A Summer Untested
This summer will be different. We will be close to home. Any traveling will be for pleasure, not business. We will not be trying to go 2,400 miles in 3-4 days. I'm not sure how I'm going to manage without the stress, the hot days under a white canopy, working on my house and my gardens. What is it going to feel like being at home all summer.
The last seven Summer's have been stressful, sometimes fun, but a ton of work. When we have tried to tell people about it they often edged away at social functions, finding someone that had a more familiar day to day. People rarely knew what to say. Now I know how musicians who try to make a living at their craft must feel.
I'll keep writing and telling the adventures of our smaller trips, our pleasure trips. Our easy daily drives. Anyone for a trip to Medford? Nothing like a two day trip just for an InNOut burger.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Thursday, July 9, 2015
July 9, 2015
Kalamazoo. A beer town. Everywhere I look there are small breweries. If it weren't in the dead center of Michigan I could probably live here. However when I think about where I live and what I would give up by living here I stay put. The Pacific Northwest is really one of the only places that in three hours or less you can get to multiple geographies. A ninety minute drive west puts you on a Pacific ocean beach, much of it still wild and undeveloped. About two hours drive North you are in an inland waterway, the Puget Sound, listed by Jaque Custeau as being the second most biodiverse place to dive in the world. Ninety minutes takes you to timberline lodge near the treeline of the cascade mountains, while just North of us is Mount St Helens, an active Volcano, and Mount Ranier with a beautiful day park at Sunrise 6000 feet up on the flank of the mountain. Just past the mountains you come to high desert which is beautiful and wild or if you stop in Bend very civilized with a cold pint waiting.
Don't get me wrong. I love the midwest with its crazy weather and its crumbling cities, I think it has a beauty in its own way, desolate and flat, with the vistas of the Great lakes, inland seas of a sort stretching out and welcoming the winds down from the North, or the thunderstorms from the south to kiss its cities.
Kalamazoo. A beer town. Everywhere I look there are small breweries. If it weren't in the dead center of Michigan I could probably live here. However when I think about where I live and what I would give up by living here I stay put. The Pacific Northwest is really one of the only places that in three hours or less you can get to multiple geographies. A ninety minute drive west puts you on a Pacific ocean beach, much of it still wild and undeveloped. About two hours drive North you are in an inland waterway, the Puget Sound, listed by Jaque Custeau as being the second most biodiverse place to dive in the world. Ninety minutes takes you to timberline lodge near the treeline of the cascade mountains, while just North of us is Mount St Helens, an active Volcano, and Mount Ranier with a beautiful day park at Sunrise 6000 feet up on the flank of the mountain. Just past the mountains you come to high desert which is beautiful and wild or if you stop in Bend very civilized with a cold pint waiting.
Don't get me wrong. I love the midwest with its crazy weather and its crumbling cities, I think it has a beauty in its own way, desolate and flat, with the vistas of the Great lakes, inland seas of a sort stretching out and welcoming the winds down from the North, or the thunderstorms from the south to kiss its cities.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
July 7th, 2015
The funny thing about this gypsy lifestyle is that you become friendly with hotel staff. You are the odd and interesting one walking through the hotel at all hours. We rarely ask where the touristy things are but rather "Where is the best grocery store?" or "Is there a good brewery that serves food nearby?" Usually just as I'm getting used to a place, learning its shortcuts, which grocery carries the things I am looking for, figuring out which way is North, East, West, and South, that is when I have to pack the car and we move on.
In Chicago I had found Uncle Joes Jerk Chicken and Shark Chicken with its bullet proof glass, a leftover from when that area was really bad, and we had to pack up and leave for the next hotel, a Sheraton in the suburbs, in an office park, surrounded by beauty and then strip malls.
I discovered where I could get decent Indian food, where Johnny's Italian beef sandwiches was and where the most interesting place in the suburbs to shop were and then it was time to move again. Another hour up the road to the next hotel, the next suburb and the next group of groceries and restaurants.
We moved north again and came to Green Bay, WI. This city is not one that I would visit again for its cuisine, culture, or scenery. The river is beautiful where it does not have giant factories, the lake is beautiful when you don't have people displaying their terrible ignorance by flying dixie flags on the fourth of July, and the food isn't bad if you don't mind fried, mayonaisse drenched food missing any sort of veggies.
Now I move on to Michigan. Outside of Detroit and Ann Arbor I still have yet to find good food in Michigan. Again the food tends to be fried, swimming in Mayo and without fresh anything. Ann Arbor is an exception. This tiny town with a giant University in its center abounds with ethically diverse and interesting food. We continue doing the Ann Arbor show every year primarily because Ann Arbor is truely a delightful city full of generally friendly people.
Oh well, so on we go. Kurt Vonnegut use to say "so it goes" I guess my catch phrase is going to be "so on we go!"
