Whizzing by Wyoming

We woke up in Boulder in strangely familiar post-party environs: on the futon of a ramshackle student house, with the surrounding floor strewn with beer cans. It almost felt like Charlottesville, but we blinked a few times and realized it was Keystone, not PBR, that we’d been drinking, so we had to be much further afield.

Once Lindsay and David, our gracious hosts, had finished their collegiate duties for the morning, we all headed out to Dot’s Diner, “Where the Folks Get Their Yolks!” There we enjoyed quite possiby the best eggs and grilled cheeeses ever, served to us by a 60-something grey-dreaded Dude. He looked like he’d walked straight from the lot of the nearest Dead Show to take our orders. A few thick glasses of chocolate milk and fried eggs later, we were ready to somehow tear ourselves away from the beautiful town of Boulder and get back on the road. We would have liked to stay another day, but the mountain of things to do once we reach California but before we go to Guatemala City is steadily mounting, and we knew we’d better keep on track.

Our drive to Park City, UT was mostly through Wyoming. It was largely uneventful: highlights include almost finishing “I Robot,” the latest book on tape, and stopping at Taco Time. For those of you who are not in the know – that is, those of you who are fortunate enough to live somewhere other than Rock Springs, WY – is somewhere between a Taco Bell and a Chipotle, but locally owned, reasonably priced, and festively themed. We had amazing soft tacos and mexi-fries (which are tatertots, apparantly). Of course, we even made friends with Jayce at the register, who agreed to take our photo.

An hour-and-a-half later, and we were in dear old Bear Hollow in Park City, UT, where we finally had a house to ourself! Imagine – the ability to do your laundry in a washer with minimal effort! It’s been quite luxurious thus far.

We started off today (August 26^th) with a nice little hike up in the mountains above Park City. It was nothing to serious, but very pretty as you can see all three ski resorts, Deer Valley, Park City, and the Canyons, at various points in the hike. After the hike we walked through mainstreet, ogling tomahawks and cowboy boots to our hearts’ content.

This evening we plan to picnic at an outdoor concert with Tori’s cousin Justin, wife Alexis, their daughter Lucy, and Alexis’s parents Bob and Aldonna. Should be fun!!

