demise.

well, if my intention was to roll straight through this northeast megalopolis, i am doing well. one night in boston, one night in new haven, two nights in bronxville, one night in brooklyn, one night in philadelphia, one night in wilmington, and now i am in baltimore.

i havent been taking pictures because it all seems so boring and similar. big buildings here, and expressway there, some water, etc. i do wish that i had taken some photos in philadelphia because that was a great night. i just didnt those people well enough to start snapping photos, or maybe i was having too good of a time to really care about posterity.

wilmington wasnt that much fun. delaware is where many of the fortune 500 companies make their headquarters because the state has very lax corporate tax or something. because of that there is probably the greatest disparity of super rich and super poor in the city. i mostly just walked around the downtown. i did try to sneak into the dupont theatre to catch the production of "the wizard of oz." i spent about two hours trying to find a way in through the dupont hotel, but no luck.

i was able to get some food though. not great food. a couple pieces of cake, some of those philadlephia special pretzels, and some fruit. i felt like shit the next morning because i had ingested so much salt and sugar. but i went back there for breakfast of bagels and coffee. i wouldve spent more time there if they had free internet as well, but i guess the world isnt perfect that way.

i have never really been to baltimore before. i think i drove through it once or twice and maybe picked up a chinatown bus on the outskirts but i cannot be sure of that. so i walked around for a fair amount of time yesterday. unfortunately the number one person i wanted to see here is playing coy.

that person is ryan harvey, a friend since 2003. he has visited portland and stayed at my home a number of times in the years and i thought i was sharing by visiting his home. but he isnt opening his doors to me and thats disappointing. i especially would like to take a shower. i have another friend here that i will try to see tonight.

tomorrow ryan will have no way out of seeing me. he is playing a show with eric peterson (awesome!) that i plan to attend. i planned my visit so that i would be here a couple day before the show (to hang out?!?) and then leave after the show. even if i dont get to the hang out time i was expecting i still plan to leave after the show. not directly after, but the next morning.

then i will go to dc for a day or two and on to richmond. initially this trip was planned as a beeline from portland to richmond. and then randomnes from there. that didnt pan out. the last time i was in richmond was in 2004 and it was a spectacular time. i am hoping for nothing less this time around.

the fox and the hound, a philadelphia story

last night was all that i ever wanted from this trip, i felt *almost* like a real person again. i had such a big smile on my face and felt like i was doing a good job at life. who knew that i had to find this in philadelphia of all places? now i feel sorry for all of the smack i was talking on this city and all these large cities yesterday. i kind of want to apologize, but i understand how futile that is and will refrain.

i met amelia last night at a small coffee shop called satellite. it reminded me of a tiny version of the red and black cafe in portland. so i felt just fine being there. she came up and looked mostly like i remember her, more tattoos and a bit more punk rock looking, but i guess thats what years of traveling and train hopping will do to a girl. as with most of my encounters i didnt feel out of place at all. it felt like we just fell back in.

i certainly dont attribute any of this to myself. i have been an asshole to many of the people in my life as it turns, i have just been fortunate to make friends with some awesome people over the years. really amazing, friendly and forgiving folks. and for that i am appreciative. she is a fashion photographer now and that seems like an awesome profession to have. even though she looks like the last person anyone would expect to be shooting models all day long.

we caught up for a couple of hours, her friend sherman was also in town and the three of us talked and enjoyed company in the coffee shop until around 9pm. then we drove my truck and her car to south philly to park by her apartment, from there we would all get in her car and drive in the center city to meet some of her friends at a bar and have some drinks.

over the last three or four years i have been perfecting some social awkwardness and general fear of people, and i got pretty good at it while i was in portland. this is my therapeautic way out of that darkness. we left for the bar and i was silently pumping myself up for a table full of strangers in a quiet yet seedy bar, trying to convince myself to be open and friendly instead of closed off and sullen. i was also feeling some separation anxiety from my truck.

