Prairie Hotel Yelm

DAY 1 Sunday, May 17 Because of our very early arrival, we slept most of Sunday to catch up on some much needed rest. Was a very uneventful day. Monday after we all wake up, have breakfast, etc., it will be mostly a planning day as to what my wife would like ...

We finally made it into Seattle very early Sunday morning, 2 a.m. Eastern Time. We were supposed to fly from Portland, Maine, into Philadelphia, and then onto Seattle. As it was, 1/2 hour prior to boarding in Portland, our flight was cancelled. So we scrambled like crazy to get rebooked. We finally got set up to fly into Charlotte, and then to Phoenix, and then onto Seattle. However ...

Wow! This is going to be our longest trip to date and while we are eager to go, know that it will be difficult being away from home for so long. Got off a little late because we forgot about the need to return rental items to Comcast. After wrestling with cables, etc. we returned the cable box but had neglected to return the broadband modem. So after another trip home and back to Comcast we were headed east. Oh yes-- Jack was starving so we ...

... stacked. It is this virtual nothingness that is the demon. It surprisingly takes so much more time to pack up this "nothing" than we anticipated. There is deceptively more stuff about and the list of things left to do seems to mysteriously grow. It's that last pile of nails hidden in the corner over the years, the robe and slippers you've been wearing around, the few dishes left ...

... nobody here. A few beers and some nonsensical talk later we moved on to another watering hole having spotted it's happy hour earlier. On entering we must have looked like the feebly poor travelers we were being immediately offered $1 cans of beer which with little shame we happily took. And again...and again. With two happy hours down we were back down the street to a third trying some recommend German beer which giving the company was not gonna argue. This place was ...

Spet midva! Trenutno sva v Chicagu, sam sva vam dolzna se mal razlozit, kako sva prisla sem. V San Franciscu sva prezivela stiri dneve. Prva stvar, ki sva jo poleg mraza opazila, je bila revscina. Polno je brezdomcev, ki znajo biti posteno nadlezni. Tudi v hostlu se nisva pocutila najbolj varno, ker je bilo notri polno sumljivcev, ki so si med sabo kradli avtomobile in kolesa, tako da je bilo veliko dretja in kreganja. Sama arhitektura mesta je ...

... first time in a month was pretty fantastic, but being back in America is strange! I'm experiencing some culture shock in my own culture. I've barely seen my own face for a month, and now there are mirrors EVERYWHERE! Why do Americans want to look at themselves so much? Everything is so clean and perfect, I feel like I'm walking around a fake city. It's weird to be surrounded by "mzungus" again. I know I was so incredibly lucky to have this experience even though ...

... and it wasn't too bumpy. Also, we had met a fellow traveler in Kampot, Cambodia, who wanted to go to Vietnam and we were able to share the taxi with her. She turned out to be pretty cool to hang out with and the three of us traveled through all of Vietnam together. I won't bore you with lots ...

... didn't happen too much. Soon I fell into the monotony of working life - wake up, bus to work, work, bus home, sit around. Repeat x5. Days passed...some good concerts came through town, Nick left for Hong Kong and Spanky grew restless. Decision time came sooner than I expected when work offered me a full-time position (I was contracted) in early April. Travel or work? When the finances are available, that's not too hard a decision. I felt bad letting Danny, my boss ...

... gave me an MP3 player for the trip, just what I needed in fact. Thanks again! It's now fully loaded with "On The Road" tunes, that I'll surely enjoy over the next few months skipping my way south while rediscovering the art of lollygagging. I still haven't planned much for the next few weeks, the only thing I know for sure is that I will head straight from La Aurora airport to Antigua and take it from there. Take care for now and stay tuned...