I Love you New York.

Being back in NY has been amazing. From the day I stepped off the train at my mom s new apartment in Chelsea, I knew it wouldn t take me long to get adjusted here. Grocery store, check. Post office, check. Resident Irish bar, check check. Nope. This place feels just like home. And surprisingly, it s chalked full of just as many friends as I have pretty much anywhere else...

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A Perfect Day for College Football

Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

The journey has officially begun!

I boarded my flight from Tulsa to Greenville about 6 PM yesterday evening (with all of my bags barely packed, but definitely ready to go). My flight went off without a hitch, with a quick layover at DFW I arrived in Greenville at about 11 PM to Dan practically waiting for me at the airport (fantastic timing)! From there, Dan drove us back up to Raleigh where we promptly crashed at his brother Chris’s girlfriend’s apartment.

Today was pretty relaxing. Dan isn’t going to see his brother for a couple of months so we wanted to spend one last day hanging out. We slept in pretty late, but got ready quickly because we wanted to get to the football game early. Today, I was not a Cowboys fan, I was not a Longhorns fan, rather I was a North Carolina State Wolfpack fan. It was a hard transition (as their color is red… which I despise, generally speaking) and we were rooting against a team in Orange (Clemson). I snuck in as a student (thanks Samantha, whoever you are) and we got FANTASTIC seats on the front row of the endzone. Although the game was pretty much a wash, it was amazing fun to be so close to the field, even though we were losing. We battled to catch field goal attempt balls, helped raise the net to catch the extra close ones, took our picture with Mrs. Wuff (the mascot bride) and chatted with the security guards keeping any overzealous fans off the field. The weather was perfect, the sun was shaded by the stadium walls and all in all, it was a pretty perfect day.

On the way home, we grabbed a pizza, tossed the football in the parking lot until dark and then headed in for a quick catnap and some TV football. Unfortunately, neither the Texas, nor the Oklahoma State games are showing out here, so I have resorted to following the score via Sportacular. But hopefully, neither team needs my help.

Today really went off without a hitch. A good relaxing start to a hopefully relaxing trip. My only major blunder today involved a car called Wanda. Wanda is a 1996 (ish) Bermuda Grass Green Ford Escort with as many problems as Britney Spears pre-comeback. Wanda (who I named after the domestic abuse victim from the Dixie Chick song “Goodbye Earl”) has a number of issues. She has attachment issues; her front bumper is held on by twisty ties. She has trust issues; her driver door doesn’t open, so to enter the car, one must sneak in through the passenger side and open the driver door from the inside. She’s not very bright; the interior lights do not work at all. She’s got a bad clutch (not a metaphor) that squeaks and creaks every time you step on it. When she cries, there’s really no stopping it as the windshield wipers are relatively useless and completely have a mind of their own. She also has is incredibly picky, she only has one key and without it, you’ll never get in.

So when I asked Dan for the keys so I could go get my pack out of the boot (my accent and vocabulary transformation has already begun), Dan responsibly reminded me, “don’t forget to not lock the keys in the car because we don’t have a spare!” I walk towards Wanda, laughing and thinking that I would do something like that. I open the trunk, grab my pack (which required two hands and a brief set down of the keys – aw, CRAP! That’s where I went wrong!) and slam the hatch down quick to run back inside the house… But without the keys. Literally less than 30 seconds after Dan had reminded me to steer clear of this very predicament. Fortunately, I had made a mistake earlier in the day that saved us. I had accidentally forgotten to lock the passenger door when I got out of the car earlier, so we (and by “we” I mean Dan) were able to crawl into the car and reach for the keys. Crisis averted.

Not sure about the plans for tonight yet. Probably something relaxed as we begin Dan’s roadtrip tomorrow and drive North to Washington D.C.

XOXO

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Now playing: Third Eye Blind - Graduate
via FoxyTunes

I'm finishing my states!

Location: Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

So today is the big day. My bags are not packed and ready to go, my work is not finished and ready to be delegated, I’m sort of sick and I even still have shopping to do. But today is still the big day. I’m leaving in about 3 hours for South Carolina to begin one of the largest roadtrips I’ve ever taken part of.

For those of you who follow this blog religiously, you may recall a certain trip that I took to Canada back in May (for those who do not remember such a trip or for those who need a refresher, read these blog posts). Dan, who was the Australian I drove to Panorama, BC has been staying with his brother Chris in Raleigh, North Carolina for about a month during his time off between summer and winter seasons at Panorama. A couple months back, Dan told me that starting in November, he was going to be driving back to Canada before starting winter work early December. He politely asked if I wanted to tag along for part or all of the trip (not sure if he actually wanted me to come along or not – last time he’ll make that mistake).

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for Dan, I have been wanting to do this trip since I got back from my European backpacking adventure in 2008. Once I spent a decent amount of time abroad, I realized that there was so much to do right here in the US and I wanted to make sure that I saw every state before I traveled abroad again. This goal became a little more urgent when I decided to start traveling abroad again in 2010. Dan’s timing couldn’t have been perfect.

So today, we begin the quest to get Dan back to Canada, and along the way, we will finish all of my states (except Alaska – which deserves its own trip). The plan is as follows:

Fly to Greenville, South Carolina.
Drive from Greenville, South Carolina North through North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Quebec, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota (*whew* that’s sounds a lot more daunting now that I write it down!).
Dan continues on to Canada from Fargo, ND and I fly back to Long Beach for our December company staff meetings.

We will also be joined by the notorious Mr. Brian Lee from the New York through North Dakota leg as a road trip wouldn’t be complete without him!

We’re going to attempt to cram all of this into two weeks. And hopefully we will succeed because I have a plane reservation made already :)

So that’s the plan, I’ll be picking back up blogging more frequently now that I’m on the road again so stay tuned for letters from the road.

Also, if you’re on twitter, feel free to follow more up to the date updates on my twitter @ahesser

Now… time to go get packed!

XOXO