i dont leave my truck very far behind often and i try to always know where it is and how to get back to it, since it houses all of my possessions and is the key for my survival on this trip. and here i was driving into the dark night of philadelphia with my truck in some unknown location in south philly. and a table full of strangers, i was a little bit nervous but when we arrived at the bar things ironed themselves out rather quickly.

the bar, called the fox and the hound (i think), was a large sports bar. it was loud and packed inside, these conditions softened up my nervousness, at least if i sat quiet and forgotten at the end of the table i could go mostly unnoticed or pass off my uncomfortability on account of the loudness of the place. but none of this stuff was necessary. ameila's friend, blakslee, came outside and found us, we all introduced, then we went inside. she was already quite drunk and offered some hilarity.

we went towards the back of the place to a table with a few other folks and we all met each other and sat for awhile trying to talk over the music. i should note that the reason this bar was chosen becuase it was $2 tuesday draft night, where all of the draft beer was being sold for $2. so it was a good deal. our server, rob, was having his first night on the floor and i took a little advantage of that. we got some drinks and hung out for awhile.

eventually it also became a karaoke bar. secretly, i love karaoke. it takes a little bit to get me up there the first time but there is such a rush after that first time i want to do it again and again. blakslee wanted to sing a duet and i volunteered for that. after a few more drinks, she went up and chose a song for us. before that i had gone outside to smoke a cigarette and met some folks out there. this was partly why i started smoking, or at least a reason i give myself to continue, for the social aspect. i met chris and some other dudes out there and they chatted me up.

true to form, i was a bit mean to them but they liked it all the same. thats something i have never understood about myself. when i am loose and enjoying people i can be a bit harsh in a joking way, but people love it. and these guys ate it up. when i went back in one of those free cigarette bar people came by our table. i engaged him and let him sign me up for something, and in return got a free zippo lighter and two tins of snus. yay? i didnt try it, instead it became a table curio and all of the folks there got a chance to inspect the tins and the little packets inside, one person actually put one in his mouth.

then my frankness with our server paid off. earlier in the night i had asked him for a free beer. he kind of laughed about it, but i told him i was serious, if they pull an extra drink or someone doesnt want their beer for some reason, bring it on over. and, to my surprise, he brought me one. i felt pretty good about that, it never hurts to ask.

then our song came on. i cannot help but laugh about it right now, because it was so ridiculous. here, i have just met this person and the duet she chooses for us to sing is "i've got you babe" by sonny and cher. perhaps you know the song? generally sung by couples or people that at least have a working knowledge of each other and good chemistry. not this time, up we went to the stage to sing our hearts out. i was hopeful that we would do well becasue the folks before us were absolutely terrible.

so, we went to sing the song and it did go well. we had some good chemistry, locking eyes as we sang parts together, hand gestures and real feeling in the song. it was exhilarating. one of the folks we were with took some pictures and i hope that i get a chance to see them. we went back to the table and talked for a bit more. amelia was making the motions for preparing to leave, and said that we would go after the drinks we had. i was kind of disappointed because i was having a good night but i wasnt so comfortable that i wanted to stay with these strangers alone with my truck somewhere away from me.

so, i went outside and had another cigarette. chris was out there again, and we chatted some more. somehow i talked him into buying me a beer, and when we went back inside he did just that. i had to go over to his table for a bit and talk with some of his folks, but that was okay. he gave me his business card and explained that he was a fashion photographer. how ironic, there was also a fashion photographer at my table. i laughed very much at this coincidence in my mind. eventually i had to take him to meet amelia.

they couldnt have been more opposite of people. and she didnt look very keen to meet this person, but played it off well enough. after that encounter we started to leave. blakslee invited me to come with her and some friends the next day to see "where the wild things are" and that sounded like a good idea to me. so we exchanged numbers and amelia, sherman and i left. outside i ran into chris again. he told me that he didnt think amelia liked him very much and i assured him that if she saw him in a dark alley somewhere she would kick his ass.

with that the three of us walked back toward her car and then drove back to her apartment. it was offered for me to sleep on the couch, but there were dogs and a number of bike messengers that lived there and in a situation like that i feel much more comfortable in the seclusion of my pickup truck. so amelia and i hung out for a final minute while her dog went to the "park" and then we parted upon the square. she went upstairs and i retired to my truck, happy.

