Frisco
We rolled into San Francisco two nights ago between 5 and 6pm. At his point I now have Andrea and Jenny in the bus. The first thing we did when we got here was meet up with one of Jenny’s friends climb to the roof of Greenpeace where we had some beers and participated in a “ladder training exercise” which was basically a way for them to be allowed on the roof. From there we went back to Michelle’s house (Jenny’s friend), took showers and headed to a bar called The Uptown. It was a big hipster bar full of Greenpeace employees. It had a pool table, jukebox and creepy clay jesters on the top of the bar.
At the bar I met so many people from the East Coast. A few from Jersey, DC and a bunch from Chicago (not really east coast but not San Fran). I met a scarred up writer named Marcel who hated San Fran because of all the hipsters but only hung out at dive bars so was constantly around them. He loved NY and the people there but couldn’t make it back so was heading up to Portland to start fresh.
After The Uptown we headed to another bar which turned out to be another “Girlie” bar. Jenny seemed to be on a mission for this trip. I parted ways and did my own thing. Hit up Doc’s Clocks, Elbow Room, and The Pheonix. All were pretty good but mostly loud clubby music with DJ’s and such. The part of town we stayed in was called The Mission which reminded me a lot of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.
Yesterday we walked to through Golden Gate Park all the way to Ocean Beach. The park is huge and full of bike riders, runners, roller disco and even a disc golf course. Even though the weather wasn’t super warm (I still needed a hoody) the beach was crowded with kite flyers, wind surfers and folks with dogs and children. The girls decided to take a bus back but I walked back through the park on the North side.
I find I talk to a lot more strangers when I’m by myself. I learned about $1.92 drafts a cafe called Bean Bag and even scored a map of Marin County this morning from a guy who crossed country on a motorcycle.
Today Andrea and I will probably head down to the Presidio for some photos of the Golden Gate Bridge then head into Marin County to find some recommended hiking and secluded hippie towns. Jenny is staying at her friends house tonight and flying back to Brooklyn tomorrow.
I’m pretty excited to leave the city area. For the last few days we’ve been city bound and the urge to spend money on food, coffee and what not has been high. I do give San Francisco an A+ for general hospitality and beauty though and would love to spend more time here when I have the funds.
Also, the whole city smells like Cannabis.
Trans America: Tit for Tat (Warning: May not be suitable for any audience)
So I’m missing chunks in this blog but this has to be said. Two nights ago while in Long Beach, California I went to my first Lesbian Bar. The night before we met up with one of Andrea’s friends in Redondo Beach and they decided to go out and check out the scene in Long Beach. Why not, I thought to myself. It was okay. We met some friendly girls that gave us great advice on where to go and what to see while in Cali, paid for most of our drinks and were all pretty jealous of Fritz (the bus).
Well, through out drunken conversations we learned of a bar that was having Tranny night named Hamburger Merry’s. The ladies wanted to go and who am I to deny myself such an out of the ordinary experience.
While at Hamburger helpers I was introduced to a Tahitian woman (or man…whatever). He/she was over 6 ft tall in heels and had big fake boobs that “accidentally” kept popping out. She/he knew I was straight and I think was trying to make me uncomfortable. “I’ll play this game” I thought to myself and simply said, “Nice.”
Later on in the evening I had another encounter with Big T. and this time he/she pulled out the big guns. With force she/he planted my face into those big fake titties. I paused, shocked and was quite uncomfortable but thought quickly and turned the table. I motorboated the hell out of that tranny. Big T. backed off, shocked and in a high voice said, “I’ve never had that before.” One point for the hippie. I replied, “I’m a motorboating son of a bitch” and started walking away. The ball’s in your court tranny.
I made it five feet when he/she asked me how big my dick was. Damn. Thought I got away. I said it was small and walked off. Finally, I got away…so i thought.
Before heading back to the bus I ran into 7/11 to use the restroom and there was Big T. Crap! Next thing I know she/he tells two gay hispanic men that I have a big dick then goes to the car and drives off. One of those guys decided to follow me to the restroom where I had trouble with the key and couldn’t get inside. He closed in and I started to panic. I finally got the door open but it was too late. The guy was asking me to show him. I laughed and told him sorry. He was very persistent and started to follow me in the bathroom with propositions of head or just a viewing. I told him that he really didn’t want to be in the bathroom while i was in there, alluding to horrible bowel movements. It seemed to work and he walked off.
As I finished relieving my bladder I laughed at the entire night. You win this round tranny but I’ll be ready next time.
Big Bender
After leaving Austin and spending a night in the back of a truck stop, we rolled into Big Bend National Park on Thursday the 21st. At the entrance we were handed a map and the parks newspaper and had to make a decision. There are three main campgrounds in Big Bend. Rio Grande Village which has a shower, store, and laundry facilities. A short path gives you a view of the Rio Grande and Mexico. Chisos Basin is up in the mountains, surrounded by hiking trails with a chance of sighting some black bears and mountain lions (unfortunately we did not). The last main site is Cottonwood which is on the west side of the park also on the Rio Grande but trails are scarce. All the campsites had drinkable water taps to fill up our jugs and toilets although Cottonwood was pit not flush.
Besides the main campsites you can also get a backwoods country pass which can last up to ten days but requires some planning. These sites are accessible either by hiking or off roading. Big Bend is full of trails and unpaved roads, some which are near water sources and some that require more supplies.
Our stay in order was Rio Grande Village, Chisos Basin, Painted Gap (backwoods with the bus, bumpy but awesome), Terlingue Abajo (another backwoods) then Cottonwood.
