In early spring of 2007 I decided to quit my job, sell my house along with nearly everything else that I owned, and to live out of my car while traveling the country. These are my stories (and pictures) of life on the road.

Friday, February 29, 2008

A Nutty Meal

Not too many years ago I was the pickiest eater you were bound to run across. If I didn't like the looks of it then I didn't eat it, and that went for a lot of things. Everyone used to give me a hard time when the family would get together for holidays because I'd pass over all the goodies on the table and eat nothing but turkey and bread. Life went on like this for many years until I made a trip to Italy changed my ways. I figured I'd enjoy my trip a lot more if I was more open to the food that I'd be served, plus I didn't want to try and make special orders in a foreign language.

So a few months before the trip I started preparing myself so it wouldn't be such a shock to my system. I began eating tomatoes, cucumbers, fruit pies, asparagus, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, peppers, and all sorts of other weird stuff. And shock of shocks I found out that this stuff was really good after all! My eyes were opened to new horizons and I became fearless, trying anything that was set in front of me.

So a couple days ago when someone came into the shop and hung up a flyer for a Rocky Mountain Oyster Feed at the Elk's lodge Friday night I started trying to round up someone to join me. Sarah was coming down this weekend but decided to push back her visit until Saturday after she heard my offer. I floated it by my dad and sister and neither of them would have anything to do with it. I sent a text message to Lyle but he conveniently couldn't get back to me until it was too late. I even rang up my grandma and grandpa that live in town and they wanted nothing to do with it either. The only person I could get to join me was Will, who my dad helps rangle cattle now and then.

There was still a pretty good crowd when we showed up towards the end of the shindig and we filled our plates with baked beans, bread, and cow testicles. As I popped the first one in my mouth I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I remembered the kid who grew up eating hamburgers everywhere he went. Look at me now!

And how were they you ask?

They were deep fat fried, how bad could they be?

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

What's Going On

Everyday I keep meaning to post something on my blog and the next thing I know I'm in bed and drifting off to sleep. So tonight I'm going to try and pound something out before the sandman gets to me; I better make it a condensed version. Here goes:

Good things-

  1. My creative writing class is going well at the local college, even though it keeps getting cancelled because of bad weather.
  2. Now that winter is close to being over I'm really starting to get into it. Rudy and I have been going on quite a few long hikes and have really been enjoying it.
  3. I got a job at The Daily News, our local newspaper. No set hours and it's a temporary gig but it should be a great learning experience and I'm looking forward to it.
  4. Spring is just around the corner, as is a likely trip to Arizona for two or three weeks!
Not so good news-
  1. My grandfather's health (on my father's side) continues to fail and it's not looking very good, at least we all knew it was coming. I've been spending quite a bit of time at the shop filling in for my dad while he's helping take care of them as well spending a couple days with my grandparents to help out.
  2. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up (but maybe that's a good thing).
Ummm, I think that about covers it for now. I'm sure I'll think of a bunch more stuff as soon as I post this. Here's a few pictures to gander at from the last week too.
























Monday, February 18, 2008

A bit Breezy

So Rudy and I have been getting a little tired of the cold and dreary weather this winter. This fall I was promised by the radio that it would be a warm winter so that put my mind at ease a bit when I decided to come back to Iowa. I waited patiently through the white Christmas and suffered through the bitterly cold January before realizing the other day that it was already the middle of February and that it had been really cold for a really long time. So I was relieved when I saw the weather forecast of 30 degree weather for this past weekend. Unfortunately it was accompanied by skies the consistency of mashed potatoes and 30 MPH winds.

I decided it finally was time to make a stand so I got all bundled up in my wind block gear, threw a small pack on my back, hollered for Rudy, and we headed out the door. Our destination was my sister Audrey's house, about 6 miles north of town and directly into the wind. We faced the brunt of the wind as we slogged up the railroad tracks, through a couple fields, and into the prairie that would lead us most of the rest of the way to Audrey's house. The wind was incredibly strong and I was surprised how hard it was to walk into, the deep snow drifts scattered along the prairie didn't help either. Still though, it was fun to get out of the house for some exercise and after about 3 hours we reached Audrey's house.

Rudy and I kicked back for a few hours and ate a couple snacks to recharge. Around 1:00 we turned down an offer of a ride home, donned our winter gear again, and headed back out the door on our way home. Thankfully the wind was now to our backs, making the walk a little more comfortable and instead of taking the shorter route through the prairie we decided to take the longer but easier route and stuck to the gravel roads back to town.

We found the roads in much worse condition then when we'd started. The snow had been blowing across it all afternoon making it almost completely covered in ice. When we turned to the east the walking got very difficult with the winds blowing directly at our sides but we managed to get through it and arrived home safe, sound, and very tired.

Fully rested I awoke this morning to bright blue sunny skies and thinking that perhaps mother nature had relented I checked the weather report with optimism. What I found was that the temperatures had plummeted overnight and the high today was expected to only be 4 degrees and the wind had actually increased to 4o MPH. By early afternoon the skies had clouded over again and it started to spit snow. I thought that maybe I'd step up and go toe to toe with mother nature again but instead Rudy and I decided that we'd take a day off and dream of warmer weather.

Don't worry, spring will be here soon; sloppy, wet, windy spring.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

I before E except after C?

I've always found it interesting that one of the exceptions to this "rule" is the word weird.


Wierd, huh?


Yes, that's all I've got to say today (believe it or not). You may now resume you're normally scheduled browsing.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Blankets of White


From a scenic standpoint this has been the most beautiful winter I can remember in a long time. We haven't gotten buried in snow but it seems every time we get a warm spell that turns the snow to a hard, dirty crust with dirt showing through we get a light snow that covers everything up with fluffy white powder again. Lot's of foggy weather too which puts a heavy coating of hoarfrost on nearly everything and is absolutely gorgeous, especially when the clouds burn off and the sun starts shining.

Unfortunately I haven't had very much luck motivating myself to photograph all this beautiful scenery. It's not that I haven't been out enjoying myself, it's just that a lot of days I've been leaving the camera at home. I did manage to take some shots yesterday when Rudy and I were out on a hike and I figured I'd share a few of them here.

You can also follow this link to a small slideshow of images I've taken this winter. Or if you want to skip the slideshow and just see the gallery click here instead.

As pretty as it might be I am getting a little tired of the cold and snow. I just might have to get out of here and head to a warmer climate for a while.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Six Word Memoir

This afternoon I heard a piece on NPR about a book of six word memoirs that was published. I thought that it was an incredibly interesting idea and since I often have a hard time keeping things brief I figured it would be a good exercise to practice myself.

This is what I came up with for my Six Word Memoir-

Searching for what I already had.

Now it's your turn; post it in the comments section.

You've reached the end of the page but that's not the end of the stories. If you want to read more (and who wouldn't!?) then click on the archive links to the right hand side of the page. They're listed by month; the adventure starts in May.

The February archives aren't actually from this trip but are previous adventures I've had, which are worth reading as well.