Going to Indianer

Late April
4/25/11 - I made sure to post something I thought was clever as my facebook status. Ynitsed Tsefinam. After seeing Wiz & JK one last time at teh park, I redid my iPod playlists and hit the sack. I woke up when I wanted to, but it was still later than I should have. Whatever. Last minute packing, breakfast, and I was out the door. with my new car radio and it's useful USB port. I was ready for the long haul.

Got to Reno without a hitch. I HAD to get a last meal at Innout because I won't be seeing it for a long time. I called the Basterd, put on my cheap, gas station sunglasses and went in. As I was making my traditional Innout Arnold Palmer, a sqaut, greyhaired lady said "Crazy, huh?"

"No. Not really," I said. Long drive? Busy joint? Good burgers? Apparenlty the last two.

"Are you from around here?" She continued. I said no. I'm from San Francisco.

"So you don't ahve any of these there?" We have lots in California. "Oh, we're from Oklahoma. We got hooked on these when we visited Vegas." Yes. Vegas, very good.

"It's the tomatoes you know," I ventured. "They're fresher because they're grown nearby. She internalized the information and went and ate. I was surprised. Only in Reno and the people are already acting differently that what I'm used to. I usually try to avoid people at Innout.

U.S. Route 50, the Loneliest Road in America. It was very pretty. Bristlecones and desert and mountains and snow and space and dust. My face turned red from the 5 Hour Energy drink I got when I filled up in Reno. Niacin reaction. On an unrelated note, I downloaded an audiobook for the car ride. World War Z, an Oral History of the Zombie War. Max Brooks strikes again! I didn't want to hear it all on the first day. I'm saving it for Kansas. The drive won't be as pretty as it was today. 550 miles today. Not too shabby. Ely, NV. Kinda shabby. Naw jk. I'm getting a burger and a beer now, then I'm passing the FUCK OUT.

Note: Went to a Mexican restaurant instead. Forgot the leftovers on the roof of the car..

4/28/11 - Wow the driving. It is alot. But surprisingly bearable with thta new radio. Drive thru Utah was WINDY. That whole state is nothing but wind if you ask me. The rock formations were gorgeous. Green River was disappointing. Once in Grand Junction I went to Brad and Torri Junge's place to deliver condolences about Cherri. I found Brad outside playing with his dog. We chatted for a bit, I gave him the two cards and he invided me in for dinner with his family. I met Torri and the kids, all very sweet. The kids go to a Spanish immersion school and Torri teaches the "English dominat" side of the same school. Awesome! The kids didn't even have accents. AND they have a field trip to Limon, CR in the summer. Radical. Brad had actually read WWZ and is into zombies. Surprising, but great! Nice to know that I'm not a crazy. They fed me and gave me food and beer for the road. I stayed in a hotel that night. Begin time zone confusion.

Next day drove to Boulder, CO up highway 70. Holy crap. There was snow and sleet and that made my windshield really dirty. Freakin scary. Boulder - isolated, pretty, happy. Lotsa barefooters. Went with Leah Merony to a pizza/beer place. The waitress was cute, she skipped in and out of the kitchen. Thankfully not with my pizza. Leah had an extra ticket to see Rodrigo y Gabriela. FUCKIN AWESOME! Turns out the learned English in Ireland, so they said "fookin terrible" all the time. Rodrigo assumed a metal powerstance while playing his classical guitar while Gabriela jumped and skipped. Lotsa WAH! Afterwards I jammed on geetar with Leah and here "heterosexual life partner" (roommate, former Bruin, labmate, sing together, jam together. Leah played played the geet too while Danielle (?) played the uke. Great singers the both of them.

Woke up, headed to Lincoln, NE. Lotsa sky. Lotsa sky. Had a smoke break in front of a correctional facility.     I got through a lot of artists on my trip. Lotta songs that had Midwest towns for titles. Maybe I'll make one about Bloomfield when I get there. I met up with my cousin Devin and his HUGE mutt, Taft. He's like a giant, yet mellow, Charlie. Devin took me out to Five Guys burgers and then for ice cream. He showed me around town and the campus of UNL. They have a HUGE MASTADON STATUE in front of their museum.