really, i want to stress how awesome the people i meet are. sometimes i think that all people are the same everywhere (and really how could you argue with that? name something that sets one person distinctively apart from every other person in this world.) but, nights like these soften my outlook and remind that regardless of how similar we all are we are all still individuals. and all it takes is a little engagement with other folks to really experience the differences and appreciate everyone as distinct and unique beings floating in this ether of life. waning poetic.

air berlin, take me there!

well, let me just start this by saying how much i dislike these east coast cities and the northeast area in general. the people i have got to see and meet have been great, but since i left portsmouth, kind of downhill. the reason is because this is all one large megalopolis. from boston to dc, west to philly, and maybe even as far south as richmond. and it just isnt what i want.

i loved the days in the wild west where i wouldnt see anything but bare land or forests and mountains, i could drive on state highways and be the only car in sight. the state highways out here are just a step down from an expressway, with as much or more congestion and little of value. the cities are so huge that i cant really get a good footing anywhere.

when i have little to no knowledge of a place i start from the center and work out from there, but the city centers of large cities are just boring buildings and lemmings. i dont even have the desire to try to sneak into places and explore like i once did. city life is taxing, with few visible returns. probably i am not staying in places long enough for the returns, but oh well. this is my life, better live it to be happy now.

yesterday i drove through jersey, still on the expressways, to trenton. there were some factors that drove me to trenton, one of which was sleeping in a new state. this, really, isnt anything important. but i like the idea of being able to say that i have spent considerable time in each state. even if i dont enjoy it. on this trip, of the states i have visited i have slept for at least a night in all of them except connecticut and rhode island. but, as i said before, i spent like 15 days riding a bike through those states in 2004.

so, trenton. i got there towards the end of the day and thought of going to the state house but it was closing up. it didnt look like that exciting of a place anyway. it was the most guarded of all i have seen so far. there was a fence all the way around it and it was set off from the actual downtown. there was probably a moat too. instead i went back into the downtown and looked for a place to spend a few hours. i found the marriott hotel.

hotel are very fine establishments, oftentimes they have free wireless and comfy chairs and they just dont ask questions. i sat in the lobby using the internet for awhile, read, had a beer in the lounge. i watched some of the football game on tv. i like watching football (a somewhat recent happening) but i havent been able to see much on this trip. so that was nice. it almost felt like i was just sitting in my own living room enjoying my spoils. except for when i had to leave and brave downtown trenton, which looks like a large ghetto.

i parked on a "residential street" but it was still metered and i dont like parking on a meter overnight. i get scared that i will be towed. luckily, i also parked about two blocks from the main fire station, so i had some flashing lights and sirens to temper my sleep. in the morning, there was much chatter outside my "door." i got dressed trying make as little movement as possible, i didnt want to attract any attention to my truck. the ladies chatting were sitting in their doorway and calling over all the people walking to gossip with them.

i was stuck back there for almost an hour. i dont like getting out when there are people around, it is probably scary for them and i dont want to draw undue attention to myself. i dont want to get beat up for being homeless or something. i know that my fear and apprehensions are probably mostly unfounded, but this is why i dont like being in cities. eventually the people left and i jumped out real quick when it was just the ladies at the doorway. i dont think they really noticed me, but i sped away rather quickly.

i went back to the hotel, because it was familiar and i was hoping they would have a free continental breakfast or something, but no luck on that front. i used the internet for a little bit, mapped my route and set off for philadelphia.

the last time i was in philly was in june-ish of 2005 (perhaps my timeline-ographer can fact check this for me) for a protest. it was a short visit, i came with steve, emily and my friend blank in a car from indiana. we went to bowling green first for a media conference, there we ditched steve (i think) and the three of us went on to philly for a bio devestation convergance. i think this was the last majot protest convergance that i was a part of...and i wasnt really a part of it.