Kansas to Boulder

After we bid our permanent farewells to Wichita, we hit the road for Kanopolis State Park, not surprisingly located on Kanopolis Lake. I’m still not sure where the word Kanopolis comes from. I suppose the damm(n)ed river may have been intended to provide electricity for some hypothetical bustling metropolis in Kansas. Like I said, this is mere postulation, and I can certainly tell you that it did not occur. While we encountered a “mountain” upon entering Kansas, the rest of Kansas is flatter than an ocean. When Tori stood on the hood of the car, google maps registered a topographic change. Anyway, we arrived at the man made lake complete with man made sand beaches and a bunch of motor boats whizzing past our campsite. We did not have the luxury of a motor boat or jet skis, but we did enjoy relaxing next to the water, swimming in it a bit (though the limbs of the trees that had previously inhabited the area made swimming somewhat precarious), and enjoying a nice 6 pack of Keystone. Finally, we were ahead of schedule and had no need to rush anywhere. We made a fire and cooked a big pot of minestrone mixed with chili and broccoli and cheese soup mix. It turned out to be delicious and filling. We called it an early night and fell asleep as the sun was setting over the lake.
We awoke early the next morning due to the incredible whipping of the wind through our tent. The sun was fully up but it had not been the heat or the light that had awoken us. I have never heard wind so loud. While Chicago may be called “The Windy City,” I believe Kansas has more wind. Kansas does not, however, have cities, so I suppose the title sticks with Chicago. We tried to pack up camp quickly, but this became considerably more difficult due to the wind. Some of the stakes ended up blowing away with the stuff sacks and we had to chase them down the beach. Completely covered in sand, we headed up through the camp grounds to shower. After a refreshing shower, we hit the road. Only later did we discover that Tori had forgotten her camp towel at the showers, though we called the camp ground and they are mailing it ahead of us to Greg and Cesca in California. This was a really nice act of the officials there and we greatly appreciate it. I will say, however, that Kanopolis Lake is the only good thing about Kansas.
Driving through Kansas is the worst thing in the world. Here’s a list of better ways to spend your time:
watching grass grow, watching ice form, counting to one million, counting to two million, hitting yourself in the face, writing prequels to “Point Break,” living in Oklahoma, getting arrested intentionally so that you avoid ever having to go to Kansas, or EVEN (and this means a lot coming form me) reading anything by Dan Brown.
We listened to the radio for a little bit in Kansas, just to hear what goes on there. The first thing we listened to was a country radio station. For some reason, country is ubiquitous. It does not matter what state we’re in, the first thing on the radio is always country (except for one time when it was an awesome NPR station interviewing two doctors about the use of stents and how this was related to arguments regarding rising [un]necessary health care costs.) The song that was playing was one we had never heard before called “40 Hour Week,” which is about the hardship of blue collar working life in America. Here’s the link: http://www.countrygoldusa.com/40-hr_wk_MU.asp I found it hilarious, and also noted that it includes pretty much everyone except doctors and lawyers, in ironic contrast to the aforementioned exception to the country radio ubiquity. The other thing we enjoyed about Kansas radio was what appears to be their version of craigslist. I suppose they need some way to sell used things given that they don’t even have the real version of craigslist on the internet. http://www.craigslist.kansas.com/ People call in to the show and say something along the lines of (actual example) “Hey, I got an ole warshing machine that makes a buncha noise. ‘Fyou got an outdoor spot fer it, like in a garage, the clickin’ won’t bother ya none. Askin’ 30 dollars, come get it. 555-8972.” One notices quickly that everyone only gives 7 digit phone numbers. I deduced from this that Kansas has only one area code. This may or may not be true, but honestly, who cares?
Eventually, we came upon signs for “The Worlds Largest Prairie Dog.” Totally bored, we decided to stop. We met some Virginian’s driving out to Oregon in the parking lot outside of the attraction. They told us the animals looked depressed and it was a total gimmick. We couldn’t resist the excellent review and reluctantly shelled out the exorbitant $15 (total). The review was accurate: when we noticed the rattle snakes were docile, the old woman woke them roughly by banging on their cage and shining a flood light in their face. We felt sad. But we did see a jackalope, which made it worth the money. Plus, there were a bunch of other interesting animals and a ton of little prairie dogs, which look like rats in holes. The main attraction, however, turned out to be a statue. Weak sauce.
Eventually, we got out. That was the greatest moment of my life. As soon as we got to Colorado, life started improving and so did our surroundings. Boring plains gave way to luscious fields and craggy ravines. Stew got to see the Rocky Mountains for the first time, which rose majestically over not Kansas. When we arrived in Boulder, we went straight to REI where we took care of some last minute business. Then, we met up with Gab, Tori’s cousin in her dorm room. Gab has just started at University of Colorado Boulder and it was great to get to see her again. We went out to dinner at a place called “Cheba Hut,” a marijuana themed sandwich place. We understood that this was a local hot spot and a theme throughout Boulder, which seems to be something of the case. It seemed similar to Asheville, NC but nestled to a much greater degree in mountains. Both towns are absolutely beautiful and the people that populate them are so welcoming.
After dinner, we met up with Dave Tanner, a good friend of Stew’s from Semester at Sea. Dave and his roommate Lindsey offered to put us up for the night and greeted us with a huge welcoming party and fridge of beer. A massive thanks to Dave and Lindsey: that was an awesome party. Another one of Stew’s friends from Semester at Sea, Hannah Smith, ended up coming out to the party as well as Gab and her friends from school. We ate more delicious food at a pizza place called Cosmo’s late that night. Everyone in Boulder was so nice and welcoming. We had an amazing time and we cannot wait to visit again. The city is beautiful, the mountains are breathtaking, and the people seem so interesting and nice. Boulder, I give you an A+.
Also, Dave has a great futon.

