Two Beers and a Pretzel

After my cousin Asa & Bekah’s wedding in Richmond, I flew to my Sister’s place to visit the Nieces and Nephew, then went back for what I planned to be a week in Cincy before driving my SUV back to Cali.  That’s about when life started to really suck…

I won’t get into it all, but the frustrations all revolve around coming back to find the grass in my back yard was was 2 feet tall – after I prepaid my neighbor to maintain it (which he had previously done a fairly good job of for 6 years).  Then problems with the buyer’s loan and the loan officer quitting (or being fired – not sure which).  Finally, the repairs to my old truck I had planned to put about $1000 into ended up costing me significantly more, and the first time I tried to drive home, the alternator fried in Illinois – about 40 miles from St. Louis.  After a few more trials with the car ands the house, I finally made it back to Cali on June 1st.

I was very ready to go camping, and after my 1st drive thru visit to Joshua Tree National Park, I knew I had to go back…  this time to relax and undo some stress with my buds Sreekanth and Tushar who managed to pry some time away from their cubicles and fly down from San Francisco.

Note my straw cowboy hat that my uncle Marty gave me as a gift for carting Asa’s keyboard out to Los Angeles – it did a decent job keeping me from getting sunburn.  Also note the Surf Ohio tire cover on the truck!  If you see an old red Rodeo with this tire cover in Southern California, odds are it’s me!

I picked the guys up at John Wayne airport late friday night and we arrived and setup camp around 1 AM early Saturday.  My dad gave me a tent that fit over the tailgate of the truck, and the guys were trying out a new 2 person tent from REI.  At 7 AM we got up for breakfast and ventured out to see the sights and do some hiking.

Skull Rock

We hiked a lot – even though is was near 100 degrees.

And we saw a lot of lizards, a few chipmunks, and a snake.

A rock that looked like a chocolate chip cookie:

Don’t forget the Joshua Trees!!

And the Cholla plants:

Sreekanth took over the Infra-Red Canon 10D for a day and got some really cool shots.

Joshua Tree N.P. has some of the darkest night skies in California.  On Saturday night, we saw a ranger presentation on the night skies, visited a neighbor camper with a 9″ telescope looking at Saturn, then we were able to get some sweet shots of the Milky Way using the IR camera:

… it’s hard as hell to focus that thing.

Happily, the house closed on Friday the 11th, so now I can start looking ahead to new and exciting things!

I went to Richmond for Asa & Bekah’s wedding.  Since I got there early, I took a side trip to see my cousin Nat in Annapolis, as well as play tourist in Baltimore and DC.  Nat plays french horn in the Naval Academy Band, and had a full dress parade with the academy in the afternoon, so I went to Baltimore for the day to see the Aquarium and the Harbor area.

The Baltimore Harbor district:

Then I drove back to Annaoplis just in time for the parade.

Naval Academy  Band (Nat is on the right)

Guests of honor: Jim Lowell (Commander Apollo 11), Admiral James M Loy (former Deputy Secretary, then Secretary of Homeland Security), Neil Armstrong (1st man on the moon), and Gene Cernan (last man on the moon).

Cousin Nat

That night we went out for dinner and drinks, then went home to bed.  Nat had an earl day, and I was going to DC to see the sights.

The US Capitol Building

Smithsonian Air & Space Museum

The Washington Monument

The WWII Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial

The view from the Lincoln Memorial

The Vietnam Memorial.  They had just dedicated a new statue of soldiers and had flags made of flowers.  No one could identify one of the flags…  it was South Vietnam’s old flag.

The Whitehouse

After all that walking, I was beat.  I got back to Nat’s, had dinner, played with his dog, Winston, and crashed.  The next day I headed back to Richmond for the pre-wedding festivities and the wedding.  I was the quasi-official wedding photographer, so I have to let the bride and groom see all the photos before posting anything, so you’ll have go trust me that Asa looked dapper and Bekah was beautiful…

So a month ago I packed a fair majority of my stuff into a 16′ Penske truck and hit the road with 10 days to get to LA.

With those fairly lose restrictions, I followed a slightly unconventional route.  I started by driving to my sister’s place in Tennessee for a visit with the nieces and nephew.  I swung back up through Kansas and finally saw Junction City (where I was born), and got a photo of my parents old apartment, which is now a bank.

Then it was off to Colorado to visit the 4th cousins, my friend Meghan (who I met in New Zealand), and my good friend Andrea from my days at UC.  Andrea loaned me her Jeep, so I got to drive out and see my cousins and watch Meghan perform in Guys & Dolls.  I also went to the Denver Aquarium and the monster REI store.