Almost everyday consisted of hiking. We went through Boquillia Canyon and climbed up sand dunes, Rio Grande Village nature hike, Hot Springs (we did this one twice, once at 6:30 when the sun went down and everyone left. we had the hot springs all to ourselves under the moon and stars. The second time was during the day with a bunch of other people but still felt nice), Window Trail, Emory Peak Trail (9 miles round trip to the highest point in the park 7825 ft), Grapevine Trail (another night hike without flashlights, only moonlight), Santa Elena Canyon, Tuffs Canyon, Burro Springs Trail and Chimney Trail. There may be more but at this moment it escapes me. It was a long week for my leg muscles.
As for wildlife, besides not seeing mountain lions and bears I also didn’t get to see coyotes but we did hear them howling through the night at Terlingue Abajo. I did see a lot of birds including a Golden Eagle, and road runners. I also had a close encounter with a kangaroo rat and a pack of Javalina.
While in Terlingue Abajo Andrea kept going in and out of service with her phone and we were getting in touch with Mina who was a couchsurfer hitching to Big Bend to hang with us. She showed up late on our second to last night and has been with us since.
It’s hard to figure Mina out. She’s been on the road for a year now couch surfing and this is the farthest south and west as she’s made it. She was a micro-biology major in Boston and seems to not have any plans. She is good at finding free food in small towns though. We’ll see how long she travels with us.
From Big Bend we headed along Farm Road 170 which took us to Presidio along the Rio Grande. Beautiful drive with hills and turns and road runners testing our speed. From Presidio we headed up to a little town called Marfa which had nothing open on a thursday but seems to be a place for artists during festival time. While there I got in touch with my friend Hope who I met while hitching through El Paso back in 2006. After driving through a snowstorm around Van Horn we arrived in El Paso around 10 at night. This is all I have time to write now but remind me to mention some of the folks I’ve met along the way, Wrong Way, Snow Beard and more…
Little Blue Oasis in a Big Red State
After getting up in the morning and grabbing some literature from the rest stop, mostly pamphlets about camping and what not, we headed back onto route 30 west to Dallas where we caught 35 South to Austin. We found 2 couchsurfers willing to give us a place to crash. One of which may head to Big Bend National Park on Friday with us.
We rolled into Austin in the afternoon and called up Rob. He was our host for the evening. Rob is a 26 year old acoustic engineer from Indiana. He travels a lot for work so he gave up his place since he was spending money to basically store his stuff. Since then he’s been couchsurfing.
He drove us all over Austin in his Mini Cooper, feeding us knowledge about downtown, 6th street and the Warehouses. We ended up stopping at Uncle Billy’s for some BBQ, Austin style. We split family portions of sausage, ribs, pulled pork, potato salad and beans. I also tried one of Uncle Billy’s Micro Brews. I chose the stout which was smooth, dark and 8% alcohol. I dig those high octane beverages.
After dinner we headed up to 6th street to find a bar with some live music. There were a quite a few options but some were a bit too loud. We ended up at a place called Chuggin Monkey that had a southern country rock band that turned out to be quite good. I only knew a few songs but sat and drank my Dos Equis and talked with Andrea and Rob. We even attempted to play pool with a local girl who was into Rob but the table was broken. After another round we headed out to a cafe/bar called Spider House. Inside seems small and cozy then you head out back and realize it’s a big, happening place. Most of the girls waitressing/bartending had tattoos and there was a stage in the back. It seemed like a place that hipsters and writers would hang out searching for inspiration while enjoying caffeine and alcohol.
I drank another microbrew there, this time a Hefenwiezen by a company called Oak Hill (maybe. i’m sure it was Oak something) We chilled for a bit with the sounds of Bob Marley soothing us in the background then headed back to Rob’s. It was a great night in Austin. Today Andrea and I are chillin at a cafe called Mozart’s. Free wi-fi and chai tea.
We are still deciding whether we are going to hang in Austin another night or head to Big Bend National Park. It’s a good thing we have nothing but time.
Change of Plans
As we headed out of Memphis and crossed the Mississippi river Andrea checked the weather at the Grand Canyon. It was in the 30’s, snowing with a nighttime temperature of 18 degrees. We decided to head south and make the canyon on the way back. Hopefully it will be warmer in a few weeks. The sun went down and we were going to try to drive to Texarkana but ended up swinging over to Hot Springs, Arkansas on a tip from Pete the campground host at T.O. Fuller.
Hot Springs, the boyhood home of Bill Clinton, feels like it would be a huge tourist town in the summer. It was really cute and the campground we found and pulled into around 10 pm was at Gulpha Gorge and was only $10 a night.
In the morning we decided to hike Sunset Trail before hitting the road. This trail was ridiculous. The first section was .9 miles long and ended at Rt 7 then disappears. We asked someone where it crosses and thought we found it but were wrong. We ended up pulling out my compass and making our own trail. The town should have been south west of our position so that’s where we headed hoping to cross Sunset Trail. At one point we thought we found it but ended up in someone’s back yard. From there we followed the roads to Cedar St. then Cedar Glades Rd and picked up the trail.
We hiked on the trail for about 3 miles to Black Snake Road and decided that was far enough. It was getting late in the day so we walked the roads back to town where we saw Cascade Falls, a small, hot waterfall. From there we walked up Fountain St. and picked up Gulpha Gorge Trail which took us back to our campsite. We totalled 6 hours of hiking and approximately 9 miles. After a quick meal we headed back to the road. The sun went down around 5:30 and we drove until 7:30 or 8 where we stopped at the Texas Welcome Center in Texarkana. It’s here where we ate another meal, drank some whiskey and spent the night. In Texas you can stay at any rest area for up to 24 hours as long as you don’t put up a tent and we plan on taking full advantage.