The Drive

We left Huntsville, AL around 4 p.m. and were supposed to spend the night in Memphis, TN. The plan was to find somewhere free to camp and explore the city the next morning before the long drive to Wichitawesome, KS. We drove through Memphis around 9 to 9:30, as the sun was going down, and decided that our plans needed to be modified. The idea of trying to find somewhere free to camp (never an easy undergoing and often an illegal one) is best done in day time and setting up a tent in the dark is kind of a bummer always. Anyway, we kept on going and set our sights on Wichita, which would allow us to slow down for the next couple of days rather than constantly feeling rushed. It would be a long drive…13 or so hours. We didn’t have to get all the way, but any closer meant less we would have to drive the next day. Spoiler alert: we made it. I just gave the ending away to give some sort of evidence as to the mindset of the writers. We drove a long long way and slept for two hours in our car at a rest stop. How did we do this? I mean, we did wake up at 7 a.m. and see TN, GA, and AL with Tori’s relatives in the morn/afternoon. We didn’t leave til 4 p.m. and still drove all that day. Well let me tell you about the power of DDP. Diet Doctor Pepper…all the flavor, all the jolt, and less of a stomach ache when you drink 8 of them. I liked to think that the DDP acronymically imbued me with the power of DDP (Diamond Dallas Page) to do the Diamond Dash around tractor trailers. The following text should be an interesting diatribe in delirium.
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Memphis looked like a city. Nothing too interesting from the road. Concrete. Roads. Meh. Shortly there after, (order may be wrong) we entered Mississippi for a very short time. Long enough to get gas and get scared but not long enough to pee. I (Stew) am from the Shenandoah Valley and my highschool celebrated pride week with “Drive your Tractor to School Day” and “Camo Day.” People in my town fly the Stars and Bars above the Stars and Stripes. My 5 minutes in Mississippi showed me that I had in fact never met a true redneck. These people had developed extra long necks just to enable more of it be red. Hair was straight out of 1980 or military, clothes were straight out of military or often forgotten (overalls are clearly sufficient and wearing a shirt means you’re just asking to be called a fairy), and the accent was more akin to drunken German gorillas grunting than a discernible language. I felt uncomfortable. Anyway, all I’m trying to say is that Mississippi led me to create a new column on this blog: Dude, Don’t Go There!
And thus we add Mississippi to our list.
But the drive wasn’t all bad. Arkansas (America’s most forgotten state given that it seems to be another Southerner claiming that Kansas is not theirs but “Ars.”) is awesome. Okay, it isn’t awesome. But here are the good things (the things that keep it off my DDGT list):
1. Bridge over the Mississippi River (Dude, totally go there): it is beautiful and long and a feat of engineering. The sun was still setting, which perplexes me as I remember it. We got a picture of it, but may have done a poor job of demonstrating the mammoth size of the bridge.
2. Ability to pretend you’re driving a space ship. Most of the time, when you cross a bridge at night, you can only tell because there is no lights around and thus, you are over water. In Arkansas, you can’t tell if you’re on a bridge because there are no lights around anywhere. While listening to Ender’s Game on tape, this made for a very fun drive.

