Almost two years later I find myself driving from the Detroit-metro in Michigan to Santa Fé in New Mexico. Yesterday was the first day of my journey. My goal with this new blog is to delineate my experiences, which will include a mix of random ramblings about art and life, as well as some observations I may encounter. Images will be added later.
The trip began at 8:00 am EST, when I picked up my friend Jay, from his home. He was on his way to the IML conference (pleas look it up) in Chicago for the Memorial weekend and offered to drive. Of course I could not say no :-)
Jay also offered to fill up my tank of gas (thank u friend!), and even though the car was packed to the brim, Fiona (my car) did really well - had to refill once more, but so far less than $50 on fuel. Jay also brought us some green apples, but even so around 10:30 we stopped for breakfast, a Bob Evans, which for me was a first, I believe. Much cleaner look that Crackerbarrel, the entire staff in this location (Middle-of-Nowhere, MI) seemed gay and very chatty, the coffee was tasty and they have breakfast options with calorie count. I ended up having the turkey sausage breakfast for about 340 calories and even ate only one out of two dry multigrain toasts.
We continued our journey. It was nice spending this road time with Jay, as this was our first driving trip together. We even talked about doing a West Coast trip next summer - fly to Seattle, rent a car and take two weeks to get to L. A. or San Diego. This was a good thing, as I've been very apprehensive about this whole trip. I've never done this much driving alone, and I think this might actually be the biggest learning experience for this trip, this sort of facing a fear type of moment.
When we got to Chicago we pulled up on Cermac in Chinatown and got some Dim Sum for lunch. Jay had an extensive knowledge of Asian cuisine, so he helped ordering a bunch of yummy stuff (5 total that we shared). The place was packed with children touring the area, but eventually they left and we had a nice, quiet lunch. One thing that became apparent to me is how much I like to be silent on the road. Jay at one point asked me if I was bored. As a child, we always traveled during Summer and Winter vacations, and many times we did it by car. I always loved sitting at the window and look at cars and specially trucks. Truck drivers were always fascinating to me, they always seemed like beings from another planet, hermits and foragers, always scary, and of course because of that I could never stop staring. I also remember that sometimes inside the car I would select a pose, any normal seating pose, nothing extravagant, and not move (with the exception of breathing) for as long as I could. Sometimes it would take more than 15 minutes for anyone to notice. I think it simultaneously annoyed and freaked my family out, just. bit. "Vagner is not moving again" someone would say, while someone else would poke me. I guess this was my way of trying to tune out the whole family, the whole experience of being and living as a collective being, and not as an individual. Even on a trip I wanted to escape.
I had to explain this, in a much more abbreviated way, to my friend, that I was not bored, but that on the road I like to let my mind wonder, which is of course much easier when someone else is driving.
Jay took the Red Line to meet his friend he's staying with while I took on the road. intense traffic out of Chicago, which set back my trip about 20 minutes - by then it was almost 2:00 pm CST, and the gps predicted I'd get to my final destination for the day at a little after six, though it was just past 6:30 pm when I arrived at Matt's.
It was difficult to let my mind wonder because all of a sudden I got very sleepy, even though we did not eat much. I think the heat was partially to blame. I turned on the AC, opened my Coke Zero and tuned in some Madge. Instead of being silent I sang my way to Saint Louis, the last our with my dear Ru. That whole leg of the trip was a negotiation between caffeine, having to pee, and trying to decide if I had enough gas. Three bottles, three pee stops, and having the yellow light come on two blocks from my friend's house was what it took.
It was great... no, it was wonderful seeing Matt in person again, it'd been three years since last time. His lovely smiley face, a blue iced cocktail in hand, and the doors to his lovely house open, it felt like coming home. I met Patty, his adorable pooch, toured the house, saw the vacuum cleaner room (he collects them, I'd say about 40 in that room alone, and many parts throughout the house - I spotted a sombrero, three different nosels, and a dildo in one closet, for example). He mixed me a drink, we went to the basement for smokes, and we talked like we had not seen each other in three days, not three years. 2012 has become the year I reconnect with dear friends, this being the third encounter so far - I feel blessed.
After eleven hours on the road I was sweaty and starving, so I cleaned up and changed, so we could go out for drinks. My new glasses have been bothering my head, one side is digging into my head it left a dent, so I tried to change to contacts, and realized I brought the wrong boxes, so I'm stuck with the hungry frames eating the side of my head :-(
Matt took me to Clementine's on the Soullard area of Saint Louis, a lovely neighborhood and a very low key bar with good ol' customers. Everyone seemed to know everyone, and I definitely looked like I was an out of tower (how interesting that can be). I secretly hoped everyone was walking home that night. We met Matt's friend Derek (I think that's his name), a sweet guy who has a vacuum cleaner repair shop in South County (I think this is how they call the area right outside the city), and Derek was being attacked by this anesthesiologist with a food fetish (don't ask)... I was surprised the guy was even standing, so to get rid of him we told him we'd go to a restaurant and meet there, and went to another instead. Works every time.
Had great pizza, even though it took forever. Our waitress was this adorable teenager red-haired, the curly type with low cut shorts, a bad tattoo, and a1920s voice. Her name is Mary and she made me think of my bestie Fortuna (miss u girl!). Totally over ate, no calories counted, and eventually we went home, with a pit stop at a couple drag bars (both dead as it was around 10 still)... Matt and I decided that wearing a wig with no other preparation (no shaving, no make up, regular outfits) is totally the way life should be lived. Eventually we left and Matt displayed one of his many talents on the way home, his great lip sync skills. To finish the night off we watched (I dozed and watched) three episodes of Sordid Lives the Series, and eventually crawled to bed.
As usual I woke up at 3:30 and had the hardest time sleeping. I turned on the fan, put on my mask, and eventually fell asleep until six. Took my medication and slept for 45 more minutes and had a disturbing dream about an iPhone sextape. It is 8:04 am now, Patty is awake (already jumped in my bed twice, so cute), not sure where Matt is (this house is so big he could be anywhere) or what the day will bring!
Tomorrow I head towards Dallas, not sure if in one or two days yet!
- posted via iPad
Location:St Louis,United States
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