SMF Goes National?

[Joshua Dickerson]

DUDE! I was in Georgia the other day at Ft Benning. Too bad I didn't have internet access. We could have met for a beer or something. If you are stopping by NJ, PA (east) or NY (NYC area) you have to let me know. I have a couple of bathrooms you can use

[KGIII]

I skipped New Jersey entirely but we spent some time in nothern and up-state New York earlier on in our trip. We were in Kutztown, PA for a few days actually. That was rather enjoyable but it smelled kind of funny in some of the areas of the state.

We found Jesus in Kutztown actually.

Note the license plate on the front of the truck? Yup. We found Jesus though there was a church out on Route 11 in nothern New York that said "Jesus is Here." We were tempted to stop in and meet him but fortunately we found out, later, that he was driving a beat up old pickup truck in PA.

[metallica48423]

* BlackMage makes a song named "Jesus drives a pickup truck" and makes millions

[KGIII]

It would have to be a country song...

"I lost my wife, my job, my dog.
I've done run out of luck.
I think my life is really bad,
But Jesus drives a pickup truck.

I was drinking way too much,
Stuck in this life-long rut.
I know it can get worse,
'Cause Jesus drives a pickup truck.

Life is crappy and I want to cry,
Feel like I don't give a ****!
I know it's okay, I'll be alright.
'Cause I'm not driving Jesus' truck."

It should need some polishing...

So we are banned from Kansas. Here's a quote from an email home:

We, Sabrina and I, have been kicked out of Kansas.

I will start at the very start... I actually have some money and I'm also
pretty cheap. I prefer the term thrifty...
I put some in Sabrina's account and didn't bring more than a check book and
a credit card...
It was 4:00 in the morning or so. Maybe a bit before as we'd been near the
time zone line...
I was driving and the hotels kick us out at 11:00 in the morning.
Rather than get a hotel we just found and empty parking lot.
We often sleep in Wal-Mart parking lots.
We don't get to shower often but we have a great deal of fun.
We really stay in a hotel about every 3 days at worst but it is normally
two.
We are parked next to a horrid old dump truck at an abandoned building.

*oops*

So they woke us up at 6:00 in the morning with two cruisers.
Sabrina is a midwife.
She had boric acid in capsules.
That is for her... Err... Female things. She uses them to rid herself of
yeast infections which she gets easily.
They were leaking out of the bag. (A baggie full of capsules.)

*sighs*

They said that they were drugs and the parking lot was now amazingly full.
It seems it was a factory and we'd been reported.
They wanted to search the car but she was the driver and she said, "No."
(That's the best answer.)
We told them the entire truth.
We gave 'em ID and showed them everything.
They were ticked right off.
They wanted to search the vehicle and there wasn't anything for them to find
BUT...
She still had those pills.
I am calling them pills...
I am not sure what to call them but I am not a woman.
Err... It is something that she puts IN THERE to ensure that there is no
yeast infections.
She catches kids. (Mothers deliver them. She just catches them according to
her.)

*sighs again*

(Note: This almost resembles poetry.)

They thought those were drugs.
They thought that those were illegal.
They thought that we were going around the country selling drugs.
I showed them ID.
I gave them our map.
I showed them receipts from hotels.
I told them where we had been.
They still wanted to beat us with sticks.
We came up clean AND insisted that we had our rights.
I was sleeping and she was so we kept saying silly things so they had
reason.
I don't blame them.

...

It ended up with this...
"Get out of Kansas, now."
"How do I get out of Kansas as quickly as I can?"
"Take this road to highway 35 and leave."
"Alright..."

We had thought about living there in tornado alley to learn to love life and
raise whole hearted loving children.

Ah well.

Panama City, Florida... That's a fantastic place.

We have been more than 6000 miles and as far west as Texas and Oklahoma. We have gone enough miles to have crossed the country and returned - from one ocean all the way to the other.

We went aggilator hunting - you all should see the pics at the travel site. Yes, yes I know they are called alligators but when you're trapped in a car all the time with only one other person you start coming up with some really stupid crap. So they are now known as aggilators. I wanted to wrestle one but to do so I'd have had to stomp across 40 feet of swamp. That seemed quite dumb. So we went to aggilator territory futher into the swamp and didn't see any.

Georgia is the worst state so far. I don't get the idea of going 60 or 65 for 200 feet to get to a red light and the idea of riding on each others bumpers for that 200 feet when you only have to slam on your brakes.

Tennessee is likely to end up our new home. Panama City may also end up our new home. It is beautiful and warm but Tennessee is so much more beautiful.

We go to a state and get off the major routed highways and go find the real people. We listen to whatever is on the radio - a lot of Goat Roping music lately... We check crime rates, laws, and then we go in search of the real America. We found it in Tennessee. Panama City has the heat though and it really isn't that large for a beach town in Florida.

In Mississippi we found that they feed us way too much. We had to waddle back to the car. We have been bloated since. Y'all feed well down here. We strive to avoid the fast food joints.

While we were in the Smokey Mountains we found two people (they have a rather ugly site but they're good people and great musicians) that played behind a pottery shop. They own a pizza parlor way out in North Vernon. It isn't just a pizza parlor - it is a pizza and pickin' parlor with open jam sessions. They play bluegrass, country, and gospel mostly. I went and sat in on it there. Err... We drove like 800 miles to come back to go there but, having been kicked out of Kansas, it seemed like the thing to do at the time.

I hate Lafayette. (Spelling?)

