Saturday, August 30, 2008

Greeting from Burning Man

Well, I finally got net connection by the day of the burn. I haven't sorted through photos yet, but Heidi and I got some really good ones.

OK, so I have to say it. The best dance club on the planet is The Root Society at Burning Man. It's located at 10:00 and Esplanade. However, when I told some people at camp that it was run by the founder of Monster.com, I was told by two people, "he doesn't want anyone to know that." Hmmm....I learned because it was in an article in the Boston Phoenix. He was interviewed. Not keeping his own secret very well, is he?



Anyway, his dance club is great.

...

Vegas was *hot*. I know what I said in a previous post, but it was *hot*, *hot*, *hot*. The temp hit 109 when we were driving to Vegas from Zion. It was 106 in Vegas. It even felt uncomfortably hot when walking around just before dawn.

...

The trailer's cover has holes/tears (but was OK), two sky domes are busted (were already), the sewer drain valve is broken (was already), the toilet is busted and unusable (new). And a few other random annoyances. Par for the course. I hope to engage someone out here to fix them over the next two years (we will most likely not go to Burning Man next year).

Monday, August 25, 2008

Zion to Burning Man (August 23-25, 2008)

I haven't had any time to blog, things have been so hectic. I'm sitting in the back of a Super 8 in Fernley stealing their wi-fi. It would be fun if someone called them and ratted me out, but I'll most likely be gone :).

We hiked up 2000 feet at Zion Canyon National Park when we took the wrong trail. We didn't have any water with us, but it was fun nonetheless.

We met up with my sister Carrie in Vegas Saturday night, then drove up here to Fernely yesterday. We'll be heading on up to Burning Man (just north of Gerlach, NV), where I most likely will not be able to blog.

All of my gps tracks and photos will have to wait until I get back from Burning Man next week, unless I'm lucky. I lost the gps track from Zion to Vegas, but I have everything else.

See ya on the other side (unless my messages can penetrate the Burning Man veil).

Saturday, August 23, 2008

11,011 feet (August 22, 2008)

I don't have long to blog, so I'll update my detailed travels in later blogs.

Yesterday we drove from sunup to sundown from Limon, CO to Zion Canyon National Park, via Colorado Springs.

I saw more than a dozen pro-life protesters in Colorado Springs with the most disgusting signs of aborted fetuses. Seriously, no matter what side of the issue you're on, that's just disgusting. Of course, these protesters would be the first to admit that, because that was their point. But I don't believe this belongs on a street corner.

Western Colorado and southern Utah is probably the most beautiful landscape on the planet. I had never seen Colorado outside of the I-25 corridor and the four corners area. I'm glad I finally got to see it. I'd also never been at such a high elevation (11,011 feet) in my life.

We're just about to leave for Zion Canyon at dawn, and then finish up in Las Vegas. Hopefully, we'll get into Las Vegas early afternoon, so I can catch up on my sleep while it's 104 degrees.

But it's a dry heat :).

Seriously, you can knock off 10 degrees from the temperature here to compare to what it feels like in Boston. Still, the equivalent of 94 in Boston is still hot.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Corn Farming (August 21, 2008)



I mentioned in my previous post that I never tire of looking at corn farms with farmhouses. Heidi suggested that I was a corn farmer in a previous life. Then I remembered that two of my most favorite movies are Signs and Field of Dreams, both of which take place on corn farms for which the protagonist is the farmer of. Perhaps she's onto something. Or, perhaps, I love corn farms because I loved those movies so much. Signs was mainly about Alien Invasion, while Field of Dreams was mainly about Baseball. Hmmm...

As you can see in the picture, there are windmills in Western Kansas. Other than farms, there's nothing else. There was one large batch of windmills that were not moving when we drove by. There were around 30, and none of them were moving. I wondered what the point of having all those windmills were if they all would be turned off.

The "Page Up" key broke on my laptop. I do use it, but it's not used by normal typing, but a one-off. Still, I probably should have bought a tougher laptop for driving across the country with. Oh, well.

I just had a really great prime rib. It was at Oscar's Bar and Grill in Limon, CO. Colorado is definitely more upscale than Kansas. Even so, I encountered one guy with a Kansas accent with a Red Sox cap on. He was complaining about yesterday's game. You know, Hank Steinbrenner says that the Yankees are America's team, and that it's the Yankees swag you see everywhere. But I see Red Sox swag far more often in my travels. When I go to Disney World, Red Sox swag outnumbers Yankees swag better than 2 to 1. I know because I count them. It's a hobby.

