Author Archives: Laura
>DAY 21 cont.
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Hillary, Knipper, Sonic, and the inhabitants of Little Rock
We met a lot of important people in Little Rock. I’ll begin with who I mentioned last: the locals. We didn’t really meet a majority of them, but there is a good chance they met us. Within 30 minutes of us arriving and walking around the city, we were stopped by camera crews and asked a few questions for a sports edition of their local news. Actually, we had to do the asking, and then our tape was played and questions answered live on the news by some Arkansas sports “expert.” Nicole asked who they thought would win the world cup, and I asked what their favorite NY sports team was.
After signing millions of autographs and putting our hands in wet cement, we went to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. It was AWESOME. Hillary happened to be there, hangin’ out in the glass, so we took a pic. Here are some more:
This is just a letter Mister Roger wrote to the Clinton’s. (You can click on the photo to enlarge/read it). RIP. ps) nice letter head.After our filled afternoon of grilled shrimp, news interviews, and bonding with the former Prez, we drove to our friend Knipper’s new apartment. We both met Knipper our freshman year at Stonehill, and while her and Nic were able to continually hang throughout college, I hadn’t seen Knipper since 2007 when I transferred! So crazy. It was great to all be together again; she let us take showers, do laundry, and drink wine in her lovely abode before we headed back into the city for dinner and drinks.
(eating fried pickles….which turned out not to be so wonderful. I prefer my pickles cold and crispy, not warm and greasy).Lastly, our final stop in Little Rock the following morning was to be introduced to our friend Sonic. And by friend, I mean fast-food joint that is constantly advertised in NY yet the majority of their locations are in the south. We had never been…but the commercials are so alluring. So we went. Now, the coolest part about Sonic is that they try to emulate the whole 50’s diner thing, so your food is delivered by waitresses on roller blades. Unfortunately, our waitress was “server-in-training,” so was in sneakers. Bummer.
>DAY 21
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One great day in Bill’s hometown
Yes. We had to stop in Little Rock. Why? Well, why not? At one point we thought of heading farther south, hitting up places like Austin and NOLA. But our thought-process was this: we have our whole lives to see cities like New Orleans, places that we can take advantage of when we’re not on a budget and living out of a tent.
Example scenario I: Nic and Laura enter Bourbon Street in dirty clothes and teva’s. Nic and Laura have a drink. No one talks to Nic and Laura because they haven’t showered in…four days. Then it hits 9pm and Nic and Laura start yawning. They drive back to their tent 20 minutes away and go to sleep.
Now, when would we ever really decide to go to Little Rock in our future lives? Example scenario II: “Hello wonderful husband, hi adorable children. Where should we go on vacation this summer? Our options are San Francisco, Paris, Costa Rica, or Little Rock! Let’s count hands…..Oh? Little Rock? Okay, sounds great! I’ll book the flight tonight!”
So, with Little Rock conveniently only six hours east on I40, and with a good friend from college living there for the summer, we thought why not? We also love Bill Clinton, and wanted to see his museum. And find THE Little Rock (which didn’t happen). And get on the local news (which did).
Until I muster up the energy to tell you all about it, you can look at my lunch I had that afternoon:
>DAY 20
>Mostly Driving, but at least it included Texas…
After our exciting late-afternoon filled with margaritas and tortilla chips, Nic and I left Old Town and headed to downtown Albuquerque; we were planning on having a few drinks and checking out some local bands that were playing at a nearby venue. Alas, it only took a few sips of whisky to realize that 9pm was way past our bedtime, so we decided to called it a night. We did have a good eight hours of driving ahead of us anyhow..
We may have skipped out on a night on the town,but we did enter a hotel and crash a wedding before bed (if only for the free food).
That was fun.
We woke up the next morning geared for a long day of driving. Our plan was to make it to Little Rock, AK in two days to stay with our friend Knipper. Oklahoma City is about halfway between Albuquerque and Little Rock, so we decided to drive there and spend the night.
