Cups Glasses Mugs

2010-07-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

MN to CA

2009-06-17T07:01:00.000-07:00

I arrived home to Lodi, CA on June 11th. After 4800 miles of driving my Ford Focus deserved a rest.

I spent a few days visiting Anne, Sue, and Gus in Minneapolis, and was then ready for the final leg of my trip. From the Twin Cities I headed west through South Dakota and then Wyoming. Eventually I passed through Utah, then Nevada, and Finally California. All this took me two days - 15 hours of driving the first day and over 18 the second day. I entered into CA late at night, and stayed with my aunt in Truckee near Lake Tahoe. I woke up to see the Sierras, and rolled into the Central Valley that morning.

Minneapolis, MN on my ride home after watching a three hour play at the Guthrie Theater titled The Intelligent Homosexuals Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.

The heavily-leaded low-riding Focus.

Rain and on the plains in South Dakota

Wyoming

As I made my way south on I25 an unfortunate and frightening accident unfolded in front of me on the road. A couple in their 70s had pulled over onto the shoulder to check their map. Once they found their bearings the husband rolled the car into the road to make a U-turn. He must have not seen the Ford F350 hauling a enormous camper trailer barreling down the road behind him. A careless mistake. The truck sliced through the front of the silver hybrid. Had the point of impact been just a few foot further back the scene would have been morbid. I was a safe distance behind the collision, but near enough to clearly see the explosion of car chunks launch in all directions, and watch the truck leap up into the air and left off the road, bounce back on again, and then slide back off and into the grass with the trailer whipping behind it. I immediately shouted to myself "Holly shit," pulled over, jumped out of my car, and started to jog toward the car to help. The driver of the silver hybrid stumbled out his door. I thought he was about to fall over by the way he was barley holding himself upright, but he managed to get around the back side of his car and to his wife's door to help her out. The car was dead, but the human wounds summed up to little more than the wife's broken wrist. The couple were calm as cucumbers the entire time, but the people in truck, physically unscathed, where near hysterical, and whey were getting on my nerves. Fortunately, they called down after a while. Their truck was a unrepairable mess. The front right portion was a gaping machine wound and the wheel had broken off and was resting in the middle of the road, so the truck was resting on it's suspension arms. Various engine fuels, red, green, blue, were running down the slope of the road, and car parts were scattered out over the entire area. Myself and a few other travelers helped get things under control. I rolled the truck wheel out of the road and onto the shoulder to set Kay and her broken wrist down onto it to wait for the ambulance. She was a bit shaken up, and her wrist was clearly broken, but she was fine. Cellular reception was scarce, but thankfully one guy was able to contact 911. I drove more cautiously after that.

Kay, seated on the truck wheel among bits and pieces of her car, holding her broken wrist, and waiting for the ambulance.

I saw this greasy ball bearing on the asphalt. It was from the separated front wheel of the large pickup truck that drove over the front of Kay's car.

I25 in Wyoming is a two-lane interstate in cattle range land. It is beautiful out there, and one reason I like it so much is that since so few people or buildings are present, it is not hard to immagine what this part of the world looked like before modern development. You can get a good idea of what the landscape is like from the several pictures I have posted here. This is not the sort of place I would have expected to see a street cleaner poking along at 5 miles per hour sweeping up stuff. But, there it was. Seventy (not exagerating) miles from the nearest town: a street cleaner.

Wyoming on I80 West

Twenty miles outside of Salt Lake City, Utah

Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah

Nevada

Nevada, 11:00pm

Sierra Nevada mountains viewed from I80.

Home sweet home. The view out my windshield of Lodi vineyards half a mile from my home.

Some shots from the neighborhood.

Here are some shots from the Altamont Pass that I took while driving (about as safe as texting while driving) to the San Jose area a few days ago.

Ohio

2009-06-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

Rope swinging in an Ohio lake

Killing time.

People under a tent.

Squating.

Best friends forever.

Claudia.

Mae (Hollywood) Petrehn

Believe it or not, in this shot Mae was carefully placing 15 quarters between her but cheeks. Soon after carried she then, step by stiff legged step, dows the hallway to and deposit them all, from a standing position, into the Quaker Oats container in the background. Like I said, believe it or not.

Hungover after a night of shoving quarters up her read end.

Assisted birthday candle blow.

Quality.

Human power.

Morning bench sitting.

The Quaker school dining hall/gymnasium

AFHVS

2009-06-05T08:09:00.001-07:00

Agriculture, Food and Human Values (ASFVS) society and Association for the study of Food and Society (ASFS) annual meeting.