i mostly sat in the radio studio and helped with the broadcast or updated websites. i dont remember that much of it. i do recall going to the much renowned vegan philly cheese steak place and staying at the $10 house with some big dogs. also, i remember going to a little vietnamese convenient store that had awesome tofu sandwiches for really cheap. i am looking for that place while i am here now.

i got in here and pretty much went to the library. they generally have some kind of information on the city and if not, i can use the internet to find things. but philly hasnt been very inspiring to me. i came in on route one, which cuts diagonally through the city and i drove about twenty miles in the city limits before i hit downtown. this place is just too big. i got cut off at the library early because there was a fire drill or something there. i wasnt doing much anyway, so i walked around downtown a bit and settled near logan square to read a book for awhile.

it was a really beautiful sunny day and i was hot sitting on a bench in the sun. i got in touch with my friend amelia whom i am meeting up here later on. that should be exciting. the last time i clearly remember seeing her, she was throwing things at me. we were dating at the time and at a party, i was hitting on someone else very blatantly and when she confronted me about it i kind of blew her off. she also had hurt her ankle that night and i wasnt interested in taking care of her. in short i was an asshole. (big surprise, this had to be 2003).

i have probably seen her since then, but our encounters were certainly terse since then. now, with the sedative of old age i am sure that is past and we can enjoy each others company as just people. even now, our meeting will be brief. she is leaving tomorrow for nyc and unless my friend mike gets in touch with me i will most likely push on south to baltimore from here. or maybe stop somewhere in between, we'll see.

october on the east coast

here i am, on the jersey turnpike of all places. first off, i am certainly not happy with driving on expressways, especially toll roads, but it seems that there really isnt any other way out of new york city. every single bridge and tunnel to get out of new york requires a toll. it is absurd, it would make more sense if they did it in a similar way to london with the express goal of cutting down traffic in the city. here it seems that the only purpose is to make money to pay for more roads.

but, what catches me right now, the reason i am breaking for a moment to write this is becasue of gas. the cheapest gas i have seen on my trip, until now, has been $2.34/gallon. on the parkways in new york the convenient stations have gas at $3.30. but here, on the jersey turnpike of all places, gas is only $2.30. i find that rather amazing, they have a captive audience that is already paying to drive on the road, you would think they would take advantage of that and charge as much for gas as possible.

too bad my tank is already full. on to trenton, philadelphia, baltimore, richmond and all points south.

however, before i could leave the travel plaza i had to wait for a long time. i got into a line of cars that were all stopped and played the typical disgruntled driver. throwing my arms up and such. getting out of the car, walking to the front to inquire about the disturbance...even though i had been told precisely what was going on by a number of motorists along the way.

joe biden, the vice president of the united states, was driving through and they had to clear the entire turnpike for his motorcade. we had to wait for nearly an hour while the road was cleared and after the motorcade passed we had to wait for it to get far enough along before we could re-enter. it wasnt that bad, i chatted with some truckers and read for awhile. luckily it was a beautiful day in mid jersey.

childlike children, running, with wings on

well, now i am in bronxville. i guess i was in bronxville last time i updated, but now it is almost over. so, i went to gillards the other day to see rob. and that was surreal. many things have changed, but as many have not changed. the store looks different, but rob and his dad, bob, were still slinging cigarettes and lotto behind a tiny counter. i was a bit nervous to go in, as if that should be any surprise.

i sat on a bench across the street for awhile. it was the same bench that i would sit on 10 years ago. eventually i got enough courage up to walk in. i didnt really know what to expect, but i guess i never really do and i always have to just walk into some situation and make it be great. i stayed at gillards for a couple hours, chatting with the two of them about old times and new times. it was nice, it was easy.

and when things are easy that means that there was some great friendship or connection that existed and i appreciate that after years of being apart things can just fall back into place so easily. i wanted to get upstairs to the apartment that i stayed at, but that just wasnt possible. i left the store after awhile and walked over to sarah lawrence college. i remembered certain rocks that i sat on and poems that i wrote while sitting on them.

