ThE EnD.

Hello my friends!

The return home from an incredible trip is always such a glorious feeling isn’t it? The  self discovered perspective gained, the excitement for practicing new creativity and ideas learned and the bliss in the realization we are capable of growing and changing bounds in only a small period of time.  I am really enjoying this feeling of being home. With out any obligations or possesions I am open,  genuinely open to continue living the life I’d dreamed and consciously practicing my ability to to create a MagIcal blissful experience! YaAaaa!

I’d suppose I should really catch you up on how the hell we got home in the first place and I am sorry for not doing so sooner! But get ready, cause this is GoOd!!!

Let’s begin with Thanksgiving where we left off. Ike and I were up at our favorite Waffle House one last time charging our phones before heading off to the Panama City railway hub in hopes of jumping a train north and eventually west. The excitement of train hopping was pulsating through our veins and the massive amounts of coffee inspired much strategic planning and discussion of our brave feats in getting on and off of these high powered machines to reach our destination WITh OuT having to walk.

Our new friend Lindsey (Waffle House waitress) arrived at work an hour before our planned time of departure with an entire Thanksgiving feast of family leftovers she’d brought just for us, knowing we’d be leaving that day. It was AWESOME! What a blessed feeling! Eating mashed potatoes, stuffing, jello salad and pumpkin pie with excited hearts and new friends was THE COOLEST way to spend a Thanksgiving I could imagine.

We finished our meals and said our loving good-byes to the Waffle staff . We began our three mile trek to the hub to jump our ride home. My foot was still in a lot of pain, but knowing I would soon be able to rest it for a period of time while still covering ground was great feeling. We arrived at our hub at dark. We hid our packs in the near by bush and began walking the tracks in observing what we were looking at in terms of getting onto one of these guys. We saw cars with giant metal tubes stacked on top of each other with an abundance of platform space. We agreed a great strategy would be stuffing our packs and bodies inside of these tubes and once we’d gained momentum climbing out and enjoying our ride on the large platform all perfectly hidden from any authority.

We walked the length of the hub searching for any train that looked as if it might be heading out in the next few hours, we discovered however only cars, but no engines to be seen anywhere. We began to feel a little frustrated. We knew of course no train could go anywhere with out an engine and the thought of camping out another night in Panama waiting for a potential arrival of an engine was NOT ideal. The weather was beginning to turn and we knew the forecast of the next couple of days in our western Florida region was for cold rain, even with our many layers of hopping clothing we just DID NOT WANT to sit and wait any longer especially in bad weather. All of the sudden (In completely perfect timing as the universe seems to always have) Ike’s phone chimed with a message from his fantastic mother telling us our good family friend “Carlos” had taken an impulse trip to the south east states and would be in Louisianna AND Alabama for the next couple of days then heading back to Ft. Worth. Ike and I decided the best thing to do in that second was call our friend and see if he might be interested in scooping us up in exchange for a what little gas money we had. Now the absolutely WoNdErFuL thing about this whole situation is Carlos LOVES to drive! Seriously, loves it, so needless to say the second he answered the phone and I explained our request he was not only willing but EXCITED to have us join him on his way back home. We couldn’t believe our great fortune! Not only were we getting a RIDE home, but with a friend we knew so well and loved so much. Carlos then informed us that there might be an issue in him retrieving us from Florida. He had rented a car for this trip and already put a massive amount of miles on the vehicle, he didn’t know if adding the extra three hundred miles to drive from Birmingham (his Alabama destination) to Panama was really feasible financially, but would let us know for sure the next morning and possibly meet up with us the same day to head back. Ike and I agreed this ride was too sweet of a deal to just let it slide away if he couldn’t afford to drive the extra six hundred miles and was kind enough to open his trip and car to us, we knew we had to get to Birmingham by the next afternoon to meet our friend and get oursleves home.

We grabbed our hidden packs with a completely new plan, one of hitch hiking all night and managing traveling the three hundred miles as quickly as possible. We found the nearest highway knowing Thanksgiving would be as fortunate a time to get picked up as any and that we should begin walking in our ideal direction, hoping for a ride.

The walking strategy this time was COMPLETELY different than ever before. Our goal was not to walk twenty miles taking rides if they came as it had always been, but rather to walk slower (for my foots sake) and entice travelers to pull over and offer us help.

We made signs for the back of our packs saying “ride?” and “Alabama”, we held out our thumbs completely unafraid of encounters with police only focused on moving far. We walked a good four or fives miles when we spotted a Waffle House (that was packed) we decided to head over ask for water and see if we couldn’t convince one of the patrons to offer us a lift. We crossed the highway to the restaurant and were approached by a large black pick up truck. A kind looking man rolled down his window and asked us how far north we needed to go, we told him as far as possible that any lift would be a blessing.

He offered us two seats in the bed of his truck and we excitedly jumped in. He told us he could only take us a few miles up the road, but we didn’t mind. The night was young and we would be hours farther with that ride than by foot alone. The ride was the most perfect I think I’d had yet. We sat in the back of his freezing truck, the sky was clear and the air felt clean and nurturing. I’d imagined I was on the back of a train feeling the same rush of wind on my face, with nothing more to do than  adore the beautiful sky above us. Our driver opened his back window and told us they wanted to drive us farther than they’d originally thought. That they wanted to take us fifty miles north to a town called “Vernon” where we could attempt another ride from there. We were so grateful and excited to be getting so far in one lift. After a long while of laying back in silence enjoying the ride I felt the truck pulling into a stop. I knew we were at our destination. We hopped out to greet our drivers, thank them and observe our new hitching grounds. Our drivers were two really cool people who’d lived in Panama, they offered us cream sodas, V8’s, Tuna and crackers and even gave us a little money for our travels. We were soOo grateful. We wanted nothing more than a lift up the road and ended up with enough to last us days more if we needed. We said farewell, set our packs down and took a look around. Vernon it seemed was an incredibly small city one that seemed to consist of only a highway, gas station and an accountants office. The intersection we’d been dropped at appeared to be the main stop in the area with a heavy flow of traffic in and out, mostly drunk locals sporting all types nifty and strangely discrete camouflage and confederate flags coming to purchase more alcohal to continue their Thanksgiving celebrations. Ike and I would try to talk to them as they passed by in hopes of sparking conversation and gaining their interest in giving us a ride, but after realizing the probable blood alcohal level of our hopeful rides we decided to be patient and wait for the perfect car before starting any more conversations.

After a while of loitering we noticed a tiny girl across the street playing her yard while a man sat behind her sitting on the front steps of the towns only other building (the accountants office) she yelled across the street towords us “Hi MommY!!” we quickly noticed she was yelling at the gas station attendant standing near us on her smoke break. The attendant yelled back “Hey Baby” the display seemed really bizzaar to me, this little girl playing outside of this office, on a major highway late at night yelling at her mom who was working across the street? Either way I was grateful for the experience as it gave me something to ponder while waiting for someone to cross our path suitable for a ride. Just as we were debating walking or standing the man across the street with the little girl yelled for us to come over and stand over there. It made great sense to us, his business front stoop was on the correct side of the road for our travels  and right next to a stop sign. We figured the likely hood of a sober traveler was more much better on his side of the street. We ran across the street dropped our bags with signs facing the road next to the stop sign and sat. The man began talking to us, telling us his story of moving here from hawaii, loosing his job and living in this rinky-dink town with his daughter and wife. He offered us weed and beer, but as my interests with grabbing the attention of oncoming cars and persuading them to give us a ride I didn’t want to be distracted, Ike knew that I had the ride situation under control  and accepted the offer, which worked perfectly for us as he was able to entertain our temporary  host while I worked his corner. (I love saying that!) We were having very little luck with ANYONE stopping or acknowledging our attempts to hitch. I spent my time waving eating seeds and playing in the dirt with the super cool little girl “Laialla” after a coupe hours we had become friends with the father Jeremy and his daughter. I noticed now that all of the stations costumers were all dressed in matching military uniforms and all heading in the same direction (the opposite way of us) I imagined they were all UPS employees getting ready for on of the biggest shipping seasons of the year and excited to purchase their night shift coffee and ambitously work the night away in their holiday spirit, but was informed by Jeremy that they were actually state prison guards, that this was the ONLY  job in the entire county that one could have in Vernon and make a living, hence everybody in the town worked there. I’d wished in that moment that Jeremy had informed us of this sooner so that we could have moved on and understood why no one traveling through was interested in picking up hitchers, but was grateful to know now and I began to revaluate our plan. Ike and I decided that we had to resort to asking people for lifts now. It was late in the night and the nearest town was a fourteen mile walk, with all of the drunk drivers we’d encountered we knew we had to now get a ride no matter what, even if it meant exchanging some gas money.

We told our front stoop friends we had to go back to the station now, Jeremy tried to convince us to stay the night with his family and try hitching again in the morning in fear I’m sure of loosing his new super cool drinking buddy. Laialla asked if she could come with us, informing us that her family wouldn’t care and that she was capable of traveling with us easily. I wished I could take her with us, she was perfect. So content and ok with everything being so out of whack around her, I just knew she’d be slow with her tiny legs and couldn’t bare to be slowed down any further.