Leaving Denver, a tanker truck wrecked on I-70 just before Vail Pass, so I was stuck waiting for a few hours.  The scenery was nice, but it did get old after a while.

Eventually they let us turn around and go back East.  I found a back route that was quite scenic, but the delay sucked enough time out of my day that I was not able make it to Arches National Park as planned.

I made it to LA 2 days later and moved into the 1 bedroom apartment with my cousin Asa, his girlfriend Bekah, her guitarist Brian, a toy Yorkie “Emma”, and Asa’s cat, Moses.  Biggest lesson = make sure your moving truck has cruise control.  Mine didn’t.

After getting my stuff into a storage locker, we all started looking for a 3 bedroom house, but after a few weeks, Brian and I ended up getting a really nice 2 bedroom apartment in Simi Valley (with a real garage) and letting Asa & Bekah stay in the old place in Burbank.  While we were moving out, I think the animals were mad, because Emma would not stop barking until we put her in the microwave.

Then in retaliation, Moses decided to puke on Brian’s shirts:

Gross, eh?

In the meantime, Bekah’s brother came to visit from Richmond and we went with him and his new girlfriend / soon to be wife to Knott’s Berry Farm Amusement Park.  Pretty fun, and it’s owned by Cedar Fair, so there’s an Ohio connection.

We also got to visit the original Bat Cave (TV series) because Asa got a part in a movie that is filming there.

So here’s the view from my apartment (sorry – as taken by a camera phone).  Simi Valley is quite a bit nicer than San Fernando or L.A.  The other side of those hills is Malibu, so I’m only 45 minutes from the beach.

And at night.

I couldn’t part with my home theater equipment, so our living room is pretty much centered around the 100″ screen.  So far no one has complained about the subwoofer, but we usually remember to turn it down around 10 PM.  And the person above us, who we’ve nicknamed “Godzilla”, either is hiding an elephant up there, or has a very unique way of walking around.  It’s not annoying, just funny.  We almost went up there one time to see if someone was in trouble and needed help.  The only bummer is that we could only fit 3 of the 4 theater seats in the couch, but they still have the built in subwoofers, so it totally rocks…

We finished the apartment just in time for Meghan to visit.  She stayed for 2 days and we had a blast hanging out and cooking Thai food.  Then we dropped her off with another friend at a Vineyard about 2 hours North on the way to San Louis.

Now that I’m settled in and finally have high speed internet, I can catch up on everything and start planning for the future.  I hope to take a trip back to Ohio in July to see family, and go fishing.  Then, I want to take a trip to Istanbul with my buddy Musti to lean Turkish Folk music and how to play the “Oud” from his dad and, if Meghan comes along, get her into some belly dancing lessons…

That should catch everybody up.  I’ll probably get a weekend camping trip in to the Channel Islands soon, or possibly go back up to Sequoia for bit of hiking.  My biggest regret of the 2007 trip to Cali was not having my car for some of these fun roads.  Now I have it here!!!

With a break in the weather on Sunday, I drove to my Sister’s place in Tennessee.  Then Monday I left for L.A.  I made it to Albuquerque before I was to tired to go on.  Then on Tuesday I amended one of the missing landmarks from my Route 66 trip and stopped by Petrified Forest National Park.

First you hit the badlands of the painted desert

Some of the wood was not completely petrified.  The cell walls have turned to rock, but the inside did not absorb any other silica compounds, so it still looks like wood, but it’s really rock.

Versus wood that is totally petrified.

I also got a better picture from Winslow, AZ.

Going farther West, I saw a great sunset in Arizona.

I made it to Asa’s place in Burbank around 10:30PM and unpacked my sitar.  It’s going to be an interesting month…  I’m probably going to work by taking head-shots for actors and actresses – since it’s the new pilot season, and they all need updated shots.

Oddly, ‘Going Home’ is the name of one of my favorite movement’s of Dvorak’s New World Symphony (no 9).

Ingrid’s work Christmas party (including a fancy, expendive dinner) was Monday evening.  I tried to meet up with Mandy, but the trains were still basically at a standstill with more snow falling…  so I stayed at Ingrid’s place, played guitar and watched movies all night.  Around 4AM I had figured she’d passed out and was staying with one of her co-workers, so I went to sleep.  A very short while later, she woke me up for an after party with her boss.  The boss had decided to let everyone come in after lunch on Tuesday, so it must have been a no holds barred night of partying.  They were all quite inebriated and demanded that I play guitar.  It was actually quite fun, but the kitchen was a complete mess the next day.

