I Just Flew in From Great Falls...

...and boy am I tired. I just spent eleven hours either in an airport or in an airplane. The time spent in the Great Falls airport was actually pretty awesome. They had free internet (both wifi as well as wired) and a wonderful little business lounge complete with tables, copious outlets, and really, really comfortable office chairs. The Salt Lake City airport was much less fun, not offering free internet, tables, or really comfortable chairs. Thankfully I was only in the latter for two hours, as opposed to the almost five hours I spent in the Great Falls airport.

This was actually my first time ever flying (that I was old enough at the time to still remember). I was amazed at the whole experience, and I think just as amazed at how amazed I was. Usually I feel deprived or in some way as though I am missing something important about being a person in this society by not having flown, not having been well traveled, or not having any siblings. But this was one of those moments when I realized that even though there's a lot that I've missed up until now, it means that I still get to experience them for the very first time, and that I'm old enough to truly appreciate it my first time as opposed to just having grown up with it in a way where it never held much wonder for me. It was a little disappointing for me though, as there was a solid ceiling/carpet of clouds all the way from Great Falls to Phoenix, so I only ever saw the ground during take-off and landing. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

I'm still a bit upset that the trip is over, but at the same time I'm also rather relieved. I had a lot lined up for the summer, and a lot of it wasn't going to get done because of the trip, but now I have an extra three or so weeks in which to do it. In the vain of doing projects, over the next few days I'm going to finish up this blog by adding pictures to most of the posts and making sure that the map gets finished up.

And Thus it Must End

I'm writing this from Great Falls International Airport, waiting for my plane to come in so I can head home. No doubt you're wondering why I'm heading home so suddenly, on only the 11th day of a 36 day trip. To fully understand the reasoning would take a fair bit of explanation, as there is a lot of little things that have happened on the trip which I did not put into the blog, partially because I didn't want to bog it down with all the minutiae that would be negative and uninteresting, and partially because I had hoped they'd improve and not matter in the long run. As I don't want to have to go into it all, and even if I did it's a bit more nuanced that I think a simple blog post could capture, I'm going to give you the shorter version of what happened, and if you wish more details, feel free to contact me directly.

Over the course of the trip, my blog has been a constant source of contention, particularly with Bruce, who would get offended over simple observations such as "[the power system in the bus] doesn’t seem to have been set up properly," something he apparently took to be a "brutal" attack on him. Beyond this, there were also concerns over if the blog would reflect negatively on the organization or not. I did everything in my power to remove the blog from being associated with the organization save for actually deleting it (submitting to doing that would be bowing to censorship, and I'm too much of an idealist to do that). Despite this though, the blog's existence, as well as its content, were sources of much strife. I tell you all this not to make myself sound like some super brave modern day Nathan Hale character, but rather because it's important background for the next paragraph.

This morning I was feeling better. I woke up at 7:30, well before everyone else, and spent the extra time cleaning out the bus, refilling the cooler with ice, and doing some reading. Around 11am, as I was sitting on the couch in the bus reading and waiting for the others to come out of the hotel so we could go to the show, Bruce came into the bus. Before I could say "good morning" to him, however, he immediately begins yelling at me in a way that I think is best described as the way someone might expect another to yell if they had accidentally run over their daughter. I'm not going to try to quote him, but the gist of the yelling was "You pissed me off by writing that the hotel was underwhelming. You delete the whole blog this instant or I'm sending you home." He then ripped the book out of my hands and I was fearful that he'd start hitting me, so I managed to tell him that I would, as I pulled out my laptop. He went back into the hotel and I deleted the blog post in question (which has since been reposted). About five minutes later, everyone else had made it to the bus, and he comes back to and asks if I had taken care of the blog, to which I reply that I have, but that I'd like him to get me a ticket home anyway. I had managed to deal with the cramped quarters, the oil, the disgusting mess that is the inside of the bus, for ten days, but I wasn't going to put up with that, especially in light of all the other issues I'd been having with him up until then.

