end of november!

I recently heard an outcry about my lack of updates! Coincidentally, I was thinking today about a new post, it was brewin' in my head all day.

I still have no job. I still find it difficult to locate volunteer opportunities. Seth's changing oil and working in an auto repair shop caddy corner from our (hah, a liberal use of the word) apartment. The old roommate moved out, a new one moved in and she's just sweet as honey and doesn't mind our sleeping on her couch. Which is great news because it's starting to get cold at night and I haven't yet figured out the warmest spot to sleep outside.

Thanksgiving was tasty! During the day, Seth and I drove out north of here where there are dirt roads and stretching plains of nothingness so that he could practice driving a manual transmission. We actually ran over a prairie dog, but it somehow didn't get squashed, and Seth didn't stall! We came back, ate a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken and pumpkin pie from Whole Foods, and I made my mother's famous corn pudding and my favorite butternut squash recipe (cinnamon, maple syrup, cayenne, paprika, mmmm) along with a couple other sides and crescent rolls (of course). We shared a double bottle of wine and watched Let the Right One In, a Swedish vampire film (really good).

If I'm not vacuuming/sweeping/washing dishes here at the apartment, I'm doing it elsewhere. I've been going over to the LGBT house to volunteer at least once a week and until today all I was doing was cleaning.

Today was different. I got to enter info onto a spreadsheet, which was surprisingly fun (it was college students reacting to a lecture by a transgendered woman and a gay man--cool stuff). I also got to climb up into the attic to find Christmas decorations. The ladder that dropped from the ceiling couldn't quite reach the floor because there was a desk in the way. So I was sent to do this task by adults that don't really know me, and they went off to do their thing. My first attempt to scale the ladder was met with the crack of glass. I panic. I look down and see that on the desk (the one in the way of the ladder) there was a framed newspaper article, in glass. The glass was cracked, and cracking more by the second! I lift the ladder a little and see that the damage is done. I've broken an 11x14 sheet of glass in a nonprofit's office. The 5 year old (okay, 14 year old) inside of me screams,

HIDE IT.

I look around the room, there's nowhere to put it.

THROW IT IN THE TRASH, QUICK.

I take a deep breath. I am an adult. I shouldn't be ashamed, it was an accident. I don't need to scramble around, this is totally legitimate. After all, the lady in charge told me to give the ladder a try. She approaches. I explain the situation, like a calm, apologetic adult-volunteer, and she lets me know it's okay and asks if I got hurt.

Lesson: don't always listen to the child inside of you, even though they sometimes have a really cool view of the world.

And that's about it for now, have a glorious day and thanks for reading again!

address.

okay. I think I've got it sorted out:

Wesley Laudeman
c/o Marina Fleming
2437 Spruce St. APT 4
Boulder, CO 80302

I was sitting around the house yesterday and I peeked out of the window at one point and felt like Boo Radley because I made eye contact with the mailman but quickly hid back behind the wall. don't know why, but I always do that. anyway, he came knocking on the door with my netflix and told me to put our names on the mailbox, but since I'm uncomfortable doing that (uh, not paying rent? there are 4 apartments in this building and I don't want to start trouble), I'll just make people put "care of".

it's supposed to snow today and get down to 0 tonight! bought a few things to make thanksgiving food, but we don't really have definite plans yet..

Happy Thanksgiving to all, from the frontier!

greetings from boulder!

somehow the days just slip by, and my intentions of updating my blog go flying out the window (or down the drain?). anyway, I'm sitting here in Boulder Colorado, trying to write something real quick before getting a nice cold beer (it's been almost two days). the picture above is my "Mezuzah"(thanks Emily and Rachel), which is this Jewish thing you put in your doorway and kiss on your way in and out. so I kiss this mamacat/babycat (or try to remember) when I get in and out of my car. this is when we're getting into Colorado and the sun is setting and it's starting to snow. it's holding a rooster feather I stole from Boone (noo I didn't kill the rooster...)

I guess I should tell of my journey to get here, but I don't have too much time right now, and I want to get to the current stuff. I stopped in Louisville, KY and stayed with Susan, a rollerderby player who took me to this aweeesome hotel/restaurant/art gallery all in one. I have so much to say about that, but perhaps that's for another time. The next night I stayed with Rachel and Jared in Kansas City, MO, who were wonderful and sweet and had a dog who shyly hated me, but I got to eat Indian and drink some local beers on my own (in West Port? a sort of city outside of Kansas City), which was tasty and fun. slept on a very comfy couch and was awoken at 6am by a radiator spewing water straight into the ceiling, before enjoying cereal and local milk.