"Pride in the past. Love of place. Hope for the future."

The Floras and their students.

The ISU crew festively representing.

Neal dancing with Doug.

"I'm not drunk or trashy!"

Amy and John

Fabio double fisting it.

Tomoko and Petra.

Claudia doesn't like it when I take photographs of her.

Mae and Arion.

Jan and Neal.

Farm tour.

The brew master elaborating on brewing good beer at Elc Creek Cafe and Aleworks in Millheim, PA.

Mae taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.

Nikki waving a good bye to me.

To top off a wonderful conference complete with good food, great people, and challenging ideas, a version of my thesis, "Keeping the wineglass full: Exploring the intersection of sustainable agriculture and sustaining winegrower legacy in Lodi, California," won the award for best graduate student paper. Below is a photograph taken of me by Jan as I tried to come up with something meaningful and relevant to say in front of three hundred people after accepting the award. All I could do was gush something to the effect of "I love food and agriculture. Thanks for the cash award. See you all next year." Had I been more prepared or more competent at on-the-spot words I would have taken the opportunity to publicly thank Neal Flora, my major professor, for her two years of mentorship. Neal has set me on an academic course which I will continue on for many years to come. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to merge my personal life with my scholarly work. This gives my work more meaning - at least to me. It allows me to contribute to my family's livelihood and to the well-being of Lodi wingrowers more effectively than I would if I were an outsider. Furthermore, because of Neal's guidance and my thesis I've rediscovered my place among my family, our vineyards, and my hometown (Lodi). I'm looking forward to being home this summer and being part of the winery operation as well as continuing my work with Lodi winegrowers when I begin my PhD program at UC Davis this coming fall. Thank you, Neal!

China town

2009-06-05T07:34:00.001-07:00

Annie Hauck-Lawson, my friend and co-author of Gastropolis: Food and New York City took me on a fast-paced tour of Brooklyn's China Town before we drove down to the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values conference in State College, PA. Annie and I browsed the many Chinese markets, most of which are food markets where you can buy anything and everything including live frogs (for eating), eels, dried squid, and cans of MSG.

"Hi, I'm Annie, and I like food."

"Chop Chop"

Frog, it's what's for dinner

Annie describing how the dried squid are sliced thin and traditionally eaten as salty snacks along side cold beer. A Chinese version of beer nuts or pretzels, I guess.

There was no shortage of fresh and live fish in China town.

Some of the less appetizing Chinese dining options.

Purple poultry

Chicken feet

MOMA

2009-06-05T07:23:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn, NY

2009-06-01T11:11:00.001-07:00

Brooklyn grocery store reflective self portrait.

Discarded I-heart-NY plastic bag.

Lucinda has been living in Brooklyn for about four years now.

Live music at Moto - an amazing restaurant.

The city.

The Subway

Seven dollar ants on a log.

Luc at PS1, an old public school that has been converted into an art gallery.

Luc strolling out of the wine bar.

The view of Manhattan from the Pulaski Bridge.

An angel bike. These white memorial bicycles are installed at the many sites around the city where an unfortunate accident between a driver and a rider led to the cyclist's death.

Hipster girl and taco wagon in Williamsburg.

Street art: Colored tape and geometric ideas on Beford Ave. This artist's stuff is everywhere in Brooklyn. Everywhere I went I saw his/her work stuck to walls.

Kids at a root-top party I found myself at.

The view of NYC from the roof-top.

Late-night laundry.

Brooklyn has a large Polish population, and Kielbasa is a traditional Polish sausage. This is a meat market on Manhattan Ave. in Brooklyn.

Backtracking to Long Island

2009-06-01T10:28:00.001-07:00

No, I did not fall off of the face of the earth. Just off the Internet. I'm now at the Onley Friends School in Ohio. Onley Friends is a Quaker college prep. boarding school in the southern part of the state, and is built among some of the most pastoral landscapes I have every seen. It is beautiful here and the agricultural landscape aesthetically harks to the pre-industrial past. After attending the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values academic conference in Pennsylvania, myself and a few ISU friends have met up with friends-of-friends who work here at the school. We are staying in the old guest house for a few nights. This evening a mob of us will ride our bikes ten miles over rolling gravel roads to a local pig roast. But, before I get to the present I have some catching up to do. I need to backtrack to NY (again).

From Boston I drove south where I and my car took a ferry from New London, Connecticut to Orient Point, New York.