And so now I'm in the airport, on my way home. I'm very disappointed that the trip is over, though moreso in how it ended. I'd like to thank my traveling companions. Devin and Chris forced me to think in ways to which I wasn't accustomed, and that was nice. Christina and Stephanie were both amazing, and I wouldn't have had even a small fraction of the fun I had had on the trip without them. If any of them are reading, I'd like them to know that not only did they do nothing to cause me to leave early, they were instrumental in allowing me to stay as long as I did.

Of Internet, Solar Houses, and the State of the Trip

We just arrived at the hotel in Great Falls, and I am rather underwhelmed. Erik has done a fantastic job getting us these rooms, and for all his hard work I praise him, but as far as hotels go, this one leaves a lot to be desired. The hotel hosts an indoor pool and casino, the former of which fills the common area between the rooms with the smell of chlorine, the latter with the smell of cigarette smoke. I think most annoying of all though, is that I’m unable to get a stable internet connection. I don’t know if this is because of my computer, or the hotel, but it’s rather annoying. Neither the wireless, nor wired connections are giving me connectivity. I did manage to connect for about thirty seconds before it disconnected me, so I know it’s not completely broken. Hopefully I can find some time with a good internet connection soon, as I’m getting increasingly anxious to post pictures and update the Google map to the right. We’ll have a few days down time in Edmonton at the conference, so if nothing else, I should be able to find my way to a coffee shop at some point for the purposes of using their internet and electricity, as well as having some chai (the real stuff, not that oversweet and underspiced Oregon Chai).

After the show we had lunch and then went to see the house of a cousin of one of our primary sponsors. The house is heated almost entirely by the sun, by utilizing a very large (ten meter by two story) window on the south side which is lined on the inside with huge pipes of water. Due to how far north we are, that window gets direct sun most of the day, heating the water into the 30’s, where it radiates the heat into the house at night. In the summer the house is kept cool by the rays of the sun being more vertical, as well as the fact that it’s Montana and it just doesn’t get that hot here. The house was extremely cool, and not just for the solar heating, but due to the Escheresque architecture and the eccentric décor.

Other than the lack of internet, and me feeling bad this morning, the trip has been going well. I’m absolutely loving seeing the country, watching the scenery change with the license plate designs. Even the little things like noticing the density of various gas station franchises change with the region, and seeing ones that I’ve never heard of before as familiar ones become but a distant memory is great. Every kilometer I go, every new sight I see, makes me feel like a more complete person, and as though I’m having the holes in my childhood filled in. And in the rare times when that’s not quite enough, knowing that I’m helping influence hundreds – actually at this point it’s close to thousands – of kids across the country also helps keep me going.

It's... So... Beautiful

Yesterday at Yellowstone was awesome. We arrived around ten in the morning, and stayed until nine at night (the late setting sun helped us enjoy the day to the fullest). I’m not even going to try to describe how beautiful the park was. It’s not something that you can describe, or that pictures can do justice (though I was rather pleased with how well they came out). Instead, it’s something you just have to experience first hand, and everyone really should at some point in their lives.

Despite all the geysers and hot springs et. al. that for which the park is famous, I found that my favorite part was the rivers. I know that there are rivers all over, but I’ve never seen them first hand before this trip. I had great fun wading through them, and the juxtaposition of their blue winding across the green landscape was visually stunning. This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the thermal features of the park, but they were really secondary for me.

I spent a little too much time in the sun and got a little burned. Not badly mind you, but enough that everyone was commenting on my newfound pinkness. Thankfully, my skin does pretty well in the sun, and aside from being a little extra tender if I scrap it, I don’t expect it to hurt, and it should fade away into a bit of a tan in a day or two. But even if I had been badly burnt, I think it would have been worth it to see what I saw.

We’re doing a show at the Bozeman Boys and Girls Club, which is the most beautiful clubhouse I’ve yet seen. The thing looks like a giant log cabin with a green roof, and is surrounded by ample land covered in grass, trees, and even gardens. The inside is just as nice. The kids are some of the more enthusiastic that I’ve seen in a while, and they are the perfect age group, around ten to twelve, which is just old enough to understand what we’re doing but not too old to be jaded by whatever previous experiences can so often make teens the way they are.