Seth and I are staying with Marina, a lovely lady who graduated with me (though I never met her) from CofC this past May. She's living out here doing AmeriCorp and is nice enough to let us sleep on her couch/futon. We spend most of our days wandering around, asking businesses about job openings, perusing Craigslist (for both jobs and housing), attempting to socialize at coffee shops, and making meals. Seth is currently on the floor, maps spread out, trying to trace his route thus far (for those of you who've missed his story, he's bicycling across the country, working on organic farms, meeting tons of people, staying with strangers/camping in their yards/accepting warm showers and food from the multitudes of lovely people in the world. his blog will be updated, as soon as I finish updating mine and start bugging him to update it).

Last night, while at a coffee shop, we decided to make a list of priorities. Like, for instance, finding Seth some pants (he has one pair), finding jobs, finding an apartment, sending postcards, getting a library card, updating our blogs. Most importantly, though, we've decided to try to converse with at least one stranger a day (both of us). So today we split up in the afternoon, and Seth handed in some job applications and tried to befriend a Patagonia employee, and I went to volunteer at the local LGBT group. I met some really cool and nice people, and was immediately put to work. I figure since I've got some money, I won't really rush into a job at Marshalls or Office Depot or anything, though they're hiring (heeeyo). maybe I'll check that seafood restaurant to see if they have oysters that need shucking (eeeh don't know about "fresh" oysters in the middle of the country).

Since it's dark by 5, I'm usually ready for bed pretty early, but we're enjoying playing bananagrams and all varieties of card games late into the night.
and if you want to write to me, the address here is:
2437 Spruce St. APT 4
Boulder, CO 80302

oh! and for those of you interested in my artistic processes, I've started a new digital photo project in which I will be photographing public restrooms across the country. I started in Kentucky and did public rest areas along the road. I really found them kind of beautiful and interesting, and the light's always good inside, and there is always something weird to be captured. I think it'll be a sort of lifelong project, or at least until I get tired of sneaking around ladies rooms all sketchy-like with a camera. I'll admit, it's sort of fun to almost get caught, or to figure out how to make an exposure without anyone hearing. so here's a preview...
"Arriba, CO, 3:12PM"




until next time! and thanks for bearing with me for my strange habits!

moving along

okay, working on a short post before I leave Boone. I plan to leave tomorrow morning after a tearful goodbye to my llamas, chickens, dogs cats fish goats people. definitely the people. Diane and Rob have been wonderful, so trusting and generous and sweet, and I've met a bunch of other really sweet, genuinely nice people (Emilie at the Todd supplies store, Ashley and April, Samantha and Shamba, Steve the next door neighbor, the guy that works at BeansTalk coffee shop, so many more random people).

I think I'm taking 81N, to 77, to 64 with my first stop in Louisville, KY. then I'll continue on 70 and stop again around Kansas City, MO the second night, and onto Boulder the next day!

my last couple of weeks have been interesting, I've been alone at the farm watching everything while Diane and Rob were down in Florida getting some business done. I got stressed out a few times, angry a couple, was filled with wonder all the time, and only cried twice.

I kept all of the llamas and livestock alive, the dogs are well, cats fine. My chickies, which turned out to be a huge part of my everyday life, are okay. I brought them into the barn last week because it turned really cold and even snowed for a couple of days (didn't stick, just light, fluffy flurries and sunlight!), so the first night they were locked in a stall and two of them disappeared. I imagine they were taken by a rat or snake, because I couldn't find them anywhere the next morning (cry number one). so I took to locking them up at night in a cat crate, up off the ground, in a stall with the llamas (they're supposed to be 'guardians' for all different animals, they're protective), which has worked so far. I lock them in a cat crate at around 6 when it gets dark, and get up early in the morning to let them out again (The Chickens Are, indeed, Restless--The Far Side, anyone?). so that's fun. for the past two days I've been letting them roam around with the mama hen, free to eat bugs and worms (they were really getting antsy inside the barn, and it's been so warm out!) and I've been successful with that. until this afternoon, when I approach them, notice that one's missing, walk around the barn and find it drowned in one of the llama's water buckets (cry number two). why the hell wouldn't anyone have gotten it out? the mother hen could have easily jumped in there to get it out, it's not more deep than she is tall. I was so mad, but I buried the little one, said a few words, and cried some more.

