Tucson to San Clemente to Pittsburgh

Hey Hey Hey, whoa that's right 3 states 3 days....we fast tracked this section of the journey. Left Arizona via the truck to California. Spent 2 days and nights in the camper @ kindra's dads House (San Cemente, CA), then hoped on a plane to the cold weather of the east coast in Pittsburgh. Kindra and I were happily greeted by my Uncle Larry and Aunt Pat in downtown Pittsburgh after catching then 28x line bus from the airport. Today we spent the day in the strip district in Pittsburgh i really wanted to give Kindra a taste of some of the traditional doings of the Demase's, Sooooo we went to Penn Mac for bread, cheese, and other assorted goodies, Enricos for biscoti, pannetone, macaroons and other Italian bakedness's, then Primanti Bros for Lunch oh yea baby. If that aint Pittsburgh i don't know what is. We will spend a few nights w/my uncle and aunt in Fox Chapel PA, then to the Smith Clan in Waynesburgh PA....GO STEELERS!!!!!.

An end and a begining

Hi all, i know I'm a little late on this entry but i thought i should chime in. The departure from Colorado was an emotional one, i had a bit of a different experience than kindra. My time in evergreen and golden was life changing. Its amazing to think of my arrival there and how different i was. Time brings constant change. i had a lot of time the last couple of weeks before we left to mentally and physically prepare as i was only working part time at the sign shop. This was ok because it gave me time to sort out all the little last minute details of packing, and was able to get the centrifuge working.

Chris and Sue (my employer/best friends) went out of town just before our departure so we said our goodbyes on Wednesday. Margaux(my sis) came up from the springs to see us off and spent the night at Joe and i's place in evergreen. We then gave her a ride back to CC in the morning on our way down I-25....she wanted us all to herself b4 the holiday trip to PA. The morning departure was nutso, last minute throwing random "do we need this, will we want this" stuff in the back of the camper. I held it together until i went to say goodbye to my dog Pardo, and then totally lost it, Joe will take good care of him though. The last 2 and a half years of living with Joe has been a blessing and miracle for both of us i think. I could never have gotten sober w/o a lot of people and powers but especially my dad. He is the man.

We are having a wonderful time here in Arizona with kindras family.The landscape is so new to me, i've never seen the desert, peoples front "yards" have no grass and all cacti w/ Santa's?!! the view of Mt. Lemmon is amazing! I went out for a run the second night we were here and saw the most beautiful sunset, truly magnificent. The actual drive here was good the truck ran great on diesel and it was pretty uneventful. Im a little sad to say that we were unable to do much of the journey to Arizona on veg. i've been having issues with the fuel pressure for a few weeks now and after tireless attempts to figure it out, the time came to go and so we did. i've been doing some fiddling w/ tightening possible air leaks and such to little avail. Everything happens for a reason though and things are just as they should be, kindra and i are safe and happy. We leave for cali on sat, and will only be there a few days, then fly to PA to see the Frank/Smith/Demase clan for Christmas. love you all,
john

Tears of sadness...tears of joy

The question that has been on everyone's minds in the past few weeks is, "Are you ready?" With this being such a prominent question I feel like I should at least attempt to answer it in as many ways as I can.

First off there is the tangible aspect. Is our stuff packed and are we ready to go? Well, we have been packed for about 2 months. We wanted to store our stuff at my grandparents house in the mountains and wanted to do it before the snow made the roads bad. Check... got that done and out of the way! Wait. What about the things we still need for being in Colorado, but not for the trip (my work clothes, winter clothes, ...)? Well, I decided I would just take that stuff to mom's house and keep it in storage. Thanks mom! Problem solved.

How about are we ready to go? As in do we have the trip planned out? Where are we going and for how long? Well, we have the truck loaded up for sure. Here are just some of the many items we have floating in the abyss: 2 bikes, a guitar, 2 didgeridoos, an electric bug zapper, spices, power winding lantern, running shoes, sandals, dvds, books, Spanish translator, sun screen, incense, soap, first aid kit, tools, filtered veggie oil, X-mas presents, passports and other misc paper work, pics of family and friends, all sorts of clothes, my hats, music, and a the kitchen sink! Yeah we have the stuff ready, but where? Well, we want to start at the Mexicali border in California and then go south down the Baja. We will take a ferry over to mainland Mexico and then to Belize. We are hoping to be in Mexico for about a month, but it is really up in the air. We are not making any of our plans definite. Overall we are wanting to go from Mexico to Argentina and back in about a year or longer. I would like to stay in Guatemala for about 6 months and possibly teach English and go to a Spanish language school simultaneously. We shall see...

How about the emotional part? Am I emotionally ready to go? Now this is a question that I have been asking myself time and time again. I mean I have been wanting to do this trip for a very long time and the fact that it is actually in the here and now rather than just the future is incredible. I wasn't sure if this day would come, but it has. And how do I feel about that? Well, I am excited. I am sad. I am curious. I am scared. I am cautious. I am stressed. I am relaxed. I am in love. I am me. I am happy. I am you. I am laughing. I am crying. I am shocked. I am thrilled. I am numb. I am courageous. I am proud. I am present. I am reminiscent. I am grateful. I am.

The hardest part of all, you may ask. It isn't the packing, it isn't the planning, it isn't the saving of money or even the spending of the money... it's the realization. The realization that I no longer live on Tejon St., that I no longer drive a 1990 Legacy Subaru, that my home is now the size of a small room, that the next time I see the lil' ones at Girls Inc they will be stronger, smarter and bolder, that I can't come home in the evenings to chat with my amazing roommates, that I won't be there to see the tomatoes in my yard grow next spring, that I won't be enjoying a tea next to a warm fire at John's dad's place up in Evergreen, and that all the amazing people I have made memories and built relationships with will be hundreds even thousands of miles away. The realization: I will miss home.

I hope this clears up the question in so many words. Peace and Love

Ciao, Kindra