I’m not feeling very well this morning though, so I’m sitting this show out. I’m not sure why, but I think it’s a combination of a number of factors including lack of communication with anyone save for the people on the bus (practically no internet and my phone won’t get service again until Portland), the fact that I left my apartment an absolute mess, and the knowledge that it’s still a mess is starting to get to me, the realization of just how long – and short – five weeks can be, and some physical ailment which I’ve yet to diagnose which has given me a pretty bad headache (might just be from too much sun yesterday). It’s harder to feel bad and just sit out a show on the tour than it was when we were doing shows in Tucson, where I can just call Bruce before the show and tell him I won’t be able to make it after all – now I have to be at the shows regardless of how I’m feeling. I make due though by taking pictures instead of performing and helping to setup or pack up where I can. Hopefully I’ll be feeling better for the show tomorrow. It’s odd, but I miss being on the stage. Something about the rhythm of a tour makes even a short three day lull seem like a long time. There are plenty more shows though, so I’m not worried.

Reaching Yellowstone

Today we drove through Idaho and into Yellowstone. At first the scenery was very disappointing after the grandeur that was Utah. As we neared Montana though, the vast, monotonous plains gave way first to some distant mountains covered in snow and then to an absolutely beautiful coniferous forest scrawled with winding rivers and streams. On the way we had to make a quick bathroom break, and the first place to turn off ended up being a campground called Riverside. You can no doubt guess that this was right along the bank of a river. The sight was easily, by large orders of magnitude, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. If Yellowstone proper is anywhere as lovely, I may not be able to contain myself. I don’t think the pictures below are going to do it justice by any means. I seriously could have spent weeks at that spot were the situation such that I could.

Upon reaching the campground at Yellowstone (at around 4:30pm), everyone decided that they just had to go to the pool. I hadn’t showered in four days, so I figured I had nothing to left to lose even with getting my hair soaked in chlorine. The swimming experience was… adequate, and definitely not worth the cost associated. After getting out I rinsed off (very, very well) in the shower at the pool, and then went straight for the shower, where I used far more than the recommended doses of shampoo, conditioner, and soap. I still feel icky from the chlorine, so I don’t think that there’ll be anymore swimming for me unless we come across a river.

For dinner everyone wanted to go to the little restaurant thing at the campground. This of course posed a huge problem for me, as being the only strict vegetarian in the group, I was relegated to choosing between getting a grilled cheese sandwich and/or rolls, iceberg lettuce and dressing, and corn. I ended up getting some of all of it in a somewhat vain attempt to get a “balanced” meal and keep from going hungry. The food wasn’t very good, though not bad either, but the lack of choice made it a fairly miserable meal.

Right now I’m typing this from a patio area at the campground, for the sole reason of taking advantage of the electrical outlets that are here. We still haven’t been able to fix the bus’s electrical system, which is really hurting things. Everyone has copious electronics including camera batteries to recharge, laptops, and cell phones. The phones aren’t so bad, partly because I don’t have one anyway, and partly because they keep their charge for a day or more. The laptop is much harder to deal with though, as I was counting on it to keep me busy/entertained during the long bus rides. As I only have about two hours of power on it between charges, with no way on knowing when those will be. As such I’ve had to be miserly in my use of the laptop, which has meant switching book to read (the one I was reading was an e-book) and listening more to my iPod. It’s manageable, but a lot more annoying that it used to be when I had virtually unlimited laptop use.

Strange Bed Locations

We spent yesterday evening in front of the Taco Bell in Logan after our shopping trip at Wal-Mart. Besides having way too big a meal (we’ve been only eating two feasts a day, so we ordered a lot of food, and they accidentally gave us extra food on top of that) we spent the time charging our electrical devices inside the Taco Bell and trying to fix up the bus some. Once the sun started to set (which was about 9:30pm, something I’m still not used to) we set off on the road toward Pocatello, where we thought there might be a campground for us to stay at. On the way, we came across a place to pull off the highway, in the middle of nowhere, for the purpose of switching drivers.

