Edmonton pt 1: Pysanka, McDonalds

Pysanka! 

So I am pretty sure I won the easter egg hunt for the largest easter egg in the world, or Pysanka. If you were wondering where I found it, I found it in Vegreville, Alberta. Where the hell is Vegreville? Yeah exactly. I ended up seeing this Pysanka in person but did not exactly go out of my way specifically for this. I was driving about an hour outside Edmonton and saw a sign for a Tim Horton's. Tim Horton's is is coffee shop kind of place, serving Dunkin Doughnuts like coffee not exactly the Starbucks style. Tim Horton's though puts candy in there coffee, or something similar because its quite addicting, this was the real reason I came to Canada, for Tim Horton's. Who is Tim Horton you americans may be asking yourself, well, he was a hockey player. Its kind of like if there were a sub shop called Mugsy Bugs. So I had gotten off the road to go to Tim Horton's and I go inside, order a iced coffee and I ask the lady, "can you tell me what that is that they advertise off the side of the highway, the worlds largest something." She shook her head and had no idea what I was talking about and gave me another girl to ask. "So whats that worlds largest thing they advertise," I asked her. Oh, the Pysanka, its just down this way, she told me. But wait, I just came that way, I did not see it and to my self I was thinking this must not be very large if I just drove right past it. "Oh, it might be hidden from some trees," so I went to look for it as I went back to the interstate. Well I found it, its huge, wait, why is the largest Ukrainian egg in a town of 5,000 people in Canada. Who knows, whatever.

Canola, before its in your frying pan

So I asked Paul, the couch surfer who I hosted me here in Edmonton about the Pysanka. Paul is from Vegreville so I felt that he would be the best to ask about the egg. Paul is sitting on the couch in the V.I.P. zone, this is what they call there house, mustache, curled dark hair forming into a mullet wearing a california sleeveless shirt "oh I think its a great idea" he says. "It's really good, if we could have a wave pool or an egg, I would go with the egg every time." There is a notable amount of sarcasm in his voice, he digresses and explains how he always wanted a wave pool when he was younger. 

Paul also knows a considerable amount about McDonalds. Him and his roommate Zach and friends have come up with their own sandwiches like a "McPower-play." In hokey a power play is when you have 4 vs 3 people playing, so a McPower-play 4 burger patties and 3 chickens. "And its only like $7," Zach says. Paul also explains the difference between the McChicken and the Jr. Chicken, "It's $3.50 more and the only difference is you get sesame seeds on your bun, its absurd."

 How I could sit here and keep writing I feel that I should go and drive some. Edmonton Pt. 2 to come Purple Lights, Mobile Dance party + more. 

When your dog runs away....

sunrise in NW Minnesota 

sunflowers

In Saskatch-ewan there are a lot of prairies which go for as far as you can see and the people here say that when your dog runs away you can see it running for six days. I am couch surfing tonight for the first time, it is a couch surfing paradise here tonight. The four roommates all met on Couch Surfing, Manitoba, British Columbia, Spain and Greece. There are also two other couch surfers staying tonight, France and Belgium and I, the American. Actually, the fist American couch surfer to ever stay here at this house. Sometimes its like playing a real life game of telephone with all of the different accents going on.
So I had spent two nights in Minneapolis, the second night, could not sleep. Was tossing and turning around in the idea of driving north. So at three thirty or so when I rolled over yet again and looked at the clock I thought to my self, why am I trying to force myself to sleep. I do not have to sleep or stay here or wait for anything so why not. . . GO. So I got out of bed, packed my bag, got in the car and left.    Leaving just before 4am is the best way to beat rush hour traffic and the rush hour traffic in the next city two hours away. Listened to some great music on the Current, which is a music station provided by Minneapolis public radio and kept on driving. The corn and soy fields finally subsided a little bit. I passed by a small section of sunflower farming. When I say a small section I mean maybe a mile of it so millions of flowers a beautiful sight. I also passed through wheat and canola fields which were all quite beautiful with the golden yellow flowers and the way it blew around in the wind. I could not help my self from stopping and taking a ton of pictures while driving yesterday. Too much beautiful scenery. 

Saskatchewan field and sky

Cinema 6. Now playing the Dark Night

I got up to the US - Canada border and stopped at the post office mailed some stuff and crossed on over without a problem. I was curious if there were going to be problems, I thought there might. I was crossing over in a town called Portal. I really though this was some kind of hoax. Was I either a) going to end up in Canada b) travel through to another time c) find myself in another country d) find myself in a fictional place The village of Bree, Hogsmeade or Tatooine. Luckily I just ended up in Canada. I saw a massive oil sands operation upon arriving and happened to put all my credit cards on lock when I first tried to use them. Well I made it off to Regina where I am now. Off to Edmonton right about. NOW!