We approached a group of three prison guards standing outside of the gas station smoking cigerettes. We instantly asked if one of them could give us a ride to the nearest town where we could hitch a ride in a slightly bigger city. They were all hesitant and making fun of our walking, we joked around with them for a while, but were persistent in getting a ride. Finally one of the officers agreed to give us a lift in exchange for some gas money. We quickly tossed our bags in his car and were SoO ready to go. He jumped in and began driving. We asked him a ton of questions about working at a prison and living in such a small town. He told us he’d lived here his whole life, about his wife, hunting and his love of motorcycles. I tried my hardest to relate to his stories with my enthusiasum for biking and knowledge of Cabellas outdoor store, but was relieved when we arrived at our big city gas station a few minutes later. We jumped out and offered him some funding for gas. He politely turned down our offer for money which was super great and helpful. We thanked him immensely and waved him good-bye.

This next gas station was better. Next to not only our smaller walking highway, but to the interstate as well and now miles away from any state prison. We knew we’d have luck finding travelers at this stop. We noticed a small man sweeping the stations lot, watching us closely out of the corner of his eye. We knew we were loitering and weren’t too surprised by this, but were SuPeR blown away by what he offered when he’d approached us. He asked us if we were hungry, he said he’d cooked Thanksgiving dinner, that he lived alone and wouldn’t eat the rest, that the entire feast was sitting in his truck and that he wanted to share with us. We were so honored to be offered yet anOthER heartfelt and home made Thanksgiving dinner and as we never turn down offers for great things we excitedly agreed. He introduced himself as Dwayne, brought us plastic wear, an expired half gallon of chocolate milk and left us outside to enjoy our meal. Ike and I excitedly lifted the foil wrappers from the food and began eating, my first bite was of a dish that looked to be some sort of red velvet cake topped with peaches and walnuts, although I thought the combination to be bizzaar I knew all of the ingredients were great individually and couldn’t be too terribly different together, but was actually REALLy surprised to discover the mixture of whatever flavors they were tasted like a really DRY wet cat food! I was shocked, all I wanted to do was spit this mouth full of heinous flavor OUT, I quickly looked to see our super kind (not exceptionally skilled chef) friend standing in the station window waving and lovingly watching us eat the meal he’d prepared, relishing in his kind deed. I so could NoT just spit it out, in fact I felt dreadful for even wanting to, but it was necessary. I managed to swallow and quickly explained to Ike the situation. We both began examining the rest of the dishes cautiously tasting each one and finding that each dish was strangely… welp, bad and in a slightly worse way than the last. We had to stop eating, we really couldn’t do it anymore. The gesture was soOo kind and loving, I’m glad we tried it and even more glad we stopped. We attempted to chase the wretched flavors away with our expired chocolate milk when a red and silver truck pulled up that looked strangely familiar. I recignoized this truck because not only because Ike had seen it at our last stop in Vernon, but because it looked almost identical to my boyfriend back homes truck. Ike and I knew this was a good omen and that this was it, we would be riding out with these guys. Two young men stepped out of the truck, and asked us where we were looking to go, we told them about our needing to get as far north into Alabama as possible by the next afternoon. They agreed to drive us a few miles north and get us over the border. We were stoked! We threw our bodies and our packs into the trucks bed and layed down, we were ready! The drive was colder than I had remember from the last ride a few hours before. The sky was now beginning to cloud over with dark clouds which created an amazing light show with the giant moon as its back drop. We drove much further than what was supossed to be only a few miles. I asked Ike how far was too far, he looked at me and said “we can never go too far” I liked that and pondered on it for a good while until the truck finally came to a stop. We looked up from our bed and discovered we were at a deserted gas station in what seemed to be a prime intersection (during the day) our ride informed us we were about twenty miles into Alabama now and that this station was directly on our path to continue to Birmingham. We greatly thanked the men and waved goodbye. We sat in the empty parking lot for a few moments before deciding to walk up the highway a bit into one of the pastures we were surrounded by and pitch our tent to rest a few hours until the sun came up. Just as we had finished setting our tent up the sky began to pour rain. I couldn’t help but feel overwhelmingly grateful in that moment underneath our rainfly in Alabama. Everything had been so perfect that day, we had recievd so much love from not only EVERYONE we’d met, but by the sky as well. It was a beautiful rest.

The next morning we woke, packed our gear up and headed back to the now bustling gas station from the night before. Now that we were officially hitching we had learned that asking people (with trucks) if they were “headed north and if so could we jump in their bed” it worked quite well! After a few turn downs from eastern travelers we got a ride from a sweet man in a station wagon thirty miles up to a bigger station. He was on his way to the nearest Wal-Mart and our next stop happend to be next door! He was really sweet and we all talked about life the entire journey there. He pulled up to our new station and we said goodbye, I wished we had stayed with him longer, not only was his station wagon luxury, but he had really great things to say and stories to listen to, I quite enjoyed it.

We again waited at this station for only few minutes as we were asking everyone which direction they were headed and quickly found yet another man willing to give us a brief lift about twenty miles north to another busy station. We’d noticed the sky getting dark and we knew rain was in store, that walking at any point today would be freezing and not terribly fun. We arrived at our final station for only a couple of minutes before we’d had an offer to get a ride all to Montgomery (100 miles away) from a super sweet older gentleman who was on his way to visit his daughter up north and help her fix her plumbing. We jumped in and began talking to him. He was rad! He was a helicopter pilot and a farmer he even told us he’d made all of his own flours and grains for cooking breads. We were so grateful to be getting so far and inside of another warm vehicle we felt safe and excited to be so close to our goal.

The ride was great, we arrived in Montgomery a bit early the skies were grey and and the air was the coldest we’d experienced in all of our trip. Our great driver dropped us off at a Starbucks (of our choosing) in a large shopping center in the midst of the Montgomery suburbs. We thanked him waved our giant goodbyes and walked into the coffee shop.

We noticed a lot of younger adults sitting around watching us wonder to our table interested in our obviously very worn gear and clothes. A young couple began talking to us about the adventure of backpacking and living freely. We enjoyed the conversation and warmth the environment was offering. Our plan at this time was to wait for Carlos to call us saying he was in Birmingham (90 miles north still) and heading south to pick us up from Montgomery which was located on the highway we would be traveling home. After a few hours of waiting, reading and sitting in the Starbucks my phone rang. It was our friend Carlos calling to tell us his dog was having to have emergency surgery at the animal clinic in Birmingham and that he would still be able to come scoop us up, but we would then be venturing back to the animal clinic to collect his puppy and that it would be a few hours still until he was able to begin his trek down to us.

Ike and I exhausted knew we did not want to walk into the cold and rainy weather to find another gas station in hopes of finding our own ride to Birmingham, we knew patience in this situation would be best. Plus it could give my foot a chance to rest. Ike and I killed a good four or so hours at the coffee shop and then decided to move onward with another four or five hours until our ride might be arriving we needed a change or scenery. We ventured to the local bookstore which was incredibly crowded due to the “Black Friday” holiday, we collected a variety of art, home and cooking magazines and began reading. Nothing makes me happier to be at home than  Martha Stewart, all of the super yummy recipes, fantastic crafts and DeLiCiOuS cocktails I was soaking up all of the excitement in getting home and creating a perfect space to be with my family and friends. After a good hour or so Ike and I decided we were quite hungry and now being able to spend our last tiny bit of spending money being headed home agreed to treat ourselves to our favorite cuisine of Thai food for our last adventure supper. We walked a couple miles in the cold through the up scale Montgomery neighborhoods backyards, avoiding angry dogs to shorten our path in order to get  to our thai destination and let me tell you no trek ever felt more worth it once we’d arrived. We ate hot curries and made friends with our waitress, we asked if we could sit at our table for a few hours while we waited for our ride and seeing as we were their OnLy table they agreed! We sat there for a LONG time, we played games with espresso beans, sugar packets, massaged eachothers shoulders (which the staff was hilariously awkward about:) then after another three hours with out word from our little Carlos that he was on his way to us decided it was best we found a new destination for our sitting and headed out towords the nearest McDonalds. Finally after a few minutes of waiting Carlos said he was on his way and we would be seeing him in about an hour, which to us at that point seemed like nothing. The staff at the McDonalds was great to us excited about us with our packs offered us hot coffee on them (which was awesome as we’d been admiring coffee all morning at our Starbucks with  out tasting a drop) Ike and I were so excited we could barely contain it!

We talked with a lovely homeless man sitting behind us in a booth for a while about living with out a home. I wondered if he was waiting for a ride as well, or perhaps just the weather to slow a bit to venture to his next location, wondering if the staff ever gave him a complimentory coffee to keep him warm as well or if his lack of expensive gear made him more of a nuisance. After a good while of waiting we finally saw it… the most wonderful clack SUV with Texas license plates pulling into the parking lot and we KNEW it was Carlos!