I just chilled out all day Tuesday, thinking I would leave after dinner for a hotel near the airport.  That plan changed when I saw the prices of hotels over there – $150 a night…  So I decided to stay one more night and just get up really early to be sure I didn’t miss the plane, even if the trains were screwed up.  So that icy, slippery night Ingrid took me out for a going away dinner at a nice little place her family frequents.  They had some very good steak…

I was also recruited to help Ingrid move an old couch down the stairs.  We couldn’t make it fit, so I had some fun making a few very slight modifications to the couch…

Then I had to get to bed around 10PM because I was waking up at 3:30 AM.

Early and still dark, I said goodbye to Ingrid at 4:00 and walked to the train station to catch the 4:30 stoptrain to Rotterdam Central.  Then I had to wait half an hour for the intercity to the airport.  I arrived at the airport at 6 AM, and found the Burger King still open, so in contrast to the great dinner the night before, I had a fast food breakfast.

Then I saw the oddest thing that I never expected to see in the Amsterdam airport…

And that was not about Chris Henry, but the Bengal’s surprisingly good season.

It was just after 6:30 AM, and I had 5 hours before boarding began for my flight, so I bought a pretty good book Vulcan 607 – about the British long range (8000 mile) bomber attack on the Falkland Islands in 1982.  I got into it, then on the plane and kept reading for the 8 hour flight to Chicago.

Once in Chicago, I got the 9th degree from immigration and homeland security.

Them:  Where have you been?

Me:  Holland and Belgium.

Them:  Why were you there?

Me:  Vacation and visiting a friend.

Them:  Where did you stay?

Me:  Her apartment in Dordrecht.

Them:  Is your friend American?

Me:  Nope – a smoking hot Dutch girl.  Wanna see a picture?

After a grimacing look from the agent, I realized I was being a bit too casual, but figured I’d roll with it since I had 6 hours and nothing to do.

Them:  Have you brought any plants or seeds back?

Me:  Oh, you mean weed?  Come on man, how dumb do you think I am?

Another mean look.

Them:  When was the last time you left America?

Me:  Well, I just got back in July.

Them: From where?

Me:  Well, almost everywhere.

Them:  Where specifically?

Me:  You may have noticed that my passport is completely full; but if you want the list…  Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Peru, New Zealand, Australia, Malasia, Thailand, Cambodia, India, U.A.E., and then back home.  Then I drove Route 66, went to Europe for 3 weeks, and now I’m here.

Them:  And why did you do that?

Me:  I chose to sit out the recession.

Them:  What do you do for a living?

Me:  Nothing – I quit work 14 months ago – thus sitting out the recession.

I realized that they really have trouble figuring out someone who is relaxed, more honest than necessary, and doesn’t care if he gets searched, so that’s where they sent me next.  They opened everything and sent me thru the x-ray.  The guy did a thorough job, but completely wrecked my packing.  At least this guy was a bit nicer.  He asked what I did to tick off the agent.  I told him that I apparently didn’t look scared enough and had a full passport – which is very odd for an American.  After unpacking my stuff, searching between book pages, opening gift wrapped items, etc… he told me to gather it up and move along.  I told him that unless he wanted to help me repack, I preferred to stay at his table and put everything back where it belongs.  He was nice enough to let me – probably because some lady at the next table was throwing a complete hissy fit about being searched and that agent needed assistance.

Once thru customs, I discovered my flight to Cincinnati had been cancelled.  Luckilly, another commuter flight was 3 hours late and had room, so I switched to standby and got on that flight.  Oddly, that got me home 3 hours earlier than planned.  I finished the book on the short flight to Cincy.  The nice surprize was that my checked luggage made it even after the change in flights; especially since the last time my luggage went thru O’Hare (5 years ago) $1000 of stuff was stolen and a nice bag was ruined.  I got lucky, because the next available flight was 1:30 PM the next day…

I got home and my buddy Bill picked me up and got me to my truck.  I was going to get him a big bottle of booze, but it’s darn expensive in Europe…  so I’ll probably get him a bottle of Scotch from he Party Source next week.

When I finally got home, my camera was still on Holland time –  4:30 AM.  I’d been awake and travelling for 25 hours.  I went straight to bed.  …Only to wake up and drive to Jackson, Tennessee to spend Christmas with my parents, sister & bro-in-law, and most importantly, my twin neices and one month old nephew!  It even snowed a little here, so we got a White Christmas!!

It’s nice to be back.  I’ll miss the fun I had with Ingrid, and I owe her a huge thanks for letting me crash at her place – especially since it would otherwise have been about $40/night or more… but next time I go to Europe it will not be winter (unless I go skiing).

And now, a Christmas treat for everyone:

…a picture my friend Tabitha sent on Facebook of skinny me, 20 years ago at a high school band concert.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!