From Orient Point it was a short drive to Bedell Cellars where I met up with my friend Trent again. Before beginning his PhD work at Cornell, Trent was hired by the then new owner of Bedell winery in Long Island, NY. Trent's job was to redesign the the small family-owned winery into a wine tourist destination with aspirations of producing some of New York's finest wines. They succeeded! Bedell Cellars has been awarded 8 of the 12 90-plus Wine Spectator awards earned by New York state wineries. On the afternoon I arrived at Bedell, the tasting room and picnic areas was swarming with visitors. Long Island, unlike the rest of NY, has a more Mediterranean climate with higher summer temperatures. The climate is capable of ripening and maturing many of the red verities commonly grown in California and France. I had the pleasure of tasting Bedell's 2006 Musee: an exceptional estate-grown blend of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Petit Verdot. Trent was even generous enough to send me home with a few bottles.

Peer pressure

2009-05-21T14:07:00.001-07:00

Pink is so sweet

2009-05-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Bling and blanco

2009-05-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

As the fixed gear craze sweeps the nation there are winners and there are losers. This one is pretty sweet.

Cambridge, MA

2009-05-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

Katy and Sean...

Christina's Ice Cream in Cambride, MA

2009-05-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

I had some of the best, and with out a doubt the most unique, ice cream at Christine's Ice Cream in Cambridge, MA: Cardamon and Pistachio.

Gimme Coffee!

2009-05-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Ithaca has their own coffee roaster called Gimme Coffee! (http://www.gimmecoffee.com/) Their baristas are all super skilled and their brewed coffee is stellar. AND, their logo is red and white. I was in heaven.

FLX wines

2009-05-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

The Finger Lakes (FLX) grape growing region in New York state has historically produced Concord grapes for Welch's - the company that produces much of the grape juice and jelly consumed in the United States. The Concord grape is an American variety developed in 1849 in Massachusetts, is suited for this climate, and is very sweet. Dr. Welch developed the first Concord grape juice in 1869.

While wine is commonly made from Concords, it's quality is lacking. FLX vineyardists have recently shifted away from commodity production of Concord grapes, and have added value to their agricultural operations by planting cool climate European and American premium winegrapes varieties and by learning to make fine wines expressing FLX terroir. Small and locally owned and operated wineries have sprouted up all around the lakes within the past decade, and 250 wineries are now in operation in the area.

FLX wines are now well known within the broader region for their Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Vidal Blanc, Seyval Blanc, and especially for Riesling, but recognition of their wines outside of the region stands as a major barrier to realizing market potential. Currently, about 250 wineries are operating in the FLX.

Trent, his friends, and I toured three wineries near Seneca Lake: Redtail Ridge, Anthony Road and (?). We tasted several Chardonnays, Rieslings, Gewürztraminers, and Pinot Gris, and was I was most impressed with their Rieslings. This is not surprising since Riesling is the FLX's flagship varietal.

As the weather warms up and our moods swing in favor of whites, I hope you all try a bottle from the FLX. The Rieslings and Gewürztraminers are a good bet.

Watkins Glen State Park

2009-05-18T06:04:00.000-07:00

Trent, two of his friends (one a viticulture and enology graduate student at Cornell, and the other a staff member in a local winery), and myself hoofed it up the Gourde Trail in Watkins Glen State Park.

Along the way we saw this snake trying to choke down a toad.

Ithaca farmer's market

2009-05-18T06:00:00.001-07:00

First thing Trent and I did was grab some food at Ithaca's farmer's market. The market venue is a long open air barn-like structure situated next to Cayuga Lake. Every Saturday the space fills with local vendors selling everything from Sri Lankan meals (what we ate) to european-style pastries (what we also ate). Purple asperigus too!

Ithaca, NY

2009-05-18T05:51:00.000-07:00

Now that I have caught the blog up to the present time I can get to work on telling you of Ithaca. This trip keeps getting getter and better, and if the rest of this trip matches the time I have had here in Ithaca, my trip will have been a success.

This past February I organized a series of sustainable viticulture lectures and discussion groups at Iowa State University. Most of the attendees were Iowa vit. practitioners, but Trent Preszler happened to be visiting ISU from Cornell University in Ithaca for a different engagement. Trent is involved in viticulture and wine (http://www.bedellcellars.com/index.htm) and attended one of the events I organized. We met, got to talking, and I told him about my road trip plans. He extended an invitation to visit Ithaca and the Finger Lake wine region, and I took him up on his offer. Trent has been an exceptional host, and I've made a new friend in the process.

