"Sorry I'm late. I was taking a crap."

I'm trying to grow a mustache. After watching Paul Newman in the "The Sting" and Robert Redford in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" it's all I want to do. Unforunately, both Newman and Redford accompany their mustache's with beautiful full heads of hair. A mustache accompanied by male pattern baldness just doesn't have the same stylistic touch. So all you folks cringing at the thought of me with a mustache can relax knowing it is simply a Road Trip stache. When the road trip ends - the stache will go too - but until then I'll work effortlessly in the mirror tapering the edges of my mustache just like Newman.

Since my muffler fell off back in Wyoming this past August my car has been perfect. Yes, the engine revs when I'm in neutral, the car shakes when I break, and the front fender rattles uncontrollably, but as I've said before - she runs! Luck ended when Scott and I came out from the back country office in the Grand Canyon to see my back tire was low with air. I tried to use Fix a Flat, but it was just spraying foam all over the place and when I tried taking the can off the air valve the entire valve ripped off. My tire wasn't low any more, it was completely flat. It was a $10 fix for a new valve. Hardly a problem to gripe about. I told "Last Chance" she only had to make it until November. I hope I'm not asking too much to get her to take me into December now.

So Scott and I ended up doing 27.8 miles in two nights and three days in the Grand Canyon. Unbelievable. I don't think you can ever get tired of looking at the Grand Canyon. I hope I get to go there twenty more times - its so damn beautiful. However, both nights on the trip were slightly tainted by greenhorns being loud and disturbing my peace and tranquility.

NIGHT 1 - As we neared our first nights campsite we gained steadily on a group of two guys wearing jeans and flashy new packs. They were concerned they had passed the campsite and seemed pretty anxious. We assured them we were close, but there is no way we passed it. See, we hikers carry maps. We left them behind and shortly encountered the third member of the group of four. I cheerily told him we'd see him at the campsite. He sat on a rock unsure if he would be able to make the final mile to camp. The last member of the group was only a quarter mile from the campsite when he yelled to us "Are you familiar with the area??!!" UHH noo, but the campsite's just ahead. These assholes. As the two final stragglers came into camp 45 minutes later the two that already made it thought it was necessary to yell as loud as possible back and forth giving them the final directions to the camp. Keep in mind, there is a trail to follow. You don't need to yell! "WE'RE JUST UP HERE!" "JUST ALITTLE BIT MORE!!" "YOU'RE ALMOST THERE!". How bout shut the fuck up please! I think they were just a group of those loud talkers. The next morning I could clearly distinguish their entire conversations despite the fact they were set up fifty meters away from us.

NIGHT 2

So to be fair, it was Saturday night and we were in the most popular back country campsite on the most popular trail in all of the Grand Canyon. This place seemed more like a small town then a campsite though. Indian Garden is located 4.5 miles into the canyon on the Bright Angel Trail. There's probably about 10 campsites there and eight were filled. I'm a sun guy when I camp. I get in my tent when the sun goes down and I get up when the sun comes up. This has become more a problem as we get later into November and especially since Day Light Savings Time has ended, but I still do it. I usually read from 6 until 8 or so and then get a glorious night of sleep until sunrise. Not this night. The Weekend Warriors where in full force and don't seem to abide by my sun clock. Nor did any of them seem to think there were other campers in the near vicinity. EVERYONE was yelling and laughing like it was New Year's Eve nearing midnight. I don't mean to get angry at anyone laughing and having a good time, but I was just upset I couldn't even focus enough to read in my tent. Where's a machine gun when you need it?

All in all the hike was great though. Hiking out was grueling, but gorging myself on pizza while watching the Patriots dominate the Steelers later that night erased any pain my body was feeling.

From the Grand Canyon we drove back through Utah to Nevada's Great Basin National Park. I didn't even know there was a cave in this park, but it was spectacular. I enjoyed it more than Carlsbad Caverns, which is 1000 times more popular.