Fri
4/29/11
Easy day. Woke up and hit the dog park with Devin and Taft.  Then we went to the natural history museum  on campus. Lots of mammoth bones. Poor farmers, finding that shit in their yards and probably thinking that monsters lived around their homes. Devin let me borrow his bike so I took it down this apparently endless (60 miles?) bike path. That was cool, but it was super windy. I guess I'm surprised that Lincoln has a bike path, especially one so well maintained. I saw two people fucking on a park bench. Chick in a neon green shirt with really torn jeans around her ankles. She was sitting on his lap. It took me a second to process this, then I gave the dude the "rock on" horns. The girl responded by pulling up her pants. Hey, it's not my fault they were on the bike path.

I got some food at Grateful Bred. Hippeh. We saw Source Code later that night. It was like a lamer Inception. Taco tent! One of the chicks tending it wav a dude. Maybe there's a little SF in every city..

Sun
5/1 - Left Devins and didn't go back for the sandwiches and salsa I left in his refrigerator. I spent most of the ride to Greenup, IL listening to World War Z. Brilliant. Brooks covered probably everything I've thought about zombies plus a little extra. He really outdid himself by covering the geopolitical consequences of a zombie breakout. I passed through Kansas City as Mr. Brooks was discussing the regrouping west of the Rockies as told by a guy who sounded like Hawkeye from MASH. Looked cool. I saw a billboard for the Qizards. Passed thru St. Louis too. I even jumped out of the car for a bit to check out the Arch. It was like 4 blocks from the freeway. It was pretty... pretty.. ah. pretty big!. And right on the Mississippi, no less. Didn't ahve time to wait in line to go up top. Too many baby cheerleaders. Gross. My daughter will not be allowed to be a cheerleader. Especially when she's seven. Who the fuck would she be cheering for? Dora the Explora?

I stopped at a Comfort Value inn for hella cheap. Right next to a Dairy Queen! I got a spice DQ number and watched the latest South Park, The Human Centipad. Poor Kyle. Cuttlefish and asparagus.

Next Morning I took off at an easy pace for Indiana, not knowing about the time change 30 miles away from where I was. srs? Eastern Time, IN? srs? So I ended up arriving on time instead of an hour early.

The trailer is, well, standing, but spacious and heavily furnished! Even has a big TV and internet. I get my own small room too! Good thing I packed light. I'll apparently be living with 3 girls. I guess that's cool. They all have boyfriends too, so it should be easy going. The rest of the chicks in the Midwest are, uh, beat.

Lotsa birds though. Lotsa birds. Some unlucky mouse went for the peanutbutter in the trap. Destoryed his snout. Terrible. Fookin terrible.. that was a bad note to end on.

Tues
5/3 - Just looking back at that, yea that was a horrible note to end on. You can start an entry on a horrible note, to grasp the readers attention you see. You can say something like "the dead rat is still outside below the porch where I dropped him and now I have a true sense of the phrase 'looks like a drowned rat'." Oh. That actually happened.

We set nets up today. I learned some knots.

Here come the field notes! The number is the amount we caught that day. Each @ represents a bird that I personally banded. R is for recapture and is included in the total for the day. U is a bird that did not receive a band.

Early up tomorrow. Sleep now.

5/4 - May the fourth be with you =)
We were out the door at 6am. New setup was quick. lots of loops past the net lanes. It was fun. I'm slowly learning about molting and feather development. Today was pretty indicative of our summer. Great! When we got back, we spent some time in our extensive backyard. We have two rowboats and a pedal boat and possibly a party boat at our disposal on our quaint little pond. There are some Bobwhites around, but I haven't gotten a clear view of them yet.

Walmart gave us a million bags for a small amount of groceries. Why do I need to put a bag of chips in its own bag? BTW Walmart is hella hitech. TVs in the aisles, a bagging machine (explains the bags), but they still have a greeter!