Our texas friend walked inside we bombarted eachother with hugs and hellos it was perfect to see him after such a quest to meet him. We all drove back to his friends house in Birmingham met his puppy who was in process of healing from her surgery earlier that day and layed our pooped heads to rest for the night in order to wake up in the morning heading out to the animal clinic for one last check up then on the road back home.

The next day we awoke packed all of our stuff and carlos’ puppy and trekked to the vet’s office. All was fine and great with her surgery after leaving Carlos decided to stop by a Waffle House to eat food, we didn’t mind as we love our little houses of waffles. Ike and I ordered our regular coffees when carlos offered to buy us breakfast, we took advantage of being able to eat eggs and hashbrowns and we all ate and talked about our adventures. Carlos himself had had a crazy adventure the past couple of days traveling thousands of miles in only a few days to help a friend.

After eating and stopping by Carlos’ friends house one last time to say good bye we were off! I sat contently in the back with the sweet sick puppy cuddling and falling in love with all of the bright reds and yellows of the massive trees lining the highway. The huge pines reminded me of Oregon and I thought about how this was the farthest north we’d been on our entire trip and we were still only in Alabama! I could hear the guys up front talking about all types of things, cars, drugs, politics I would chime in every once in a while, but spent most of my energy collecting myself from all of the spaces and places I’d gained and left energy in the past couple of months, trying to decide about how I felt in this trek being over completely and early. I began to understand my ego was a bit sad as I had assumed I would want to be gone for a long while, that I could be adventurous for my entire life and never desire the calmness of home. I was in fear of looking weak to others which in observing helped me to recignize the true strength of knowing what I really wanted to do and always following that. I was so happy with our time on the road, I had gained more joy than I’d ever imagined and discovered a new path of opening myself to every thing in this universe ready and willing to love and listen to it.

After a good ten hours of driving, pee pit stops, listening to great music and discussions we arrived in Texas. It didn’t feel exceptionally wonderful or bad. It felt exactly like everywhere else I’d been lately which is exactly right, being totally where I wanted to be. Seeing my family did feel wonderful. The magic of these funny people who’ve known me my whole life and missed my energy while away felt awesome to be absorbed in once again.

I am so blessed to be here with so much openess now. Healing my feet, with no crappy job, no car, no obligations at all just space to fill with doing what I love and want. I feel a beautiful peace in having gained some understanding on my perfect compositional position in this life and I absolutely LOVE it! There is so much to see everywhere, so much we are able to pay attention to, listen to, observe and collect pieces from to put together with in ourselves a perfect masterpiece to live inside of and paint the rest of our universe with.

I am ecstatic to continue on my adventure here in texas everyday and anywhere else my sole may take me, I am so grateful to everyone we met along our way, to every new friend and every open mind and heart. You all changed my entire life and being able to fall in love with new places and people has expanded my joy in ways I could have never fathomed.

Thank you for reading this and being a part of our lives,  I’m glad we’re all here in our own fabulous dreams, sharing in this space together.

Day 55 & 56: “Be Wise, Be Brave, Be Tricky”

GoOoD Morning Panama City! Here we are Thanksgiving day resting our bones and charging our phones at the local Waffle House in preparation for our big adventure OuTTa here tonight! (hopefully)
Panama City (a place we’d never actually intended to be) has been neither very good nor bad, it’s basically just been here as have we.
We spent All day Tuesday reading and using the computers at the public library, nothing is nicer for relaxing than laying our heads on our plump packs and reading Harry Potter for hours and hours:)
We had talked to most of our potential friends to meet up with while in Florida and realized none would be panning out as we’d hoped or needed. Our last attempt for florida plans was with my fantastic boyfriend “Raef” and his friend from Ft. Worth who had thought about perhaps taking a roadtrip out to Ft. Lauderdale, meeting with us and driving us back here in a couple of weeks.
The desire to continue on another five hundred miles through a state we didn’t really like all that much was loosing it’s appeal quickly, especially with an injured ankle. Ike and I discussed what the heck we were gonna do with ourselves, we agreed the trek would be worth it to meet my boyfriend and his friend on the east coast especially with a garunteed ride back to Texas. We googled train maps and found out they’re actually completely illegal and don’t exist on the internet. I did learn however about an underground book that most bums have possession of one that shows you every freight route and the times they depart and arrivie called “CrewChange” according to the experienced hoppers the only way to obtain one is to have one given to you by a willing bum. I found this to be incredibly cool and began fantasizing about being handed such a treasure to use in traveling for free for the rest of my life!having no luck on our own we called Ike’s cousin (an experienced hopper) for advice, he informed us our only chance of finding any sort of map was following the light gray tracks marked on our GPS and trust they will lead us in the right direction. This was all totally fine with me, the raw adventure of hopping a train is something that tingles my bones! The fantastic fun of hiding from “The Bull” (the yard officer who patrols regularly) sneaking our packs and bodies onto a train with out being seen, enduring the weather no matter what and lastly JuMpInG off of a moving train!?!! Glorious! Even with my ankle being sore I’m dying for the experience to focus all of my strength and energy to complete this task!
After a good seven hours of library we ventured up to the waffle house to charge our phones an treat ourselves to a cup (or sixteen) of coffee. We had really gotten to know and like the Waffle house ladies from the night before and knew they would all be working that night. We walked in and saw our sweet waffle friends faces. We talked and joked for hours, we eventually asked their manager if the staff could join us in playing games as there was nO One in their store, she agreed and we all had a blast playing rummy and egytian ratscrew forever! I just adore games! They are so great and unconditionally fun. After a few hours and a shift change Ike and I decided to head back towards the empty lot we’d discovered the night before to set up camp. In traveling back we noticed the neighbors around the lot enterance were more active and outside than the night before. We spent a good forty five minutes slugging our way around the neighborhood waiting for them to walk (just for a minute) back into their homes. The air was incredibly thick with fog, which allowed for great hiding and the many cups of coffee allowed for ambitous patience.
Eventually we felt comfortable to run back and set up. We felt we were in the clear, but with the fog knew every sound was being carried heavier and farther than normal so we tried to be as quiet as possible. We were mid setting up when we were approached by a flashlight. A man walked up to us and asked “what are you doing here?” I replied quickly and very casually with “camping! Were backpacking and need a place to stay, we figured here was safe because it’s so hidden” the man thought for a second while examining us and our equipment with his flashlight, then agreed this was a good place. He agreed that we looked different than any bums he’d seen, told us to be careful of other potential squatters in the area and of the lots owner, then said a quick “goodnight”
We were relieved!! We really did NoT want to continue walking this ghetto city late at night looking for a new spot, plus with my dentists appointment in the morning we needed rest pronto!
The next morning I woke much earlier than Ike and took advantage of the alone time to stretch, number two and and call Raef. I woke Ike with a half hour to spare before walking we ate our spirulina and began packing when my phone rang. It was the dentist I was scheduled with office calling to inform me with an hour left before my appointment my tooth had not arrived from my dentist in Ft. Worth. I began to kinda panic! The whole reason we were here and had been here for two days was to replace this tooth, if we didn’t do it that day I knew waiting until the next Monday was my only option. I called my ft. Worth dentists off which was of course closed and told Ike we just had to go walk there. Even though I was panama City dentists last appointment before the holidays and they didn’t have my tooth it was our oNLy option. So we walked FAST. I was brainstorming every way to get out of panama before next Monday to avoid waiting in this city. After a couple miles of stressed walking to our dental destination my phone rang, it was the office we were headed to, with fifteen minutes to go my tooth had arrived!!
I was ECSTATiC!!!!! I couldn’t believe the great fortune and to have a solid tooth ThAt day was a dream come true!
We walked into the office a little late dripping sweat and they took me right back! After only a few minutes I was done and had a beautiful new tooth I’d been waiting for for months!
I found Ike talking with a man in the waiting room about our adventure and potential destinations. We were still waiting on final word from Raef and his friend as to their meeting us we knew that they would have a sous answer by that evening, we had NO clue where to go next. We learned of a near by bay and decided to set up camp there for the night to enable us to head any direction we needed the next day (today) after hearing word from our friends. The man in the waiting room “Michael” was helpful with information about the area and was so kind to us he handed us a fifty dollar bill on his way out!! We were SO SO So thankful! Having nothing brings great gratitude for everything we receive! We left the office feeling incredibly blessed and ready for a day of rest to be strong for the next days adventures.
We walked for a good few miles to a patch of land Ike had found once again using his awesome google earth GPS. It was right next to a giant paper mill which was pretty hilarious, but it was also on the water and in a super concealed location. It was beautiful! We set up camp, explored our surroundings (even discovering what looked to be a boa constrictor) ate some nuts and decided to just lay and read. As soon as the sun went down we both passed out. It was great to be able to rest my foot and catch up on sleep, although I still felt so lost in our plans I felt totally at peace in the moment.
We woke this morning to the news via message from Raef that they would not be able to come out this way. Ike and I both knew this meant heading west ad jumping a train ToNiGhT!
Ike began questioning me in a very Ike manner asking “you know this train hopping is going to be hard, that we could die or go to jail, that it won’t be easy?” I felt suddenly terrified! What had I gotten myself into?!? Was this going to be the biggest mistake I’d ever made?!? Why was he even saying all of this? After calming and talking with Ike he explained so that I could understand his intentions were of wanting me to be aware of the challenge and not in a mindset of just giving up if it were scary or too hard (which ya, i guess I’ve done before) I agreed my intentions were already set for bravery and strength that hopping is something I’ve dreamed of doing. We gladly acknowledged our agreements and began walking to downtown waffle house for what we hoped to be our last charging before finding a train to ride back west tonight.
The five mile walk from campsite to restaurant was sweaty the air is heavy in preparation of rain here tomorrow. I was really noticing the strong smell of my body and clothes from not being changed in days and days, I acknowledged how I rather enjoyed the smell, knowing I’d worked so hard and had to rough it to be so stenchy. As we approached waffle house a young good looking couple with Georgia plates pulled up along side of us asking if we needed a ride. We told them we were just on our way to Waffle House then planning on hopping a train. They asked if we at least wanted a piece of pumpkin pie and seeing as we ain’t crazy we said “YAAA! That would be great!” They popped their trunk right there in the parking lot and cut us pieces of pie that the lady had made for their thanksgiving festivities they were on their way to in Pensacola. The pie was her first and was SoOo good! Her husband ate with us we talked a little about Florida and why they lived here. They explained to us it was military and that they liked Georgia better. It was a really sweet moment to share with this couple. Eating pie on the side of the road, that they’d been willing to even cut this beautiful treat before arriving at their destination. We felt alot of love and specialness in this moment, we thanked them tremendously before letting them get back on their way.
Thats where we are now, coffee in hand phones on chargers spending time with our only Panama City friends at the Waffle House where they all live.
I am excited, nervous and ready for this next piece of adventure! Wish us safety and great timing! Can’t wait to see where this all will take us!

