I had planned on writing an entry on each location along my journey but as Nashville was next on our list this would pose problems.  Some of you may know that a certain popular whiskey is distilled on the outskirts of Nashville.  That particular whiskey happens to be Jack Daniels.  This would not be so much of a problem had the bartender who served me my FOOD not been from Barrington, RI.  Once this realization was made, the rest of my adventures were free and as the bartender put it, I was not leaving until he had to point me in the direction of my hotel.

One shot led to another and lets just say I was fully invested in Nashville culture.  Luckily I made it out of the bar intact and went back to the hotel for 5 or so hours of sleep before the 12 hour hall to Virginia Beach.

Once in Virginia Beach I was able to see my best friend growing up.  Jason who was always on the “right path” now is a US Marshal and recently purchased his first home, where he and his present girlfriend live.  This might sound very aggressive for a 23 year old currently in the first few months of his job but then you wouldn’t know Jason.  I was amazed by how far he has come from most of my friends and how much responsibility he has thrown on his shoulders.  Sure the house is a fixer upper but in the right location and the right man at the helm, the place will be incredible by the next time I make it down to Virginia Beach.  Not sure if you read this at all Jason but congrats on everything man, its really great to see you towards success.

For me, Jason’s early on-call status left us alone around 7am and we hit the road for home.  The last day of driving would be the most ruinous with NYC, Bridgeport, New Haven, and Providence traffic to contend with.  And we would hit it all.  What should have been a 9 hour drive turned into nearly a 12 hour drive and once alighting the Newport Bridge I was nearly overwhelmed by a feeling of “what the hell did I just do for the past 5 days?”  The days mended together and the trip felt like it had taken years.  Not in a bad way, but our remember whens took place in episodes only occurring periods of 24 days earlier but they seemed like distant memories.  It is strange how the mind works.

Home, sweet home.  Oh wait, a phone call and once again I am back in a car (mine this time) to visit family at a graduation party.  When will my trip end?  Another phone call, and dinner and beers with a good buddy.  Finally 11:15 or so I am back home and in my own bed.  Sleep, the trip is finally over.

After leaving the southwest for the heartland of the US, we entered the monotony that is “middle America.”  For those of you that have not traveled the 500 or so miles on I-40 E from Santa Fe to Oklahoma City, I would preemptively tell you to avoid this trip.  Some of the trip included such thoughts as “too bad this town only lives for high school football” and “if I don’t see a roadrunner, then this entire leg of the journey was a waste of my time.”

Unfortunately we did not see a roadrunner and I deemed this trip to be an entire waste of time.  There are interesting things to contemplate when your passenger is passed out cold and only the road and the music lay out in front of you including but not limited to…

1) Thinking about the plains indians that used to roam these landscapes and the buffalo herds that once ran wild here.

2) The fact that this highway we are traveling on was probably an old westward cart path back in the day before asphalt existed.

3) Behind us lays amazing California, and in front of us lays sweet Rhode Island (along with a reprieve from the trip)

4) Man oh Man I can not wait to have a beer.

So with all of these things running through my mind and a entire bag of Peach Rings keeping me going, we made it to Oklahoma City and its 98 degree weather at 5pm.  I left Kasey at the hotel and walked around town for awhile before finding a local dive bar and ordered a couple of local brews.  Amazingly the world is so small that the guy sitting next to me at the bar was from Warren, RI and his band plays regularly on Wednesday nights at the Gas Lamp in Newport.  This trip has taught me that the world is large and so is my country, this encounter taught me that the world is small and I will never truly escape my routes no matter where my life takes me (and I am coming to the realization that that is a good thing).

In years past I have given New Mexico a bad wrap.  To be honest, I have never met anyone that gave it a good review.  However, I am rapidly finding out that it may be because I have never really met anyone who has been to New Mexico, and those that have, have given it great reviews.  Not only are the landscapes by far the most beautiful I have seen in any of my travels, the culture and cities are not far behind.