my angry times were mostly in the middle of the night when either Indy (the needy maltese loveable poo-head) or Miss Lucy (the geriatric calico cat) tried to get into bed with me. uh, no, Indy, I don't want your dried-egg-yolk-face all up in my space. and no, Miss Lucy, I don't want you to sleep on my head. and if I shut the door (which I hesitate to do because I already sleep like a rock and don't hear anything), they scratch/bark/yowl incessantly. seriously, I tried ignoring them but it actually doesn't work. serious dedication there.

I was filled with wonder on a daily basis, either when I woke up to look out of my gigantic bedside window with an incredible view between two mountains of the sun rising, moon rising, full sky of stars, etc. at the beginning of my stay it was a full moon and it lit up my entire bedroom and the entire farm, I could see the llamas from about 50-60 feet away in the middle of the night!
A girl that Diane works with (prarie home companion friend), Ashley, took me for a drive on the blue ridge parkway for a bit the other day, which was very enjoyable despite the fact that within the first 15 minutes I had her pull over so I could barf up my egg breakfast (I'm blaming it on the eggs, not the driving, and yeh, I barfed. it's been literally years since I threw up, I can't even remember when). luckily she's in the medical career world, so she didn't hate me (in fact, she was incredibly nice, even post-barf!). we walked around Price Lake looking for otters, didn't find any, but it did start to snow really lightly as we were sitting on a dock looking at the gray steely calm lake (quite romantic, actually). I'm not really used to vast bodies of water being so still (what? a lake? not an ocean?).

went for a couple other drives with Shamba, we also went to First Friday art walk in downtown boone last week, which was wonderful. there's a really great gallery called the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts that had a few really really cool collections. drank a bunch of beer, hot apple cider, and had some tasty snacks as well. Sam and Shamba have been so wonderful, they even brought over some movies to watch the other night (uh Repo Man? awful).

so this isn't quite as quick as I'd imagined, but then again, it's been quite a while and I've been doing so many things! my days pass so quickly, perhaps because by the time dark rolls around, I lock myself in the house and consider it bedtime.

the abbreviated plan for Boulder is this: Seth should be arriving there around Friday (by bicycle, if anyone's missed this reference, check his awesome blog). I'll be getting in around Saturday. we don't really know where we're going to stay immediately, but he has some contacts around there that might have us for the first week-ish. we'll look for jobs, we're not planning on doing farming since it's colorado in the winter, but we're thinking maybe Ski Resort, maybe food&bev (egh), maybe awesome art space/coffee shop (hah!). whatever we can find. long term living? weeelll not so sure about that yet.. but I should be there for a while (probably trapped by snow, Buster's not really the 4-wheelin' type)


my maps are laid out, my outreach texts are sent, and I'm all packed up. if you know anyone in Kansas City or Boulder that need a couch warmer, let me know! if you know of any job opportunities in the Boulder area, let me know! if you know of any place I just HAVE to see, let me know!! thanks for reading, see you later

I'm a grannie!

yes yes, all you've heard is true, reports just in, I'm a grand-chicken! or maybe a mid-chickenwife, or hen-doula (hula!). I'm terrible at making puns.
Anyway, the hen that's been sitting finally hatched out her babies yesterday and today! Yesterday, both Rob and Diane were at work all day and I discovered there was a baby that had popped out of the nest (and when I say discovered, I mean that I heard a gigantic ruckus going on over by the chick and the hen). I freaked out, not knowing what to do, and helped the little thing back up. I discovered there was another sitting under the hen (who was still distrustful of me at this point and scolded me for helping). Later in the day I found there were at least 5 that I could see, sticking their adorable little heads out from under her wings. soo cute. Today I counted 9 and I moved them all (by myself, yes, Diane was sick all day) to a little hutch outside and hooked them up with hay, water, and some food-processed corn (yes, I used the food-processor to chop some already-cracked-corn so their little beaks could handle it). I took some pictures I'll add to my flickr page later. precious.