I heard something odd on the radio so we went to Greensburg, Kansas. I am so sorry. I guess the second worst part is that it was a dry town and I couldn't buy beer. The worst part is that they'd been hammered on by a tornado and not just any tornado. 95% of the town was gone. There was ONE single gas station open.

We actually enjoyed Greensburg and all of Kansas and had actually discussed returning there to raise our children when we have them. Alas, we're kicked out of Kansas.

Anyhow...

So, first... We pasted a deer (I say we only because I was in the passenger seat) twice. Well no. We hit two different ones. It wasn't like a deer from my area, it was more of a critter a wee bit larger than a good sized dog but still enough to have the insurance company "total" a vehicle. We got a rental for a couple of days and had her old car shipped to us (we met them in Georgia which I believe I have mentioned how much I disliked). So we are back in her old car. We'd be in my truck or the likes but her strange old Honda actually gets 33 to 37 MPG. I kid you not. We got well over 500 miles on a tank in Kansas but that was really really flat and really straight and stuff.

Side note: I haven't hit any deer personally - I have, however, avoided plenty. If you get the chance to go to a children's library I highly recommend the book, "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride."

Yesterday, or Saturday, we beat each other up all day. I'm some sore and she bruises easily. I have a dark complexion so I don't bruise as bad. We are going stir crazy staying in one place this long. I warned her, long before we left (at least five minutes prior), of how addictive this is. I have done this sort of silliness before.

While I was in Kutztown, PA I was asked by a friend (and the person holding down a good portion of the fort with the web hosting company while I am doing this mid-life-crisis stuff) what we talk about in the car for all these hours. We could only laugh. Err... Not too much of what I say there is going to be repeated but it mostly consists of us making up mean names for each other or calling each other names. Yeah, that and finding things funny.

We have so many stories and still so many miles left to go. This isn't just a trip, it is creating both memories and perhaps history. The memories aren't just our own. We make it a point to be honest (our accents give us away anyhow) and tell people exactly what we are doing, why we are doing it, and how. They ask us so many questions and I have yet to meet a single person who didn't envy us. It takes a lot of daring to just pick up and go. We actually go to a state and throw the map away until we feel ready to leave most of the time.

Later today, tomorrow, sometime... We'll discuss where our next destination is. Groundup offered us a bathroom but didn't say we can camp on his lawn or mention a spare room so we might go that way. I want to go north and see BlackMage but it is getting cold up there and the heat stopped working a while back unless you're going quickly. Well the heat works, the fan is broken. Somehow I expect this trip will kill me.

We have met some great people and have had some great times. We have had some really lousy times. We were in a town with no hotel and the only place to stay was camped on someone's property. They fed us too well actually but we rewarded them well enough I suppose.

I will add this...

If you can spend this much time in one confined space with one person and not kill them, you can very likely have a good relationship with them.

It isn't easy to sit in a single area for this long. I already miss my aching back from riding in her crappy car without lumbar supporting seats. Here is some irony...

I actually connect at much faster speeds to the internet than I could at home - when I can connect. I actually watch way more television (hotel rooms) than I ever did in my entire life.

Alright, that's enough for now. I, trust me, I could go on for hours... There are so many great, intersting, horrific, and wonderful things we've done and seen and been put into as circumstances insist. For now, this is enough.

[KGIII]

Sabrina loves it.

Gm7
C
Gm7
D

(You can even hammer-on with the D to a Dm dim 9th unless it is some other chord who's name I've forgotten.)

[metallica48423]

interesting progression (i just fingered it out on the guitar).

Yes, i said fingered. 

Who cares to figure out problems anymore?

[Joshua Dickerson]

I skipped New Jersey entirely but we spent some time in nothern and up-state New York earlier on in our trip. We were in Kutztown, PA for a few days actually. That was rather enjoyable but it smelled kind of funny in some of the areas of the state.

We found Jesus in Kutztown actually.

Note the license plate on the front of the truck? Yup. We found Jesus though there was a church out on Route 11 in nothern New York that said "Jesus is Here." We were tempted to stop in and meet him but fortunately we found out, later, that he was driving a beat up old pickup truck in PA.

Was he from Bethlehem, PA?

[KGIII]

I don't know - it was in Kutztown though so they might have traveled over.

I'm going to never eat Mexican food in Indiana again. *goes back to lay down*

[KGIII]

Well, we are back in Panama City, Florida. We have more pictures but haven't uploaded them yet. We figured we'd go somewhere warm to spend some time thinking out our next move.

Roswell seems to be our next major destination. We are quite a few miles away from it (and the hotel is rented until Sunday) so who knows? We're thinking that one of the days while we are here we're going to go down to the Everglades and hunt for more aggilators.

In Georgia we went to the Okifenokee (spelling?) State Park and found an aggilator. When Sabrina gets a wee bit more energetic I'll get her to grab the camera pics and upload 'em so you can see them.

Ho hum...

So, what should we do in between here and Roswell?

[Fiery]

Feel free to come up North.  Let me know if you are planning on hitting Iowa, North Dakota, Illinois, or Minnesota.  If you hit ND before December 13th I have some free internet to share and maybe a bathroom and some food.  Iowa and Illinois after December 13th and before the MoTM.

Arizona for MotM?

Have fun!

[KGIII]

Almost to Roswell. Will post more when we get there. Got some nice pics of more aggilators.

[weightman]

Happy Birthday KGIII!!!!!!