Leaning red Barn, North Dakota

We all have an uncle Bob

Attempts to heel click and time it correctly. 

a sense of scale

Im sitting in Blue Moon Coffee Cafe on East Lake Street in Minneapolis and have already successfully spilled a nine tenths full americano everywhere. For eight of the last twelve years this place has won awards, primarily the "Feminist Finds" awards from the Minnesota Women's Press. Its quite ironic, there are four men in this coffee shop at the moment, it has been dominated my men the whole time I have been here. One of them being a gypsied out Vietnam vet with a fist full of rings, silver bracelets, eclectic worldly clothing telling me how he might have to fire his senile maid for putting his belongings in the wrong place. This coffee shop just happens to be the closest coffee shop to where I stayed last night, with a good family friend Nancy O. I looked up close by coffee shops online, read a review and one of them read as followed: "The place is a dump, to be honest. It's dark, dank and has little to no air conditioning. It smells bad. The food on display looks old. The chairs have mismatched cushions, many of which are ripped and torn. The floor is pock marked and unfinished. It is completely unacceptable." Well, If anyone has ever been to Cup-a-Joe on Hillsboro st. in Raleigh this review sounds just like that place too, to the T. So here I am and it is not nearly as bad as the review makes it sound. I know one thing, whoever wrote that review would be much more utterly disgusted upon visiting the ole faithful Cup-a-Joe.

wind farm, whoohoo!

Overhead view of wind farm

It was a long day of driving from Indianapolis, IN to Minneapolis, MN. A long day of looking at corn, corn, soy, corn, soy, corn, corn, soy, soy, corn and a few massive wind turbine farms. It was long but I had homemade cookies with me that made the day past quicker. In Indianapolis I had stayed with Marian and Doug Berky, he is a mime and she made my cookies! Great hosts and great snacks for the road. As I came to Carlock, IL I drove upon a wind farm that was right next to the Interstate. I got off at one of the exits and was able to drive right up to the base of these wind turbines. Check out the satellite image I have added from google maps of the farm there in Carlock which I stumbled upon. The shadows of the turbines casted on the fields is quite cool.  At lunch time I stopped in Peoria, IL got some authentic mexican pork and pineapple tacos from a food cart and a bacon wrapped hotdog, made "the way we make it." I also filled up for gas for only the second time so far on the trip.

Bob, is that you?

Then in Iowa City I found out that I have an uncle Bob. I was not able to figure out which side of the family he came from but apparently I have one now. In addition, you have an uncle named Bob too. Funny the way it just happens to be. I crossed the Minnesota State line on rural US-63 and decided to take some pictures at the state sign, could not find the sign. So then I took them at the welcome to Iowa sign instead, yes, even though I was leaving the state. Their state slogan is 'fields of opportunity.' Next time I eat something with processed corn or soy in it I am going to say something like "wow, I can taste the opportunity."
So I made it to Minneapolis, around dinner time last night, went to eat some yummy Ethiopian food and hit the sack. It is such a cool city here. However I am glad it is not in the negative temperatures like sometimes in the winter time.  I plan to spend the day here, exploring and planning my next step, Winnipeg, Canada maybe?

corn, corn, corn

Pound Town Found

Greetings from Anderson Indiana. Just outside Indianapolis, Anderson is an old GM manufacturing town and has turned into a partial ghost town like that of Detroit. It is quiet and rundown and was difficult to find a place open with some food, many places boarded up and vacant. Those places who are open gladly advertise that they accept food stamps. But its good to be out of the car and having a place to rest before another long day of travel tomorrow. 

I would have to say the adventures from today were mainly from the things I really did not expect to see. But thats the whole reason behind this trip. From Boone I got on 421 and headed North, went through Tennessee,  through the coal fields of South-west Virginia and Kentucky mainly on small highways. I then got on the interstate outside Winchester Kentucky. From Winchester and then Lexington, I passed miles of lovely white fenced horse fields. I then headed into the land of the blue grass towards the Ohio river and Indiana. As the sun was getting low in the sky I passed through a good portion of Indiana passing miles upon miles upon miles of corn and soy. Once I got here I realized I could have taken 421 the whole way, would have been a much longer trip though.

 However, the most interesting places I passed along the way. Slayersville, KY was one of them. Quite a nerving name but I dared to go check it out. One of the first things I saw was the partially roofless "Teen Scene" with bars on the windows. I have no idea what kind of establishment this was. Movie theater? Dance Club? Both? Interested upon the name I looked it up a little bit. It is located on the Licking river, another strange name and there are only around 2,000 people who live there. There was also a recent tornado, last year that may explain the missing roof of the notorious Teen Scene. Fortunately there was not a mass slaying here, yet unfortunate because there is no really crazy story and lots of haunted places around, just some guy named Samuel Slayer.
Also, I found another strange/interesting town. Pound Town, or the Town of Pound. Not sure why it is named what it is. We can only assume. Home of the wildcats and "The Big E-Z" they also have a Hardware Store and a super creepy mannequin inside the store with insulation on him. Other than that not much. Motoring on for 11 hours of driving to Minneapolis tomorrow.

