants… the rain had washed them out of their holes to swarm all over the dirt around my car.  And these were no friendly California ants...  these were giant desert ants, 2 cm long and multicoloured… and they were all over the ground!  So when I had to get out of the car, I had to do little ant dances so as to avoid having them doing the cha-cha up my legs…

Once I was actually able to lay down again, I struggled to relax.  The cats were too excited to have stopped moving and they were transfixed on the little birds that were flittering outside all night.  Apparently, it was mating season for these little buzzards…

I guess eventually I got some sleep, though because I found myself waking the next morning- ready for a new (and better day)… 

Waking Up At Walmart

Day 2 - Flagstaff to New Mexico

This morning I woke up in the back of my car to the hustle and bustle that one would normally expect to find in a Walmart parking lot.  Early morning shoppers bumbled passed my SUV, not even noticing the sleepy girl with her 2 cats inside.  Other travelers in RVs and semi’s had already departed for their own journeys.  9 am was a little late waking, I guess, in Flagstaff.  Regardless, I took my time to get ready. 

Finally, I got back on the I-40 headed east, but it wasn’t more than 5 minutes ‘til I was pulling over to the side of road to take pictures of amazing clouds and mountains.  After going through my pictures, I realize that I am pulling over a little too liberally; it’s taking me forever to get anywhere!

 

My first real stop was the entrance to the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.   I didn’t actually take the tour of the ancient forest, because kitty number 1 and kitty number 2 would fry… So I parked at the rest area, in the farthest corner of the lot so as to be in the precious shade.  I think I found the only tree in a 30 mile radius.  Then I walked around and took some photos of the car, some weird statue thing, looked at the gift shop, and helped myself to a fairly clean restroom. 

And off I went.

My next adventure was taking photos of a beautiful canyon right before hitting the New Mexico border.  I struggled trying to find the best way to shoot it from a limited, road-side point of view, and with only a few minutes.   Here’s what I accomplished.

10 minutes later I was taking my self-portrait at the border when the storm of the evening commenced on my head.  That storm was off and on for the rest of the night!  As I drove through NM, lightening was streaking across the sky, and the next moment the clouds parted and the heavenly rays of light shot down in revolt.  At one point a giant brown cloud was looming towards the highway, and I grew a bit weary.  I turned off whatever bumpin’ tune was on at the time to search a local weather station.  No weather reports were on, which told me there was probably not much to worry about. 

I reached Albuquerque as the rain was subsiding.  I was in a lot of pain from driving, so I drove around looking for an adequate place to take a break.  I parked Sally in front of a gentlemen’s club downtown, not really thinking at the time that that’s a little weird. 

I didn’t get a block away when I realized that downtown was equivalent to badtown.  Some creepies started hootin’ at me, and I was being eyed by some dude with a face tattoo.  Girls in mini-skirts and tanned weathered faces shuffled past me, some yelling at cars nearby.  And I was just pointing my camera toward the rainbows in the skies.  After scary-face-tattoo-man came around I made a rushed return to Sally, my sexy SUV, and escaped.

I drove a mile away into the outskirts and found a lovely pizza place that had the best pizza and the best beer in the world.  But my adventure wasn’t over for the day.

I had still a couple hours to get to Catherine's place in Portales, NM, who was eager for my arrival and was constantly calling to check how close I was getting.  Unfortunately, I was at the end of my endurance level and could only drive another hour before I had to stop for the night. 

Most of you don’t know that I deal with chronic pain, so driving all day long is wildly taxing on my body.  So I made a desperate stop to sleep at the next rest area.

That was a horrible evening….

Desert Driving

June 29, 2013- To Flagstaff

Wow!  What a freakin day man!  I had every intention to wake up early and finish my last few preparations for the trip so that I would get to Flagstaff in the late afternoon.  That did not happen as planned.  I got up late and dilly-dallied for a while before I actually started to drive. 

What’s strange is that I feel like whatever I did this morning was a few days ago.  I guess that’s how it goes when you’re traveling great distances, right?  Needless to say, it was a long day driving through mostly desert waste land. 

I had this realization though as I was passing through the 125 degree death weather; that I’m actually pretty accustomed to the desert scene more than I thought.  I’m going to miss the giant boulders, the rattlesnake warnings, and the threat of coyotes.  So I soaked up as much Mojave mojo as I could.

That is to say, I got myself out of the comfort of my air conditioned vehicle into the hell-like conditions to take some pictures…. but only some… I cheated a few times and took pictures from said comfort zone.  I doubt any of those behind the window pictures will end up being worth saving…

So, after some good solid driving for 8+ hours I made it to Flagstaff, Arizona.  Granted, I am parked outside of a Walmart for some nappy time.  Hope the kitties will allow me some slumber.  They both had a burst of energy since the car is no longer in motion….

By the way, driving with cats is not an easy task, particularly when you want to record your experiences on film.  Matela, the mama kitty, was more adapted- she ate the food I gave her, drank some water and explored the car a little more.  Darcy, the man cat, was a little more traumatized.  He would not eat unless it was a kitty treat, and I had to put water on his paws and face so he would lick it off.  Since they mostly stayed huddled up together in the carrier, I rubbed ice on their fur to cool them down.

The litter box I have set up in a garbage bag and it's sitting in the very back of the car.  I open up the bag when they go sniffing in the area.  This usually only happens when we stop.  Matela got confused and peed on the bag when we arrived here, though.  Darcy still has not ventured for the box.  I bought a Litter Genie, but after Matela’s first poo I have discovered that no amount of layers of plastic will make it less horrible to have a cat take a shit in your brand new car.  These are very sad moments for me…

Well, I don’t want to stay here any longer than I have to.  Gotta wake up early to head out for New Mexico.  

A Few Explanations

It's 2:08 and I'm still awake.  This morning (I mean, later this morning) I'm supposed to be waking up early and setting off on the road.  Two weeks ago I made this random decision to pick up my life and throw it in my car and take off.  I decided it's time for me to get back to my roots, learn about who I am and where I come from.  I want to get to know the family that I have been so far away from my whole life.  So I'm moving to Orlando.

A lot of people have been wondering why I would make such a drastic change.  Why would I choose to go to Florida when I could stay here in California, where the weather is fair?  A lot of people are concerned about my plan.  The truth is, I'm looking to have an adventure.  I don't want to know what I'll be doing tomorrow, next month, or even 5 years from now.  I want life to be a mystery.  I want to just live and I'm tired of living for the clock, living for this wonderful future I'm supposed to have, living to please other people's expectations.  It's time for me to live for me.  And you know what?  -My heart yearns for something unexpected, exciting, and yes, even drastic.

Two days after I had these musings I quit my job.  It was official- I'm going to Florida.  Luckily, I have some pretty remarkable family waiting for me in Orlando (and scattered across the U.S., for that matter).  Aunt Jan was kind enough to offer me a place to stay in the home that is actually up for sale.  That means, it's a temporary place to stay, but I'm hoping to find a job and a place of my own soon thereafter.

In just a few hours I will be loading the cats in the car and we will be headed towards the Mojave Desert.  It's supposed to be in the 120s tomorrow afternoon... I am not looking forward to that kind of death heat, but luckily the car is new and the air conditioner is functioning!  My goal tomorrow is to make it to Flagstaff, AZ!