3. Ozarks: Who knew Arkansas wasn’t a pancake? Not this writer, that’s for sure. I was pleasantly surprised to re-discover topography. Also, we heard a rodeo going on when we stopped for a walk.
Arkansas gets zero thumbs down.
Which leads me to my least favorite “state” ever. I use these guys: “ and “ because I now propose to revoke OKLAHOMA’S privilege of statehood. The only good thing to come out of Oklahoma is Mark McGuire, who wasn’t even good when he was there. He didn’t use steroids, he just lived in Oklahoma and finally left. It’s like going from 20 times gravity to a place that doesn’t suck. Of course he was awesome. You can tell if an Oklahoma native is intelligent pretty easily: they no longer live there. I paid $15 in tolls to drive on roads through a place I didn’t want to be. Even the Ozarks were no longer a novelty. They were a surprise in Arkansas but I knew they were going to be in OK. At that point, they were about as impressive as a sock. No, Oklahoma, you are not OK. You, sir, are subpar. There is, however, one good thing about Oklahoma: 75 mph speed limits. Normally, I would object to such speed limits. They’re dangerous and waste gas. In this case, they were Oklahoma’s only redeeming quality because they enabled me to get out of there as soon as possible.
Oklahoma: DUDE DO NOT IN ANY WAY EVER GO THERE.
Eventually, after what seemed like seven tours of duty in Hell, we got to Kansas (the old Indian word for Zion). While Kansas was no Jersey Shore, it was significantly nicer than Oklahoma. There was a mountain, I assume, because we kept going up for a while. Then nothing happened. Then we came to a rest stop just short of Wichita, where we pulled into the visitor center at 5:30 a.m. and slept until 8 a.m. When we woke, we got some directions to a beautiful lake, took showers at a truck stop where we talked the woman into letting both of us shower together for $8 rather than the customary $8 per person. Then we went to Cracker Barrel, where (despite all of Cousin Katie’s work), I remembered that Tori is not really a Southerner. Seriously, she’d never been to a Cracker Barrel? And she didn’t eat her grits? WHUH? We haven’t made it to Wichita yet. We decided to avoid the city. I’m finishing this entry from Panera. Tori is sleeping in the car. I need to go drive her to the lake. Tomorrow we’ll be in Denver/Boulder to visit my Semester at Sea friends and Tori’s cousin, Gab.
Song of the Day: Anything by Orson Scott Card
Miles driven: 800
Hours slept: 2

EDIT: Upon futher review, Mark McGuire is not from Oklahoma, thus leaving me with zero good things I can think of from Oklahoma.