i was so young then, so open to experience, but i was also just as nervous about people as i am now. 10 years ago when i would go to slc i would be so frightened of the people there, and never actually talk to them. only once did i muster that kind of courage and i ended up in some girls dorm room listening to melt banana and ween. i was so fucking scared. and now, while i walked up there with the idea of finding something to do, i was just as terrified. perhaps a bit more bold, but terrified nevertheless.

i sat in the library for a bit and read and then went and found a place to park for the night. that wasnt hard, but i figured out in the morning that it was easy because it is illegal to be parked on the streets between 3-7 am. so i had a ticket in the morning. big deal. rob was busy on saturday and i was debating what to do. i convinced myself that i should just make the most of the time i had and instead of sitting in bronxvile bumming around for a day and a half waiting for rob to be free i would chase down some other old friends that exist in this part of the world.

i called up my old friend pete wojcik who recently moved from manhattan to brooklyn. i told him i was in town and that i had some time, if he was free i would come into brooklyn and hang out with him. he told me to get my ass out there. out there was also another friend of mine from high school, michelle levy. i emailed her my phone number hoping that she would call and i could see her as well.

she didnt, so i will profile my memory of her real quick. she was the best friend of my high school girlfriend. she always had a crush on my best friend steve, but i think my girlfriend at the time also had a crush on steve. the four of us would hang out endlessly at my house, in my room. we would do alot of drugs and just hang out. i lost touch with her when i left in 1999, the last i saw of her was at a show at the firesdie bowl in chicago, i dont know what year, but she was playing pool and i didnt even recognize her anymore.

pete

i got some directions to get to brooklyn and made in out there in about an hour, to see pete. here again, he is a person that i was very good friends with in high school and i lost touch with in 1999. in 1999 a whole old life of mine ended and a new one began. it is strange then that here i am in new york ten years later connecting the two. in 1997 or so pete got kicked out of his parents house and i asked my parents if he could stay with us, they said yes. i was surprised at that, or at least looking back on it i am surprised, but it probably seemed very natural and normal back then.

anyway, for his senior year of high school he lived at my house and my parents treated him like one of their own. of course, i dont remember any of this, these are the things he told me yesterday. but, my folks would buy him school supplies and put out an easter basket for him and were just great people to a person that was in a shitty situation. eventually pete would move in with my brother and for some reason that i dont know, we had a falling out. he joined the military and i left for new york. i think that was the last time i saw him, sometime in late 1998.

i love hearing these people from my past telling me their memories of me in their life, and especially the people that were more intertwined with my family. pete told me that when he came back on leave in 1999 he had on his dress uniform and went to my parents house to hang out with them. he said that he wanted my parents to be proud of him, he didnt care about his folks or what they thought of him, but my parents he wanted to impress or prove that he was doing well in life.

that was so touching to hear. i love my family, and i think we have a great relationship but it is sparse. and i certainly would like that to be different. listening to him talking about these things were moving. it made me feel good about myself but also where i come from and the people that i have known. i like to think that i am a good person, and i like to think that the people who raised me are good people, and this positive reinforcement is awesome. especially because it is so genuine.

anyway, so i got to brooklyn and pete was outside waiting for me. he looked similar to what i remember he, except now he had a pit bull. we embraced and then i had to repark my truck because i did a piss poor job the first time. its funny, because the same thing happened when i got to san diego to see ricky smith, he was waiting for me and i parked horribly. thats joy, i guess.

we went inside and i met his partner and housemate. both nice girls from michigan. we sat in there chatting and catching up for an hour or so and then we decided to go walk around brooklyn and have a drink somewhere. well, pete has only been in brooklyn for a couple of weeks so our first attempt to find the bar consisted of about a mile loop where we inadvertantly walked in a circle back to his apartment. we stopped there for some water and then persevered and went back out into the world.

this time we found the right track, but the bar we were looking for was about an hour walk from the apartment. it was a good walk, it was nice out, on the verge of rain and a bit chilly but walking made up for the chill. when we got to the bar, instead of going in we walked on to a park a couple of blocks up from it. we had the dog with us and went towards this bar because dogs were allowed inside. apparently, the look of the place wasnt the same as pete remembered and he didnt want to go there any longer.