So, in order to get to Oklahoma from New Mexico, you have to drive through Texas. We only got out in TX once, and it was in Bushland, of all places. Even better, Bushland has the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere, pictured below. (The cross is actually quite large, despite how it may appear in the photo).
We made it to Oklahoma City by the evening, and camped at Thunderbird state park, which is about 20 miles southeast of the capital. We luckily made it to OK a few days after several tornados plowed through, but the damage was still visible:
At least our campsite was pretty (and unharmed):
With that in mind, I must say that the bathroom on site was awful, and this is coming from a girl who can deal with most things disgusting. We walked in and it was like A Bug’s Life suddenly turned on. Out of nowhere several little bugs crawled out of who knows where, buzzing and flying into light bulbs and doing whatever else bugs do. I tried to wash my face but the soap fell into the sink and two seconds later was covered with centipedes. The bathrooms even had showers–usually a gold mine for us–but I swear if you took one you’d end up dirtier than before. I even peed right outside the bathroom. If that is not a paradox I do not know what is.
But I mean, we didn’t pay to stay at Thunderbird (we couldn’t find the box to put our money in…woops). And we were only there for 12 hours. Early to bed, early to rise, and off to the hometown of President Bill Clinton…
>Interlude 3
>Old and New
So, I am sitting in my new home, in my new “room,” trying to write a new blog post. I need to tell you more about Albuquerque: how the university is surrounded by ivy-league school named streets (doesn’t that bother the students?), what a sopapilla is and why you should rush to New Mexico to try one, and how there are exercise machines in the the middle of their street parks. I need to tell you what town we stopped at in Texas, what our campsite looked like in Oklahoma, and especially what we encountered when we used the park’s bathroom.
Perhaps I am unmotivated. Or tired. Or creativity-deficient. I am staring at a bunch of Ghanaian fabric I have thrown over a rope that is acting like the a door to my room. I am thinking about how I need to tack another sheet to the ceiling so I can really get some privacy.
I am also missing Nicole, who is starting a new chapter in her life as well, having just moved to Manhattan to get her Masters at Columbia. She wants me to live with her, but my new room has a fireplace.
So for now, I am going to tackle this door situation. For your viewing pleasure, below are some pictures my cousin Rich sent me. The first is in response to one of my previous posts, where I mentioned how Nic and I did not make it to the Colorado Sand Dunes. He happily sent me an email with the subject line “here is what you missed.” It’s a picture of him and his son. And the second-a photo he edited of our hike together to Horsetooth. You can see how the summit resembles a horsetooth, hence its name.
>DAY 19
…and thanks to green chiles, tequila, and gifts/blessings from God, we love Albuquerque too.
Let’s get right to it. Albuquerque is AWESOME. Since we woke up at like..6 am, we were fed and washed and dressed and packed away by 8. We got to the city just as the small shop owners were opening their stores; we were there to witness the town waking up and blooming with the sun.
We drove to Old Town, which is a historic district of Albuquerque, founded by the Spanish is 1706. There are a TON of local art shops, traditional New Mexican cuisine cafes, and welcoming Albuquerquians who love to engage in conversation and give you God’s greatest blessing.
Check out the bracelets above. You may think they were a gift from a lady who was randomly holding up a sign in the town center saying “TELL ME A STORY!” But in reality folks, she was just a messenger from God…who had picked out these bracelets for Nicole and I specifically…and told said woman to deliver them to us. How lucky! (Nic’s is green because she’s gonna be an environmentalist…and mine says i am LOVED. Hoooray!)
After our gifts from the G-man, we danced in the plaza circle to some banjo-esque music, while numerous people took photos/video of us. That was kinda cool. We continued to shop, buying souvenirs for our families, getting blessed by more store clerks, and trying out some New Mexican food. Apparently the green chile is an Albuquerque staple, so we had to try some.
After we ate, we continued to walk around and talk to people, before it was a reasonable hour to declare… happy hour! After exploring, we ended up back where we had lunch. We sat outside (the temperature had cooled to a modest 90 degrees), ordered some margaritas, and took out our map, figuring out where life would take us tomorrow.
you’re so beautiful! (i miss you).