On Friday morning we had a delicious breakfast at “The Dripolator” Coffee House with Stew’s parents and Derek. The coffee was awesome, and the broccoli-cheese cornbread put Starbucks pastries to shame, but “The Dripolator” has got to be the most bizarre coffee shop name I’ve ever heard of – sounds more like a lame horror movie than laid-back coffee shop to me! Personally, though, I’d prefer the title “Little Coffee Shop of Horrors.”
We got on the road to Huntsville, Alabama by 11:00 am, meeting our time goals in order to maintain our itinerary and arrive in Huntsville for supper. You can call us anything you want just don’t call us…while we’re eating. The drive proved beautiful: we passed through the Smokey Mountains on the way down, and they just might have been as pretty as the Virginia Blue Ridge.
A highlight of the drive was our visit to the Smokey Mountain Knife Works, the largest knife emporium in the world. It also boasts a knife museum, where we saw knives from every century and every continent. Of course, the Lord of the Rings replicas struck the two of us fantasy nerds as pretty enticing as well. We tried to keep the visit quick and vowed not to spend any money. We succeeded at both, despite incredibly enticing offers of awesome knives at cheap prices. Stew found an excellent knife designed for emergency personnel marked down to $5 and it had an etched image of Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the blade. He managed to resist buying it, using all of his willpower. He later cried about it. We left quickly from the shop in order to maintain our schedule. Unfortunately, we left a little too quickly, as the GPS had apparently fallen out of the door, leaving us without directions. Stew had to turn around shortly thereafter to return to the stop in hopes of finding not only his same parking spot, but an uncrushed and unstolen GPS. Luck was with us for this endeavor, if not everything else.
Another highlight was this bumpersticker seen on a car driving through Tennessee: “I’ll keep my guns, freedom, and money….you can keep the change.” At that point, Stew and I knew for sure that we weren’t in Kansas anymore/yet.
We showed up in Huntsville to meet Tori’s cousins the Baxleys just in time for supper. The tomato bake was absolutely delicious – thank you Katie!! It was super exciting for Tori to meet her Tennessee family for the first time, and she hopes to see them soon at a family reunion down the line! After supper we got to spend some quality time over a few beers with Joseph and Elizabeth, two of Katie’s children. It turns out that, beyond the accents, we’re pretty similar -definitely related. We’re hoping to get together for a real party in DC sometime after our journey!
Saturday morning started off early with poundcake, strawberries, and whipped cream. Katie might not have ever met Tori before, but she must have done some research because Tori thinks that’s about the best breakfast there ever could be. Once we were good and hopped up on all that sugar, we all jumped in the minivan for a tour of Snow/Read/Moorehead family monuments. Ron, Katie’s husband, stalwartly took us on a complete tour of the Tennesee-Alabama border. We were both impressed with his seemingly endless patience for wrong turns on winding roads and steely calm despite all adversity. To no great surprise, Katie was an excellent tour guide, and Tori left feeling more educated about her family history than she ever thought possible. We also learned where Tori gets her inability to remember where she puts things…
We got to visit the mill that Tori’s great great Grandfather, Ed Snow, owned and operated, and we found out that Tori’s daddy played there as a child. Upon visiting the family cemeteries and old farms, Tori discovered that she has some really far-out family names that might get passed along the line: Barsheba, Jacynthia, Hitius, Emmadelia, Darvis…the list goes on. We had thought the whole unique baby name thing was a just the latest Hollywood craze, but it turns out the tradition started with the Snows!
Later, we got to meet Aunt Louisa who lives in Lynchburg, TN. “Lynchburg,” you may be sayin, “Isn’t that in Virginia?” Why yes. Yes, it is. There is apparently also one in Tennessee. This one, for all of those that thought the aforementioned question, is also more famous. “More famous than Lynchburg, VA? Why never. Liberty College? Hello?” These rhetorical questions should cease because Jack Daniels Distillery is a trump card. Tori’s family is in fact closely related to the creation of this superior Tennessee Bourbon. Mr. Moorhead created the whiskey with Jack Daniels and was an early partner in the creation of this divine beverage, but eventually erased his name from all records when he married a religious woman and gave up on being a liquor maker. Definitely a bummer for his current descendents, but as long as the stories live, so shall their livers. We did not get to tour the distillery due to time constraints, but we drove past Mr. Daniel’s house. Unsurprisingly, everything in Lynchburg, TN is named for Jack Daniel, right down to the children’s clothing store.
All in all, it was a great experience to reconnect with Tori’s cousins down South and learn about Tori’s Southern heritage. Who knew a Jewish girl from DC could also be a United Sister of the Confederacy? Who knew the Clifford’s had a prior Jewish line? While Tori’s Catholic/Jewish heritage technically makes her Cashew, due to her recent reconnection with her Southern heritage, she’ll have to pronounce it “cashuh.”
Although all our sightseeing caused us to get a pretty late start on the road to Memphis, it was totally worth it. Many, many thanks to the Baxleys for taking such good care of us!
p.s.: If anyone is interested in Pride and Prejudice, Southern family stories, romance, or intrigue, be sure to check out Katie Baxley’s book on Amazon! It’s The Cumberland Plateau: A Pride and Prejudice Modern Sequel. Tori’s started it already, and can’t put it down.

Charlotte to Asheville

We spent Thursday morning trying to snap some scenic photos in Charlotte. Turns out Charlotte lacks tourist hotspots, so had fun taking silly pictures in front of the main attraction: the super totally exciting Bank if America Corporate Center. We definitely caught a few backward glances from confused bankers, but hey, at least our trip will be well-documented. Also, the security guard seemed angrily confused when we asked him to take our photo...I suppose he thought we were going to set off a bomb. We were, coincidentally, a walking stink bomb.