I'm having trouble with the mapping site I use, so I don't have the route mapped yet. But it wasn't anything special. We traveled from Bridgeton/St. Louis, MO to Limon, CO on I-70. Ho-hum.

Tomorrow should be a really great day. Almost the entire drive is scenic, and we hope to finish near Zion Canyon National Park.

Amish (August 20, 2008)

We ran into a dozen or so Amish in a Flying J truck stop in Berkshire, Ohio. You could tell they were Amish by their wearing traditional clothes and speaking German. I've always admired the Amish. They live the way they want to live, they don't care how others live, and all they ask for is to be left alone with the little bit of land they own.

But what were they doing in a truck stop? I looked around and couldn't find a horse and buggy. Then Heidi told me they had come in a white E-based Ford van driven by someone else. Sure enough, I saw some emerging from the van.

Isn't that cheating?

I don't get tired of looking at farmhouses. Particularly among fields of corn. I wondered aloud why that is, and Heidi said, "Perhaps you were a corn farmer in a past life." I answered, "Stop reading my mind!"

DF US 20080820

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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

GPS Crack-headedness (August 19, 2008)


Yesterday's travel was surprisingly eventful.

Running into traffic on I-84 from Hartford to the New York border was expected.

But the highlight was the Prius from South Carolina with around 50 bumper stickers placed all over it. It traveled the speed limit in the fast lane, and then as I approached, it would drift over to the right lane without signaling. Then, straddling the dashed line, it would then put on its left turn signal and go back into the left lane. It did this several times, until finally moving over to the right to let me pass. Then it proceeded to speed up and match our speed. We both got up to around 85-90, until it finally decided to slow down. They were also drifting a bit at other times, as if the driver was high. I'd have thought they were going to Burning Man, but there were no bicycles. Hippies!

What's the point of driving a Prius if you drive at 85 mph?

Then there was the van that was almost completely burned. It was still smoldering, with about a half-dozen emergency vehicles and two other passenger vehicles, around it. The horrible smoke smell filled our truck. The van was already reduced to a metal shell, everything else had already combusted.

The lowlight was the crack-headedness of GPS. You would think that, having three GPS devices in the truck, we wouldn't be sent too astray. But there was the guided trip to the Wal-Mart that got us on a gravel road in buttfudge PA. We finally found the Wal-Mart about half a mile from where the mapping software said it was. THEN there was the GPS route that sent us astray onto exurban roads in State College, PA, trying to get to the Motel 6 at 11pm. When we finally got there, it was sold out, although at 2pm the Motel 6 web site said there was a rooom available. So we had to drive until almost 1am to the Super 8 in Brookville, PA (where I'm typing this now). This GPS crack-headedness, plus the Motel 6 being sold out, probably cost us more than an hour, because the Motel 6 was about 20 miles off of I-80.

Other than that, the trip was uneventful. Here's our route from yesterday:

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Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Hitting The Road

We got a reasonable prognosis about Zoe, and we feel comfortable with her care situation, so we're hitting the road!

Check here daily (hopefully), and we'll update you on our progress and sight-seeing. This will include our progress and a map of the route we took (hopefully, if the GPS tracking all woks correctly).

Note that I'm not going to start at home as I don't want to advertise my home address here, but will start at a rest stop.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Zoe

This is Zoe:



Zoe was born in a shelter in February of 1995, and when we arrived at the shelter in September of that year, we fell in love. By "we" I mean, Heidi and I fell in love with Zoe, and Zoe fell in love with us.

I remember Zoe was in one of three rooms, all of which were filled with cats. I'd say a dozen or so in each room. Heidi and I went into each room trying to pick out a cat. Man, was that hard. We love cats, and there are lots to choose from.

Eventually, I was tired and I sat down in one of the rooms, not sure what to do to pick a cat.

And then Zoe chose me.

Before I knew what was happening, she had started to sit on my lap. And she stayed there. It was as if she was saying, "mine!" She had claimed me. I was her human, and she would go home with me.

When a childless couple like Heidi and me have cats, usually a special bond forms with one cat for each person. Zoe and I bonded instantly.

When we first brought her home, she had enormous paws compared to the rest of her body. She really did look funny. But she also looked so very, very cute. You may think that all cats look cute, and you'd be right, but Zoe is the cutest cat that I've ever seen.

