Thursday, June 15, 2006

my new room

I spent a LONG time painting yesterday. First I had to do a second coat on the ceiling which had been blue. Then I started on the walls - they are green again, like my old room at Stonecliff. I love it.

Angie came and helped with the parts that were too high for me.


Tuesday, June 13, 2006

FAQs of my summer road trip

When are you leaving?
This Friday!! probably after morning traffic dies down.

Who is coming with you?
Laura Rod. for leg 1, Elizabeth Stewart for leg 2, Angie for leg 3, Brent and Jeremy for leg 4, Brent for leg 5, Courtney for leg 6. (see appendix for further details)

What is your route?
I20 to Dallas, from Dallas through NM to Utah to the Grand Canyon. Then to California, then up the coast to Seattle and then back east on I90.

Are you camping?
yes - at National Parks, but I'm also staying with family. I'll spend about a week (next week!) in Dallas, TX with my sister - Elizabeth, her husband Milan (hurray for the Czechs in the world cup!) and the kids (see May 9). Then I have a few nights of indoors in San Francisco when Angie and I can stay with a friend of Jeremy's. In Seattle I have a brother and his wife and cousins. And I'll also go up to Vancouver Island to stay with my Grandpa and Gram. I'll make a stop in Chicago where I have lots of cousins too.

So is your family all over the world?
Yeah, pretty much.

Are you going to camp alone?
Nope. I won't have to - God provided someone to be with me for each leg of the trip.

What are you most excited about seeing?
Utah! cuz it looks amazing. And also Yellowstone because I've always been in disbelief that there is actually an upside-down waterfall. And the coast of California because people talk about that a lot. Oh, and the Grand Canyon.

What are you most nervous about?
Falling of the edge of the Grand Canyon. No, seriously, I used to be really nervous about getting all the way out there -- say to California, and then not feeling like driving back. Scared of making the committment to the whole trip: afraid I'd not make it back. Now I'm nervous about running out of money. But I'm budgeting really carefully, and God won't leave me in Nebraska.

How many miles are you going to travel?
I've got a rough estimate of 9200 miles, but that's just mapquest-ed directions between cities, so I'm really not sure how much various backroads/expeditions from that trip will add up to. I'll probably double the mileage of my car. =)
oo, that reminds me Laura and I will watch my speedometer make it to 10,000 as we drive to Jackson.

How much money do you expect gas will cost?
I think something like $920 total, but I'll have people to help pay the costs. Estimating is tricky because I did the math at $2.75 and $2.80 a gallon, and it's fluxuating obviously. But I also estimated 28 miles per gallon and I hope to get over 30 on the highway. We'll see.

Have you got some good music?
Oh yes. I've been working on some complilations...see sidebar.

And books on tape?
I don't actually have any, but I do have lots of sermons on CD, and perhaps people coming for shorter sections can borrow from the library. And we'll read aloud to each other.

How many new states will you be in?
I'm going to hit a total of 24 states which includes 16 new ones for me: Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma (for a moment), New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa or Wisconsin.

Did you teach math?
I did.

What's the weirdest thing you've planned for?
I just printed out 3 pages of NPR stations nationwide. (how else I am I going to get news? and Cartalk? =)

Take lots of pictures.
Okay, that's not a question, but now I can since I am borrowing someone's camera! and that is awesome.

When are you leaving again?
Friday

This Friday?
Yes! Can you believe it?

Did you get your car checked up?
Yup - today. Oil change, tire rotation etc. And for free because I had a coupon! And the guy showed me where all the important fluids are.

Where did you get this idea?
I think I was trying to fall asleep or maybe I was in the shower - something seemingly random when the idea popped into my head last November or December. I told Brent about it and he already knew he'd like a ride from SanFran to Seattle, so the plan was set in motion.

Appendix:

Leg 1 - Leave from Stonecliff on Friday with Laura Rod. Drive to Jackson, Mississippi and stay with her parents that night. On Saturday continue on through Louisiana to Dallas to the Polaks'. Laura will fly back to the Atl Saturday night, and I'll stay in Texas with my sister through the week.

Leg 2 - EStew will fly out to Dallas and we'll drive west, hoping up to hit Oklahoma, and on to Albuquerque, New Mexico (and play the alphabet game getting lots of q's...) and then go up to a place near the 4 corners. A friend of mine has parents there who will let us stay with them on Saturday night. After standing in 4 states at once, we'll take a scenic drive through the SW corner of Colorado. We'll come out of Colorado at Arches National Park. We'll spend the week seeing sites in Utah: Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce, Zion.

Leg 3 - Pick up Angie at the Las Vegas airport and then head out back to Arizona to spend the 4th of July weekend at the Grand Canyon where we may actually meet up with Jimmy. Angie and I will drop Elizabeth at the Flagstaff airport and then head out on a 10 hour trek to Sequoia NP where we have reservations on the night of July 4th. The next morning we'll walk through the Sequoias and then drive up to Yosemite. I have a cousin at Yosemite so hopefully we'll meet up with her. Then we'll roll into San Francisco so Angie has a day in the city before flying home.

Leg 4 - Brent, Jeremy and I will down the California coast to Pfeiffer Big Sur Sunday through Tuesday. We'll drive back north to San Francisco for Jeremy to catch a flight back to Atl.

Leg 5- Brent and I will continue up the coast to Seattle, stopping at Point Reyes, Redwoods, and Portland.