Day 53 & 54: “What do you WANT to do?”

Here we are, sitting at the computer at the Panama City FL public library. Ike and I each have our own respective computers, he is researching train routes for our next adventure and I am lucky enough to be able to write to all of you about my past few days and anticipations of what lay ahead.  There is something wonderful about being at a library isn’t there? I remember being little and my mom allowing me to take my bike a mile or two alone to the library, where I would research and write book reports that I’d created about famous criminals and killing sprees. It was always a great time, SO many cool things tucked into every bookshelf waiting to be observed and so much peace. I just love it!

We left our friend Matt in Destin after a day of Hooters, sand sculpture building and cooking out together one last time. After Matt drove away Ike and I decided to sleep hidden between picnic tables undreneath a pavillion at Henderson State beach. It’s always fun sneaking into a camping spot, trying to stay hidden from rangers. The night was perfect , sleeping on the beautiful beach was wonderfully relaxing and with a full moon we were able to watch every wave crash in reflected off of the sand. We awoke yesterday morning with the intention of making our way to Tallahesse in order to try to get treatment for my tooth at a free clinic. We began walking at around seven in the morning (again crazy early for us) our packs are much heavier than anytime before. We have accumulated new possesions and have an abundance of rations, I could really feel the difference in weight! We walked a good seven or eight miles then decided to stop to eat, charge our phones and establish contact with our friend in the Bahamas and my tallahesse clinics. We quickly learned that the only “free” dental treatment one can recieve is “tooth extraction” I’ve been down that road before and after all I’ve been through finiacialy and emotionally with this tooth I decided to try and keep it! I then proceeded to call every dentist in Destin for appraisals on temporary crowns, after a good hour of this i ended up on the phone with a Panama City dentist who’d offered to cement my premanet crown (which is waiting for me at home)  if I could manage to have it overnighted. After many phone calls to my dentist, my mother and Panama City we managed to have it shipped and an appointment set to place it wednesday (tomorrow) at noon, in Panaama City of course which from Destin is about fifty miles and that AlOt of walkin’! We decided to get right back on the road and trek as diligently and quickly as we could to get there by wednesday. We were doing great! At around two we got an offer for a ride from a sweet hispanic man named ” Garcia” He could only drive us  a few miles up, but anything was tremendously helpful at that point. Once we stopped to get out he offered us ten dollars and we thanked him emensly!

We again continued walking when all of a sudden I got a sharp pain in my right foot (and it wasn’t just the blisters) it felt like some sort of a crazy cramp that if I stopped I could stretch out or at least massage for a little relief. The break did help some, but the pain was still very present and I felt frusterated. We continued walking for another three or four hours aiming to reach the nearest town before setting up camp. My foot was in pretty intense pain in and out the entire walk. When I am in physical pain I feel it’s hard to deal with because I believe somehow I am creating this pain and if I though in alignment with feeling good and strong I wouldn’t be going through this struggle. It is an intense battle inside of myself, but I’m glad I pressed on. It had become dark and we were still a mile outside of the nearest city (still twenty five miles from Panama City) when  silver pick up truck pulled over and offered us a ride. The man inside was a very cute young hispanic man, he introduced himself as “Lo-Nell” but couldn’t tell us much more as his english was poor and our spanish no better. We told hm of our wanting to get to Panama City and he said he would take us. We were so grateful and knowing we should take this ride we just hopped right in. Ike and I had NO CLUE where the heck we were going in Panama, but Ike using his incredible skills, smarts and google earth found a piece of green land in the middle of the city just up from where my dentists was located. Our driver asked if he could make a couple stops on his way, first to his house to pick up his friend then to a check cashing place. We totally didn’t care we could have driven around in the back of a car all day, we did however get that it wsa kind of weird that he was picking up a friend and decided to tell him we had friends waiting for us at the Waffle House in Panama City that he could just drop us off there. He actually turned out to be a super cute and sweet really christian guy who loved music about jesus and sung in spanish, I kinda dug it too. We arrived at Waffle House and decided to go inside and charge our phones, we do after all LoVe Waffle House!

Ike informed me that the empty lot he’d found was right up the road from the Waffle House, that that’s why he’d chosen the location, I was SO proud of him, geez he’s smart!

My feet felt as if they might be bleeding on the insde and out so the sitting was lovely. I contacted our friend with the Bahamas house and found out he won’t be there for another month or so, that we’d have to purchase a plane ticket to the island itself and with no money and a phone bill due right around that time it seemed almost impossible. We suddenly began reevaluating our plans. I think it’s important to ask yourself often “is this fun?” “Do I want to keep doing this, or something different” even if that may be a really hard and certantly confusing question to answer. We brainstormed and came up woth a couple options everything from hopping to South Carilina, to walking still to the Bahamas.

After our phones were charged we thanked uor Wafle House ladies for the electricity and water and then walked up the street to our lot which ws actually pretty perfect especially for being in the middle of a city. It was a new experience for me sleeping somewhere like this. I felt for the first time really transiant! The sleep was great I got to take a morning poo by a swamp and stretch before starting our day. Couldn’t ask for much more. Now we are just thinking and waiting for my tooth to get fixed so that we can start onward from here.

We aren’t totally sure WHAT we’ll end up doing. Ike is now researching trains we could hop going all over the country and I think Ike and I both have a craving to ride a train. All I know is my body is feeling the effects of my pack right now, that I don’t want to just GIVE up on anything and that I have a great partner in this and together we will manifest something perfect!!

DaY 52: “WHOoCEAN!!”

