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I have three separate blog posts at some level of composition, and I can't finish any of them. My head is too muddied, my nerves too jangling. And I think I just decided to abandon this beautiful little town and drive into the dark a bit... Tonight, it's because I flubbed an interview setup. Thought...

Fountain Shrine

I've been burning through the western states, a little concerned that I still had all my shrines in the back of the car... Surely one of them belonged out here? Why wasn't anything calling to me? Yesterday morning, that all changed. Early in the morning, I was taking the interstate into a little town I...

Fear

As I opened my car door -- after a long drive up narrow gravel roads, nary another car in sight -- the sound of a woman's scream cut through the air. Or a peacock. Okay, definitely a peacock. Still, it was a good way to kick off this adventure. I was at Mammoth Cave, near...

Broken

I interviewed a former senator yesterday. He was delightful, and amazing, and utterly certain that things are broken and there's no fixing them. Even when I pushed - "Okay, but what if you had unlimited energy and could do anything? What if you could magically change something - what would you change to make us...

Southern mother-%&%ing Democratic Republican

The night before I left town, I saw Hamilton live for the first time. I felt nothing. But (I am quick to add), I'm fairly certain that had more to do with my own frantic state of mind, with my head full of plans and deadlines. My first day on the road, I re-listened to...

Test run

Memorial Day weekend is host to one of my favorite events of the year: the Port Costa citywide garage sale. Port Costa is a funky little town right on the bay that I used to blow past on the train when I was a conductor for a freight line. Back in the day, it was a...

Traveling Companion

If you were with me on the first trip, dear readers, you may remember Stripes. He found me at my first gas station on the trip, and was a faithful companion. Even when I was less careful with him, he stuck by me. Well, he's old now. So old, that he appears to be hiding...

The road is calling…

I'm heading out on the road again! Read about my 2-month plan on the Kickstarter. I won't repeat everything that's on the Kickstarter, just share a sweet little update. The creator of the above little beauty, that Stripes and I wandered by on the Blue Ridge Parkway, will be meeting me for an interview!

Dream City

There's a parallel San Francisco that I go to in my dreams. It's full of unfamiliar streets, buildings, shops, but I know it's San Francisco. It has the same beauty and mystery that has always attracted me to the city, but it's unfamiliar, constantly shifting, unknowable. Mostly unknowable. Because, see, it's the same city. A...

Leftover Bits and Pieces from the Road

Most of the wandering on my trip took place in Nevada, as nearly all the sites I wanted to hit on this go-round were in the desert. There were some great ghost towns and haunted spots from my start in Missouri, for sure, but those only popped up at the rate of about one a day. Like Texola,...