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A mellowing and meandering trip through this American life. Follow the adventures of Jan, Jack, and Patrick as they take you on a whirlwind trip through Washington, DC's seedy underbelly of cut-rate poolhalls, thrift stores, and temp agencies.

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Wednesday, April 28, 2004

We are on the lovely campus of UC San Diego right now and it is lovely. John's apartment is beginning to smell like boy though. Pat, Jan, and Jack--of course--but also Anthony Schneider, who is in for the week from New York.

On Sunday night me and Jan played inter-tube water polo with UCSD's Math Dept. Quite an experience. We were very good; Jan had a goal and I had a goal and an assist. Then we hit the hot tub because inter-tube waterpolo is a very strenuous sport.

Then we threw pots (on potting wheels) in UCSD's pottery shed with JANA'S EXPERT GUIDANCE. JANA IS JOHN'S FRIEND IN THE MATH DEPARTMENT WHO IS A VERY LOVELY AND INTELLIGENT LADY. WITHOUT HER, OUR TRIP TO SAN DIEGO WOULD HAVE BEEN POINTLESS AND VAGUE. SHE ALSO MAKES DELICIOUS CHICKEN. Which is neat.

Monday, we got burritos and went to Piney Something beach state park. Big waves and the water was nice. Then we went out to a bar in Ocean Beach because John needed to be alone to do some grading.

Let's see, on tuesday we played frisbee golf, got burritos, and then (if you were me and jack) sat down in front of the playstation 2 and played Fifa Soccer for 12.5 hours. We won.

And today, we are off to the beach and the student art gallery. Also probably burritos.

Tomorrow, back to LA by way of UC Irvine, where I am meeting the head of this bizarre art/computers MFA program.

xoxox,
pbr
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Tuesday, April 20, 2004

We left Jack behind in Tuscon and went forth to Riverside, California. Riverside is home of Mothra (pronounced "Muf-phra"), Jan's gradnmother. She got her name after taking one of Jan's relations to see the film "Godzilla Versus Mothra". Every since, she has gone by the moniker "Mothra".

That, and her ability to shoot flames out of her eyes and her propensity for knocking over large buildings. We went to the nursery today and picked out some flowers for her yard and two large bags of manure for her tomato plants.

Today was glorious for other reasons as well. I found a "Dual 8mm/Super 8mm film editor-viewer" in a thrift store for $7. It works, too. California is great. Also, when we got donuts this morning, the donut shop had a pinball machine. Gilligan's Island. Which I played 7 or 8 times.

Tonight we make dinner and I head into LA to party with the rich and famous. Though I don't know how much more famous you can get than Mothra.

pbr
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Sunday, April 18, 2004

White sands, white sands, white sands. Large white dunes, also a large white sun, which makes for an experience in heat and dehydration. Especially when the hydration of choice for the night is a twelve dollar bottle of tequila. We arrived at the park at about 4:30, parked our car around five and then arrived at our campsite at approximately 7. It took us about two hours to travel the 3/4s of a mile from the campground to the site due to the size of the shifting, ever shifting sands. Also, our complete ignorance of the signage led us immediately in the wrong direction.

Eventually we found our specified inter-dune area (number 4) and collapsed. We could only lie still for so long though before the urge to throw the football across large, white sand dunes overcame us. Several spectacular diving catches were made before the sunset made us rest at the top of the tallest dune and watch the colors. The view in all directions was of peaks of sand and shadowed vales. Also of other scattered campers like ourselves, each at the top of their very own dune, but none closer than 1/2 a mile. Ant size. Isolation and communion, we waved, but they did not wave back.

We made camp and dinner. We walked the dunes under moonlight and got lost shouting "Jan! Jan! JAN! JAN!" only to be greeted with the angry retort of "Whaaaat?!" that led us to camp, but had Jan expecting us to tear him away from his book and sleeping bag to see some inane thing that seemed important to drunks. I finished the bottle of tequila and woke up much later, far away from the others, in a sleeping bag, but not a tent. I could not comprehend what I had done to be exiled from the tent. WHAT HAD I DONE?

Apparently, it was what I would not do. Mainly, when asked to please come inside the tent I refused and insisted that I liked sleeping where I was (which was on the sand, no sleeping bag, away from camp). Waking up was a bitch, too. It gets hot early in the desert, yo.

xoxo,
pbr
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Thursday, April 15, 2004

Here we are, face to face--in Alamogordo, no less--with Jan short a wallet (he put it on top of the car and then drove off, classic) and a car leaking coolant. We are also in the desert. The desert has internet though and brillant coffee.