What a day! What a month! What a LiFe!!
Glory be, we are officially out of Mobile Alabama!! Were now in Destin Florida having a beachy blast with our friend Matt Nystrom. Truthfully to be out of Mobile is pretty incredible! I was beginning to think we may never leave and even though I was excited to be getting back to the adventurous life of being free and on the road, the experience of saying goodbye to our friend Perry for the last time brought an enormous sense of loving gratitude that made me slightly emotional.
The experience of Mobile may have at times been frustrating with giving up drinking and smoking, prolonging our stay in attempts to work with no results of finical benefit and killing alot of time “Ab Rocketing” or watching HBO at the end of it all I realized how much the experience created within myself some pretty tremendous growth. I believe I am now more connected to the sense of just being present, listening and making thought out decisions than I was before Alabama.
I realize now how Perry taught us alot (weather we agreed or not) about politics, national Policy on trade and rights of family, foreign relations and farming. Somedays I would wake up hoping Perry would have something, AnYtHiNg to talk about other than one of his repetitive topics, but quickly realized his passion and obsession over these unjust issues will never be something he’d change because they had become who he is. I grew to love his anger and focus.
After three weeks with him
I was finding myself feeling proud to hear him explain to any and everyone the issues our country is facing and offering detailed explanations of how to change them. I love observing him beginning to communicate in new ways, ways that we had communicated with HiM I’m glad we all heard each other.
We spent our last night in Mobile with our awesome new friend Stephen celebrating his 28th birthday party at his favorite gay bars. I decided it was a good time to enjoy drinking for the night, that I was used enough to not smoking now that having a couple drinks wouldn’t interfere with my goal.
It was a FaNtAsTiC night!! We drank yummy drinks, danced our gorgeous asses off and enjoyed an incredible drag queen burlesque show! It was so GrEAT to go out and remember how much I love dancing and gay men! We were really blown away to get the privilege of hanging out with such an awesome guy and on his BiRThDAY!
Ike and I had made plans with our friend Matt to venture out to Destin for the weekend together for camping and playing on the beach. He had agreed on picking us up from Perrys friday night to take us. We were ecstatic! We spent the beginning of our day Friday paying cell phone bills and gathering all of our scattered belongings into our now over stuffed packs. Ike cooked us an amazing dinner of fried rice, mushroom soup and pork chops for him and perry. The three of us ate one last meal together, silently knowing it would be our last. At around eight Matt showed up, we introduced our two friends talked a while then loaded up to head (for the first time in 3 weeks) out of Mobile!
Our first and final stop last night was gulf springs Alabama. Right on the coast, but only a 45 minute drive from MobiLe giving us time to explore the beach, drink wine and set up camp before too late.
Matt excitedly pulled over into the first turn off for beach front we encountered. We were all so stoked to go greet the ocean we’d been dreaming of arriving to. The only unfortunate part of our beach front stop was that there was no road… Only sand and alot of it, like to where we got stuck, hard.
We looked and laughed at our stuck car agreeing to run down to the beach, stretch and drink then figure out a solution later on, and that’s exactly what we did! When we approached his car again later a little buzzed from wine we began attempting to reverse, drive forward and dig ourselves out over and over. Needless to say this wasn’t working well for us at all!
Thankfully we were approached by an SUV carrying two strong young men and a cute and tiny girl, they hopped out and offered us help digging and pushing. After only a few minutes of all of us working we got it! The car was unstuck and we were super grateful for these folks taking time to offer us help…cause honestly we needed it!
We then made our way to our campsite for the night (sneaking into state parks is one of my favorite ways to camp)
Pitched our tents and passed out!
We woke yesterday morning (Saturday) early around seven which is much more likely a time Ike and I would be going to sleep rather than waking up, but we managed.
We all decided to eat a bagel for our daily energy, however mid bagel my temporary crown (which had fallen before and been strategically stuck back on by yours truely) shattered leaving my sad stump
of a root canaled tooth exposed and sensitive to the changing temperatures and obviously AnY food! The roughest part about this is I HAVE to get a new temporary crown, no other option, but i have NO money! When situations of emergency arrive and i feel the pressure and obligation to have money (even if its as little as $100 to go to a dentist) no matter how I try not to I become a little stressed. It is a great opportunity though to remember the importance of trust in this universe and that all will be taken care of. Perfectly in alignment I received some awesome advice from an unschooler mom about free medical clinics in Florida. We researched and found our closest bet in Tallahesse (160) miles from Destin. Our plan now is to hike as fast as we can to get there by this week to get this buger fixed!
After the tooth drama the three of us loaded into Matt’s car and cruised up the coast towards Destin stopping for some fresh fish for dinner, coffee and a skim board. We arrived at Henderson state park right on the beach! This place is all kinds of beautiful! I’d never really been all that excited for the experience of the Atlantic or Florida. I knew it would be fun, but never imagined how in love I could be with the colors and energy of a body of water. Being on this beach reminds me of one of a mind blowing piece of art, one where I adore every color, just can’t believe how perfectly they look and feel together and know this is a most incredible experience. It was AWESOME!
After a full day of swimming, horseshoeing, skim boarding and sun bathing we headed back to our tent to cook our dinner. When we arrived back to our site Matt very smoothly opened his truck and pulled out an abundance of fall decorations, walked over to the picnic table and layed them all out. He then informed us he had made at home and brought with him an EnTiRE Thanksgiving feast! We aren’t talking any measly dinner either, there was sweet potato, green bean and corn cassaroles, bread, shrimp, red snapper, red potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie and wine, lots of wine! Ike cooked the seafood for us over the campfire, the whole experience was so special for all of us. What an awesome guy Matt is to think of doing something so great for us especially since we’ve only really all been friends for not even a month now.
We definitely bonded over the experience and felt an abundance of gratitude, it was perfect!
Once we finished our feast, we all decided to walk to the local movie theatre located about a mile away and sneak into Harry Potter. We stopped for another bottle of wine and most masterfully snuck our way into the theatre. Mat,t however wanted to buy a ticket, which was cool it made it easier for us to get in.
Once the movie started Matt immediately passed out and Ike began making his way through our big bottle of wine (alone)
Obviously the movie was fantastic, even with Matt’s snoring and Ikes outraged comments to Harry Potter (that were hilarious and loud) it was GreAT!!
We all walked back along the beach to the tent, Ike was toasted and a ball to watch and talk to about feelings and interpretations of Harry Potters life and path. We were pretty exhausted after our long day and fell asleep beautifully!
Matt woke me this morning with the enticing offer of morning beach running and stretching, seeing as these are two of my FAvORITE things to do I peeled myself out of bed and ran my ass off!
When we got back Ike had decided to get up, we grabbed some coffee and packed up our site. We had all agreed to spend an hour or two up at Destins community Hooters eating fried pickles and watching the Jets game… I like fried pickles!
Which brings us to where we are now. Sitting at a Hooters watching sports and knowing tonight our journey of being on foot alone begins again. I am especially excited now that we have such beautiful landscape and energy all around us and tO gET this TOOTH FIXED!! (Even if it’s only temporary:/)
Things are about to get even better and I can not wait!!!

day 47: We LiKe to DANCE!

HellO HellO I’m glad you’re here!

We’ve been out now for 47 days. It feels pretty incredible! Life is still just as amazing as the first day and is completely unpredictable! We are still in Mobile! To type it I kind of can’t believe it! I am not keen on staying in one place too long, I get bored really easily, but being here now is a really present level of importance that neither of us can ignore (plus the fact that we have all of the time in the world helps) We are still mastering ourselves while helping Perry with everything from ideas and organization of his website to handing out flyers door to door for his power washing business. Perry offered us a portion of his profits from our expeditions and we are really hoping these manifest (for phone bill coming up soOn) nothing yet, but we are also completely in trust that whatever we need will be provided somehow especially if we keep working at it!

The past week has been pretty awesome! We recieved THE AMAZING news that one of our favorite shoe companies (from Portland) KEEN was interested in sponsoring what we were doing with a donation of AnY pair of shoes we wanted!!!! Now I don’t know if you’re aware of KEEN shoes, but they’re frickin’ awesome. They are designed for outdoor wear, to last forever and look totally amazing, oh ya and they are also the only company with a shoe designed specificly for disc golf ! We were sOo excited, we jumped up and down and spent hours looking over their website completely in heaven knowing we could have any shoe we wanted!! (I know this sounds like a cheesy add, I’m sorry for that I’m just SUPER excited as it’s the coolest thing that’s happend to me like EvEr) We are now waiting on our shoes to arrive hopefully by Thursday and will be wearing them pretty much non-stop for the next couple of weeks, or years.

We’ve spent the majority of our time working out still, dumpster diving, cooking, helping Perry, choreographing dances and sleeping. It’s pretty much a dream life! We have however been fiercely craving some interaction with people our own age. Being as soocial as we both are when we’re home this whole no going out or partying AT ALL has been really strange and we have been most excited to manifest the opportunity to do it again! So this Saturday just as everything goes we got our chance and man was it pErFeCt!

We were walking early Saturday night out of Perry’s to the local gas station so I could purchase some most delicious MiNt gum, when we noticed the unmistakable signs of a party. Loud music and excited voices were pouring out from a beautiful yard lined with an abundance of christmas lights and we knew… this is where we were going with our time this night. We continued our venture for gum went back to Perry’s and began preparing ourselves to go to a party just as if we’d been invited. We left around eleven and confidently walked back to the enchanting yard. At first we were pretty heavy in thought “what should we say?” “should we just walk in?” but after a while of that nonsense we simply marched into the backyard, asked whose house it was, told them we were walking across the country and were in need of drinking with people our own age, we were of course welcomed with open arms and unlimited booze!

For me the situation was a little uncomfortable. I have made the agreement to take a vacation from alcohal and have quit smoking cigerettes, but only for about a couple of weeks and wasn’ too sure how I was going to handle this. Ike however had no issues, he jumped right in; playing beer pong, drinking whiskey and chatting up a storm. I was pretty glad to find I was still having a great time even with out all the wonderfulness of booze and nicotene! Dancing and talking about travels, love and life with new people is always AWESOME! We made a few rad friends as well, Eric was a young college student who was hosting the party (housewarming party) with his friends and Stephen a super cute gay man who had tons of experience traveling and was a delivery nurse!!!! The party was everything we’d been hoping for. As the time went on everyone became more and more drunk (duh) but I remained sober, I decided to head out to go back home to spend some time drawing and writing. I informed Ike I was going to head out and he decided to stay behind and continue the fiesta. Even though it was tempting to feel the pressure of staying with my partner I knew it was for the best to part ways.

