Apparently you're allowed to park in Walmart parking lots all night long and sleep there. They even provide free security. That's where we woke up this morning in El Paso, after driving about 8 hours from Sedona, AZ. Yesterday was a big day in Arizona. After leaving Williams, we drove up to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon where the fog was rising from the depths. Maybe not the best day for visibility but still really cool.
We arrived in Sedona at sunset and it was breathtaking. Josh took a lot of pictures of hand painted signs. (Remember, that's what this bog is supposed to be about.) Here's one example.
Today, we're trying to make our way all across Texas to Austin, although we'll probably have to stop somewhere and camp tonight before we make it. I'm still trying to figure out the best way to post pictures. I'm thinking maybe Facebook, but I'll let you know. We got some good ones! Next stop, Austin, TX!
We're in an internet cafe in picturesque Williams, AZ on Route 66, just west of Flagstaff. It's pouring rain. We arrived here around 10:30 last night, hungover from Vegas and unbearably hot. We decided to just eat a can of beans and sleep in the van and it was pretty comfy. We woke up this morning to the sound of rain beating on the roof of the van and a train honking and then passing right by our windows. This place is so cute! There's a thrift store I want to check out before we head out. There's no pictures because the battery died on the camera and with everything that we possess packed into the van and trailer, I couldn't find the charger. We have to work on our organizational skills. Also, my computer is from the 1900's (no joke) and I can't handle how long it takes to upload photos. We'll just upload them all when we get to Indiana at Josh's mom's house so until then you'll have to just read what I say and take my word for it. We're headed up to the Grand Canyon today, then back down to Flagstaff and maybe Sedona tomorrow before we set up camp in the Petrified Forest. At least, that's the plan.
I wrote the following post on Tuesday, August 3rd but the place where we were staying had no internet or phone service so I’m only posting it now. We’re in Vegas at the moment, staying at the Excalibur (I’ve never actually been a Ren-fair nerd but I sooo could have been). We’re about to head down to the casinos and start drinking, then we’ll lounge by the pool tomorrow morning before we head off to the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam. It looks like the internet situation (combined with the severely shitty condition of my really old and SLOW laptop) is kind of spotty so I’ll try to post as much as I can, but it may be only once every few days. Stay tuned though. The real road trip (no more friends to stay with or Vegas hotels) is about to launch!
8-3-10
So the fun begins!
Last week was one of the craziest I may have ever experienced: so many errands, so much packing and purging and selling and trashing. So many going away parties! Last Tuesday we shipped our cat to Boston as cargo on United Airlines. It was the saddest thing I’ve ever had to do. But now she thinks that we’ve abandoned her and is slowly adjusting to her new life with my brother, Greg (who was kind enough to take her in the first place but also to post this U-tube video of her playing so we would know she I feeling at home).
On Thursday, we flew to Seattle for our friends’, Steve and Julia’s, wedding on the Virginia V, an old steamship docked at LakeUnion near downtown Seattle. The wedding was on Friday evening so during the day on Friday, Josh and I walked around Pike’s Place and spent a lot of time at the magic shop taking pictures of old carnival posters.
We flew back on Saturday night and after some minor setbacks (we had to get the headlight fixed on the van again) and a day’s delay, we finally made it late last night to our friends’, Nick and Fanny’s place in Ojai, CA, just north of LA. We were a little afraid that the van and trailer might not make it down the dirt road that they live on, but Josh is a pro at maneuvering that monster and here we are! Nick and Fanny live in a HUGE warehouse space with a merry-go-round and an outdoor bathtub, just a short hike from a river and a swimming hole where we’re headed later on today. I can’t even describe how amazing their place is. Hopefully the pictures do it some justice. At the moment, Josh is still sleeping, Nick is at work, Fanny is downstairs making breakfast for us, and Cherokee and Bandit are fighting over a torn up bandana on the bed, looking cute as little dog-shaped buttons!
We’re staying here until Wednesday, when we head to LA to spend the night with Josh’s friend Neil and then we’re off to Vegas! See you on the road!
-J&M
You can view some of our pictures here; more to come! I'm still figuring out the best way to post them. Enjoy!
Yesterday was both Josh's and my last day at work: quite a different experience for each of us. Josh had a career here in San Francisco as a respected artist, whereas I had a job, and a crappy one at that (though I love my co-workers, friends that are like family who I will miss beyond words but dear God am I glad to be out of there!). Josh's experience at New Bohemia has spawned a life path that he is ready to bring east. Josh's last job at New Bohemia was Tony's Pizza Napoletana in North Beach where he got a final chance to showcase his talent alongside his revered boss, Damon Styer, whose blog about his adventures in sign painting can be viewed here. I mostly just stood around yesterday. After work we went over to the Eagle Tavern where we enjoyed some beers with our co-workers and some of San Francisco's finest leather daddies. Today Josh and I were audience members at the final taping of View from the Bay, a local daytime talk show. What a range of characters we experienced in the course of 24 hours: from bears and metal heads to Oakland church ladies singing gospel songs during the commercial break! I love this town. We have less than a week now to get all our stuff together before we fly to Seattle for our friends' wedding. We get back next Saturday night and we hit the road on Sunday, August 1st. The first leg of our trip will include a visit with our friends Nick and Fanny in Ojai, followed by a visit to LA and then we're off to Vegas! We'll keep you posted along the way so stay tuned for our Blog Across America!
Our days here in SF are quickly coming to an end (we have less than a month!) and we want to make sure that we both experience and document as much as we can before we go. If anyone's interested, I have a list-in-progress of things I love but may have taken for granted in my decade in SF. It's here if you want to check it out. You can also check out our new (and skeletal) flickr account which has some photos of things we've been doing recently, like Finest Dearest's last show (there's more of those here if you're interested), our impromptu trip to Santa Cruz, and Josh's co-worker Caitlin's up-and-coming urban organic farm. Josh has also been finishing up some signs like this one here for Ian at Double Crossed Tattoos. We'll have a set on flickr for his sign work soon, but until then everything's all just mixed in. That's all I've got for today. Thanks again for checking us out. -M&J
That's right: it's a mutiny. I'm taking over this blog because, simply, I will actually utilize it. This is Meredith, by the way, Josh's fiance. We will be leaving San Francisco soon for eastward adventures and we'll be driving across this great country of ours. I personally have never successfully driven across country (two attempts, two car accidents: long stories. Third time's a charm?) and I'm more excited than I can express. We plan to chronicle our adventures in this here blog and to make it all cohesive, we plan to find old hand-painted (or not) signs along the way and post them here. I hear there's an old neon sign graveyard of sorts in Las Vegas and that sounds awesome. Also, I want to thrift across country (thank you thethriftshopper.com) so to make this usurpation worth it, you'll have to hear about my passions too: Clothes!!! Vintage clothes!! Thanks for reading. We'll see you on the road!
the best day for visibility but still really cool.
hand painted signs. (Remember, that's what this bog is supposed to be about.) Here's one example.
