It's a hard knock life.

Trucking ain't easy, baby.

At first, I found myself making note of every sign I saw for a campground, and checking the terrain along the way for stealth campsites. I don't think I've been doing that much during regular driving experiences. Perhaps it's that being on the move again put me back into bike travel mode. It's starting to fade a bit now, though.

Our first stop was near Chicago, where we unloaded three vans for auction, then picked up some scaffolding that was bound for Connecticut. Since it wasn't due until Monday morning, we stayed the night at an enormous trucker heaven south of the city, and my cousin came down to meet us for a delicious truckstop dinner. Okay, delicious might be pushing it, but the hot food was hot and the salad was cold. We had a great time reminiscing and gossiping for five hours or so, then it was back out into the bone-chilling cold night to sleep in the truck. It was so cold, we left the truck running all night, partly so we wouldn't freeze, and partly because if the engine gets too cold, the truck won't start again. Dieselicious! But I was toasty in my wonderful sleeping bag.

I realized that not only have I lived in Seattle my whole life, but I have never traveled anywhere during the winter where the temperature was consistently below 20F. I really liked Chicago in the summer, but the thirteen degree weather was brutal for me. My cousin was just happy that it wasn't below zero. I'm not sure I could become accustomed to that sort of lifestyle...

We drove all day today, and although we didn't take the same route that I took on my bike, we were close to it, so about every hour or so I would point at a sign and say, "I slept in that city!" It's odd how having ridden my bike through an area, and camping or eating there, makes me feel... proprietary. It's like everywhere is my hood. Dad and I talked about this, and he said that, as a long haul trucker, he feels connected to the whole country, because he's always driving through everywhere.

Driving through Ohio was especially fun for me, because I was thinking so heavily about all of the great people I met there. So here's a shout out to all of my OH hosts: Katie, Austin and Josh, Alan and Pennie, Rona and Gary, and Danny and Danielle. And also big gratitude to all of the other kind people I encountered: Sheri, Jen and the gang at the Lazy River Campground, that woman who gave me peaches from her tree, those random cyclists who gave me cash on the bike trails in Northeastern OH, and, of course, Allan from Connecticut who I met in Ohio. And that's just the one state. So many people along the way, in every state, have been so wonderfully kind and generous. I want to believe karma exists, and you all will get what you should.

Okay, enough of the final thought stuff. I guess being on the move again has made me contemplative, but this is starting to read like my trip is over for good! Rest assured, I am just getting warmed up. Again. (In my sleeping bag.)

Time to keep on truckin'

Not much has happened here in the last five days outside of a couple bike rides, a day spent cooking indian food (I made my own paneer!) and a bunch of tv watching. There's really no reason to blog at all, except to report the possibility of things to blog about in the near future. I'm about to venture out with my dad in his big rig, to experience the life of a long-haul trucker for a non-predetermined amount of time, on a non-predetermined route. All we know is that our first stop will be Chicago. I may or may not have something interesting to say in the near future, that I may or may not want to share with the world at large, so... What was the point of this post again?

I'm still on wheels, I swear!

On Tuesday I went out to the farm, where the puppies live, and got some more pictures and videos, like a giant spaz. Eventually, this whole puppy fixation should wear off. Probably when they are bigger. I just feel a bit proprietary toward them, since I was there when we found them, and I got to puppysit early on. And didn't kill any! And I'm extra fixated because Paige kept my favorite puppy, and she gives me ridiculous puppy hugs and kisses whenever she sees me.

We went for a walk in the freezing cold, and it actually snowed a bit. Just a flurry, not even enough to be visible on the ground, but it sure was pretty in the air. Wednesday morning we went for a nice horseback ride, which is something I love to do, but haven't done for years and years, so it was great to get back in the saddle.

On Thursday I rode my bike to Tennessee and back. It was fun on the way there, but when I turned around I realized the wind was stronger than I had thought, but I made it back before dark, so it was all good. While I was in the town of Ardmore, TN, I was chased by every freakin' dog in town, including a pack of Chihuahuas. Again. This time, I didn't run over any of them, although I certainly threatened them.

Cruise report

After an uneventful flight to Miami, a night of talking, and a couple of hours of sleep, my friend Anna and I made our way over to the Port of Miami, where we met up with my mom, step-dad, brother, and sis-in-law and got on the boat. We acquainted ourselves with the boat and had some food. When we returned to our rooms after dinner, we were pleased to discover a snake in the bed, left by our wonderful room steward, Florin.

Our first afternoon and night at sea were pretty mellow, as we were still in fairly shallow water. The morning of the second day, we docked in Nassau, Bahamas, and went ashore for... well, people seemed to mostly be into the shopping, but the young'uns in our group opted to rent scooters and cruise around the island for a while. When we returned to the ship, we noticed this sign, but figured Carnival probably just couldn't get a cut of the scooter rental, so they were discouraging participation. That evening, we returned to our room to find a playful puppy.