What we found was a staircase, at least three stories in height, which seemed to lead to nowhere. Being the intrepid explorers that we are, we of course ran up the staircase at full speed to find a very steep drop-off at the top. Seems that the staircase just lead to the top of a very small, and very steep hill. Placed about 3 meters from the top of the staircase was a small obelisk, upon which was placed a plaque commemorating someone whose name I already forgot. On the other side of the hill, on the bottom, was a small graveyard. Naturally everyone (or at least the vocal and awake majority) decided that this would be a perfect place to stay for the night. I wanted to head into town and get to a campground, not the least reason for which being that I haven’t showered in four days now, and I’d really like to use that particular service of the campgrounds. Ultimately, we spent the night there though, with me sleeping in the hammock inside of the bus. Due to the extreme cold (it nearly froze) I had to get in the hammock, while being in my sleeping bag, which was not an easy task to say the least. Also, the bus was parked about 6 meters from some train tracks, which had a train roaring down them no fewer than three times through the night, blaring it’s horn the whole way and waking us up. Ultimately though, it wasn’t that bad, and besides being cold despite the sleeping bag, and being awoken by the trains, I slept rather well.

Now we’re back on the highway heading up to Pocatello for breakfast. We should make Yellowstone before nightfall, with plenty of time to spare, assuming nothing strange happens. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about that.

I'm posting these from yet another particularly bad wi-fi network, so alas, there are still no pictures, or even Google Map markers this time. I'll get them up as soon as possible, so please check back later.

Performance in the Park

This morning saw the bus tire getting changed, which got us on our way by around 9:30am. We almost made it to the gig on time, finishing setting up twenty minutes late. Not back for getting a flat tire not 12 hours earlier I think. Today’s show was outdoors, in a park. It was a pleasant change of pace from constantly doing shows in Boys and Girls Clubs’ gyms. The park was covered in huge trees (but then again, so is the entire state, so that’s practically a given) and grass. And not what passes for grass in Arizona, but soft, lush, long grass that was really pleasant to walk through barefoot. The weather here is absolutely beautiful, and it really makes me hate being stuck in Arizona even more than I already did. It’s enough to make me want to change schools to somewhere else, but then logic gets in the way and I realize that it wouldn’t be worth the hassle of moving and trying to make everything transfer nicely when I only have one year left.

The weather and scenery have really been making this trip fantastic for me, and always a new experience, as until we get up to Edmonton, every kilometer farther north that we go takes me further north than I’ve ever been. But it’s not all sunshine and lollipops. A new problem has cropped up on the bus. The secondary battery bank and the inverters that we set up to give us AC power in the bus doesn’t seem to have been set up properly, and the batteries haven’t been charging. We’ve now exhausted the charge that they used to have, so we are now without power, being forced to charge our devices during shows and at meals if we can find an outlet in the restaurant. Hopefully it won’t be too long before we get that fixed though.

Right now I’m in the bus sitting outside a large public pool in Logan. With as much as everyone here wants to go into pools, I’d swear that I was on a trip with a swim team, not physics people. I of course hate swimming, so I’m pretty left out of these activities, but it gives me a chance to update the blog, so I suppose there’s some good in there. We do have a good schedule coming up though. Our next show isn’t until Monday, so we have two and a half days off right now. We’re going to get the oil changed and the fluid levels checked during the downtime, as well as do some more organization on the bus so as to hopefully make it a little better place to live. We’re also planning a day in Yellowstone, which I’m totally excited about, being the hippy nature lover that I am. Hopefully the weekend lives up to my expectations of awesomeness.

Just a Tiny Snafu

Today was crazy, to say the least. We had two shows, at two different locations, though thankfully in the same city. This meant a day of waking up, having breakfast, being at the first show at 11pm, getting out of it around 2:30pm, and then having to get to the next venue and set up in time for another show at 3:30pm (and thus not having lunch). After that show was dinner, and we didn’t get back on the road until 9pm. The days on this trip are LONG. You’d think that it’d be hard on me, and it is, but somehow it’s not too bad. Having five other people with me, all of us helping each other makes it a lot easier though, and I think I should be able to survive it. Plus, we have a few days where we do nothing but drive coming up, so those will be relaxing.