Since I'm on the topic and since they take up so much of my time, I'd like to talk a little more about chickens. I've been compiling thoughts and things I've learned about chickens since I got here. So there's that previous little story about hatching chicks. Then there are the roosters, with whom I have this sort of (totally) vengeful relationship. They're really cocky (pun intended), loud, and aggressive. They chase the hens around, grab their back/head feathers with their beaks and roughly mount them. I always chase them away when I see them starting to harass a hen, and sometimes even when they've mounted. Don't tell Diane, it's probably not the best thing to do for the propagation of the species, but it's really hard for me to stand by and watch the non-consenting, well, rape of any species. And yes, I would call it rape, because it is abundantly evident from their awful squawking that the hens do not consent. Chickens do not seem to court, like other birds and animals. The roosters here, of which there are too many (it's no-kill and Diane has a hard time unloading roosters to places she knows will not kill them, thus, overpopulation of roosters) can stroll over to whomever and force themselves upon her. When I first got here, I watched in horror as 2 or 3 roosters ganged up and chased a hen around together. It made me wonder about the animalistic urge/justification of gang rape, and rape in general.

Yes, this is the first of my Feminism and Farming series of thoughts. I wonder if rape/gang rape something that other species do, or is it solely the action of sick and twisted humans? If human men were put on an island with one woman and no socialization or learned culture, would they violently take turns with her just because they outnumber her? If there were more than one "Adam" back in the (questionable) day, would they have shared the one "Eve"?

I should mention, however, that occasionally hens will aggressively chase other hens, or hens will gang up and chase a rooster, or a female llama will mount another (apparently unwilling) female llama. Is there a difference in gender perceptions among nonhuman animals? Is everything just learned by watching and experiencing things (ie roosters learning aggression, llamas learning to mount)? Is there a common animalistic craving in all humans and animals alike? Are we driven only by the need to procreate? To protect our space? To fulfill sexual pleasure/urges? To eat? To be the most powerful? When animals (humans included) become violent, what are we fighting for? Shelter, food, oxygen, procreation, basic biological needs? I just don't know, and these are thoughts to which I will definitely return.

On a much more lighthearted chicken note, I shall discuss "The Bacaw Phenomenon". You know when you're doing chicken noises, you'll bawk bawk bawk and occasionally let out a hearty, Bacaw! when you're feeling frisky? Well, most of the time, the hens around here make your typical bawk noises, while they're eating, roosting, etc. The Bacaw is reserved for an alarm noise, for use while being raped, or, as I've encountered, when you catch them doing something surreptitious. When a hen is sneaking around, she knows it. She knows that the feed room isn't really where she's supposed to be, so if you catch her poking around in there, she will let out a series of loud Bacaw's to let everyone know that you are doing something wrong. Somehow the Bacaw turns the blame from her, sneaking into the feed room looking for scattered chicken scratch (yes, it's actually called that), to you: Human, endangering livelihood! You turn around and the hens and roosters are all eyeing you up. You. That Evil Human trying to hurt the innocent little brown hen. They cluck, disapprovingly, in unison.

mew

a quick little update before I get working today... a girl that Diane works with at the Health Clinic invited me to some sort of screening of NPR's Prairie Home Companion in Bristol (not Palin), TN tonight. I have never heard the show, but like I said before, I don't turn down invitations, so let's hope my plan doesn't backfire quite yet. we're supposed to get dinner and a drink before, so it can't be too bad!

oh and cute story of the day, last night Diane came into my room with her adorable little sweater on and her hands cupped together, exclaiming, "hot hot hot! I have something for you!", I tentatively look up, expecting a salamander or perhaps a dog poo, and she hands me three little reeses cups! how did she know they're my favorite?!

also, this morning I was pondering over tea how much longer I should stay here, wondering if I should head to Charleston real quick for a visit before heading out to Colorado. no sooner had this plan begun brewing in my little brain before Diane asked me if I could house/farm sit from Oct 30th to around Nov 8th... looks like I'll be here for a couple more weeks!

booooone

okay, I had all of these high hopes and clever things written in my head for this next post. but then my internet wasn't really working, and an extra day passed and now I have so many things to write about, I'm not sure I can be clever. but I'll try.. for you, my readers. I seem to be most clever when I'm doing physical labor. I try to remember what I had thought up (which was sooo hilarious as I shoveled composted llama poo), but sitting here, it's sort of hard to remember.