Later that night around four or so in the morning Ike returned home hammered and happy! He told me about his adventures of the evening dancing all night, leaving the party and exploring local bars with our new friends and having what sounded to be an incredible time. I was really glad to hear he was able to have such an awesome time, even better than we’d hoped for:)

We have made plans for Thursday to celebrate our new friend Stephen’s birthday before heading out an can’t wait! Our time here in Mobile will most certaintly be over by the 20th when we meet up with our New Orleans & Ft. Worth amig Matt to spend a weekend surfing and camping in Destin. I can’t wait and really hope to see all of our needs and wants met in ways we’d never expected.

Thanks again for reading this and for being you.

Take it easy:)

us before heading out to deliver some flyers.

just as we got to the party in the hood we are staying, yay!

the beer pong champs! Stephen and Ike.

Eric and Cole partying it up!

Nicks great Beatles tattoo!

Stephen, Eric, Cole and Ike, dancing it up!

It’s all there

We’ve been in Mobile Alabama now for eleven days, although staying in one place may make for slightly less exciting story telling, the importance of the time is just as relevant as ever.

It’s been an incredible time, Ike and I have been living fantastic lives. Staying here in this warm, peaceful and most easy to be in home has really enabled us to master so many aspects of ourselves we’d been working on for so long. I have been blessed with abundant beautiful weather to run in everyday, I am now running farther than I’d ever imagined possible and daily. We have become masters of dumpster diving, not only in successful dives, but mastering where and when to go in order to eat the best foods possible. I have not smoked cigerettes nor drank alcohal since being in Alabama and my consciousness and connectedness to my body and life are becoming clearer and stronger with each day. We are learning skills in patience and loving persuasion in our conversations and explinations of perception with Perry. I am mastering the art of contentness as well, which for perhaps my whole life I have been striving to do and feel the constant peace of what is now more than I’d even dreampt or hoped to. I am completely in love with my life and for no particular reason other than it is exactly what I want it to be.

We have been debating the issue of when to leave next. We had agreed to venture out this week once we’d recieved our care package from Barb (Ike’s momma) we’d been waiting on. We recieved the package yesterday and were ecstatic!! Not only was it filled with the best rations ever of nuts, goij berries, seeds, dried fruits, homemade oatmeal bars, gum and candy but more love than we could have imagined:) It feels so great to recieve packages from family. With the packages arrival we agreed to head out towords Florida tomorrow (Friday the 12th). Ike and I began talking of our priorities and acknowledged that although we have been spending NO money, we have to manifest income NoW in order to cover our cell phone expenses for this up coming month and to have emergency spending money available. Thankfully our expenses are minimal and competely attainable, we just had to agree on the fact that focus on creating opportunities to earn money was now important.

Just as incredibley as all things have been happening in life, we awoke this morning to an offer from Perry to help promote his Power Washing business and in return make money. Ike and I discussed the idea of staying here longer than we had agreed the night before, and figured the opportunity was perfect! We are already living such great and abundant lives here, to stay and not only help our friend, but achieve our goal was an ObViOuS YES! I am hopeful and excited to help and even to work, I do love working!

I’d sappose one could say this is our plan now; stay in Mobile a few days longer, work diligently to manifest money and accelorate Perry’s business, then pack up and head out in order to be in Destin Florida by November 20th (when we have a weekend fun date with our Nawlins’ amigo Matt). It is totally bizzare how everything happens so perfectly, I will be keeping in allignment with  this ease and peace for sure!

As for our daily activaties we spend alot of time still cooking, eating, disc golfing, talking and moving our bodies. A great routine has begun taking place in our lives and like most routines although they’re great for getting things done eventually get dull and my intense desire for change takes hold, but GeEz I’ve got all the time in the world!! I think I’ll just stay here a while eat fabulous dumpster meals, love my body and friends and sharpen my Jedi skills as much as possible given this fabulous opportunity!

Hey! By the way, You are totally rad and we really appreciate all of your love!!!

Perry, Cole and Ike goofing of:)

the three of us allll the waay!

Cole about to rip one of the tee!

the lefty watching the disc fly of the tee

In flight and form.

cole and I at the golf course

About to start walking to go do some diving!!

Days 35-38: “Grace under abdominal Fire”

AHhhhh GeEz!! It’s been three days since I’ve last written! It feels like a week to me. It’s strange staying with someone or in a city for more than a couple days. Habbits begin to form, we imediately begin inacting some routine or another to maintain our normalcy as human beings. The coolest part is every city, every stop we have the chance to develop whatever habbits we could possibley imagine, because every second is unknown and were determining what it is in this exact moment! CrAzY CoOl!!!
The past few days have been absolutely wonderful; peaceful, silly, energized, simple and abundant. The level of everyday excitement is much more mellow when we’re stationary, hence the no blog for the past couple of days, but the time has come to keep you all up on what and where we are, and I can’t wait!!

Each day begins about the same, Ike and I wake up in our beautiful outdoor bedroom to the chilli and fresh fall air. I go for my daily run and explore new territories of this Mobile neighborhood. When I return Ike and I usually make a fantastic breakfast for ourselves involving some sort a creative hodgepodge of pastries and breads (of which we have a poo-load of)
then sometime in the late afternoon once he’s done with his daily obligations Perry gets revved up to go out and play disc golf. He is completely loving it (and so is Ike)
although I am light years from being “good” at the game, I am slowly improving and it is a game, and everyone knows where there’s a game there will be fun, so I usually go with them. I’m working now on mastering power in my driving and not getting super frusterated, I’ve got a ways to go. Either way we always have a blast! Ike spends his energy coaching us two and playing amazingly. Perrys getting soO much better, it’s fun to watch him improve. My favorite disc golf day was Thursday, not only because it was a beautiful day and great round for throwing, but this was more fantastically the day Ike and Perry discovered that huge hearty looking  mushrooms were growing all along our course path. They were most definetely abundant and looked like a mixture of every mushroom we’ve ever cooked with before. Ike decided he should take some home and use them after our game for cooking a fungul feast. The boys picked  a few of the largest ones judged the color and decided to taste test them seeing if they tasted apropriate for a garlic and herb feast. Apperantly they were not ony apropriate, but a good mid course snack. They ate a good portion of the largest mushroom (mostly Perry) and collected more for dinner. I have an incredibley sensitive stomach so opted to stay out of the tasting fiesta. We continued our game carrying the mushrooms with us, got home and Ike began the preporations for dinner. This is a good time to tell you our new best friend Perry is a little bit of a worried man, he tends to use caution in a lot of what he does (which is hilariously fun for me and Ike:) but none the less in moments has ReAlLy proven benificial to us and THIS is no exception! Perry began researching Mobile Alabama fungus to discover what it is they had feasted and planned on continuing to feast on was. Turns out these giant thick white mushrooms were the most common cause of fungul poisoning in the United States. Perry became really nervous looking, he continued reading and discovered the effects of the poisoning took about an hour/ hour and a half to kick in post eating and as we were approaching the hour mark Perry jumped from his chair ran into the bathroom and began violently puking! Ike and I stood in the study jaw dropped, not knowing WhAt to do to help this man. Ike threw the prepared mushrooms out and we began researching treatments for fungul poisoning. I figured out there is no treatment other than water and letting the poison run it’s way through your system while being violently sick. We felt so bad for this sweet guy! He was a great sport about it too, joking around “eating the shrooms” it was strange to me though that Ike wasn’t feeling the effects. Perry went to bed joking about speckeling the toilet  (HILARIOUS!)  Ike and I sat and waited to see how he would feel, although he got some of the more mild effects of bloating and bowel issues never got sick really. YaY!! Perry felt much better the next day, he even reported feeling better than before he ate the toxic mushrooms, success! He even says he’s going to use this cleanse once every few years!

Ike and I have been dumpster diving every night. Our Mobile homestead is only a short mile from the nearest grocery store that has proven to ALWAYS have a stocked dumpster. Each night we throw on our shoes and heavy winter coats and trek it down there to collect what we can for ourselves and lovely host. We have collected more pastries and breads than we could ever know what to do with. Every dive there are just tons and tons of cakes, cinnimon rolls, tarts, brownines, do-nuts, garlic bread, gourmet wheat breads just soOo much! The only issue we’re really experiencing is that this store has NeVeR had any produce!?! We would much prefer to be collecting fresh non processed foods, but assume they don’t dispose of their fruits and veggies, instead use them in the stores deli and restaurant, which is smart and makes us happy to think they are using waste inteligently in some way:) We now have a house FuLL of these baked goods. I kind of feel I’m living my childhood dream, a house full of sweets more than I could ever know what to do with, but am finding myself scavenging through our food supplies in search of ANYTHING raw!!