The funny thing about this gypsy lifestyle is that you become friendly with hotel staff. You are the odd and interesting one walking through the hotel at all hours. We rarely ask where the touristy things are but rather "Where is the best grocery store?" or "Is there a good brewery that serves food nearby?" Usually just as I'm getting used to a place, learning its shortcuts, which grocery carries the things I am looking for, figuring out which way is North, East, West, and South, that is when I have to pack the car and we move on.
In Chicago I had found Uncle Joes Jerk Chicken and Shark Chicken with its bullet proof glass, a leftover from when that area was really bad, and we had to pack up and leave for the next hotel, a Sheraton in the suburbs, in an office park, surrounded by beauty and then strip malls.
I discovered where I could get decent Indian food, where Johnny's Italian beef sandwiches was and where the most interesting place in the suburbs to shop were and then it was time to move again. Another hour up the road to the next hotel, the next suburb and the next group of groceries and restaurants.
We moved north again and came to Green Bay, WI. This city is not one that I would visit again for its cuisine, culture, or scenery. The river is beautiful where it does not have giant factories, the lake is beautiful when you don't have people displaying their terrible ignorance by flying dixie flags on the fourth of July, and the food isn't bad if you don't mind fried, mayonaisse drenched food missing any sort of veggies.
Now I move on to Michigan. Outside of Detroit and Ann Arbor I still have yet to find good food in Michigan. Again the food tends to be fried, swimming in Mayo and without fresh anything. Ann Arbor is an exception. This tiny town with a giant University in its center abounds with ethically diverse and interesting food. We continue doing the Ann Arbor show every year primarily because Ann Arbor is truely a delightful city full of generally friendly people.
Oh well, so on we go. Kurt Vonnegut use to say "so it goes" I guess my catch phrase is going to be "so on we go!"
July 7, 2015
As can sometimes happen on the road we had a less than stellar experience last night. We had one of those days, Lisa didn't feel great and was trying to work through it, I was trying to decide what would be good for our departure the next day whether to travel up and around to see something different or just to drive down and around and deal with Chicago and its traffic when we weren't going to be able to stop and enjoy any of what Chicago had to offer.
I went down stairs and used the fitness room thinking the whole time why does time seem to slow when you are on an excercise machine. When I finished I went back up to my room and decided to talk Lisa and Jack into going downstairs. Lisa so she could excercise and Jack so he could swim while I sat in the hot tub and contemplated the patio outside the swimming pool. We walked out of our room leaving Mr. Beebe content and sleeping on one of the beds and while getting out of the elevator passed the young front desk person, Abby, heading upstairs. While Lisa started to excercise and Jack availed himself of the facilities I again ran into Abby.
"Hey I was just coming to find you," she started, "I got a dog barking complaint and it is coming from your room."
I went back to the pool and the fitness room to let Lisa and KJack know what I was doing. I went upstairs and found Mr. Beebe agitated sitting up and barking, which he stopped doing the moment I walked into the room. Seconds later someone banged on my door and I opened it to find an angry, balding, older man standing partially in his doorway. Upon seeing me he immediately went into a tirade about how our TV was too loud and how our dog wouldn't stop barking for more than 20 minutes, I had not been gone more than 5 minutes at this time.
I remarked to the man that he needn't be abusive, since he was swearing at me and exagerating everything about the experience and attempted to apologize for my poor startled dog that probably started barking because of something He himself had done. Upon being asked to tone down the abuse the man lit into me again and told me that the hotel was calling security and they were going to kick us out. Again I attempted to apologize to the man for the dog at which point he told me that if this bull sh-- didn't stop he was going to punch me in the face to which I simply replied, "You just threatened me sir."
He told me I could tell them that when they threw me out. Needless to say they didn't throw me out but he again was abusive to Abby when she went up to try to rectify the situation. We ended up moving to another room to help her make the situation easier and to make the best of a ruined evening. So I changed the reservations at the next hotel and stayed an extra night at this hotel to make up for it.
I didn't ever get punched in the face but I also didn't get to go to bed until about 1 am.
As can sometimes happen on the road we had a less than stellar experience last night. We had one of those days, Lisa didn't feel great and was trying to work through it, I was trying to decide what would be good for our departure the next day whether to travel up and around to see something different or just to drive down and around and deal with Chicago and its traffic when we weren't going to be able to stop and enjoy any of what Chicago had to offer.
I went down stairs and used the fitness room thinking the whole time why does time seem to slow when you are on an excercise machine. When I finished I went back up to my room and decided to talk Lisa and Jack into going downstairs. Lisa so she could excercise and Jack so he could swim while I sat in the hot tub and contemplated the patio outside the swimming pool. We walked out of our room leaving Mr. Beebe content and sleeping on one of the beds and while getting out of the elevator passed the young front desk person, Abby, heading upstairs. While Lisa started to excercise and Jack availed himself of the facilities I again ran into Abby.
