Congratulations, Dear Viewer,
Today marks the last day of the first month of my adventure. As always, in some respects my trip has flown by, and in others it seems to have been much longer than just a month. Before I begin, I'd like to take a moment to thank Sarah, Melissa, Becka, Heather, Katy, Ben, Jeff and Lacey for being gracious enough to open their homes to me.
A quick little recap on where I've been: I started in Denver, then went to Spokane, Seattle, back to Spokane, Portland, Eugene, and now I'm back in Spokane. Here's a little treat for all of you visual learners out there:
That's generally what my trip would look like if you plotted it out on the globe... then cut the globe up so you could only see part of it and drew a blue line where I had been and shoved green flags in my destinations.
One month ago today I was putting all of the finishing touches on planning for the first leg of my journey, as well as getting all of the last minute things together (most notably getting my car fixed the first time). And in the last month I've had some of my most content, joyous, upbeat moments, as well as my most somber, lonely and exhausted ones.
I should also note at this point that because of the nature of the beast, this post has been written and created over the course of a few days, and I've since fallen slightly under the weather. So for anything incoherent here, I do apologize. I'm fighting to keep a steady stream of thought, but I want to get you all out an update since it has been so long.
As I'm putting my final touches on the video for the next post (Oregon!), I'm beginning to see that as my experiences are unfolding on this trip, they are starting a metamorphosis into what I consider objective life-lessons. Just as I had hoped, though maybe not with the same degree of shocking epiphany, the wayward journey I am taking is transmogrifying into the eventual philosophical definitions of reality upon which I will ultimately base certain aspects of my life.
One month down and one more to go, right in the middle. And however pretentious I sound now, know that I am developing, and this blog is as much for me as it is for you. I realize that I have been provided an opportunity because of various privileges I have, and though I admit I'm probably not even fully aware of all the privileges granted me, I am grateful as I can be.
I will try to shed some light into the specifics of my early revelations in my next post, but for now, I think I've given you enough of my musings (because I know feeling ill is not helping me much at this point).
Friday, April 16, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
The fond reliability of autocraft
Dearest reader,
I sit here in Pleasant Blends, considering the many wonders we as humans get to experience with the influence of cars in our lives. It's been largely held that the phenomenon of suburban life has come about almost solely because of cars, we're able to have all sorts of food and drink in any part of the world partly due to cars (and boats and planes, but today we're focusing on cars). And yes, I'm including shipping trucks in the general umbrella of cars, so automobiles may be a more appropriate term, but I'm going to stick with cars for the purpose of my point. Cars give us the ability to book our daily schedules to their fullest extreme without giving extended thought to travel time. We are able to feel connected to extended families and friends who live hundreds or even thousands of miles away, we can also distance ourselves based on these reasons as well. A new, miniature rite of passage has grown into our mainstream society when a teenager first obtains his or her driver's license. Life can be made so much easier because we can just jump in the car to get the last missing ingredient to bake cookies, or buy new batteries when the smoke detector starts its beeping. Restaurants and coffee houses have moved into a fast food age based largely around the concept of the drive through. Even families themselves can at times be strengthened or weakened because of bonding during family road trips.
These are all pretty obvious things that come to mind for me when I think of how my life is different than it would have been if I lived in a time or society where cars were nonexistent. But cars have a different, almost magical power in my life as well as these phenomenal social realities. For me, a given car has a way of changing its relability factor just when I am relying on it enough to change my plans on the whole. When it does this, the reliability the given car only ever changes enough to make me consider changing the course of my short-term life at first, not becoming unreliable enough to decide to terminate the current plan and create entirely new plans. Instead, the reliability of the car dwindles just slightly, disintigrating the situation into a sort of frozen ambiguity, a purgatory of automotive-travel-based planning. This situation lets up and reveals its true reliability at the last possible moment, leaving no time for plans, but instead forcing action without a premeditated course of events.