One last thing worth mentioning! While the green chile is known for being baked, fried, stirred, and sprinkled on everything, the red chile is known for being hung on doorways, in order to be dried and turned into a rista. This is both an efficient way to preserve a chili, and has also turned into a symbol of welcoming and good fortune. We saw red chili’s hanging everywhere, really giving “The Land of Enchantment” a unique decorative style.
>DAY 18
>North or East?
When we woke up in Sedona, we got into the car and started driving. We had approximately 20 miles until we’d come to a junction and have to decide whether we wanted to go north or east. If we went north, we would head back into Utah and make our way along Southern Colorado. Now, why Utah again? Well, remember our 30something-year-old friends we made in Flagstaff? Turns out they all work at a Resort in Lake Powell. One is a bartender, another a server at a sushi restaurant, and the last an employer for the fancy tour boats that cruise along the lake everyday. They invited us to spend the night there; we would get a free room, free sushi, free drinks, and a free boat ride. The next day, we would cross back into Colorado, visiting Mesa Verde National Park and the Colorado Sand Dunes.
Here is a picture of Lake Powell, and another of the Sand Dunes:
Our other option? Drive eight hours east, half through reservations in Arizona, the other half through reservations in New Mexico. End up in Albuquerque by the evening, set up camp, and figure out what the hell one possibly does in Albuquerque. Then, we’d be in prime location for an exploration of the South, an arms reach from such invigorating cities like Oklahoma City and Little Rock. Be nice and close to Texas. Feet away from fried-everything.
So which did we choose? The latter option, of course. We set up camp in a strange KOA campsite a few exits east of downtown Albuquerque. We met a couple from Amsterdam; they were a few gravel pits down from us and were cooking a steak in butter and drinking wine while we were boiling pasta and cutting peppers. We ate our dinner and then relaxed in the hot tub on the grounds, talking to a woman from Georgia who has been camping with her family for two years around the world while homeschooling her kids. We drank whiskey with two guys next to us, one who was driving to Las Vegas to begin Teach for America, and another who was helping his friend settle in before flying to Mali for the PeaceCorps. We wondered why there was barbed wire surrounding the campsite, and why there was a mysterious punch-code to get in the bathrooms. We also wondered what the next day would bring, what Albuquerque would offer us for another 24 hours..
Surprisingly, we fell in love with the city.
Until then, here is our picturesque tent in Albuquerque. Who needs free sushi and boat rides?…
>DAY 17
>An errand post: notes about finances and a plea to leave comments.
Alas, we only stayed at Happy’s one night. We were a little frustrated with ourselves–why did we bail so early? Basically, we were too drained to work and too used to our routine of complete independence; we felt odd and slightly stuck residing in another person’s home doing their chores. For me, I missed our tent, missed simply lounging at our campsite and reading in mid-afternoon, knowing that I literally had no obligations.
So, we left. Since it was already getting late and we had no real destination in mind, we decided to drive back up to Sedona for the night and figure out where to go the next morning.
And here is where I want to explain to you our ways of thinking when it came to finances. As you’ve probably realized, Nic and I are very frugal, minimal people. In total, we only spent $800 each on the road, which includes food, campsite/park entrance fees, and gas money. Looking back at the experience, we may have been a little too cheap; it took me a good day and a half to rationalize a vitamin water I bought at a gas station, and Nicole would scoff every time a mocha-iced coffee would be upwards of $3.
Still, we had a system. Throughout the trip, our parents were very generous when it came to lending us some extra cash for either our safety or comfort. For example, there was an instance where the only campsite we stayed at in Albuquerque was in a dangerous area; the night we slept there a bunch of motor-bikes were stolen ( I guess the barbed wire surrounding the site didn’t phase us at the time). Since it was the only campground around, my mom said she would pay for us to check into a nice hotel the following night, rather than taking the chance of someone coming in and either viciously murdering us or stealing our gas stove. Another example: due to the only fight we had over a lack of showers, Nic’s mom graciously deposited $30 into her account so we could treat ourselves to some comfort food to get over the quarrel.