We made the trip from the Sedona area to Santa Fe in just over 7 hours as we hit a lot of traffic at the end due to a horrific accident.  The path took us along a single highway which left the deserts of Arizona for the Red Mesas of New Mexico.  Besides all of the repeated Indian pottery signs, the earth seemed endless.  At one point of the trip I saw a biplane flying along the mesa walls and found myself wishing for the simpler life of this area.  With the temperature never rising above 74 degrees, the sun shined profusely.  Well minus a few brief yet violent stretches where the heavens opened up and decided to spite our seemingly peaceful journey with hail and raindrops along with lightning strikes that would make even the greatest painter jealous.  Sorry for the extensive description but I can’t truly do it justice.

Once arriving we once again ran into the same “dog–no pet policy” issues we dealt with the night before, but in no means was I going to let this be the only thing we do at night.  I gave Mark a call and we set up plans for drinks and dinner in Santa Fe.  This would be the second time in as many states that I have seen Mark and I can’t help but think it will be the last time for quite some time which is too bad.  We ended up meeting his girlfriend who is from a few miles north of Santa Fe.

We got dinner at Blue Corn Cafe near our hotel which has received great reviews and is written about as one of the best inexpensive restaurants in all of New Mexico.  How bad could it be?  The reviews hit it spot on, the guacamole was incredible and although there was a little bit of a miss with the blue corn taco that came as part of my meal, the enchilada more than made up for it.  Just the right amount of spices (its amazing how many places think that hotter=better).  A margherita, a local beer, and a goodbye and back to the hotel we headed.  Possibly an early night as the next leg brings us to Oklahoma City and starts some of our longer days of driving with an 8hr, 10hr, 12hr, and 10hr to close out the trip.  So far I have driven the whole way, hopefully the trend will continue because with the amazing views I have not even been slightly bored or tired at all during the trip.  We will see, we will see.  See you in 5 days Rhode Island.

This morning we left the coastline of California to start out on our epic journey across the country.  The first leg would bring us to Arizona and the town of Williams (near Sedona).  Before we would arrive, roughly 8.5 hours of driving would be necessary.  So a quick stop over at Einstein Bagels and we began our trip.  California exhibited much of the June gloom that I have heard so much about where a thick fog covers the land during the mornings.  After a couple of hours we were heading through southeast California and were within spitting distance of the Mexican border.  So close in fact that we were stopped for an INS check on one of the highways.

Some of the views were amazing, some of them.  I have never driven through rock bluffs and have great pictures of an area that looks like a giant beige gravel mound.  Further along we crossed the Mojave desert and wondered what exactly anyone in these areas do for fun.  Upon reaching William and plenty ready to rest we needed to walk the dog excessively so she would stop barking at the guests of our hotel (apparently no dogs allowed is not negotiable).

Tomorrow we head to Santa Fe and will actually meet up with a buddy from school who is out there visiting his girlfriend.  Tomorrow’s ride is a bit shorter, but that just leads us to the next 3 days of long trips, so might as well enjoy it while we’ve got it.

Certainly the descriptions of California that all of our friends communicate to us are true.  Well at least the ones about the weather, mexican food, and beaches.  After two days in the San Diego proper and a third day in the Del Mar/Solana Beach area, I have come to really like California.  I am not sure it is for me permanently but it would not be out of the question.  I am pretty sure it is somewhere on my “I have no idea where I will be in 5 years” radar.

After a night out on the town and waking up at 6:45 (I am not sure why I do this to myself), I have to get all of my things together and then it is off to Sedona, well Williams to be exact but the Sedona area.  I will be taking plenty of road trip pictures and as the hotels will have wireless I suppose I will be giving regional descriptions of the endless stretches of road.  Drive fast take chances, thats my motto, well more like drive regular and don’t get tickets but that just doesn’t sound as cool.

I landed in San Diego after a hectic day of traveling and flights all over the US.  As soon as I left the plane I could feel the sun and the warmth, two things not seen in RI in quite sometime.  After walking all over the city with Bridg we headed back and made some dinner with the freshest ingredients I have used in quite some time.  A few good hours of catching up and laughing and my body finally shut down on me at about 4am EST.