I have many photographs from Ithaca, but since Google Blog permits only five photos to be uploaded per post I'll include the rest of Ithaca in separate posts.

Niagara Falls, NY

2009-05-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

Just 45 minutes north of Buffalo on I-90, on the US and Canadian border, the Niagara River leads to the spectacular Niagara Falls. One curious thing about the Niagara River is that it flows south to north - the opposite direction of most rivers.

Buffalo Wings

2009-05-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

This is the Anchor Bar in Buffalo. According to local history the Anchor Bar's owners Frank and Teressa Belissimo were the inventors of Buffalo wings back in 1964. Named after Buffalo, NY, "wings" are deep fried chicken wings covered in a vinegar-based cayenne pepper hot sauce and margarine or buffer.

The Atlas of Popular Culture in the North Eastern United States describes the 4 legends of the origin of Buffalo wings. (http://www.geography.ccsu.edu/harmonj/atlas/buffwing.htm)

Most people who have even thought about the origin have heard and believe the first version of the legend . Teressa and Frank Bellisimo owned the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, NY. In this version, she invented Buffalo chicken wings in 1964 when her son Dominic and his friends came to the bar looking for a quick late night snack. "Mother Teressa" (Buffalonians take their wings very seriously) was preparing to make chicken stock with a bunch of wings and, improvising, stuck them under the broiler (later they switched to deep frying), sprinkled them with a hot sauce she concocted from a commercially available base (Frank's), took some celery sticks off the antipasto dishes, put some blue cheese dressing (the house dressing) in a small bowl and served them.
All the principals are now deceased, but Dominic, who took over the bar from his parents, told the story differently to Calvin Trillin (1980) of the New Yorker magazine. According to Dominic, it was Friday night in the bar and since people were buying a lot of drinks he wanted to do something nice for them at midnight when the mostly Catholic patrons would be able to eat meat again. So, according to this version, Dom did not stop by with his friends, he was trying to be the good host at the bar. It was still Terressa who came up with the idea.
Frank told a third story. It involved a mis-delivery of wings instead backs and necks for making the bar's spaghetti sauce. Faced with this unexpected resource, he says he asked Teressa to do something with them. Although the details are a little different, none of the tellers ever seemed too upset about the other versions. After all, the bar was a family affair and so were the wings it has become famous for. It was Frank who was memorialized in the 1977 City of Buffalo proclamation of July 29 as Chicken Wing Day, though.
A fourth version of the legend was reported by Calvin Trillin of the New Yorker magazine in 1980 but it appears nowhere else in the published references to Buffalo wings. Trillin reported on an African-American named John Young who said he developed a special "mambo sauce." Chicken wings in mambo sauce became the specialty at his Buffalo restaurant in the mid-sixties. He registered the name of his restaurant, John Young's Wings 'n Things, at the county courthouse before leaving Buffalo in 1970. "If the Anchor Bar was selling chicken wings nobody in Buffalo knew about it then," according to Young. Trillin checked with a local poultry distributor and found that both John Young and Frank Bellissimo were buying a lot of chicken wings in the middle sixties but no sales receipts were saved. The wings Young sold, however, were prepared a little differently. They were not cut in half (the tip is removed first usually in Buffalo wings) and were served breaded with the sauce covering them rather than being tossed in the sauce. In 1980 they were still being served that way in John Young's Wings 'n Things (he had returned to Buffalo by then) and in a restaurant owned by his brother, Bird Land. No telephone listings for either restaurant could be found in 1997.

Buffalo, NY

2009-05-17T19:35:00.000-07:00

As I left Buffalo, NY for Niagara Falls I could not help but feel sad for what Buffalo used to be, and what it is today. As an outsider to the community and not knowing much of the city's history, I can only say so much, but similar to Cleveland, Buffalo feels and looks like a place that was once a thriving and growing urban center. Somehow the bottom fell out, most of the people drained away, and what is left is near lifeless shell. Looking around Buffalo is like looking at a grounded airplane. A thing built to fly, but now sits pilotless. As evidence by the many beautiful buildings, shop windows, theaters, office spaces, and factories, this place was once a great place to live. Where did the people go? Why are the main street store fronts vacant? Does no one work in the factories any more? There are few cars on the streets.

With this said, Buffalo is not completely deserted. On Allen street a handful of restaurants and bars were hopping on the Friday night I was there. Not too hungry, I gravitated toward Just Vino wine bar. (Big surprise, huh?)