Leg 6 - On July 15th Courtney flies into SeaTac, and so begins the final leg. The plan is to take the Port Angeles ferry up to Vancouver Island on Sunday. We'll spend a few days in Duncan, British Columbia. Then Courtney and I will head back down to Washington and spend my birthday at Mt. Rainier. Then we'll start east on I90 first to Yellowstone, passing through Idaho and Montana, and stopping for a night in the Bitterroot Mtns (where Sacajawea is from!). Then on to the Grand Tetons. We'll drive across Wyoming to Devil's Tower just outside of South Dakota. The next day we'll continue on to the Black Hills, seeing Rushmore, Wind Cave, etc. We'll drive through the Badlands and then on through Nebraska, because I'm told that the Sandhills are pretty crazy looking. Then I'm not sure if we'll continue on I90 (through Wisconsin) or go down a bit and pick up I80 through Iowa. We're headed for Wheaton, Illinois. We'll finish up the last 720 miles to Atlanta on August 1st or 2nd after breaking in Chicago. And we'll arrive at our new home on Euclid Avenue.

Monday, June 12, 2006

in a waterfall

I have to write this because I don't want to forget it. On Saturday we went on a really great hike and I had so much fun. We hiked in to Panther Creek Falls which is just south of Tallulah Falls up 85. Apparently the trail is quite long, and you can camp along it, but we just hiked in about 3 miles to a sweet waterfall and swimming hole, and I had so much fun climbing around - scampering I should like to say - around the waterfall. For some reason I got a strange amount of bravery, and I just went all over it. It was the perfect kind of waterfall that is big enough to be fun, but not so big that it is really dangerous to climb. We spent a few hours climbing rocks, swimming in the pool, getting pounded by the waterfall and then drying on a rock before we hiked back. It was a nice day, and I would do that hike again.

so I don't want to forget it.

hem's secret

craziness - Angie just called to tell me she heard Hem being played on a Liberty Mutual commercial. It's "Half Acre" from Rabbit Songs.

This blog tells the story - http://www.hhcc.com/?p=146

At first I wasn't quite sure about how I felt about this - them going mainstream/commercial. But I'm also really excited for them because they Are great, and I'm glad that others see that and that the band will get pubilcity which is good for them.


and they never breathed a word about it when I saw them in concert a week ago, which, by the way, was awesome.

It's actually not 'by the way'. It was an excellent concert. Hem was fabulous. Their sound is so full and rich. I like the description that was on the above link: "Kind of lullaby meets folk meets chamber quartet meets Ken Burns." Sally's voice still blows me away. Like Briana said, if I had a voice like that I'd never stop singing. After Hem played I heard Over the Rhine, and they were really great too. I only know a few OTR songs but they opened with one I knew and loved. The rest of it was different, but she has an amazing voice. Wow. They were funny too. Funny like a really dry sense of humor really low key and subtle that you weren't sure they were trying to be funny, and it made me laugh so hard.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

wayfaring.com


Okay, so it might take a while to load, but that is my trip. Look at that. More details might be added, and if I get into it, and have time/abilities I can add notes and photos to each of those little sites on the map, and you can see where I've been and what I'm up to.

juggernaut

is a word I like to use

Today I signed a contract for a new house! Whew. I still feel my head reeling at all that is going on right now. I was describing my life to Courtney as a juggernaut right now - I feel it is flying downhill with packing, planning, budgeting, packing, cleaning, organizing, looking for a place to live, reserving campsites, keeping people updated on plans...and the suddenly there are only 7 days till I leave and 700 things to get in place. Then bam, we run into a perfect house in a sweet location, and in a matter of 3 days we've found it, seen it and signed for it.

The house is about 8 miles south of where I live. This means that my commute to work is 5 miles (before it was 3). It's in a much cooler part of town - actually it's in the city. Whereas before I really lived in suburbia, this is city living. It's a very old neighborhood of Atlanta. I'm a few houses from Inman Park, a block from the Inman Park metro, a block from another sweet park with a pond and fountain (with turtles and an egret). Half a mile up the street is Little Five Points which is a happening district (where I went to see Hem on Saturday). Another half mile further that way is Candler Park which is a bigger park and a little neighborhood with some nice restaurants. A mile in another direction is Piedmont Park which is like Atl's central park. wow. That's all I can list for now, but I'm sure that's not all.

The house is a little yellow 2-story house. A woman lives upstairs. There are two front rooms - a living room & dining/foosball room. There is a sweet red fireplace in one, and a long window seat with a bookshelf underneath in the other. The kitchen is amazing. It's got big tiles, a stove with 6 or 9 burners (no kidding), 2 counters that are made of wood, cute-curly handles on the cabinets...am I getting boring? I should take pictures. There are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. I have the small one in the back which is currently painted yellow with a blue ceiling. Looks kind of cool, but I think I'll change it. Charlie said we could paint - and I can even do it next week before I leave.

In front is a teeny tiny yard with some nice flowers and a cute iron fence. A front porch! with hooks for a porch swing which Courtney already has! The back yard is a wee bit bigger.

We signed this afternoon and met Katie, our landlord's wife and her new baby girl, Hazel, who I seriously thought was a baby doll when I first walked up the steps and saw her sitting on the porch. no joke. Hazel is 5 days and 5lbs. I remembered a story about someone thinking my sister Carol was a cabbage patch doll in the airplane. Amy and I took a walk in the neighborhood and saw so many people riding their bikes which made me excited. All cool-looking people riding their bikes and smiling.

I'm excited, but nervous. It's going to be a big change. But for some reason I'm more nervous than I was when I actually moved to Atlanta, not knowing anyone, not knowing my way around, not knowing my work.

I am packing up all my belongings, and the girls and others will move it for me while I'm gone. So, I'll be leaving Stonecliff Drive in a week, and returning in 6 weeks to Euclid Avenue.

that's probably why I'm feeling nervous,
feeling that things are moving like a juggernaut