We made a short filmed titled "Wolf Country" on Super 8 in Gila National Forests. Everyone dies.

We also hiked to a hot spring in Gila. It involved two river crossings there and two back. The river was unexpectedly deep and cold. Also, it had a swift current. Once we got to the hot spring, we discovered it was more of a "Boiling Hot Ankle Spring" as the only part of your body the spring covered was your ankles and the spring was at about 150 degrees. It was free though.

In the town of Gila Springs an old man told me and Jack to stop throwing rocks at each other. We listened.

Silver City is possibly Jan's new home. He applied (and interviewed) for a job there. He thought it went very well. Silver City has several fine coffee shops and is the home of Western New Mexico University.

For several days now I have been eating large bowls of Green Chiles and shredded beef. They are absolutely delicious. We drove through Demming, NM which is the largest producer of Green Chiles in the world.

We also went to Rockhound State PArk in an attempt to find geodes. Jan found 3 and Me, Jack, & Amy found none. There is a 15 pound limit per person of geodes you can take with you. We took approximately 9 ounces.

Today we bury Jacob's time capsule in White Sands. Wish you were here!

pat b.
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Monday, April 12, 2004

Howdy Y'all,

Jan and Jack just dropped me off in downtown Santa Fe where I will be meeting one Amy Small in a matter of hours. You see, Jan has a job interview in Silver City tomorrow morning at 9am and so him and Jack are driving there as we speak to get a hotel room and whatnot. Now Amy is driving down from Denver to meet us. But, we have to get to Silver City. So, it was decided that we would split up and then reconvene later tonight 285 miles South of Santa Fe at a hotel room of J and J's choosing in the Silver City (which apparently smells, but don't tell Jan that).

Santa Fe has been awesome so far. We drove in two days ago and went immediately to the International Museum of Folk Art. At first it was just dolls from around the world (think "It's a Small World Afterall"), but then we stepped into the Outsider Art exhibition they had going on and things were off the hook. They had paintings by this one Peruvian mental patient who had to secret away all the paper he could find to create these massive canvases which he painted, crayolla'd, and penciled together scenes of his childhood. He created the parchment by attaching the scraps of paper with starchy foods and spit! Also, the art was grand.

Anywho, then we traveled up the mountain to 10,000 waves, which was a hot spring of sorts. Very influenced by the concept of "Japan", but I wouldn't actually call it Japanese. 14 bucks or so for unlimited use of hot bath, cold dip, and sauna. Sweet.

Then last night we stayed with an artist named Louis, who was building a rad house/art studio in the hills outside of Santa Fe. He had just removed the central supporting beam before we arrived and it just sat there diagonally across his living room floor. A large metal beam. Don't worry, there were other supporting beams, but they were "temporary."

Louis kindly offered us glasses of the world's finest single malt scoth (Glenlivet, aged 12 years) and a pleasant dinner of tortillini and olives. We said goodbye to Louis this morning and wished him luck on his endeavors.

. . .

(movie-making is one day away)
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Monday, April 05, 2004

----------Trip Recap--------

Day 1--DC to Richmond
+ a night at Buddies and pizza for dinner

Day 2--Richmond to Clemson, SC
+ stopped at a lake in North Carolina, but it was too cold.
+ Pizza and pool in Clemson with Chad.
+ There was a midget

Day 3--Clemson to Atlanta
+ Lunch at Grit in Athens, GA.
+ $3 parking ticket
+ Pinball for hours waiting for Simon at Five Points Pizza in Five Points.
-Monster Bash & Mars Attacks
+ Apoco. Now in Simon's super nice condo

Day 4--Atlanta to Joe Wiley State Park (Alabama)
+ Got boiled peanuts on Sand Mountain
+ Stopped by unclaimed luggage in Scottsboro, AL
-went to three thrift stores also, bought some t-shirts/cassettes
-bowled two games (I won)
-went to the public library for hours to set up the blog
-ate miserable Mexican food
+ the State Park we stopped at was awesome.
-but it was a dry county, so we had to drive 20 miles for beer.
-took a midnight hike around the swamp/lake and challenged ouselves to get
lost, did get lost, and found ourselves.