I know, I know, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Kyle this all seems so philosophical and heady. What are you really trying to say?" So in case I lost you with all of my potent, well-articulated, top-notch, extremely sophisticated social proposition, here's the deally-o. Starting Friday night, my car showed signs of beginning the downward spiral of no longer starting. It got closer and closer to not turning on as the weekend went on, so I decided yesterday (Happy Easter!) to take it in to get inspected and hopefully fixed. After just barely starting this morning, I got it into the shop and walked back home (don't worry, the shop is less than a mile away). I got a call about an hour later from the shop asking me to describe the symptoms I had witnessed that caused me to take it in. By mid-afternoon, at the advice of Sarah and Mel (Mel of Bex and Mel's Five-Thousand Watt Rockin' Band), I called the shop to ask for an update. I spoke with Doug who reported that he had been so far unable to get my car to exhibit the symptoms I had reported. At Doug's suggestion, I got Sarah to drive me to the car place (on our way to Pleasant Blends) to see if I could get it to act up the way it had been over the weekend. I got there, it started just fine for me, and after only slight embarrassment, I agreed to leave it there overnight and have him try it in the morning to see if it only had problems after it had been sitting untouched for a longer period.
So now I'm in that vehicular purgatory, waiting to see if I'll be safely able to make my way to Portland and keep on with the plan only a day behind schedule, or if I'll have to move straight into action to salvage as much of my travels as possible. The saving grace of the story is that this is happening in Spokane. At least I'm here, I have a place to stay, people to hang out with, and enough of a general understanding of the city to be able to take solid, rational action without a fully established plan. If I need to junk my car (worst case scenario), I'll be able to figure out how to do so much more easily here than somewhere else. If I need to fly somewhere I was going to drive, I have reliable internet access and transportation to the airport to make that happen. If I get totally frozen for the rest of my trip and absolutely cannot travel, at least I'm already at my final destination. I was going to be here mid-May anyway.
My final note to you, dear reader, take a special moment today to note those many, often overlooked ways that having cars in your life impacts your daily life.
I sit here in Pleasant Blends, considering the many wonders we as humans get to experience with the influence of cars in our lives. It's been largely held that the phenomenon of suburban life has come about almost solely because of cars, we're able to have all sorts of food and drink in any part of the world partly due to cars (and boats and planes, but today we're focusing on cars). And yes, I'm including shipping trucks in the general umbrella of cars, so automobiles may be a more appropriate term, but I'm going to stick with cars for the purpose of my point. Cars give us the ability to book our daily schedules to their fullest extreme without giving extended thought to travel time. We are able to feel connected to extended families and friends who live hundreds or even thousands of miles away, we can also distance ourselves based on these reasons as well. A new, miniature rite of passage has grown into our mainstream society when a teenager first obtains his or her driver's license. Life can be made so much easier because we can just jump in the car to get the last missing ingredient to bake cookies, or buy new batteries when the smoke detector starts its beeping. Restaurants and coffee houses have moved into a fast food age based largely around the concept of the drive through. Even families themselves can at times be strengthened or weakened because of bonding during family road trips.
These are all pretty obvious things that come to mind for me when I think of how my life is different than it would have been if I lived in a time or society where cars were nonexistent. But cars have a different, almost magical power in my life as well as these phenomenal social realities. For me, a given car has a way of changing its relability factor just when I am relying on it enough to change my plans on the whole. When it does this, the reliability the given car only ever changes enough to make me consider changing the course of my short-term life at first, not becoming unreliable enough to decide to terminate the current plan and create entirely new plans. Instead, the reliability of the car dwindles just slightly, disintigrating the situation into a sort of frozen ambiguity, a purgatory of automotive-travel-based planning. This situation lets up and reveals its true reliability at the last possible moment, leaving no time for plans, but instead forcing action without a premeditated course of events.
I know, I know, you're probably thinking to yourself, "Kyle this all seems so philosophical and heady. What are you really trying to say?" So in case I lost you with all of my potent, well-articulated, top-notch, extremely sophisticated social proposition, here's the deally-o. Starting Friday night, my car showed signs of beginning the downward spiral of no longer starting. It got closer and closer to not turning on as the weekend went on, so I decided yesterday (Happy Easter!) to take it in to get inspected and hopefully fixed. After just barely starting this morning, I got it into the shop and walked back home (don't worry, the shop is less than a mile away). I got a call about an hour later from the shop asking me to describe the symptoms I had witnessed that caused me to take it in. By mid-afternoon, at the advice of Sarah and Mel (Mel of Bex and Mel's Five-Thousand Watt Rockin' Band), I called the shop to ask for an update. I spoke with Doug who reported that he had been so far unable to get my car to exhibit the symptoms I had reported. At Doug's suggestion, I got Sarah to drive me to the car place (on our way to Pleasant Blends) to see if I could get it to act up the way it had been over the weekend. I got there, it started just fine for me, and after only slight embarrassment, I agreed to leave it there overnight and have him try it in the morning to see if it only had problems after it had been sitting untouched for a longer period.