The rest of our time is really just spent brainstorming, cooking, talking and watching “Beverly Hills Cop” movies it all has been super special and beautiful. Ike and I have been having a lot of fun planning creative endevors togther as well. This is just a great time and I’m glad to making the most of it even with out moving. (Kind of a new concept to me)

We are planning on heading out sometime this next week. Our intentions are to walk along the coast and make our way to Florida. I have no idea when we’ll be leaving and it’s awesome! I’m enjoying this period of learning, loving and working on my physical health so focused, but there is nothing sweeter than life comepletely open walking along the side of the road! I love you and am super glad you’re sharing this with us! THANK YOU!!!

Day 33 & 34: “Paw at the wild, wild night”

This world is just incredible, it is absolutely wonderful and perfect and like all love I’ve ever known, it is perpetually overwhelming and beyond what I can grasp, I am totally in love with it.

Now being a full month into this adventure we are completely free of any attachments to time or plans and it has changed everything. From the unexplainable energy we feel almost everywhere to the unimagainable and magnificent people we’ve become so totally alligned with. This life is perfect everywhere we look, even when it becomes frightening to know so little, being so voulnerable and open watching it all happen more magically than we could have ever controlled ourselves. We have become very good friends with this universe and continue to fall in love with everyone in it.

The past two days Ike and I have spent with our new best friend Perry. Laughing together constantly, teaching eachother non-stop about everything one of us knows, cooking and drinking tea, dumpster diving, massaging, talking, eating and everything good. The boys have become especially close, it’s been great fun for me watching them connect. They love to play disc together and have become an untouchable dumpster team. They love to sit on the front porch smoking cigerettes and talking about masculine things. I’m really glad they both are getting this time to develop something I believe is really important to both of them, and I’m loving being a part of the love fest fill as well:)

I have been spending most of my time working on my breathing and running the past couple of days. I have become really closely connected to my body and it feels AwEsOmE! I’ve also been helping Perry grow comfortable with the world of computers and self marketing (which has been completely fun and hilarious!) It’s great to listen to him, I believe he is remakably smart and if he can get on top of this new era of social networking and mass communication I believe his ideas will revolutionaze the way our government not only works but thinks. Not to mention empower everyone to be present and create things that feels good for everyone. Big stuff, I hope he chooses to go forward, it would mean alot to you and me and everyone we’ve met.

The weather has been rainy and dark the past couple of days, which has made our screened in porch bedroom AMAZING! There is nothing more fantastic than waking to the sounds, smells and sights of a rainy autum morning.  We’ve been hanging aroud the house most days with the exception of runs and walks.

Ike and I still haven’t talked to Perry about our uncomfortable feeling the other night, but haven’t felt any moment that was right to do so. Perhaps our uncomfortable feeling is something we are enjoying processing oursleves and realize that. We plan on being here a little while longer, how much longer I’m not totally sure of course. When the time is right we’ll move down farther south. Everything is perfect right now, peaceful and wonderful I am so excited for  tomorrow as fast or slow as it may be I can’t wait to live it!

Thank you for your love of what we’re doing. You are awesome and we take you with us everywhere we go.

Morning view from our screened in porch bed.

part of Perry and Ike’s dumpster score at Krispy Kreme

PERRY 🙂

The guys making their lunch today after disc.

Boo and Bert, they are always hungry and like to lick their balls, Perfectly pup like!

Day 32: …I have no idea what’s happening.

If there were one thing I could say for certain it’s that there is something most powerful here in the south eastern states. I can’t pin point to you what exactly it is, but it’s been present in the air since our first night in Louisiana and just keeps getting heavier the farther east we go. Ike and I have spent much time trying to conclude on where this energy may be coming from . Weather it’s a secretive brutal past effecting everything to make present some form of truth, or the energy of an area that nature has intended to destroy for a long time, fighting to maintain it’s presence as a home when really it is already dead. The truth is we have no idea, but the more time we spend here and in a perspective of following the unknown, we can not deny that strange things are happening, and we’re right smack dab in the middle of it.

Ike and I spent yesterday with our good friend and host Perry. Ike cooked us a great breakfast of eggs and hashbrowns. Perry offered to take us around Mobile, giving us a tour via tiny red truck. We were super excited! It’s always a real treat to get a tour from someone who knows first hand the best places to see. He showed us great parks covered with trees and fountains, (true to Alalbama all feeling like a scene out of Forest Gump) huge government buildings and lawyers offices which seemed to be the only large buildings in all of the city. He took us to the famous “Fort Conte” which was surprisingly well preserved and maintained. We walked around the fort for a while reading about it’s walls and rather poorly designed escape routes and eventually decided to venture inside of the forts gift shop. We walked inside to discover two very southern, but completely different old men. One sat back in his chair wearing overalls and his worn in tractor brand cap, not speaking much at all. The other was dressed in business wear and a tie, sported the longest eyelashes this side of the mississippi and had a soft almost dainty voice. The business man began reciting his tourist speech and asked us to fill out our information in their guest book. Once he noticed where we were from, the conversation lead to the great discussion about our adventure and all of the great places to visit in America. After a while he began to get a rather concerned look on his face, he leaned into us and said “ya, know if walkin’ You’re gonna need a map, cause you cain’t cross any of the regular bridges to get out of this city” I had been informed by other locals that the bridges heading east out of Mobile were un-walkable tunnels, but any discussion about the situation had always ended in locals debating the best way to go and completely loosing me along the way. This was really the first time it hit me, we are going to have to really prepare to get out of here. It just seemed a little more overwhelming than any other city situation I can recall being in. I know we could handle it of course, but would have to venture off of our path just to get back on it. He gave us a giant map of all of Alabama and highlighted to us the path to the walkable bridge. We continued talking for a while thanked the men, grabbed our new map and headed back out to explore more city.

Perry took us to the Botanical Gardens and showed us TwO disc golf courses. Ike was ecstatic of course and Perry was excited at the prospect of learning how to play. We ran home to grab discs and drove back out to play a round or two while we still could.  I must admit, I sucked pretty hard. Golfing when I’m not focused is just the most frusterating position I put myself in, needless to say I threw a disc into the lake and talked on my phone a good portion of the course. The guys however LoVeD it! Ike was teaching Perry everything, and Perry was actually picking it up super quickly! It was really great to watch these guys sharing in something they loved so much together, and knowing Ike was doing something he’d been hoping for everyday of our trip.

Afer a couple rounds We headed back to the house to watch the Rangers (final) game. On the way back however we had an amazing score! A grocery store WITH DUMPSTERS, and they had just thrown out all of their produce!! Ike jumped out of the truck as Perry and I drove around the parking lot killing time until Ike was done collecting. Ike came running out with a HuGe box full of food, he threw it in the already packed truck cab and we were off! I couldn’t believe the abundance of amazing food Ike had gotten for us. Portabello mushrooms, greens, brocolli, corn, fruit and not just fruit, but A ToN of fruit it was fantastic! We got back to the house washed the produce, turned on the game and Ike began cooking a mushroom feast for us:)

After an amazing dinner, I decided to take Perry’s dog “boo” and go for a run through the neighborhood. This is where I think I really began to notice my vulnerability to this cities energy and started to really question being completely exposed to it especially alone and at night. Although the run was great, Boo kept up all four miles at a fast pace, I discovered some great streets,  the whole time I felt on edge, as if something were about to happen.

I returned home to Ike and Perry sitting on the front porch smoking their cigerettes, exactly as I’d left them. We all gathered to watch the last out of the game while Ike massaged my super knotty muscles. We all bonded a little more with great conversation about real change to the system and resolution. About coming from new perspectives and new means to voting that are solid and truthful, impossible to tamper with (which happens) It’s a pretty surreal experience falling into Perry’s lap at this exact moment in time. I can’t stop thinking about this. Change is happening, and this guy is smart, he knows alot of truths and in turn actually HAS alot of answers and solutions to begin progressive change in our country, and it’s all starting and ending with independance in choice.

These are BIG, BIG awesome ideas, that would no doubt change everything. He’s just here, living by himself in this tiny little home and his tiny little truck waiting for something like us to be dropped off on his door step to… I don’t even know, but just be here now. The most incredible piece is that  this all happend right now, during this week of national voting. I have never had a feeling of being drawn somewhere by the universe as heavily as I do right now in this home, it’s a beautifully strange feeling.

 Once it got to be about eleven Ike and I decided to hit up the dumpster of the Krispy Kreme store a couple miles up the road that we’d discovered earlier in our ventures. Perry asked if we wanted a ride, but we knew he had plans on studying and didn’t want to distract him more than we already had all day. We declined and said we’d walk and be back soon. It’s always exciting venturing to a dumpster we KNOW will have goods, especially when they’re delicious donuts. We walked quickly through the eerie streets follwing our handy phones. After about a mile something strange, ultra strange happend.