After our shows we were driving up from Salt Lake City to Ogden, which isn’t a regular stop on our tour, but was on our way and Stephanie was going to meet up with a friend there. As we were driving down the highway, a loud bang was heard, followed by a rhythmic thumping sound. We pulled over at the first exit to find that one of our rear tires had failed. Further investigation showed that we were stopped in the parking lot of a movie theater which was shaped in the form of a pair of breasts, prompting everyone to refer to the location as “The Boobs” for the rest of the night. AAA was called and “gave us advice.” Ultimately, the bus was towed to the nearest tire place (only a few kilometers down the road) to be replaced in the morning. Before that happened though, Stephanie’s friend arrived and whisked her, Christina, and myself to his house for the night. This was rather serendipitous timing to get the flat, as it allowed us to be able to have places to sleep without being able to get to a campground. So in the end, minor catastrophe, but it doesn’t seem to be as though it will be too bad. Indeed, I think we’ll even make it on time to tomorrow’s show, so all’s well.

Again, pictures will go up as soon as I have a better internet connection (we have a hotel room Sunday night, so hopefully I’ll be able to put them up then).

Back to Back Shows

Today was excellent. We spent the night at a KOA campground. Everyone else piled on the roof of the bus to sleep, as we were all too tired to bother with pitching a tent. i, being a little less brave and/or foolish, opted for the couch inside the bus. Ultimately I think I made the correct decision there. A fairly relaxed morning saw us taking showers and doing laundry, followed by a great breakfast at Denny's. From there we went to our gig at the local Boys and Girls Club. Due to a bit of disorganization, we arrived an hour earlier than we were supposed to, so we had plenty of time before the show to play around with the demos to make that they worked properly, so that was good. We even planned the order of the show and who would do what before it started, which was totally awesome.

The show was actually a double show, where we do two shows back to back with about fifteen minutes down time in between. These are generally my favorite, as anything that goes wrong in the first show allows for immediate correction in the second, and you get to do a show for more kids with less loading and unloading from the bus. The first show didn't go so well, as the kids were a little too young for us to have any real audience participation (they were at the age where instead of proffering useful (not necessarily correct, just constructive) answers to our prompts, they'd tell us instead about how their mom has a car or how they used to have a pet frog). The second show was with an older group (5th through 9th graders or so) who were a much better audience. That show went perfectly, with no hiccups, no broken or misfired demos, and no confusion on what was next to how to do something. I hope that all our remaining shows can be as good as that second one was. I know they won't be, but it'll be a good thing to strive for.

Fertile Utah

First, I need to take care of a quick disclaimer. There’s been unrest in the organization because instead of just typing up all nice and happy things, I have instead been typing my honest thoughts and feelings as I’ve had them. The worry is that this might reflect poorly on the group. As a result, I’ve removed all textual references to the name of the organization from the blog to prevent them from coming up in google searches. Also, I’m now stating that nothing contained within this blog, past or future, is intended in any way to be an unbiased critique of the organization or the people in it. This is my personal blog with my personal thoughts, and is highly biased by my past experiences and expectations. Ok, with that out of the way, on to the actual content.

As I’m typing this, I’m in the bus riding up I-15 through Utah. Two things have stricken me about this. First, it’s past 9pm and the sun is still up and it’s bright enough to read comfortably. Second, the land is absolutely beautiful. Everything is green; the hills, the meadows, everything. I know this probably sounds weird to some of you, but I’ve been sentenced to live in Arizona for almost my entire life (since age seven), making such sights extremely novel. If the rest of the trip is going to be like this, then I’ll be looking forward to it much more than I thought I would be.

Today, though exceptionally long, has been the best day of the tour so far. Now that I’m out of Las Vegas, things have been a bit easier for me. I’m feeling better, both mentally and physically, and I feel ready to tackle this trip with renewed vigor. I’m going to need it too, as we won’t be getting into the campground until after midnight. We have four shows in the next two days, which will be absolutely exhausting, but equally fun and rewarding.