So now I'm in that vehicular purgatory, waiting to see if I'll be safely able to make my way to Portland and keep on with the plan only a day behind schedule, or if I'll have to move straight into action to salvage as much of my travels as possible. The saving grace of the story is that this is happening in Spokane. At least I'm here, I have a place to stay, people to hang out with, and enough of a general understanding of the city to be able to take solid, rational action without a fully established plan. If I need to junk my car (worst case scenario), I'll be able to figure out how to do so much more easily here than somewhere else. If I need to fly somewhere I was going to drive, I have reliable internet access and transportation to the airport to make that happen. If I get totally frozen for the rest of my trip and absolutely cannot travel, at least I'm already at my final destination. I was going to be here mid-May anyway.
My final note to you, dear reader, take a special moment today to note those many, often overlooked ways that having cars in your life impacts your daily life.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Seattle!
Wowzers! Like the jet over the Rugby World Cup Final game in South Africa in Invictus, my trip to Seattle flew by. I got in and stayed at the Travelodge on Aurora and 85th (and later found out that this is a majo
r corner for prostitution in Seattle) on Tuesday, March 30th in the evening. After checking into my room (which I couldn't get the internet to work, so I wasn't able to post there like I'd hoped), I left immediately for the Cheesecake Factory in or near South Center Mall to meet Steven. Though due to my lack of knowledge of the area (which continued to become abundantly clear throughout my time), I ended up at the Cheesecake Factory downtown... because I'm that good. Steven was gracious enough to make his way farther north and meet me at the downtown location, and after forty five minutes of trying to connect with him and shabbily explain where I was (using arbitrary street corners and store front names as my primary guidance system) we finally sat down for dinner. How great was it to catch up with Steven? It was seven blue balloons on the greatness scale (full scale breakdown to come). He is a great man, and if you have the chance to be in his company, take it. (Sorry, I'm not using last names for safety sake). I walked him back to his car, he gave me a muffin (delicious), and showed me the lamb cake his mom won at the bake sale. I really wish I would have had my camera with me, because this cake was awesome and hilarious. I'll see if I can get a picture from him to share with you all.
r corner for prostitution in Seattle) on Tuesday, March 30th in the evening. After checking into my room (which I couldn't get the internet to work, so I wasn't able to post there like I'd hoped), I left immediately for the Cheesecake Factory in or near South Center Mall to meet Steven. Though due to my lack of knowledge of the area (which continued to become abundantly clear throughout my time), I ended up at the Cheesecake Factory downtown... because I'm that good. Steven was gracious enough to make his way farther north and meet me at the downtown location, and after forty five minutes of trying to connect with him and shabbily explain where I was (using arbitrary street corners and store front names as my primary guidance system) we finally sat down for dinner. How great was it to catch up with Steven? It was seven blue balloons on the greatness scale (full scale breakdown to come). He is a great man, and if you have the chance to be in his company, take it. (Sorry, I'm not using last names for safety sake). I walked him back to his car, he gave me a muffin (delicious), and showed me the lamb cake his mom won at the bake sale. I really wish I would have had my camera with me, because this cake was awesome and hilarious. I'll see if I can get a picture from him to share with you all.I then journeyed back to hooker corner to get a good night of sleep (yes, alone for yous with your minds in the guttter). The next morning I drove up to explore the northern suburbs of Seattlesville, and made my way to Snohomish because that's where Mel from Bex and Mel's Jam Time Rockin' Band is from. But I only made it to the very edge of the city before my brother was ready to enjoy the day with me. I picked him up from his work area (again, only after getting myself slightly lost).