The subject of our friend Perry arose, how we’d been aligned with him so obviously and felt a real importance to our being here. This is something we’d never really discussed before, anywhere that we were. Even though they were all magical and perfect, this feeling was bigger and talking about it made the unknown energy of it HugE! All of a sudden we noticed a truck near by that had been sitting  in an abandon school parking lot, it turned on and begin driving our way. For no apperant reason I became really frightend. I felt that it was all of a sudden un safe for me to be out here, even once the truck passed I knew there was something wrong and Ike felt the same way. The starngest part for me is we have been walking the country, through backwoods and ghettos and this feeling was the first of serious fear. It is also important to this story that you know what it means for Ike to be uncmofortable, it doesn’t really ever happen, because he always uses logic to maintain a potentially stressful situation, but I could tell he was confused and just as much frightened. I told him I wanted to go back home. That I felt really strongly we shouldn’t be walking on any more. He hesitated, but agreed and we began walking quickly back home. It was continually eerie, every sound of a car was uncomfortable, and I can tell you my fear was most certainly in encountering people, not anything ghostly or energetically, but people and avoiding cars was high on my priorities. We walked in the shadows and returned home thankful to be on Perry’s ground once again. As we walked into the screened in porch we are calling our room, Perry walked out to greet us. We explained to him how we’d felt uncomfortable and decided to turn back. He was glad to hear we’d followed our instincts and told us he had the same feeling and was preparing to jump in the red truck and see if he could find us to give us a lift the rest of the way.

The whole experience left Ike and I confused and excited to discuss what the fudge was going on, why we were here and how important this all actually is.

We talked for about an hour and finally decided to drink a cup of cocoa and fall asleep, bringing up our feeling of imprtance with Perry today to see if he had any ideas on why he thought we might have been drawn to eachother and if the eerie vibes were a possible connection to or alignment with him.

All in all, it was a great day. A powerful day full of important feelings, questions and even solutions. I do believe there is a massive shift that’s been coming for a while now, and am excited to think that this is it’s begining, that I get to be right on the forefont of it in some way. We’ll see what comes, every second is strange and exciting right now, I am so gratful and  loving being so comletely deep into the unknown!!

Beautiful thick Gulf Coast Sunset.

Day 31: Mississippi Politics

Happy Halloween! What an awesome time of year it is! The weather is perfect (especially in the south,) people begin coming together in preporation for all the most wonderful holidays and it all begins with Halloween! A chance for everyone big or small to be as creative as possible and act completely bizaare, I love it! Fall really seems to make everything feel cozy and a little bit more exciting! I’m adoring experiencing this autum first hand. Sleeping in our tent most nights and spending each day with as much time as we desire in the crisp outdoors! GlOrIoUS!
Today was kind of a strange day, I mean to begin our (ok. the “our” part might have been more “my”) intentions all along were to do something interesting that we’d never experienced on Halloween, get dressed up and see what it’s like to celebrate in a different city. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen on this most excellent of nights! We got up today in Brices RV still parked outside of the station, to the cozy sounds of people laughing and chatting in the stations living room (which is also a front porch) I instantly noticed my body feeling a little cramped from the tiny sofa bed I’d shared with Ike, but our nights rest was warm and our phones fully charged so I definetely felt grateful! We hung out with our friends Brice, Debbie and Ramblin’ Russ for a while drank rootbeer and looked around the property in the daylight. Brice pointed out a TV that had been in his house before Katrina and had gotten carried up twenty feet from flooding into I pinetree behind the station, empty plots of land where hundred foot tall pines used to stand and a creek with the “best fishing in Mississippi period”. It was a cool space of land he had and even cooler knowing what all he was doing with it.
Our plan from the night before was to catch a ride with Ramblin’ Russ out to Mobile Alabama this morning as he was going that way to visit his grandaughter any how. It was exciting for us as it meant we had real potential to be in a brand new city ON Halloween! We knew however we wouldn’t have a place to set up camp being in a city, but were ready and excited to see what could happen. After Ike and I had agreed on an agenda and were about ready to leave, Brice came running out of the station telling us he’d found the address of his journalist friend who he knew lived in mobile, right in the city. He told is he didn’t have his number, but instructed Russ to just drop us off there and have his friend “Perry” call him. It seemed strange, but a potential yard is awesome and these people had been so unusual and great we were totally down!
We hopped in Russ’ truck hugged our awesome friends good bye and were off to Alabama!
Russ is a hilarious fellow! He had soO much to say! All kinds of information about flood waters, BP, politics and his ex-wife… It was pretty entertaining for sure! we arrived in Mobile after about an hour. Russ looked at his map Brice had given to him and pulled up to a sweet little yellow house and standing in front of it was a very handsome older man in an argyle print sweater walking his dog and seemed rather surprised by us pulling up.
Russ threw the truck in park and said “that’s him!” I suddenly realized our great fortune in pulling up to this mans house at the exact moment he was arriving back from a walk, now get that this was no coinsidence! we all hopped out and Russ introduced all. He informed Perry of our travels and hopes for a yard for sleepin’. Perry was most welcoming and said “sure, ya I’ve got a great yard!”
We all chatted for a few minutes, or I guess Ike and I listened to Russ and Perry discuss their passion, Mississippi politics, then said good bye to our sweet Russ and followed our new host into his house.
This place was fantastic! Super good energy, two lovey dogs, great handmade furniture and alot of care put into each detail of this home. He gave us a tour, showed us his backyard and then offered us his guest sofa bed on his screened in porch (equipped with electrical outlets;) We gladly accepted the offer, unloaded our bags and made our way to the kitchen for conversation and a meal! Perry began warming up some previously cooked spaghetti and sauce, I instantly noticed the sauce was full of ground beef.
Now something you may not know about me is I am a pescitarian (eating only fish) and haven’t eaten any other meats in good five years, but I am also with out money right now and very low on rations, so feel I’m not in a place to turn down a meal when the opportunity arrises. I knew right then I was going to eat this meat. I was not about to ask this great guy who’d been so welcoming to cook something different for me, or allow me to rummage through what else he might have. So I made the agreement with myself to be thankful present and conscious and ate an entire plate. It felt so good to eat! I was really very hungry and knew I wouldn’t eat again for the day. The meat flavor was really rich. It tasted alot saltier, heartier maybe then pasta I’m used to. Don’t think I’ll be choosing it anytime again soon, but did really enjoy it.
Perry talked to us about everything he was most passionate about, writing, resolutions for rigged elections, politics and mis treatment of federal government money in Mississippi. Perry was sharp and communictated his views in a way that were not only easy to get but felt like real honesty, like he’d researched everything he spoke about and was giving us his facts. It was intense and thought provoking! We continued chatting on his back porch for a while after dinner. The weather was un real, so perfect we all sat together smoked ciggerettes and enjoyed our afternoon.
Being in a brand new city and on Halloween Ike and I were excited to go explore, see what festivaties were going on and find a place to watch the Rangers game. Perry offered to drive us downtown (a four mile walk) and we gladly accepted. He took us in his super cool tiny truck. (I’m sure there are actual terms for these things, but I have no idea what they would be.) It’s a small red truck that he built himself, and boasted a large advertisement for one of Perry’s businesses a power washing company. The cab was teeeny, but it was kind of incredible to ride in!
He drove us downtown showing us a few places he knew of, then dropped us off at a bar whose TVs were tuned to the World Series game. The city was really, really quiet! It in someways reminded me of Baton Rouge, only a little bit cuter and more hopeful. Ike and I walked into the bar, sat down and ordered one iced tea and a water. Our waitress a super cute tiny girl named Kristen was really great to us! She kept refilling and refilling our tea through out the entire game. Everyonce in a a while Ike and I would sneak a few saltine crackers from the basket and shove them into our mouths as quickly as possible, they were probably some of the best saltines I’ve ever had! the bar was closing in the 8th inning so Jristen asked us to make our way to the actual bar so she could clean her section, we gladly moved and plopped ourselves down in front of another TV and next to a super cool guy named “Joe”.
We watched the game (sadly) discussing our loss with Joe, hhe asked about where we were from so we shared our adventure story with him. He explained to us that he was born and raised in Mobile, that he was a trained classic pianist who now worked in financing at a dealership. He was super sweet and open, excited to share and listen, which made the conversation really fun and easy:)
When it came time to leave Kristen told us we didn’t have to pay for our teas (aWeSoMe! Thank you KrIsTeN!) Ike handled delivering our tip to her and gave his phone number too;) she was adorable and loved it I could tell. She offered to give us a ride back to our house for the evening and even though I was interested in walking the new streets in the beautiful weather, I could tell Ike was a little more interested in taking the ride from our pintsized new friend.
She drove us back talking about music telling us about grey blues artists worth listening to and her love for rap music. We arrived back at the house said our many thankyous and made our way to the back porch where we has a sofa bed and sleeping bags calling our name:) yesterday was mellow, especiallyfor a day I thought would be so intense. It was yet another excersise in letting go of expectation and really just enjoying the moment, because it really is always perfect! I can’t wait for tomorrow! To talk more with our super cool new friend Perry and to see where we’ll end up! This life is awesome, every second of it and I totally love it!!

Perry’s Tiny Red Truck.

Nicole and Ramblin’ Russ outside the WQRZ Station in Mississippi

Ike and our kick ass new friend Joe