After leaving Charlotte we headed down to Asheville, NC. Asheville is a great hippie town nestled in the Allegheny Mountains of North Carolina. We met up with Stew (the elder) and Alyce, Stew's parents to check out the city. The town is filled with hippie shop after hippie shop: Asheville's got to have more patchouli per capita than any other town on the East coast. When we got tired of inhaling incense in all the stores, we stopped into an absolutely fantastic vegetarian resaraunt, Rosetta's. Mmmmmm, tempeh :) We also got a good photo op with a nice family of dancing statues. Stew and Grande Stew also posed as hippies by sleeping on a bench.

After eating some tasty veg food, we met up with Derek Clatterbuck, a long-time friend of Stew's, at Warren Wilson College. He reccomended we check out Pisgah Brewery in Black Mountain, NC. We walked into a party at the Brewery -- live music, great beer, Jamaican jerk chicken, and more. The whole scene felt more like a frat house than bar, and we had a great time. There was an outdoor fire, dancing hippies, and a weird old WWII building filled with broken old bar games. Pretty good beer and an interesting setting in an old warehouse.

After hanging out at the Brewery, it was back to Warren Wilson College where we set up camp in Derek's front lawn. We had lots of fun hanging out with the Wilsonites -- what a crazy group of kids. It's the kind of place where the word "haircut" is not part of the lexicon and, like inuits with snow, there are 30 words for "dreadlock." Everyone was super welcoming -- special thanks to Laura and Marika (and Derek of course!) for showing us a good time! Also, everyone was amazed at how good we smell.

For our first time setting up the tent and sleeping out on our journey, it wasn't too bad of a night. We faced some minor tent wetness and Stew had issues sleeping on the incline, but we're pretty confident all of our gear is going to work out great.

Today it's off to Huntsville, AL to visit Tori's cousin Katie!

Bridgewater to Charlotte (posted late)

Yesterday we woke up early – toooooo early for Tori, who had grand plans of sleeping until 8am. Stew, however, was like a boy on Christmas eve all night: he couldn’t sleep because he was too excited about the trip. Pobrecito Stewbie ended up falling asleep around 5 a.m., only to arise at 6 a.m. for a doctor’s appointment that was cancelled as he was on his way to it.
This early rise facilitated an early departure, perhaps one that was too early for dear Deirdre, whom we sleepily met in Lexington at the renowned “Waffle House.” The food was an excellent Southern sendoff and we took pictures with D before we left for the road once again. We also got the chance to fill up our gas tank at Smiley’s Fuel Station, a smile themed gas station/bbq shack, claiming the “Best Dang BBQ on 81.”
The drive was relatively uneventful. We passed random counties, including North Carolina’s quite scenic Pulaski country. We did see license plates from almost 20 states during trip from Bridgewater to Charlotte. As one gets closer to the city, it gets incredibly beautiful – 77 South is filled with lakes surrounded by gorgeous lake houses we enjoyed ogling. Stew and I are both very impressed with NC. We’ve seen the mountains around Asheville before and will see them again today. It’s got the Outer Banks and it’s got cute little towns. In fact, even the highways around the city seem to be deep within lush green temperate forests. The weather here is spectacular: sunny and pleasant, definitely warmer than Charlottesville but without the humidity. The roads are wide, well maintained, and under trafficked. This place rules.
Christina and Brennan welcomed us to their apartment in an awesome gated community. Normally one would think that a gated community would reflect either an elite community or a serious threat of crime. That does not seem to be the case at all and merely a norm among college apartments here. Christina and Brennan have one of the nicest apartments that we have ever seen: a second story balcony/porch, enormous rooms, private baths…and for half Charlottesville rates. Yowza! Their friends were welcoming too and we joined them for a friend’s birthday dinner at half price Sushi night at Kabuto. The prospect of ½ price sushi made Tori giggle uncontrollably with excitement., and it was very much enjoyed.
Later, we watched Coraline in 3d. I (Stew) have to admit that I could describe the plot to Coraline about as well as I could describe pages 77-123 of Dubliners. I can also tell you that 3d glasses rule. I can also tell you that mimosa’s in the summer time in Charlotte are a perfect fit. A huge thank you to Christina, Brennan, and all of their friends for the hospitality they have shown us. They even let us sleep in an extra bedroom…with a queen sized bed. We slept even better than we did before we were vagrants. We plan to drive downtown to Charlotte to look for photo opportunities and then head to Asheville to meet up with Derek Clatterbuck (Stew’s friend from home) and Stew’s parents.