"Hey I was just coming to find you," she started, "I got a dog barking complaint and it is coming from your room."
I went back to the pool and the fitness room to let Lisa and KJack know what I was doing. I went upstairs and found Mr. Beebe agitated sitting up and barking, which he stopped doing the moment I walked into the room. Seconds later someone banged on my door and I opened it to find an angry, balding, older man standing partially in his doorway. Upon seeing me he immediately went into a tirade about how our TV was too loud and how our dog wouldn't stop barking for more than 20 minutes, I had not been gone more than 5 minutes at this time.
I remarked to the man that he needn't be abusive, since he was swearing at me and exagerating everything about the experience and attempted to apologize for my poor startled dog that probably started barking because of something He himself had done. Upon being asked to tone down the abuse the man lit into me again and told me that the hotel was calling security and they were going to kick us out. Again I attempted to apologize to the man for the dog at which point he told me that if this bull sh-- didn't stop he was going to punch me in the face to which I simply replied, "You just threatened me sir."
He told me I could tell them that when they threw me out. Needless to say they didn't throw me out but he again was abusive to Abby when she went up to try to rectify the situation. We ended up moving to another room to help her make the situation easier and to make the best of a ruined evening. So I changed the reservations at the next hotel and stayed an extra night at this hotel to make up for it.
I didn't ever get punched in the face but I also didn't get to go to bed until about 1 am.
Thursday, July 2, 2015
July 2nd, 2015
The night drags on
as my headlights don't
seem bright enough to
light my way tonight.
I was taught not to overdrive
my lights in school
but that seems to be
all that I can do tonight.
My eyes scan warily
trying to stay open
as I look for elk, deer
and maybe even lions, tigers, and bears.
The night drags on
as my headlights don't
seem bright enough to
light my way tonight.
I was taught not to overdrive
my lights in school
but that seems to be
all that I can do tonight.
My eyes scan warily
trying to stay open
as I look for elk, deer
and maybe even lions, tigers, and bears.
Saturday, November 8, 2014
Again
November 8, 2014
Jason Murray
Another hotel room
indistinguishable from the last
A bed, a dresser, a tv and a desk
I change this from drab hotel room
to temporary home, a plant
a blanket the dogs things
I wake and go down
to the lobby
another breakfast, toast, hard boiled eggs
Where is the grocery
the indian restaurant
the liquor store
We pack up again
and are on the road again
going to a hotel again.
November 8, 2014
Jason Murray
Another hotel room
indistinguishable from the last
A bed, a dresser, a tv and a desk
I change this from drab hotel room
to temporary home, a plant
a blanket the dogs things
I wake and go down
to the lobby
another breakfast, toast, hard boiled eggs
Where is the grocery
the indian restaurant
the liquor store
We pack up again
and are on the road again
going to a hotel again.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
June 22nd, 2014
We are getting ready now. The alarm system is getting installed, my daughter is getting schooled on where to buy groceries, each store having its own benefits, the tent is drying and my display is set up for a test run.
Edmonds was really the last show of spring and with summer here officially yesterday Utah will be our first show of the summer season. This is exciting as we are about to embark on a whirlwind 4 show tour through Utah, Colorado and Michigan.
The hotel reservations are made, for everyday through Colorado and then only for the shows after that. I haven't really figured out where we will be between Colorado and Chicago, but, I am predicting a trip to Johnny's sandwich shop in Chicago.
The food during our trip is both an experience of the worst of American Cuisine and the best. We eat at places like the Blue Door, green beans and stuffed cheeseburgers, and Johnny's, Beef Sandwiches, and often end up eating the tasteless food offered just off the freeway. I don't get to cook for almost a month which makes me a little sad. I've been cooking pretty much every night as a result, Salmon, Chicken, Steak, Roasted food, etc. Trying to get it out of my system.
See you on the road,
Jason
We are getting ready now. The alarm system is getting installed, my daughter is getting schooled on where to buy groceries, each store having its own benefits, the tent is drying and my display is set up for a test run.
Edmonds was really the last show of spring and with summer here officially yesterday Utah will be our first show of the summer season. This is exciting as we are about to embark on a whirlwind 4 show tour through Utah, Colorado and Michigan.
The hotel reservations are made, for everyday through Colorado and then only for the shows after that. I haven't really figured out where we will be between Colorado and Chicago, but, I am predicting a trip to Johnny's sandwich shop in Chicago.
The food during our trip is both an experience of the worst of American Cuisine and the best. We eat at places like the Blue Door, green beans and stuffed cheeseburgers, and Johnny's, Beef Sandwiches, and often end up eating the tasteless food offered just off the freeway. I don't get to cook for almost a month which makes me a little sad. I've been cooking pretty much every night as a result, Salmon, Chicken, Steak, Roasted food, etc. Trying to get it out of my system.
See you on the road,
Jason
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