So, this is how we thought: Mom payed for a hotel room? That saves us a good $20 we would have spent on a campground! Now, we can use that money to go have breakfast at a diner, rather than eat oatmeal. The check was only $15? We still have $5; let’s get coffee tomorrow before our long drive. Your dad gave you twenty-bucks? Let’s put that toward a motel room; now, the room is only “$30,” rather than $50, which means we’re only spending $15 each, which is only a few extra dollars than what we would each pay to split a campsite! But– remember the time we slept in that state park for free? That free night covers the extra bucks we spent on the hotel room. Therefore: hotel room and diner breakfast= totally rational.
Get it?
In other news, feel free to comment on the posts. DO IT. Please? This whole blogging thing is still very new to me and I don’t know if I like it yet. Sometimes I think that I am only writing to myself, which would be really odd since this is a public site. So leave a comment! Constructive criticism accepted, a statement of praise and astonishment highly encouraged. Or you can just say hi or tell me a joke. Also, you can become a “follower” if you want. I don’t really know what the purpose of this is, but it makes me feel popular. And since this blog is a self-indulgent public-sphere of my thoughts of my trip, it really is all about me, right?
>DAY 16
>“I’m sick of being a nomad.”
That’s what Nic told me when we woke up one morning in our forest outside of Flagstaff. I agreed with her; I was sick of putting up camp every other day, always figuring out where to drive to, where to sleep. To remedy this, we drove to Prescott, AZ, to wwoof at a farm we contacted: Happy Oasis. Our original plan was to stay there for five or six days– sleep in beds and have meals cooked for us in exchange for our labor.
Rather than going over the whole story, I’ll just provide some photo-commentary.
OK. Here is Happy Oasis. Yes-first name Happy, last name Oasis. Conveniently, her farm is also called Happy Oasis. Coincidence? I’m not one to judge.
Oh, also, her face isn’t deformed. We had just finished putting clay masks on our faces. Talhu decided to cleanse his face as well:
So here’s Talhu. He apparently likes clay masks and wearing sunglasses indoors. He has been living at Happy Oasis for a few months, working in exchange for room and board. There were also three Christian bicyclists staying at Happy’s, who have been biking around the US for thirteen years. They were staying at Happy’s until God told them where to bike next.
This is the farm. Happy lives in the middle of rocks. AKA, not much farming to do. Instead, I bleached a pool in the 100 degree heat and applied sealer to the surrounding pool tiles. Nic prepared raw-vegan oatmeal for everyone and transplanted arugula plants. Unfortunately, all the transplanted plants didn’t like being uprooted (ha!) and passed away.
Here is where Nicole slept. Nice, right?
Did I mention that Happy Oasis is a raw-vegan farm? That’s right, we were only fed raw food. This is what we had for dinner: assorted vegetables and mashed sunflower/sesame “hummus” wrapped in a leaf. MMM. (Where’s my steak? Boiling potatoes doesn’t count?) We also had celery smoothies the next day for lunch. That’s right. After bleaching a pool that was becoming filled with my own sweat, I nourished myself with celery.
I may be sounding a bit bitter, but we did have a good time. Here is us posing for our “broccoli cult” picture. We also sat in the bathroom one night and talked about how one of the Christian bicyclists changed her name from Brittany to Shalamede after a bout with meth at age 14.
Maybe if we went to Happy Oasis earlier in our trip, we would’ve been up for more work, more celery smoothies. But granted, we were tired, Arizona was hot (who knew?) and the farm work wasn’t really what we expected. So yeah, we didn’t stay the planned 5-6 days, thus continuing our nomadic lifestyle.
