Fun times in Prescott and a weekend of sickness

So when we made it to Arizona, we stayed with Wendy's Grandparents in Dewey.  For dinner we went with her family to Prescott just a few miles away.   The whole seen was amazing, Prescott is the epitome of an American town.   Apparently, almost every night in Prescott during the summer they have a  live music in the town center.  On Thursday night, when we were there, they had a small pops orchestra. They played in a small park right in front of the town hall, and seemingly the entire came out to watch. 
I was especially taken by how pleasant every one was.  When asking Wendy's Grandpa-Bowe what type of band would be playing as we walked up, a teenage kid with shaggy black hair, black nail polish, checkerboard Vans, and a Monroe piercing, immediately responded, "It's a pops orchestra man."  I said, "Thank-ya," and in astonishment moved on.  Then as we sat on the steps of the town hall listening to the band, I again asked Wendy's Grandpa-Bowe if there were any bars with outside patios, and a guy behind me with slick backed hair, Oakley shades, a tight black t-shirt, chinos, and I don't know lets say black polished Floorsheims answered, "You guys should try Coyote Joe's, it's great and the usually have live music inside."  Now, we didn't go, but I'm not the biggest fan of people, I like them on a personal level, but I guess have reservations about the concept, and I was blown away by the kind manner of everyone as we walked around.  My instinct is to bristle up a bit when someone a) ease drops on my conversation--though I do this everywhere and to everyone within earshot--and b)someone interjecting into my conversation--again, I drop my cents at will.  But, I was taken aback by how the people of Prescott were kindly intrusive.
After the we watched the orchestra for a little while, which was quite good, they mainly played American standards, Grandpa-Bowe took us all to an old Sallon called the Bird Cage which has been around since 1967.  It had a yellow exterior, and I was expecting Robin Williams or Nathan Lane to greet us in drag, instead we walked through the typical swinging wooden doors to a nice long mahogany bar.  The walls are decorated with a large collection of deer and elk head, and apparently they have loaned a large amount of these mounted beasts to the Smithsonian.  I believe they had about ten beers on tap, I ordered a red nectar, which was nice after a hot day.
From there we did go to a nice Italian restaurant, I don't want to mention the name because of the after effects.  I woke up the next morning around five with terrible pains throughout my alimentary canal, got a little food poisoning from the Chicken Florentine that lasted well into Sunday, but I did enjoy the meal, and for now I'll leave it at that. 

Connected Again

So it's been some time, buy we're back on the grid, momentarily at least.  So what follows are the posts we missed due to lack of WiFi.

day 4

This morning we left Andrew's and Sam's place and we had an amazing time with them last night. (Yes Liz you are right...he's a bit lame but we gave him a pass bc his wife is so sweet and the dogs were so much fun) It was a nice break from driving. I fell in love with one of their foster dogs...which I might come back for. :) I think I still might have to convince Ian we absolutely need a second dog...

The drive today was beautiful. We finished up our drive in OK and through Texas. The pictures we posted are of a storm we drove through. We do not get storms like that in VA. The lightning was amazing. I wish we were fast enough to catch a picture of the lightning.

We're camping out now in Albuquerque (yes the campground does have WiFi...) and I'm in heaven without all the humidity. We'll finally be in AZ tomorrow afternoon. I cannot wait to see all my family :) I miss them!

The last picture you see is our nephew, Gustavo. He is the cutest baby ever. Gustavo and my sister in law, Meghan, are staying at our house while we are away. From the looks of it, him and his ducks having a great time in our bathtub. I just stuck that in there bc that picture made my day :) (Just kidding Andrew, we had a great time with you too).

P.S. Ian almost made me become a vegetarian today. We passed a truckload of cows and I said "Oh look at all the cows, so cute," to which he responded, "Yea, they're on their way to the slaughter house." And then they lingered with us for several miles as the truck moved before us, beside us, behind us, and then back beside us again.

Picher and Rest

Don't have much time, but yesterday was kind of intense.  Wendy and I drove through Picher, Ok.  I want to say more but I suggest you look it up.  The town disbanded over a year ago due to pollution, and what's left is a vacant ghost town and pretty intense.  Here are some photos I took on the cell phone, sorry for the quality:

Afterward we met up with my friend Andrew and his wife Sam at their home in Tulsa. They were awesome hosts, Andrew cooked some chicken and vegetables from his garden, and we got to play with their dogs. So it was a lot fun and very different than the morning we spent in Picher. Again see you further on down the road, long days and pleasant nights,
-Ian

DAY 2

It was another long day. We drove about 10 hours today ending at Springfield, Missouri. We're at a little hotel that we found in a coupon book at a rest stop. Ian really wanted to camp but as we were pulling off the interstate to look for a campsite in Mark Twain national park it started to pour. He tried to convince me that it was "passing through," but when the lightning hit in the direction we were going he changed his mind.

The people here in Springfield are...interesting? We just went to Wal-Mart and no one walked. Everyone was in those shopping scooters. Ian said it reminded him of Wall-E.

We drove on I-41 and it was quite entertaining. We saw about 20 different adult pleasure stores, a dozen "Jesus loves you/you're going to hell if you don't repent" signs and lots of corn. Oh and a vacuum museum.

Im really looking forward to our next few days coming up. Tomorrow we head to Tulsa to visit Ian's buddy from school. We're taking it easy tomorrow...we only have a 3 hour ride. Yey!

Day One: The Long Haul

Well we tried to make it to Indiana from Massachusetts, and after 12 1/2 hours we are now in a lovely roadside motel amongst the bright lights of Mansfield, Ohio.  The town boasts a lovely restaurant--at least in the outdoor decorum--called Salsalita, my guess is that it's offers a wide selection of quesadillas, tacos, burritos, salsas, and perhaps a side of guac.  Other than our motel, there are three others, each with a two hundred foot tall sign, flashing free breakfast and vacancies, sadly no HBO.  I was surprised and a little impressed with the free wifi, which is incredibly fast.  Other than two gas stations, the only other attraction to this small town is a large white rectangular building with no windows and a purple flashing sign that says "Adults."  Fascinating, but I think Wendy and I will pass.  
Many long stretches of highway today through Pennsylvania and Ohio.  Both have a lot of road construction, so kudos to those states for keeping alive in this economic down turn.  However, I'm not sure who is doing better.  Pennsylvania had miles and miles with lanes cordoned off for work to be done with no workers what-so-ever.  Ohio on the other hand had long stretches of one lane road with crews working well into the night, perhaps working overtime.  Only time will tell I suppose.
This of course is the slow part of the journey as we try to reach our deadline for the wedding in Arizona this weekend.  Then we can meander around.  We are trying to make it to Tulsa tomorrow to see our friend Andrew and his wife, but we didn't make it as far as I had hoped to day, so we might have to break up the journey with a quick camping expedition in Missouri, any ideas?  And Andrew if you're reading this before I talk to you, call me.  In other news I'm working on a thesis for regional fm radio and what a traveler can expect of the people there, for instance Massachusetts runs a lot of 90s grundge stations, and the people seem a bit up tight and a little moody--lots of middle fingers, lots of horn honking--like I said a work in progress.  My apologies to the people of greater Mass, for now happy trails and see you along the way.  

Rock Run

This is a small bedrock stream in Pennsylvania, maybe 15 miles north of Williamsport. A few years back I began to wonder if there might not be other similar streams. I asked some hikers who said, "Some place like this?"  They laughed. "Good luck finding it."

If you do go, plan on hiking up from the first falls all the way through to the third. Wear sandals and stay in the stream bed.

It's called Rock Run and it's near Ralston, Pennsylvania...