Years ago I spent at lot of time in Toronto working for a large retail client. During the project’s bone chilling winter, the project sponsor Anne and I became close. We spent many afternoons braving snowy sidewalks to explore café menus and deep conversations. Our retail planning chit-chat quickly evolved to theories on friendship and [...]
Tag Archives | road trip
A Treasure Chest of Vice, Adventure and Love
Location: Portland, Oregon Mileage: 7,386 Music: “Portland, Oregon” by Loretta Lynn and Jack White. Meal: Holladay Plaza Split Pea soup and Buffet Salad The drive from Kennewick to Portland started out as desolate. One must first pass the Umatilla Army depot in Eastern Oregon where a large plot of land has been used to store [...]
A Changed Place
Location: Kennewick, Washington Mileage: 7,200 Music: “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac Meal: Alderplank smoked salmon with garden vegetables I left eastern Montana for the west, heading into the most beautiful part of the state I was born in. My car chugged up the switchbacks at the foothills of the Beartooth mountains. I looked fondly at the [...]
Montana: Boom and Bust
Location: Billings, Montana Mileage: 6,500 Music: “Dakota” by Stereophonics Meal: Soup and Sandwiches (on Montana Wheat) The highway between Minneapolis and Billings was a 13 hour stretch of hilly lands, badlands, and no man’s land. Immersed in miles of flat were sudden mounds of earth, positioning themselves around grassy valleys, and deep cut rivers. It [...]
My Mother’s Minneapolis
Location: Minneapolis/ St. Paul Mileage: 5,160 Food: Beer at Palmer’s Bar Music: “It’s a Beautiful Day” by White Bird With my last formal interview behind me I drove onward with a new destiny, to drive back across the north to recapture my family’ past. I started in Minneapolis/ St Paul, a place where my mother [...]
From a Barrel Racer to a Sculptor
Location: Chicago Mileage: 5,160 Meal: Spicy kielbasa and rice (I made a worthwhile exception to meatless fare) Music: “Sweet Home Chicago” by the Blues Brothers Driving across Ohio and Illinois requires patience. The incessant roadwork prohibits speeding, multiple tollbooths deplete wallets, and there is wind so fierce it threatens to steer you off the road. [...]
Gratitude for Life
Location: Bethesda, Maryland Mileage: 4,010 Meal: Fresh brewed coffee Music: “Float on” by Modest Mouse Solo travelers that keep their masks on and walls up won’t get very far. Especially if the intent is to have complete strangers open up to you. In order to succeed on my journey, I had to take a complete [...]
“Hotlanta” Grace
Location: Atlanta, Georgia Mileage: 3,103 Meal: Salad (finally!)….with deep fried Ahi (sigh…still in the south) Music: “Don’t Use my Broken Heart” by Leona Nass Atlanta is described as the ‘melting pot of the south’, a blend of culture and class that no other southern city can rival. Atlanta is also called ‘Hotlanta’ by the younger [...]
A Chance Encounter in Birmingham
Location: Birmingham, Alabama Mileage: 2,830 Music: “Hit the Road Jack” by Ray Charles Meal: A plate of (scurvy reducing) vegetables—my first since I hit the south. *interview names and minor details changed* I left New Orleans as it was approaching the peak of its flamboyant frenzy. In Nola Labor Day weekend was also Gay Pride [...]
Interview with a Katrina Disaster Worker
Location: St. Bernard’s Parish, Louisiana Mileage: 2,600 Meal: Muffaletta sandwich Music: “This Tornado Loves You” by Neko Case After switching hotels (my other one was surely haunted), I drove out of the crowded French Quarter into an expanse of pastel painted homes, dog barking yards, and neighborhood po-boy sandwich shops. St Barnard’s parish wasn’t exactly [...]
Bartending in Nola
Location: New Orleans Mileage: 2,329 Meal: Homemade biscuits Music: “Someday You Will be Loved” by Deathcab for Cutie I woke up in my white French pressed sheets, sweating. The women on my road trip were becoming intertwined with my past and invading my dreams. I groggily got up and headed for the shower, trying to [...]
Life is a Whorehouse
Location: New Orleans, French quarter Mileage: 2,329 Meal: Étouffée and a whole lotta whiskey Music: “Not an addict” by K’s choice I entered the stone streets of New Orleans’s French Quarter at dusk, right when the flames were starting to flicker in the street lanterns. Jazz permeated the muggy air and street performers danced jive. [...]
Interview with a Pastor’s Wife
Location: Baton Rouge Mileage: 2,243 Meal: Pecan pie Music: “Trouble” by Nina Simone * minor details have been modified, as requested, to protect innocent identities* After driving for hours through the fields of Louisiana’s highway 49, Baton Rouge suddenly emerged from the riverbank, its towers gleaming in the afternoon sun. I drove over the bridge [...]
Shreveport: A little family heritage detour
Location: Houghton, Louisiana (a few miles outside of Shreveport) Mileage: 2,192 Meal: Dirty Rice Music: “Don’t Fence Me in” by Rosemary Clooney Gone were the days of cruising along an empty freeway with nothing to keep me company but a lone cactus and my wandering mind. Small towns, welcoming whitewashed churches, and forests so lush [...]
The Institution
Location: Austin, South of Congress Mileage: 1899 Meal: Tex Mex and a shot of tequila Music: “She Talks to Angels” by The Black Crowes Although I was mainly staying with Stevie for the unique conversations he offered, I did have a secret hope that he could also introduce me to some of his patients at [...]
Interview with a Mom…and secrets to a Happy Family Life
Location: Austin, Texas Mileage: Music: “That’s right, you’re not from Texas” by Lyle Lovett Meal: Grits and Quail, no butter spared (do I need a weigh in along the journey?) The landscape once again shape shifted before my eyes and West Texas vastness turned populous…well as populous as small town Texas can do. Peach Orchards [...]
The Road to Nowhere
Location: A long road to Fort Stockton, TX Mileage: 1544 Music: “Life for Rent” by Dido Meal: Too many helpings at a Texan Buffet Anytime you travel you always get asked the same perplexing question: “Where are you from?” Nowhere. Everywhere. I don’t know how to explain my movement over the years. “My parents were [...]
Interview with a Soldier
Location: Tucson (by way of Fort Huachuca) Mileage:971 Music: “Zero” by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs Meal: IHOP special I waited for Tess against the wall of a back booth of IHOP eagerly awaiting tales of the former athlete, West Point scholar, and Army captain. A tall slender girl with sparkly earrings came in, looked at [...]
The Road to Tucson
Location: Tucson Mileage: 922 Music: “Keep the Car Running” by Arcade Fire Meal: Bad roadside ceviche that I hope doesn’t have a parasite The trip between Los Angeles and Tucson is eight hours of hot dusty driving. At one pit stop en-route I managed to lose a gas cap and my Mac Powercord. At another [...]
The Female Hollywood Producer
Location: Hollywood Mileage: 415 Meal: Mocha Lite Frappaccino Music: “California Stars” by Wilco I drove up from beach bliss to Hollywood to meet my friend Rebecca in her indie production company’s new office. Long before before she got her second masters in film and even longer before she started making movies Rebecca had been my dearest [...]