>DAY 14&15
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Arizona: meeting friends younger than sixty and a sunny hike in Sedona
Flagstaff ended up being both a fun and funny experience. When we were walking around town, we acquired one of those big touristy maps (you know, the colorful ones with all the cartoons and bubble letters) and spread it out in the middle of the town square. Soon after, three gentlemen came over to us and asked if we knew of anything fun going on, since they weren’t from the area. We replied no (duh), and so they asked us if we wanted to explore the town later and maybe get a drink or two. Later on, I realized their scheme was a pretty poor attempt in simply asking for our numbers. After all, we were gushing over a huge map of Flagstaff at the time….. we certainly weren’t locals. I don’t do well with “signals.”
We had a good time, though! They asked us to get dinner beforehand, but our schedule was pretty full. First off, we had to set up camp in our forest. Here she is!
Then we had to do something about the fact that we hadn’t showered in a few days. We could take an eight-minute shower at the campgrounds for $4, but that was obviously way out of our budget. Instead, we filled up our jerry-jug with water at the tap and took sponge baths. Same concept, and now we were $4 ahead of the game! After clean, we had to go grocery shopping to stock up on essentials. We got the usual invigorating foodstuffs: bread, salsa, rice, cookies, vegetables.
Our night out was fun; our new-found friends were in no way creepy or aggressive. It was actually really interesting to talk to them, as they grew up in a totally different environment from the all-competitve east-coast. They didn’t have college degrees, yet seemed to be content, intelligent, and financially comfortable. They had different goals for themselves. Even better, they bought all the drinks! Rest assured, we were also responsible; can’t forget that we have to drive back to our sleeping bags in the forest.
The following day was..hot. Very hot. So what do we decide to do? Go for a hike at noon in Sedona. So smart! We almost ended up doing a 5 mile loop (another Moab mishap), but an elderly couple told us the direction we were heading was going to probably lead us to dehydration. So we turned around.
>DAY 14
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Escaping the desert…in Arizona?
We woke up the next day here: the sun was out and we finally felt rejuvenated, ready to tackle a new state. With hindsight, I almost wished we stayed in Canyonlands another day. We barely tapped into the National Park; it’s actually quite huge. We were staying in the Needles District (named so because many of the rocks resemble needles), but the park also includes Island in the Sky, Horseshoe Canyon, and the Maze District. What is even more provocative is there are no roads that link the districts, and much of the park is only accessible via foot. Still, we were eager to move on, to keep increasing our car mileage and opening our eyes to new surroundings.
I wouldn’t change a thing about our trip, but I think when I go on my next USA adventure, I might pick two or three main destinations and stay there for an extended period of time– really get to know an area. For our trip, we sort of just skimmed surfaces, visiting a variety of places and comparing first impressions. Interacting with mountain men, native americans, and southern sweethearts all in one week. America 101. This is not a bad thing, it’s just a different way to go about traveling.
Enough of that. After a hearty breakfast of ..oatmeal, we said goodbye to our elderly friends that were camping out next door, and continued south. At this point of our trip, we really didn’t have a plan, so we started playing the game “let’s look at a map and pick where to go next.” When we played this particular morning, we saw that Flagstaff AZ had several major highways intersecting the town, and there were many little tents pictured, indicating camping availability. “Flagstaff” was even written in bold. It seemed like a promising place to visit.
It took us about five or six hours to reach the town, and when we saw that initial “welcome to flagstaff!” sign, I began to silently panic. I looked to my left: A Target. Grocery Store. Strip Mall. To my right: KOA Campsite filled with bikers. Another strip mall. A car dealership. I was scared that Flagstaff was nothing but a Jericho Turnpike, that our bolded (!) town was only a place to buy produce, throw pillows, and BMW’s. Luckily, I was wrong. As we kept driving, we found ourselves in a quaint, culturally rich town. We walked around for a little while and asked for camping suggestions. A friendly barista told us about a national forest about 10 miles outside of Flagstaff. A forest?! Trees! Woodland! In Arizona! We had to go.
More on that in the next post. Until then, here is the map. Unlike the last map written on the back of a receipt, this one was actually correct. So, if you just caaaan’t wait to hear all about this next camping adventure, feel free to use the map and go yourself.
Camping Out In America 