I ordered the "Unidentified red varietal" flight, and was pleased that one Lodi wine was one of the four. It was Jessie's Groves 2005 Ancient Vine Carignane (http://www.wine-compass.com/DesktopModules/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=6902).

A "flight" of wine "a selection of wines, usually between three and eight glasses, but sometimes as many as fifty, presented for the purpose of sampling and comparison" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wine_tasting#Tasting_flights).

Of the four wines served in the flight, I enjoyed the Lodi wine most. Of course, I am biased toward my home-town wines, but the wines were served to me blind, and it was not until I had formed my opinion of all four that I turned over the label to reveal the region or origin, variety, and winery. Go Lodi!

Three days into my trip, I had wandered into two encounters with Lodi wines. The first in Ohio, and the second in New York.

For you Ani DiFranco fans, I have to admit that I did not seek out her Babeville while I was in Buffalo. I sort of regret not doing this. I do not consider myself a genuine fan, but I am an appreciator of her music. I had forgotten Buffalo was her home-town, and that she had bought and renovated an old church as her Richeous Babe label headquarters: Babeville (http://www.babevillebuffalo.com/about_babeville.asp)

Salt

2009-05-17T16:35:00.000-07:00

As I was driving away from an unimpressive visit to Lake Erie in Ohio, I noticed these mamoth piles of white stuff off in the distance. This is a Morton salt mime. If you eat Morton salt, chances are good that it came from Ohio.

Cleveland after 10:00pm

2009-05-17T15:40:00.001-07:00

William Elliot Whitmore, a native Iowan, was on tour performing his rootsy, folky, one-man indie rock show at the Grog while I was in town. (Mae Rose, you're going to want to marry this kid. He is totally your style.) His site: http://www.williamelliottwhitmore.com/tour.php

Pabst Blue Ribbon in giant 24oz cans was being drunk by everyone here. I felt very un-cool with my Stella.

Cleveland, OH

2009-05-17T14:53:00.000-07:00

Cleveland, OH: Cleveland was the first bought of fun that I had on this trip. After the growing pains of the road trip, I think I found my grove in Cleveland. As they say, "Cleveland rocks!" I found myself in the hip youthful district of the city: The Coventry.

I pulled into town at around 9:00 am, and headed straight for the first coffee shop I saw. Phoenix Coffee turned out to be a typical "third place;" a genuine neighborhood meeting place (but mediocre capacious). A funky girl named Falicia (from Philadelphia) was working the espresso machine and I was immediately bombarded with questions. "Nice bag, where did you get it?" "Where are you from; have not seen you around?" "Do you like commentaries; because we have a really good one here?" I was like, "Wowh, too friendly" (Internal monologue). Felicia turned out to be a my key informant, and was a wealth of local insight.

This is where the Phoenix deposits their trash:

Quote of the day from Felicia from Philadelphia: "Are you going to Philadelphia durring your trip?" Before I had time to even begin to answer she assured me that I should. Her reason was convincing. "I'm from Philadelphia, so I know what I'm talking about. Philadelphia is like... Well, let me put it this way. New York is like the pretty girl at the party. Everyone knows she is pretty, including her, and they all want to hang out with her. Philadelphia is like the cute girl who no one knows but who everyone should take the time to talk to."

Cleveland is home to a thriving Italian community, and Little Italy is thick with American-Italian people, restaurants, and culture. After enjoying a generous serving of gnocchi and two glasses of Chianti, I proceeded to spill my glass of water all over my crotch. The waitress, who was apparently very comfortable speaking her thoughts with out first filtering them, said to me, "Oh sweetie, umm, you might want to sit and let that dry a little before walking down the street. Too bad the glass landed right there. Feel free to sit a while."

Chocolate and vanilla swirl

2009-05-17T14:32:00.000-07:00

While driving through someplace in northern Ohio I stooped at this place called DG's. They specialize in soft serve! This creamy swirl of heaven and I were meant to meet here in Ohio. It was as though DG himself was speaking directly to me. The sign in front of the shop read: "Congratulations class of 2009."