She grew into her paws of course. She learned the wonders of Christmas ornaments hanging low from the tree, the cool space behind the drawers in the dresser, and, of course, the choice real estate of empty boxes.

While we lived in an exurb, she would go outside and have fun. She would love to play with bugs. One time she was playing with a bug, and her older sister walked nonchalantly and without breaking stride scooped up the bug in her mouth, right in front of Zoe. I can't recall for sure, but I think Zoe then found another bug to play with.

Zoe always wanted to cuddle and snuggle. She was afraid of strangers, but once she got to know someone, she would always come over and ask to be snuggled.

And by ask, she would meow and then jump up onto the person's lap. At night, she would routinely sleep in our bed, snuggling one or the other of us. More often than not, I would wake up in the middle of the night, and Zoe would be sleeping with Heidi's arm around her.

Zoe is extremely talkative. When I come home, she says "meow" and I say "hi." Then she says "meow" and I say "hi" again. This goes on through several interations. Any time she sees us again, she says "meow" as if she's saying "hi". Any thing she wants to communicate to us, she'll communicate with a meow or two. Or three. Or four...

Zoe is, quite simply, the cat with the most love that I've ever known. Her vet said in a note, "Zoe is a sweet little girl." And that's Zoe. She's a sweet, little girl.

And she's my little girl. I've been caring for her and looking after her as if she was my own daughter. She really does mean a lot to me, and she's brought a lot of joy and love into my heart.

Zoe was born with a heart murmur. Heidi calls her, "poor little heart murmur girl." We've been monitoring this heart murmur for her whole life.

Her doctors told us Monday morning, suddenly, without warning, that her heart condition is finally going to end her life. They estimate two months, but at this point they really don't know. Her death could be imminent. I think when they say two months, they mean a really good scenario. With my last cat, when they said that, she died a week later.

I've loved this girl so much, my own heart broke when I heard the news. I'm not ashamed to say I've broken down in tears several times. I don't think anyone other than Heidi fully appreciates what this little girl means to me.

We were due to leave on our big trip tomorrow morning. I was looking forward to this as a trip of a lifetime. I mean I was really looking forward to it. Last week I was simply giddy thinking about this trip. Driving around the country with Heidi, going to Burning Man, seeing friends I haven't seen in a while, traveling with my Mother and my sister, traveling with Heidi's parents (until they had to cancel). And my employer had given me five and a half weeks for it. I've only taken more than a week and a half off three times, twice two weeks, and once three weeks. For me, it can't get any better than this trip. If I could do this for my entire life, I'd be extremely happy.

And then my little girl, the one I love so much, needed me more than she ever has before. I'm in tears just thinking about leaving her to fight this alone. The doctors have suggested "medical boarding," and while every other cat I've had would have loved it, Zoe would be distressed to no end. She even gets distressed when we're away. She hides and it takes an hour to coax her out of hiding when we're gone for more than a day.

We're going to see how she is later next week and then start our trip a week late, if Heidi and I can feel comfortable enough to leave her alone (meaning that her doctors think she's healthy enough to be unlikely to go into heart failure while we're gone). Perhaps I can feel comfortable with her with Heidi at home, and I go on the trip with just my sister and my mother. However, without Heidi this won't be near as much fun. I certainly can't go to Burning Man without her.

I'm simply devastated. Zoe is NOT just another cat. Anyone who knows her will tell you that. She needs her mother and her daddy, a LOT more than any other cat I've ever known. She has a big heart, literally and figuratively, and she's a sweet little girl.

And she won't be around much longer.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

I'm at Tanglewood in the Berkshire Mountains in Western Massachusetts. This is where the Boston Symphony Orchestra play on summer weekends.

Yesterday, Friday night, we saw Joshua Bell (violin) perform. He was excellent. He's clearly younger than I am.

I'm old.

The program:

Peter Oundjian conducter

Ravel - Alborada del Gracioso
(My rating: 7/10)

Chausson - Poeme for violin and Orchestra, Opus 25
Joshua Bell
(My rating: 8/10)

Saint-Saens - Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor for violin and orchestra, Opus 28
Joshua Bell
(My rating: 9/10)

Mussorgsky (orch. Ravel) - Pictures at an Exhibition
(My rating: 9/10)

Here are two pictures from the Tanglewood grounds.