The only place I get reception from this crappy-waste-of-money USB mobile internet stick is sitting out on the front lawn of the farm, which happens to be a fairly steep hill, which wouldn't really bother me but I'm trying to simultaneously sip on this tasty wine while I catch up on two days of lost internet time (there are SO many tweets to read.. geeze) and hills do not embrace wine glasses, apparently. noted.

so, where to start. Asheville was incredible, I will surely make my way back there again in the future. I went to the art museum, a few tasty restaurants, as well as every coffee shop and bar available. I spent most of my time/money in coffee shops and bars, pretty much trying to meet interesting people while doing research on wwoof farms in nearby states. there are some awfully cool coffee shops and I'm sure they got sick of seeing me after a while. I eventually heard back from one farm, The Farm at Mollies Branch in Boone, NC.

It's really just a small family farm run by Diane Price and Rob Griffith. They are a lovely couple, Rob is a doctor so I don't get to see him much (but he was a history major before and has TONS of interesting-looking books..if I may judge a book by its cover), but Diane is around most of the time and is super sweet and wonderful. I've been helping out transplanting plants, mulching and spreading compost, attempting to groom the llamas (okay, she didn't ask me to, and they don't really like being groomed..but I'll change that), finding chicken eggs (Diane recently changed up their living situation and they're mad about this, so they hide their eggs ala easter bunny--they're even wonderfully strange colors: off blue, brownish, aahh I could go on for hours about color). ANYway. remind me to get back to the topic of Feminism and Farming. I think I'll write a series of posts on that someday, but I'm still doing my research though so that's for a later date.

let me go into detail about the serious beauty around here. in the past two weeks I drove through West Virginia, into Asheville, and then to here, Boone. it was peak season for colors when I started, and even when I got to Boone the colors were seriously radiant. I've never seen half of the colors I saw while driving here. but after a couple of windy days here, most of the leaves have fallen and the mountain sides no longer hold their bright colors. it's crazy! two days ago I had to catch my breath every time I looked out at a mountain, and now it's beautiful (don't get me wrong, it is nice still), but much more dull.

my first working day I met Shamba (pronounced Shahm-bay), Samantha, and Daniel, who occasionally work for Diane here. Shamba and Samantha lived here in a teepee (sp?) for a year or so. they're aiming to live completely self-sustainably, which is pretty cool in my opinion. so they were out at the farm the other day and invited me to a potluck in downtown Boone. I should add here that I have made a rule on this trip never to turn down an invitation. so I accepted (bet you thought I would make an exception!). I'm becoming quite social and good at conversing with strangers (I guess it's easy when you can fall back on your 'I-just-escaped-from-a-cult-what-have-you-done-lately?'-story.) so this potluck was a nice little mix of Appalachian State students, Boone workers, and jazzy musicians. I shamelessly filled up my plate and grabbed a beer (sorry, but my other rule is to never fill a plate halfway) and settled on the couch where people milled around and complimented my jewelry (oh yes, I'm like a queen of some foreign land). I think I'm overusing the parentheses. oh well, my fingers are going numb because it's really cold on this hill...currently the sun has gone down and I haven't drank enough wine to warm me up.

back to the story. I met loads of very nice people and had a great time. it was Shamba and Samantha's four year anniversary (of dating), and they had to give me a ride home. classy third-wheel action. we celebrated by going out and getting potato skins, nachos, and a literally GIGANTIC brownie ice cream sunday (for my south jersey readers: think Duffers, but bigger). I apologized 327 times for being the third wheel, but they were too nice to tell me to screw off and walk the 15 miles home.

the next night (oh yeah, there's more), Diane invited me to a Kiwanas-sponsored spaghetti supper at her mother-in-law's place of residence. I socialized my ass off at a nursing home, and the ladies looooved me! Diane knows just about everyone that lives there (seriously the sweetest woman alive) and apparently a couch-full of ladies asked her who the beautiful young lady accompanying her was. I was just dashing in my ratty old Pashmina (never been washed and has been to every horseshow/road trip/sickness possible) and $.50 thai earrings. Ardath, Rob's mother, is a lovely lady and was very welcoming when I traipsed into her apartment. I love her name, by the way, so if I ever come up with a child in my lifetime, you'll know where the name came from.

well this post has gone on about long enough (and my computer's about to die). I'll try to do this more often so that you don't have to sit for two hours to catch up with my daring stories of bravery and combat. I know my butt is numb, and I hope that you've been sitting on a comfortable chair and not a grassy knoll like I have. farewell, and until next time, hope you're all doing well and thanks for checking in!

um, let's try this again.

well, my first stop was not-so-successful. The "Zendik Farm Arts Foundation" Marlinton, WV turned out to be a little different than I expected. First, it's a commune, which I don't have a problem with, in theory. I think a commune could potentially be a cool place to be. This particular commune has been around and moving from state to state (well, a few states) since around 1969. They are avid followers and preachers of the writings of "Wulf Zendik", who has since passed away, and his wife, Arol, continues to run the farm.