Ever wonder what's unique about soft serve ice cream? According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_serve): "Soft serve was created sometime before 1938 by John F. McCullough, the founder of Dairy Queen. Soft serve is generally lower in milk-fat (3% to 6%) than ice cream (10% to 18%) and is produced at a temperature of about −4 °C compared to ice cream, which is stored at −15 °C. A warmer temperature allows the taste buds to detect more flavor. Soft serve contains air introduced at the time of freezing. The air content, called overrun, can vary from 0% to up to 60% of the total volume of finished product. The amount of air alters the taste of the finished product. Product with low quantities of air has a heavy, icy taste and appears more yellow. Product with higher air content tastes creamier, smoother and lighter and appears more white. The optimum quantity of air is determined by the other ingredients and individual taste. It is generally accepted that the ideal air content should be between 33% and 45% of volume. More than this and the product loses taste, tends to shrink as it loses air and melts more quickly than that with less air."

Places: A recap

2009-05-17T04:50:00.000-07:00

As it turns out blogging is hard. It is a challenge to find the time to write. All the while, the trip continues, and the backlog of stories worth telling grows but remains untold. Internet access is also scarce while on the road.

I'm now in wonderful Ithaca, NY with my pal Trent, but will get to that in another post. First I'll catch you up on the past few days with a bullet-point and thumbnail-image recap.

Chicago, IL: Big cities intimidate me, especially since I was solo and without a host. I did not stay long in Chicago, but did take the time to wander some streets and take some photographs.

East Chicago, IL: Just outside of the urban metropolis of Chicago is the highly industrial and noticeably impoverished area of East Chicago. I drove by a Cargill grain processing facility and a British Petroleum oil refinement plant. A few miles down the road it becomes an unfortunately destitute neighborhood. I made my way on HW 20 at night but I could still make out the the composition of the place: abandoned store fronts, unmaintained roads, gas stations, cigarette shops, liqueur stores, strip clubs, McDonald's, and the occasional convenience market. I saw one grocery store, and more than one large casino flanked the freeway exits.

Indiana: On my way out of Illinois, I stooped at the Indiana Dunes. This state managed nature preserve of sand dunes is located on the southern tip of Lake Michigan. It is very near the industrial mess of East Chicago, and offers a stark contrast. As I stood on the beach and looked up the shoreline to the north-west, I could see the stacks of the factories in East Chicago.

Columbus, OH: I was able to stay with the Jensens (family friends) for a night. It was a welcome treat to be in the company of familiar faces. After a few days of being alone, I was happy to sit around a dinner table, catch each other up with our families lives, and sleep in a place other than the back of my car. And, they served me Hoffman wine - a taste of home.

Des Moines

2009-05-15T06:11:00.000-07:00

I was so eager to begin this trip I had forgotten to decide where I was going. After the locked car door incident in Ames, I headed to La Mie French bakery in Des Moines. Over a croissant and coffee I plotted my first day of driving. Using the road trip books Nikki loaned me, I decided to head east on Iowa HW30 which is part of the Lincoln Highway. The Lincoln Highway was our country's first cross-continental highway, and is thus a fitting road for my first cross-continental road trip.

Below are some pictures from the drive through rural Iowa and Illinois.

Iowa

2009-05-15T05:04:00.000-07:00

The beginning moments of my road trip could have been a scene from the movie National Lampoons Family Vacation. This is no surprise for those who know me well. I always manage to trip over my own feet.

Imaging the movie montage: The lively music playing, and Matthew is enthusiastically packing the car with it all: bikes, camping gear, food, camera, maps. The scene is set for a grand trip full of adventure. He can't wait to be out on the open road. The music climaxes, and he is ready to drive off. He says good bye to his friends. Hugs and high fives all around. The only thing left is for Matthew to hop into the car, hit the gas, and drive off. But all of a sudden, the record needle scratches and the music stops... Matthew has locked himself out of his car.

Had this scene unfolded at home in the driveway it would have been amusing, and something to share with my housemates Jessica and Phill (Arion was still asleep). But since this payed out in a gas station on the outskirts of Ames, I was hardly amused. Irritated in fact. Nothing kills a road trip like denied access to a car. I heard my father's words in my mind. "Don't forget to get AAA." My father is a reliable source of advice worth following, and I reliably forget to follow it. After a scavenger hunt for a pay phone (my cell was locked in the car), a $50 bill from the tow truck guy for unlocking my car (An annual membership to AAA is $60), and one hour to sit on the curb an contemplate my carelessness, I was back on the road. At this point in time I still did not know where I was going.

Introduction

2009-04-27T19:39:00.001-07:00

After two years of living and studying in Ames, Iowa, I'm homebound to California. I'm eager to return, but will first embark on a round-country road trip. This blog will be an account of my journey from the Hawkeye State to the Golden State, and everything in between. It's for friends and my family too keep track my happenings along the way.