The real last night in Boone

Ryan and the Venison

Ryan Puckett is manning the grill at the moment. We have no bacon wrapped- cream cheese filled jalapeno peppers, nor bacon burgers with gouda nor grilled pizza, all previous endeavors. Tonight we are making venison burgers and back strap as well. You know, just cleaning out the fridge and the freezer. Such intricate foods I leave frozen all year.
I have said it was my last night in Boone before but I guess I was not telling the whole truth. So tonight, will actually my last night in Boone, at least for a long while. I will be turning in my apartment keys in the morning and headed out of North Carolina. That is, well, if everything turns out right. As I was headed to Wilmington I realized my cars registration is good through the end of the month, so something else on the list of things to get done tomorrow. After heading out of town I plan to head to Indianapolis and then plan to be in Minneapolis tuesday evening.

The Gang on the Bench, Jessica, Mike, Me, Ben Nikki

Wrapping up the last few days was a wonderful closure to North Carolina and an excellent beginning to this trip to come. Wilmington was absolutely wonderful, beach time, surf time, great food and great times. $1 island tacos, Flaming Amy's Burrito, Flaming Amy's Bowl and Vito's Pizza and some 'Eggs Neptune' from Causeway Cafe in Wrightsville. An interesting breakdown of eggs benedict with fresh tomato and blue crab instead of canadian bacon. Friday night we had a round of sunset croquet in the neighborhood park, South Channel Park.  The next morning, right before leaving I decided to hit the beach one last time. I went out with Ben where he suggested we take a slightly different route to the beach from what I was used to, swim across the channel, so we did and I can mark that off of things I have done.

Last goodbye with my dad

My grandma Mema, Marvin-
my dog, Aunt Chris, Tom and I

Ben showing Jessica
how you REALLY play

I got back to Raleigh, packed the car, thought around thirty seven times of what it was that I was forgetting or not, said goodbye to the folks and was off. I did not make it too far until I made my first stop, REI in Durham. I kept thinking about buying something recently and when the exit for South Point mall arrived I thought, why not. I bought myself a GoPro HD Hero 2. Its a pocket sized video camera with waterproof case, a slew of mounting clips, wide angle lens and tears. Tears which it constantly crys, screaming for more adventure. So be ready for some videos from the trip as well! I stopped again in Winston Salem to say goodbyes to my grandma who whipped up some mean pizza sandwiches and also to my aunt Chris who stopped by as well.
It still has not hit me that I will be around 4,000 miles away in about a week, maybe once I cross out of North Carolina tomorrow morning I will begin to feel the unknown of the roads, leading to the places which I am yet to discover. See ya' later NC!

A new beginning

Well I guess I am back on the web and ready to write about my lives adventures once more. A brief rundown of the past little while of my life. I wrapped up my degree in Appropriate Technology from Appalachian State a semester ahead of what I was expecting in december. For the last seven months I have been living in Boone working, skiing, hiking, tubing and honestly spending too much time thinking I needed to leave and contemplating my next real adventure.

After quite a bit of researching, planning, reading and whatever else you put into a trip I have decided I am going to Alaska and I am about to make this dream come true. Right now, I am sitting on a porch swing at seven in the morning writing this just off the ocean in Wrightsville Beach. As I slept on the couch I saw the early glow to the sun about to rise coming through the window; a minute later my shoes were on and I was out the door. As I was on the beach watching the sun raise its self from the horizon I began to realize that this sunrise, right now, is the dawning of my new journey. At 6:13am I declared this sunrise to be the first day of many on my trip to Alaska. 

At the age of fifteen I traveled to Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana with my parents, another road trip of many which we had done together. On this road trip something special was achieved, I could successfully say I had traveled to all of the contiguious 48 states of america. Through my travels to the islands in Micronesia I went to Hawaii, only for a few hours, regardless I had been there. So now, Alaska is the only state which I have not been to. Not ever been to Alaska before is the greatest reason to make this trip come true. However, there is more to this trip as well. Its a personal journey, to see the true wilds of Alaska, to see the grizzly bears and salmon spawning and to discover it by myself. It is a solo trip for me to discover the vastness of Alaska and rediscover much of the rest of America in my own time. Not very many people go that far away from home, for so long, and surrender themselves to the toils of epic road trips. Its a different kind of mindset you must put yourself in to know you will be driving tens of thousands of miles through country where you may pass through only a hand few of towns in a day. Its a weeks long journey of hard, long, driving days just to go from North Carolina just to the Alaska-Yukon border. It will be months of living out of a car, a small car, and a long time until returning home. But I think it is worth it.