home again, home again

ahhh…home…it feels good…i got in to dallas yesterday after a long day of travel and almost missed planes. since we last left off, our hero was busy infiltrating the monastery. after a daring escape involving robed monks, throwing knives, car chases, and explosions, i made it alive into northern new jersey, the garden state.

ok, enough of that nonsense. i spent the last few weeks of my appalachian adventure in sussex county of new jersey, running around and talking to people about the trail. it was pretty low-key actually. alot of my time was spent waiting in parking lots along the trail for hikers to come through.

i took a weekend off to go do some backpacking, which was really fun. i hiked about thirty miles through one of the most bear infested section of the AT, but alas, i did not see any bears. except myself. because i am a baylor bear. not funny, i know, but i couldn’t resist!

anyways, i am back home now for a few days before i head out to oxford…holla! it’s going to be so cool, we’re staying in the same place where they filmed a bunch of the interiors from harry potter. being home is really nice, it’s fun to hangout with family and friends and do all my favorite waco/dallas things like riding my bike and eating at hamburger joints. oh, one thing: don’t ever take your computer in to compusa for service! i went in to pick my computer up only to find that they hadn’t fixed anything i had asked them to fix, and on top of that they reformatted my hard drive! it’s not a big deal, i had backups of everything, but it sure is a bigtime hassle. my revenge will be swift and unexpected.

i’ll try to be more punctual with posts when i’m in jolly ole england, and pictures too!

at the monastery

so i have spent pretty much the last week here at a monastery that is along the trail. it’s been pretty cool, but also pretty boring just cause i don’t have much to do. the monks here have been very nice and ridiculously friendly, but there is still only so much entertainment to be gotten from men in brown robes carrying bibles.

i took a day hike down the trail to this zoo and i crossed this HUGE bridge over the hudson. i had forgotten that rivers can get that big, so i was kinda shocked when i saw it. crossing the bridge with my backpack on, dressed like a vagabond, felt like one of those americana movie moments, where they use the helicopter to get that sweeping shot of the lone protagonist boldly walking across the waters, and the music swells, and…well you get the picture. or maybe you don’t. don’t worry though, pictures are coming soon!

anyways, the zoo was a really sad little place. all the animals were locked up in those old school cages with bars and concrete. the bear pit looked like a parking lot. no joke. not even grass. i was shocked and saddened. and then i did a sic’em bears and it made me feel better, but it didn’t really change anything.

so, ten schrute bucks and five stanley nickels to baylor for installing that new bear habitat. it was a good call. that’s all, more to come later!

well i am here now

hello everyone! sorry for the lack of posting over the past few weeks, it has been surprisingly difficult to get computer access up here. for those of you just tuning in, i’m in new england (specifically massachusetts) right now working on a project about the appalachian trail. i arrived about two weeks ago, and now i am sitting in the library using the free internet to write all of this.

so…i would tell you all about what i am doing, but, as it turns out, because of legal reasons beyond my control, the project is top secret. no joke. baylor will not let me disclose any information about the project without letting the lawyers look it over first. i mean, it’s not like i am working on anything crazy like space colonization (or am i…?), but nonetheless i have to be all secret agent like. it’s kinda fun/funny actually.

but, i can tell you that i am enjoying things up here. we’re staying in a campground near great barrington, massachusetts. the town is so quaint and picturesque, it’s looks like a postcard! all the buildings are hundreds of years old, built in the colonial style of the revolutionary war era, and it’s all so upscale and nice.

it’s very different from waco, to say the least, and i’m really enjoying just taking in the landscape and culture up here. for example, they take pedestrian right of way very seriously up here. if you want to cross the street, you just walk out into the street and all the traffic will stop to let you go. it’s like the force. and they don’t mess around about their organics either. half the restaurants up here specialize in organic only cooking, and they sell organic milk in the gas station convenience stores.

and the other day i went up to vermont, and it was everything i ever dreamed it would be and more. did you know that vermont means ‘green mountain’ (green=ver and mountain=mont)? and let me tell you, the state is very green and lumpy. the place was beautiful, and the towns and farms were so neat, and what more can i say? maybe one day i will retire there to raise sheep and make ice cream.

so…pictures…see, here’s the deal. i don’t have a computer here. so i can’t upload my pictures anywhere. so they are just going to have to wait until i get back at the end of june. and that’s all i have for now.

road trips are fun

i would like to begin this post by commenting on the glory that is burger house. adam and i ate there four times in two days, and it was amazing. if you live in dallas, call me and we can go together and revel in the beauty of their bacon cheese burger.

isn’t this a great picture? adam and i decided to go camping on monday. he and i had been talking about taking a road trip for a while, and so after much deliberation we decided to go to arkansas.

i love road trips. there is something comforting about the open road and a big map and plenty of music for the stereo. the best part is when you get off the interstate and drive through all the little towns with names like murfeesboro and populations under 100.

we worked our way through most of rural easter arkansas and practically all of my music collection in about nine hours, pulling into our campsite at mount magazine state park around 11 pm. it was really foggy and rainy, making it deceptively similar to autumn, which was fine by me. and then amazingly the next day was totally clear, as if it had never rained.

so we spent most of the day cooking, walking, making fire, taking pictures of said fire, smoking cigars, eating smores, talking, making friends with bearded strangers, reading, driving, exploring, and general adventuring. it was great.

and now i am home again, which is also nice. if you are still reading, please go and buy any album by regina spektor. she is great.