My journey with Scott is nearing an end - we plan on being back into San Diego Monday the 22nd and when I next write I'll probably be enjoying time with my mom and brother and enjoying Thanksgiving in sunny SoCal. Keeping to my personal believe to try and live in the moment - we still have 5 days left to explore together - and I believe we intend to live up our last few days to the maximum.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Breaking Developments

I had a plan - there was really nothing that could break it. I've kept these plans secret because well, I guess maybe I knew they'd change. Maybe deep down I knew something crazy would happen that would not let these plans take place...but anyways...this is what I was GOING to do: I was traveling around the United States until Thanksgiving. I would spend Thanksgiving with my brother and mom in San Diego, California. I would sell my car to some poor sap for a couple hundred or get a couple of hundred from a junk yard. I would leave some of my gear at my brothers and send home some of the more expensive things I don't want to leave in San Diego back to my mom's in Connecticut. Then once in Mexico, I'd be car free and joyously tramp south eventually into South America. From Argentina I'd hop on a freighter (yes a freighter) and take about 10 days to get to South Africa cheaply over the Atlantic Ocean. I would hang in South Africa and then fly to Egypt or Morocco. From Egypt (or Morocco) I'd take a boat through the Mediterranean Sea to Italy where I'd meet my Mom and my brother next July. Then I'd stay in Europe - hope to teach English in Spain - I don't know. This plan, as crazy as it might sound, was exactly what I thought I was going to do. What could break this plan??? Well. I cannot tell you what broke the plan yet. But the plan is broken. I will now be driving home from San Diego back to Connecticut - completing the loop and quite possibly complete one of the greatest road trips ever accomplished. Yah that's right. But this plan could change too - so I should just keep my damn mouth shut about what I'm GOING to do. That's the new plan and it could still change; To spend the holidays with friends and family back in Connecticut and then fly to Mexico after New Years where I'll have four months to tour around. The main reason I'm going to drive back is because I don't want to get rid of my car just yet - I'm planning on needing it again, for yes, another road trip in May!! If this is confusing you, don't worry - I'm still a bit confused myself.

So on to my current road trip. Roswell, New Mexico, although a hole, made me believe in aliens. That was sweet. Scott and I drove on to check out Carlsbad Caverns. That place is unbelievable. Sometimes I just cannot believe some of the places Earth has designed over the past few billion years. Just a beautiful beautiful cavern. Go there some time - do yourself a favor. Just south of Carlsbad is Guadalupe National Park where the highest point in Texas sits at around 8,700 feet. We climbed it. We drove on into El Paso where we were the only white people and the only people within 50 miles who didn't speak spanish. From that point on we've been kind of winging it from day to day. We've done and seen some odd things these last few days - but nothing terribly crazy or exciting. In Grant, New Mexico last Sunday we spent 10 hours in a Holiday Inn express to score breakfast and then watch the first round of NFL games. We hiked a couple miles to this "cave" where the temperature stays a constant 31 degrees Fahrenheit and the ice is about 12 feet thick. In Gallup, New Mexico after several camping and car nights we decided to get a motel. The sign saying "$23.95 for two" caught our attention. Sold. We should have known the town was just a little sketchy by this price, but we were confirmed of its sketchyness when the motel owner had to "buzz" us into the locked lobby at 1 in the afternoon. Later that afternoon an extremely drunk big boned woman smashed a bottle in the parking lot of the motel and proceeded to scream and rip of her shirt and bra. It was quite a show. Sadly it all ended when she slugged a cop and was forced into the drunk tank of a police van right outside our motel window. Show over - back to the TV. Scott and I drove into Navajo Nation - the huge portion of land in the north east corner of Arizona owned by the Navajos. We immediately noticed dogs all over the place. It was almost like another country. Animal control anyone? We slept in our cars last night and when we pulled into the Hampton Inn for breakfast this freezing dog came up to our car with the most desperate looking eyes. He jumped in the car and didn't want to leave. We almost took him - I mean - it's friggin freezing up here - he's probably going to die if someone doesn't bring him inside at night. I brought him some sausage and we had to say good bye. Sucks... We drove through Monument Valley and another dog greeted us upon opening the door. This one was just a puppy. Shivering with his tale between his legs. There were houses near by and a store owner said they come down here to beg from tourists from the houses up the hill, but I mean, what the hell - do these dogs really have owners? It was sad. I didn't like leaving these dogs behind, but I felt like I couldn't do anything about it...ahh..it kills me though. It's freezing cold here in Flagstaff now so we're staying in a Walmart parking lot tonight - car is much warmer. Off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow and back into the wild for a couple nights. Cheers all.