I ended up waking up bright and early this morning and seeing as Bridg had a student to meet with, I headed into the city to check out Balboa Park, which is basically like the Central Park of San Diego.  To get there I had to take the Number 1 bus which had all sorts of creepy individuals capped off by a 51 year old black woman asking me if I wanted to come “party” with her (it was 11am).  The park is beautiful and everyone is just out running around and enjoying the weather, both of which I could rapidly get used to.

A quick stopover for food and then I believe Bridg will meet me downtown and we are going to the Padres game tonight along with Jenna and Mark, two good friends from BU.  I will have more to add tomorrow about the game and heading to the beach for the day tomorrow, but as for now, back out to explore the city.

Sorry for the commercial references as of late.  I have to say I have never been someone that you would relate the words creative or artistic with.  Actually the only art award I ever won was a bit of a sham anyways.  In second grade after shattering the radius and ulna bones of my left arm jumping off a dump truck playing H-O-R-S-E, my class was entered into a stamp drawing contest.  It was supposed to be a anonymous vote with the winner receiving a run of stamps with their drawing and a tshirt with the winner’s stamp on it.

With a couple of crayons and poor motor skills holding the paper in place, my American flag rendition was one for the ages… well more like one straight for the dumpster.  If it wasn’t for a good friend of mine figuring out which one was mine and making everyone vote for it, I would have certainly finished dead last.  I ended up winning the pity vote and won the contest but I digress.  Having no artistic merit, I really appreciate when others utilize a skill of which I completely lack.

That being said, the guy (or girl) who came up with the recent NBA commercials stating “Where Will Amazing Happen This Year?” really deserves a standing ovation.  They are brilliant.  They remind me of my dad’s stories about how great basketball was in the Magic and Bird days of late.  Although I will advocate that basketball is more fun and more explosive today than in the past (mostly just to argue with my pops), I think they nailed personifying the NBA as a game for the ages.

I listen to all sorts of music and Im the first person to hear something in a movie or a commercial and find the music more interesting than the plot or the product.  You might know this song from the new or somewhat new Bacardi commercial already but Matt and Kim are pretty sweet.  I only wish the song had a little more depth to it but its a good song.  So here it is.

Nothing could make me want to drink Bacardi but here is the commercial that almost did it.

I understand that summer does not start for a few weeks now, but in my mind it started today.  Woke up this morning, grabbed my cleats and soccer shorts and jumped directly into my car.  No breakfast, no water (this would be a mistake).  On Sundays at Wyatt Field in my town, a group of locals get together for pickup soccer.  Guys I used to play with back in my high school days and some that are just in town for the summer.  The quality of play is actually very good and each player brings his own little edge to the game which makes it fun.

The thermometer in my car was reading 79 degrees at 9am when I got to the field and lets be serious, it did not get colder over the course of playing for two hours.  I haven’t run an 11 man side in quite some time as I spent my college days playing lacrosse at Boston University.  I forgot how much I missed the sport as soccer was always my favorite sport growing up.  Every aspect of my life so far has been to some degree shaped by my playing.  All my friends, many of the paths that I have chosen, and who I have become are all somewhat due to the sport.  I appreciate it for that and am so excited that I get to start playing regularly again.

A few hours in the sun after downing about 6 gallons of water after the games and I received a solid bit of Irish color.  Then a Red Sox day game which is quite possibly the greatest way to spend a summer day in New England.  A little BBQ and hanging out with a good friend and then taking the rest of the day nice and easy.  I love Sundays and I love them when the sun is out more than anything else.  Summer is here and its here to stay… well for awhile.

No I am not looking for an appetizer or little dish to bring to a cookout.  I am not looking for pamphlets to stock an information booth.  I am trying to figure out what I bring to the table socially and professionally.  To be successful and stick out in the mind of your peers and superiors you need to be a cut above and be unique.  I don’t think this is any more obvious than in a bar setting.  I like people watching and usually joke with my friends about what makes a certain person popular or not popular.

Just got to thinking what it is if anything that I bring to the table.  Its not really important, but I think it would be funny for me to watch myself in a social setting.  It would probably be pretty boring but interesting, kind of like high school physics.