and i can see for miles and miles...

So i left oklahoma city monday morning, and made it into Albuquerque by 6 pm (only on schedule because i gained an hour driving west.... man i am really gonna be screwed for time when i eventually drive back to the east coast.)

i had a great time hanging out there with my friend john skillman, my cousins Charles and Georgia, and Charles girlfriend Janice. we basically just goofed around all night at Charles' new house. Janice (who is a professional sous chef at a local restaurant) threw together this amazing dinner in a matter of minutes while we hung out and looked at charles' martial arts "classical weapon" collection (which was really freakin cool and made me want to go play role playing games right away.) i really wish i could have spent more time with charles and janice and georgia. so i guess i'll have to make a trip down to New Mexico sometime soon.

tuesday morning i actually got to relax and hang out on campus with John. while john was going to jazz band rehearsal, we tried to lock his bike up, and somehow it wasn't working, and after laughing, it quickly turned into a Laurel and Hardy skit, where neither of us could lock it up. he was almost late for his rehearsal, so i just stayed and locked it myself, which of course only took 2 seconds now that both of us weren't trying simultaneously.

i then headed up to taos, NM that afternoon to see my uncle marcus and aunt edie. that was an amazingly beautiful drive, and it was a lot of fun to just chill in the mountains and catch up with them.

this morning today i took the scenic route from Taos to Georgetown, CO, but i stopped at the great sand dunes national park for lunch. this is an amazing national park that is right at the base of some of the rockies. it's literally just a miniature sahara desert at the foot of the mountains, and extend several miles into the plains. when i came out to visit my relatives in CO and NM as a 3rd grader, we stopped here and climbed the highest dunes. and ever since then, i've felt this strange calling to come back and see them again, because it almost felt like it was a dream. i intended to only stay briefly, but after getting there and starting a short hike, i knew i wouldn't come down until i made it to the top.

i unfortunately decided to not pay heed to the park's suggestion for wearing shoes (due to very hot sand.. ~140 deg.) so i wore my sandals... and wow. big mistake. i should have taken a picture of the soles of my feet afterwards... they were literally charred white.

either way, it took 45 minutes to get to the top peak (after several wrong ways to "false peaks") and it was amazing. the view actually wasn't as breath-taking as i remembered it... but i was alone up there, and the silence was what amazed me this time. complete silence except for a subtle breeze. i made a small video while at the summit that i'll post on my facebook profile soon (if it doesn't work here.)

and then i drove up through the rockies to see my aunt mary pat and uncle randy in Georgetown, CO. they have an amazing little mountain cottage (that looks tiny on the outside, but is actually like 4 stories!) mary pat prepared an amazing salmon dinner, and we just hung out all night with their new dog, Bonnie, until Randy came home from work.

besides seeing all my friends and family, the driving has actually been a huge highlight of the trip. after carefully choosing my music rotation for each day, i just put it on cruise control, and i enjoy the scenery. the music i'm playing acts like a soundtrack to the drive, and it is so awesome. in the last few days, i listened to Sly and the Family Stone, Jamiroquai's new album, The Who's greatest hits, Styx, the last 5 years, symphonie fantastique again, Red hot chili peppers, Siamese Dream, Return of the Jedi, and lots more. there's something very relaxing about being able to look for hundreds of miles in every direction and see nothing but open ranges, or mountains in the distance, and only pass maybe a few cars within an hour.

Actually, one the coolest parts of the trip happened while driving through the top part of texas. There was a HUGE storm looming in the distance, north of the interstate. it looked as if it was i would eventually meet up with it, and sure enough, right when the Battle in the Forest (aka the forest battle) started, i was smack in the middle of a huge hail storm! but the sun was shining from the southwest the whole time, so it made for a really crazy view most of the time (at one point, a small cloud that was only 25 feet above the ground, just drifted right in front and above me at about 30 mph... right when yoda's theme started up. it doesn't sound strange, but believe me... it looked SURREAL) and what was amazing was that everything in the weather seemed to cue up perfectly with what was going on in the jedi album. vader's theme came back as i was passing an overturned RV (looks like it was abandoned,) and as soon as the weather broke, luke's theme came back, and the final credits theme started as i rode off into the sunset.... i know, i'm a dork, but had you been there with me, you would have thought the same thing!

on a side note, since crossing through the Rockies, i've found out that my car is completely ill-equipped to go up any kind of incline. i won't even go into details, except to say that the fastest i can drive it up hill is 35 mph, if the incline lasts for more than 30 seconds. this last one before georgetown was the continental divide (alt. 11,397 ft) and was 13 miles uphill! i will be sad to leave Colorado, but suffice it to say, my car won't.

tomorrow i head over to Utah, and will be camping at Goblin Valley State Park (they filmed Galaxyquest there.) and i am going to stop in the Bit and Spur Saloon for lunch i believe. I always thought Utah was boring except for Salt Lake City, but it turns out the opposite is true. i would give anything to spend more time there.

ok, time for bed. i apologize for taking so much time between posts, and for making this one ridiculously long. thanks for the comments, and and i hope the layout looks more symmetrical this time!