Let me say that the people were very nice to me, there were about 20 staying in the house, and they were all related by marriage/children. They all have strange names, but I can't really say anything, I fit right in with my name. However, running the farm itself seems to be secondary to their jewelry-selling business, for which the members travel the weekends to the far reaches of PA, DC, and various other areas to hawk their goods. Granted, I went on the off-season, so all there was to do was harvest the remaining fall vegetables before the first frost, and care for the goats, horses, chickens, pigs, children--all of which I enjoyed.

I wouldn't have really bolted-in-the-night (so to speak...it was actually morning, but I like quoting Lindsay Bluth) if it hadn't been for the creepy write-ups online. A simple google search will discover a bunch of crazy-weird stories about their haunted past. Nothing necessarily life-threatening, but enough to weird me out enough to want to leave. I don't really consider myself a quitter-I really wanted this first farm to work, but I felt increasingly uncomfortable as time went on. They didn't really seem to care what I did, which is great, freedom is awesome. The part that most bothered me was that they were all busy doing other things. A few of the women manned the phones and called stores across the country to sell their jewelry. All day long.

I don't know, they're new to WWOOFing and so am I, so maybe it just wasn't a good match all around. I feel a little guilty leaving with no notice, but I can't justify putting myself in a possibly threatening situation just to stick to my plan.

So I'm in Asheville, NC, planning to plan the rest of my trip. I'm staying at this beautiful, spacious, clean, wonderful hostel right downtown and I'm loving it (it's called Sweet Peas Hostel!!). Had a nice lunch, got myself a bunk bed and a locking locker, took a shower, waiting for my hair to dry, and then I'll go explore the town. There's free coffee here! and a HUGE recycling bin! and FREE INTERNET, which means I shouldn't have canceled my netflix, because I could've continued watching my TV on instant-view here. oh well, maybe I'll go meet people instead. any sights I need to see? cool bars? I've got one of those terrible tourist maps whose colorful and not-to-scale depictions of downtown will probably get me more lost than if I wandered aimlessly. wish me luck.

farewell!

Hi all, just checking in. I'm currently in Columbia, MD at my friend Rachel's house, but I will be departing shortly for my first farm in Marlinton, WV. they have this cool website, click here to check it out. the trip takes about 5 1/2 hours. my generalized route: 95S to 495W around DC, to 66W, to 81S, to VA-42, to VA-39/WV-39.

Not sure when I'll be checking in again, my mobile internet thing was working really slow this morning so I'm currently on Rachel's computer.

here I go

Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my blog. I am assuming that if you're here you know a little about my travel plans, but just in case, I'll give a brief outline. I will be driving across the country in my VW Golf named Buster (yes, I stole this blog title from Steinbeck, but I thought it somewhat appropriate, please forgive me) and working on organic farms along the way. I am locating the farms through the website WWOOF.org which is a really really wonderful site that hooks up family-owned organic farms with willing workers worldwide! I hope to make it to the west coast and then make my way back east again over the course of the coming year.

I am still in New Jersey at the moment, but my ETD is October 4th, 2010. I will be stopping for a day or two in MD to snuggle with the beautiful Rachel and Nicole, and then will be headed on my way.
First stop: 10/6-10/20. Marlinton, WV at a splendid-looking farm that incorporates 220 acres, animals, alternative construction, ART ART ART!, jewelry making, painting, yeees ma'am.
After that I might stop at another WV farm and then head out in the direction of Colorado, where I'll be meeting with my friend Seth for a little while (it's hard to bicycle in the snowy, mountainous wintertime)

I'll try to keep this updated as much as possible (although internet is sure to be spotty wherever I go). You can always email me, facebook me, or call me!
Thank you for your support, and I hope I can keep you posted on tidbits of wisdom, flat tire info (juust kidding), stray cats picked up along the way, and general outlines of where in the world I am!