From there we went to the Science Fiction Museum and Experience Music Project. This was awesome. A definite must if you're in Seattle and like museums. I know that science fiction and rock music don't have a lot in common, so one mus
eum that offers both may seem strange, but it really is like two separate museums that blend together just enough to feel like one experience with two parts. Even if you're not that big of a sci-fi or music buff (I don't consider myself either one), it's a fun time for all. The pictures I have from it are as follows: topmost is E.T.; the one directly to the right is an outside picture with the monorail track running through the museum (think the shiny gold wave is the EMP, and the blue part to the left is the SFM with an alien craft protecting it); Donatello (my favorite N
inja Turtle!); a Storm Trooper from Star Wars shooting you; giant tower of guitars and other various musical instruments; R2-D2; and Yoda.
eum that offers both may seem strange, but it really is like two separate museums that blend together just enough to feel like one experience with two parts. Even if you're not that big of a sci-fi or music buff (I don't consider myself either one), it's a fun time for all. The pictures I have from it are as follows: topmost is E.T.; the one directly to the right is an outside picture with the monorail track running through the museum (think the shiny gold wave is the EMP, and the blue part to the left is the SFM with an alien craft protecting it); Donatello (my favorite N
inja Turtle!); a Storm Trooper from Star Wars shooting you; giant tower of guitars and other various musical instruments; R2-D2; and Yoda.
After the museum, it was time to head back up to North Gate to see Andy's place and visit the chickens growing up in their house until they are big enough for the coop. I got to meet two of his roommates, and then we went to his friend Troy's house to jam. I am not a musician, so I just enjoyed the experience until Katy was off work.
When Katy was ready, I headed down to Sammamish to meet up with her, got to meet her mom (who cooked an AMAZING "impromtu" [though I still don't believe that she doesn't cook that 
frequently judging from how good the dinner was]), and then back into Seattle to Katy's place. We built a fire there because it was real cold in the house that night, made s'mores and hung out with her roommates. The next morning Katy and I went for a walk around Queen Anne, got coffee and did some general site-seeing. I didn't have much time that day becuase I then had to drive to Wenatchee to meet up with Lee to get camping equipment for Sarah. After that, it was back to Spokane about 51 hours after I had arrived in Seattle. Fast trip, but great drip. Not a whole lot of nature-venturing, but still quite the grand adventure!
Belated Deep Creek Hike
Hi Everyone!
So it's been over a week since my last post, and a week since this footage was taken. I'm going to double-post you today, so I'll explain my absence in my next post which actually documents why I've been offline.
Go ahead and watch the video, it's narrated, so I'm not going to say much here, because the video speaks for itself. And after all, it would be a waste of your time to read what you just watched.
What I do want to do in the text of this blog is to take a minute to comment on Pleasant Blends Coffee and Tea House, the lovely, charming, delicious coffee shop in Spokane where most of the editing and writing for my blog has taken place. I'm actually writing this blog here at Pleasant Blends. They offer a variety of coffee drinks, teas, bulk coffee and tea, sandwiches, baked goods, salads, and even some things that are so fancy I don't even know what they are. And every thing that I've had here is exceptional. The service is always friendly and warm with that long lost genuine personal touch. Its atmosphere is quaint, and cozy, but large enough to fit a women's bible study, two college study groups, and a few small groups of close friends; or any combination in between. If you're on the north side of Spokane and looking for a superior pick-me-up (whether food or drink), stop by Pleasant Blends at 9417 N. Newport Highway, Spokane, WA 99218.
So it's been over a week since my last post, and a week since this footage was taken. I'm going to double-post you today, so I'll explain my absence in my next post which actually documents why I've been offline.
Go ahead and watch the video, it's narrated, so I'm not going to say much here, because the video speaks for itself. And after all, it would be a waste of your time to read what you just watched.
What I do want to do in the text of this blog is to take a minute to comment on Pleasant Blends Coffee and Tea House, the lovely, charming, delicious coffee shop in Spokane where most of the editing and writing for my blog has taken place. I'm actually writing this blog here at Pleasant Blends. They offer a variety of coffee drinks, teas, bulk coffee and tea, sandwiches, baked goods, salads, and even some things that are so fancy I don't even know what they are. And every thing that I've had here is exceptional. The service is always friendly and warm with that long lost genuine personal touch. Its atmosphere is quaint, and cozy, but large enough to fit a women's bible study, two college study groups, and a few small groups of close friends; or any combination in between. If you're on the north side of Spokane and looking for a superior pick-me-up (whether food or drink), stop by Pleasant Blends at 9417 N. Newport Highway, Spokane, WA 99218.
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