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. 

Oh Canada

So here we sit I sit in a hotel room in Thunder Bay Ontario, yes Canada. So time spent in Minneapolis was pretty fun. We got to do quite a bit and eat a lot of food. We saw two great shows, A Prairie Home Companion and another one called Triple Espresso. It's surprising to me in the twin cities how many people don't drive. Well I guess there are just as many cars and people still drive but the number of people using other means of transportation. There are people running, walking, lots of bikes, skateboards, roller blades, wheelchairs, just everything but cars. We toured Guthrie Theater backstage and all three stages. Saw their super cool public library of four floors and fireplaces. Did you know that Minneapolis has 7 miles of sky walks connecting their buildings downtown so people don't have to walk outside in negative temperatures? Did you know that there was a Red Bull sponsored bike race through them? I have to admit that this is some of the prettiest country up here. Today we left the last of the leaves behind us, the snow picked up around noon and snowed all afternoon, but none of it stuck. Driving along the rocky shores of the Great Lake Superior on one side with white birch trees and fur trees along the side of the road. Passing over creeks and waterfalls too. Well we saw a moose on our way, some deer, more bald eagles, a fox, a snowshoe hair, and lots of trees. One other thing is trains. There are lots of trains here. On the Mississippi River there are lots of barges used as well. There was a diagram we saw about transportation. One jumbo barge is equivalent to 15 jumbo hopper train cars which is equivalent to 58 tractor trailer trucks. Now out on the Mississippi where its wide they may have as many as 15 barges all together (we saw one). 15 barges can carry 22,500 TONS. Now would you rather see a tugboat pushing 15 barges down the river of 870 tractor trailer trucks. Hows that for a load?

the twin cities

So here we are in Minneapolis and its cold. Highs are in the high 40's and cold enough at night that things freeze and they are calling for snow. This is the beginning of winter here, some people don't even call this winter. Just wait a month or two and the mid day high wont even break 0. We stayed in a hotel last night in the middle of Illinois. Driving today was very beautiful and especially through Iowa. As we traveled up the Mississippi River we counted around 86 bald eagles. Thats a lot. Well I am not feeling very well and tired too so I don't feel like writing much more. Here are two pictures taken today. One is of the many bald eagles we saw today and the other picture is, well how do you describe it?

another journey

Well if you don't know yet I am safely back in the United States as of a little over a week. My first realization when I stepped out of RDU was "it's cold." My body had gotten used to those island temperatures and wearing zorries every day no more old man winter is here. I feel that I have gotten used to the temperatures once again and am glad to be here as well. I miss fish though. So one of the first things I did once I got back was I went to the grocery store. It was insane, there it was, everything you could ever eat except for weird things like shrimp crackers, and stuff with Asian writing on it. Basically mystery food. Star apples or star fruit they are something like three dollars a piece. In Pohnpei there were two trees that I could walk outside and pick more than I could eat. And fish in Harris Teeter comes from the Philippines, Greenland, Alaska, South America. Only some of the shrimp and the trout are from North Carolina. Tuna is like three or four dollars a pound and out there on those islands its just about a dollar. I am getting tired so I am going to wrap this up. I'm going on another trip, I leave in about 6.5 hours. My dad and I are going to Minnesota, why FOR FUN. So I have a bag full of cameras and lenses and stuff like that. And warm socks, and ski pants, and a coat, and another coat, and two pairs of gloves. I hear its cold up there. Weather online is looking in the 30's and low 40's. Thats for a high. Snow? I hope so. Palm trees? most likely not. So look for an update in a day or two. I am tired, goodnight. Oh, and here is a picture of Joe Dirt aka me on Halloween, enjoy.

Attempt 2

So I pre-wrote my blog entry in word then moved it onto the website and began to put the pictures in and then I closed the window. In the meantime I deleted the original document. Anyways I have safely arrived back in Chuuk about 24 hours ago. I said good bye to Mae on the airplane as she was continuing to Guam then Australia then eventually PNG. As for everyone else I said goodbye to them at the airport while I felt like I was going to cry. I was leaving this huge family who I have done everything with for the past six weeks. I think they even got me sick because I am not feeling the greatest right now. I told them I would return and who knows maybe Ill jump on the flight Sunday and go back. I miss Pohnpei and all the people there very much. Since my past post I have done quite a bunch. I went diving and water skiing again and had a blast with both. I hiked up Sokehs ridge one day with and saw some of the huge guns from WWII and there is the roof of a cell phone tower building you can get on and see the rock from. A great view of part of the island and a nice
short hike as well. The day before I left I went on a bike ride around the small island of Sokehs. It was a good ride except for the dogs that would chase after us and try and bite our feet. As apart of that journey we hiked/climbed up sokehs rock. A very difficult climb where you have to balance on tree roots and use your hands quite a bit. Once you get to the rock there is a pipe which holds old electrical lines for a small tower on top of the mountain. You must use this pipe which is bolted to the rock to assist in climbing the mountain. From the top it is an awesome view of the island and of the ocean with pineapples growing wild too. That evening there was a party to celebrate my last night in Pohnpei. It was a great last day before I had to leave. Now I am here in Chuuk and its so quiet. I have one little cousin here, Morgan but not 9 plus all of their cousins. While I am here in Chuuk I am going to try and get a dive or two in. This is the worlds premier wreck diving location with I believe 40 some wrecks inside the Lagoon. If it is possible I am going to try and dive with the Odyssey which is considered the worlds best live-aboard dive boat. Anyways, so long from Chuuk and Pohnpei I miss you.

Kaselehlia

Although my trip is coming to a close my experiences by far are not. This past weekend I had a great time doing many different things. It started out with a dive at a place called Palikir Rendezvous which had the clearest water I have ever swam in. You could easily see the bottom at 35 feet. The spot was just on the outer side of the reef right before where the waves were. Being so close to the waves was neat because the movement of the waves would rock us back an forth just slightly. I was surprised that there was still that movement 20-30 feet below surface. After that we made our way to the island of Nalap. Nalap is a small resort like island where people go for the day and there are a few little huts where people may spend the weekend. We ate lunch then went out on the boat to have a try a water skiing. First i took a fall on my face, then on my back and then I balanced out my falls and stood up. I was surprised I got up so quickly but it was amazing. I think the ability to snow ski helped me out in this situation. I was able to stand up and stay up every other time I tried as well. Yesterday I had fun trying to to take some pictures driving around the small island of Sokehs trying to get some pictures of Sokehs rock. I have not yet hiked up it but that is on my list of things to do before I leave. It was nice driving around and exploring new places and even having to throw the truck in 4 wheel drive. There are so many nice things about this tropical rain forest but I miss home and I have decided not to extend my trip again. I know I will miss it a lot and the people as well. Thats okay because I can still come back some other time.