The third day was spent entirely at sea, and we had gotten out into deeper waters by that time, so the seas were a bit rougher. No one in our group actually vomited, but some of us were looking a bit green around the gills after having a glass of wine with dinner. There was a frog infestation in our quarters.

Day four was another shore day, this time in St. Thomas, USVI. They drive on the left, as a remnant of their original colonization, but they have to use standard US cars, so the drivers are all way out on the edges. It's a bit wacky. Our group split up for our own activities. Anna and I went to "Blackbeard's Castle," which was a tower atop a hill, surrounded by several historical houses and a rum factory. Their pineapple rum was delicious, as was the rum punch. We then went to a beautiful beach, Secret Cove, recommended by the information lady. It had great sand and fantastic snorkeling opportunities. (We saw a turtle!) After some swimming and lounging, we had a beer and watched the sun set. We picked a beer called "Virgin Islands Summer Ale," assuming it would be local, but it was actually brewed in Maine. Sigh. At least it was tasty... When we got back to our room, we discovered a chilled out bunny watching the Simpsons. He let us join him.

Day five was another shore day, this time in St. Maarten, NA. We hopped into a taxi, completely bypassed the shopping area, and went to the french side of the island, where we caught a "ferry"-- really just a largish motorboat-- out to Pinel Island. It was a nature reserve area with beaches, snorkeling, and a couple of open air restaurants. We considered staying there forever, but our iPods were on the boat, so after a nice loungy day, we came back to a stampede.

Day six we were at sea all day, but had become more accustomed to the movement of the boat, so only the elephant got sick. He had a cold, though; it wasn't the seasickness. He was whisked off to the infirmary, and a kooky monkey moved in. Anna and I treated ourselves to full body massages, with complimentary mini-facials, for exorbitant prices, but we figured we had done really well with money on the trip, so we might as well treat ourselves. There was an UTTERLY FANTASTIC 80s tribute show in the main theater that we enjoyed more than anyone on the boat. Anna and I were so into it, we went to both showings. In between the shows, Florin treated us to a towel folding lesson, and showed us his own creation, which he had used when working out of Galveston, TX.

Day seven of the cruise was also at sea, and the weather turned cool, so everyone was kinda trapped inside the ship, and we were not feeling too sad about our impending disembarkation. We will miss the nightly towel animals, though.

We got off the boat in Miami pretty early, then went on an airboat ride in the Everglades, and looked at free and caged alligators and crocodiles. Then it was off to the freezing cold Miami airport to wait around for our flight. We all happened to be on the same first leg of the flight, but were not able to sit near each other. We did, however, get to play trivia on the fancy little touchscreens on the seatbacks, and we could see how the others were doing and what they had answered, so it was almost like hanging out. That flight left a little late, so it was a bit hairy making my connecting flight, but I just barely scraped by, and now I am back in Huntsville, swaying with landsickness.

This morning on our walk, we saw a bovine couple in the beginning stages of sweet lovemaking, but they stopped as soon as I started clapping and pulled out the camera. Next time I'll be stealthier. Who knew they were so shy?

Later, suckers!

The new year has been all about lounging around. We made some apple fruit leather and visited the two remaining puppies, who are no longer roly-poly babies, but skinny leggy little things. They are still very cuddly and sweet, and seem to have a good life on the farm, chasing the chickens and cats around. I also got a chance to go to the Huntsville Botanical Garden. It seemed like a pretty cool place, but nothing was in bloom and most things didn't even have leaves, so I'm guessing it's a much better outing from May to September. But I got a few decent pics of both the garden and the puppies, as well as a short puppy video, so check those out if you are so inclined.

I am currently en route to Miami, to go on a week long cruise in the eastern Caribbean with family and a friend. I will be out of contact until December 18, at which point I will return with many pictures.

Happy New Year!

Things have been fairly mellow since my return to Alabama. The weather has been sunny, but chilly, so there have been plenty of opportunities for walking, running and biking outdoors. For about forty-five minutes at a time. Then it's back inside for a hot shower. Holiday television programming has offered many opportunities for tv bulimia-- binge on a marathon of NCIS or Mythbusters, purge by turning off the tv and turning toward the kitchen.

The kitchen has been a fun place lately. We made our own mayonnaise for the first time which turned out to be quite tasty. We used it to whip up that southern classic: pimento cheese sandwiches (pronounced "pimenna-cheese"), using Miz Childers' (of the raw milk farm) recipe, as well as her homemade raw milk Colby cheese. But don't worry. We... fed it to some animals... or something...

My latest experiment in the kitchen was to make eggnog from scratch. It turned out to be completely awesome. The only bad part was that we took it to a New Year's party, and the other partygoers drank it. I mean, I guess it's good that they liked it, but we feel like we should have had more for us, so I may need to make more soon. It being made almost entirely of eggs, whole milk and cream, it may become a meal replacement drink for us at some point.