Day 5--Florence, AL to Grenada, Mississippi
+ I ate a whole Turkey Leg
+ Ate sweet BBQ in Oxford, MS @ Ole Miss
+ Played baseball in Blue Mountain, MS
+ Camped and watched "Dawn of the Dead"

Day 6--Grenada, MS to Yazoo City, MS
+ Stopped by and walked around a large indian burial mound.
+ A day in Greenville, MS where we ate very well at "Eat at Gus's"
+ Picked up a drink with some Blues types in Rolling Fork, MS
+ Brakes broke in Yazoo City, where we spent the night.

Day 7--Yazoo City to New Orleans
+ Harrowing front-brakes only ride to Jackson, continued to New Orleans
+ Mr. Goodyear in Jackson offered a temporary "Vice-Grip on the Brake Line" solution and sent us on our way.
+ Met Tom and Kerri at the Red Rhino in the French Quater for 3-for-1 happy hour
+ Ate chicken burgers at Krystal Burger
+ Went dancing at some point

Day 8--New Orleans
+ Ate donuts with Tom, Kerri, and Chad at Dunkin Donuts
+ Walked 3 miles to the Saab Dealer in New Orleans.
-- Were told that if we strayed from Tulane Ave to the left or right that "we would not last 10 minutes."
+ Ate a roast beef po boy that incapacitated me for two hours.
+ Ate crawfish that were AWESOME
+ Sang "Hey Jealousy" at the Kat's Meow.
-earned $21 dollars from the ladies
+ Met a Minnesota Women's B-Ball player at the Krystal Chicken. Her team had just lost to UCONN in the Final Four. She was bummed, but liked her chicken.

Day 9--New Orleans to Baton Rouge
+ Drove to Gerrylane Saab, got the good news about fixing our brakes.
+ Went to the Capitol building that Huey Long built and was killed in.
+ Played pinball at LSU and looked at their Grad programs
+ Watched the NCAA finals in a movie theater.

Day 10--Baton Rouge to Austin, TX
+ Ate at a place that did not like us called the Bread Basket #2
+ I finished reading John McEnroe's book, "You Cannot be Serious"
+ Ate a shrimp Po Boy, delicious
+ Got pulled over for a broken tail light in Katy City, TX.
+ Got pulled over for a broken tail light on US 10
+ Both cops gave us warnings :-)
+ Rolled into Austin at 2:30 am and talked literature with Andrew Gordon til 5am

Day 11--Austin
+ Ate many, many tacos
+ went to a bunch of awesome thrift/ book stores
+ went swimming at the greatest swimming hole in the world, Barton Springs.
+ saw two very shitty bands at Emo's
+ drank very good coffee at LoveJoy's and played their Terminator 3 pinball game.
+ finished the night at Taco Cabana

Day 12--Austin to Points West
+ Got the oil changed
+ Stopped here in Brady, TX to update Blog
+ Hope to get to Carlsbad, NM tonight.
+ Will see bats tomorrow morning.
+ adios
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Friday, April 02, 2004

Woah there. Alabama to Mississippi. Mostly North.

Alabama was a place that was not a place that I would like to go to often. Full of Walmarts. But, fortunately, also with Joe Wheeler State Park. Which we camped at and had a swell time. Suspicious lack of beer signs on the highway had indicated that this was a dry county. Which was a tv-sitcom camping situation that we thwarted by driving down the highway 20 miles to Florence for beer.

In other news, I really liked Athens, GA. It is a quality locale. Very nice looking and pedestrian (in a good way). Atlanta is almost no comparision. It takes its job as a city way too seriously. All full of big one-way roads and tall buildings. Alabama, I hardly knew you. Good bowling though.

After Alabama, we crossed into Mississipi through the extreme North and due to our lack of maps, we missed the turnoff for Tupelo (the birthplace of Elvis P.). But did manage to stop by Oxford, MS which is the home of Ole Miss. Me and Jan split a delicious BBQ pork sandwhich from Mike and Joe's and a dainty chicken salad sandwhich from a fancy-pants southern place. We did a lot of driving, too, before stopping at Hugh White State park outside of Grenada.

Outside Blue Mountain, MS we stopped to play home run derby on a field outside a churh. Despite Jan's poor pitching, I won 7 runs to 6 for Jan and 2 for Jack.

Which was fun. Jack isn't eating today because it is good Friday, what is up with that? Jan saw the Passion of Christ last night, too. Me and Jack saw Dawn of the Dead.

See you later!

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