Miles traveled: 300
Song of the day: “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit’ It” by Will Smith

And the Journey Begins...

It's official: we're vagrants.  We quit our jobs last week and finished moving out of our apartment in Charlottesville, VA today.  The first leg of our cross country drive has been completed and we're now in Bridgewater, VA at Stew's parents house hanging out with Shannon Pollock and Scott Wootangclan.  

The plan for this evening is to pack the car, do laundry (gee golly! one day in and we already smell bad.  get ready for some olfactory abuse Latin America), and undoing the mess we created by throwing all of our belongings in the back of an old Ford pickup.  Should be a good night...Stew is  definitely looking forward to waking up to see his doctor at 7 a.m.  Sarcasm aside, we ARE looking forward to being in Charlotte tomorrow night with Christina Coffey, one of Tori's best friends from high school.  So from Charlottesville to Charlotte, the progress is clear.  Soon enough, we'll be in Ca, which is about as far as I can take this joke.  

I (Stew) felt like I was living a country song this afternoon: I was driving Old Blue, my family's ancient Ford Ranger over the mountain from Charlotte and realized I was jobless, homeless, listening to Brad Paisley (not my finest moment) and that I was also the happiest I had ever been in my entire life.  I guess that's where the analogy stops because country music isn't exactly the most upbeat genre and I am completely excited about this journey. 

Anyway, farewell Charlottesville.  You have been a great home and we shall miss you.  A fond goodbye to our many friends there.  My heart spills gallons of barbecue sauce and canned tomatoes for you.  Get ready Charlotte and our next destinations, because us vagrants need places to shower.  

Christian Mission here we come!

We just got an email from Erin Caldwell, the program director for Friends of Barnabas, and the board of directors apparently overturned their initial decision and now we will be allowed to go to Honduras. I think they wanted to make sure that the "coup" did not give way to violence, which it seems has not happened. I think this is excellent news because, despite my personal lack of religion, I still would really like to volunteer at a medical clinic in the mountains of Honduras on a beautiful lake. It has less to do with my "love of children" and a lot more to do with a sworn vendetta against worms like this guy http://www.coolstuffinc.com/images/Products/mtg%20art/Promo/Dirtcowl%20Wurm.jpg

There is still no news about whether or not the actual missionaries will be showing up (and by missionaries I mean doctors given that it is a medical mission), so I'm not sure what we'll be doing in that case. Props to Honduras for having the most stable coup ever.

Tori and Stew are going to be missionaries!

Getting Ready

Ta-da! Here's our itinerary for the trip out West!

August 18th: Charlottesville, VA to Bridgewater, VA
August 19th: Bridgewater, VA to Charlotte, NC
August 20th: Charlotte, NC to Asheville, NC
August 21st: Asheville, NC to Huntsville, AL
August 22nd: Huntsville, AL to Memphis, TN
August 23rd: Memphis, TN to Wichita, KS
August 24th: Wichita, KS to Denver, CO
August 25th: Denver, CO to Park City, UT
August 27th: Park City, UT to Snow Canyon, UT
August 29th: Snow Canyon, UT to Grand Canyon, AZ
August 30th: Grand Canyon, AZ to Los Angeles, CA
August 31st: Los Angeles, CA to Santa Cruz, CA

It should be a fantastic trip, replete with family gatherings, campfires, canyoning, and more.

September 8th: LAX to Guatemala City!