LAST OF THE WALDEN QUOTES - Henry D. Thoreau

"Nay, Be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within you, opening new channels, not of trade, but of thought."

"I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one."

"It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves."

"The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths that the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity?"

"I learned this, at least by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours..."

"While England endeavors to cure the potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally?"

"Why should we be in such desperate haste to succeed and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer."

What I Do.

"I should not talk so much about myself if there was anybody else whom I knew as well." Walden - Henry David Thoreau

I've been on the road for 108 days. Three and a half times longer than any previous road trip. I have over 250,000 miles on my 1992 Honda Accord. It has a laundry list of faults, but the engine turns when I put in the key and the wheels spin - so it's all good. On this trip I've driven less than 500 miles on any major interstate. I enjoy roads which lay straight to the horizon with no cars in sight. This trip becomes less of a "trip" everyday - I'm just living - L-I-V-I-N. Take Tuesday, November 2nd for instance. I was camping with Scott in the Sante Fe National Forest. While you were working, voting, and watching 24 hour news to find out what new idiots will be working in our government, I was waking up with the sun, reading my book until I felt like wrestling out of my sleeping bag. For the remainder of the day I watched wood turn to flame and ash, watched ravens and crows talk to each other, ate food when I felt like it, peed in the grass when I had to and watched the sun dip down to fill the night sky with a billion stars and a creamy milky way - a great day. Every day is a great day. These past three and half months have been the greatest of my life. I don't mean to boast or brag - I really try to keep my pride in check - but then I'd be proud of doing that - so there's little point in trying to hide it. I mean, shit, this is so awesome. I have no one to answer to, nothing to worry about, everyday I'm outside 90% of the time. There's no stress in what I'm doing. A "bad" day on the road is better than any good day I may have as an employee. If I have to blow my nose I do so on my hand. I use Newton's 1st law to get the snot off. Any remaining goop on my hand? I wipe it on my jeans. If I need water and I'm at a gas station I use the bathroom tap. If I need water and I'm outside I use a stream. I shower when I can, but have no problem going as long as necessary. Between showers I bathe in a stream or a bathroom to wash the essential areas. There are days when I don't touch my cell phone or log into Facebook, but I still do both far more often then should ever be necessary. I wear a watch. I like to know the time. I drive with one hand on the wheel. Sometimes I drive with two, always ten and two. I'll rip open a can of sardines and eat it. I don't care what's going on in the news, but I'll read a paper every few days or so. My goals on a daily basis are to read as much as possible, eat, and find a safe place to sleep. I try to stretch and do pushups every day, but don't always. I think about what I'm doing and where I'm going and most days I don't really know. Yes, one day this will all be over and I'll be back in the "real" world, but right now I'm not sure why I would ever do that. I'm not sure why so many people are doing that. I don't understand a lot - I know this, but I'm trying. I don't know where my future leads and I don't care. I'm living for the moment - today - right now. A year from now doesn't matter - it will come - I'll probably teach again - hopefully I'll find a good girl and have a family some day, but that doesn't matter right now. This is it - this is everything.

Scott and I spent a total of nine days in Utah, three in Colorado, and are now cruising around New Mexico for a while. Everything is great. I hope all is great with you. Thanks for reading - I really do appreciate it and it's nice to know someone cares to know what I'm doing. I'm doing just fine. Happy November.

Walden Quotes I was feeling...

"Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them."

"The head monkey in Paris puts on a traveler's cap, and all the monkey's in America do the same."

"And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it may be the house that got him."

"How could youths better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?"

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

"And I'm sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter, - we never need read of another."

"Not till we are lost, in other words not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of out relations."

"The greatest gains and values are furthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forget them. They are the highest reality."

"While I enjoy the friendship of the seasons I trust that nothing can make life a burden to me."