so we continued walking until we got pretty lost in brooklyn. i was tired, and was really looking forward to having a beer. so we decided to walk back toward the apartment and find a bar around there. since we didnt really know where we were it was hard to know if we were going the right way. it turned out that we were, after phoning a friend to pinpoint us and confirm our direction. but we had also gone far out of our way and walked for a long time to get back to his place. it total we walked for about four hours all throughout brooklyn.

and it was nice, if i were alone in a place this is what i would do anyway, but i would never come to a place this big. when we got back all i wanted was a beer. he had been promising me one all day, and now i wouldnt take no for an answer. so we decided to go to this place down the street that had a good happy hour, but i thought we would go sit there and drink, he just wanted to go buy beer and come back. and my wheels started turning.

becasue, i had beer and whiskey in my truck. no walking 8 blocks there and back to buy some beer. i went to the truck and got together my supplies, to begin the second most crazy drinking night of my trip so far. i had 11 beers and a fifth of whiskey. there were three of us. pete was making ribs for dinner, so we had some beers and some shots of whiskey. quickly the beer ran out and we were then just drinking whiskey. i am not a big whiskey drinker, i am just learning how to enjoy it on this trip, and i am getting there.

we started drinking bigger and bigger shots of whiskey from teacups. it was ridiculous. just before the ribs were done, and after drinking awhile i took a shower. when i got out of the shower, it was time to eat. i had two of the ribs. they were tough, but good and i enjoyed them. i kept dropping them of my shirt, when i finished i had to go out and change my shirt. before the night was over i would have to change all of my clothes. when i came back in we drank more whiskey.

and we were all talking, sharing stories and getting to know each other again. i felt so comfortable there, i was happy. right now is a great time for me to be alive, i am happy that i didnt die when i was 26. (becasue when i was 19 i had a premonition that i would, that steve would stab me in the back on a cliff somewhere. it was a dream that didnt come true. fyi.) then we went outside to smoke some cigarettes and i was having some crazy double vision. i was wasted. it was about 9 o'clock. i went to sit down in a chair but missed the mark and almost fell over.

then, sitting in the chair, i was passing out and really wanted to puke. after a few minutes in went to the yard and sat down on the concrete. i tried to puke but nothing was happening. i felt kind of pathetic. i probably looked pathetic also. while leaning against the fence, the puking came. i wasnt able to double over quick enough and ended up getting a fair amount of my first puking on my pants. what was nice was that as soon as i started puking pete did the same. i remember saying to him that i appreciated that he was a sympathetic puker. i am one also.

sorry, but this is my vomit.

after puking four or fives times, i got some water and washed out my beard. that was disgusting. then i changed my pants and came back to drink more water. then i went and puked again. i was still having double vision and not feeling the greatest. i just wanted to walk around, try to walk it off, but my feet were so tired from walking all day. so, i climbed the fire escape. pete came out looking for me and was talking to the backyard but i was halfway up the fire escape. he was looking for me and i found it so funny that he didnt know where i was.

then i figured that it was probably stupid to be climbing this ladder when i can barely stand up, so i came down and paced around the yard for awhile. pete was inside pouring shots of absinthe for us. i came back in and he tried to give me a shot but i told him that had to wait at least an hour. i was feeling like shit and just wanted to lay down, so i told them i would be back in a couple minutes and went to lay down in my truck.

needless to say, i didnt come back. i woke up around 3 in the morning and debated going back inside, but i was comfortable and still felt a bit shitty, so i just kept sleeping. i woke up again at 7 in the morning and felt i should get up becasue pete would be leaving for work soon and i would need to get back inside the apartment to gather my things. but i decided against it. around 10 i was up again and made myself some soup. then i just laid there for another hour. i actually got out of my truck around 11 and tried to gain entry to the apartment.

no luck. i called pete but his phone went straight to voicemail. i didnt have numbers for his girlfriend or housemate, so i walked around the block hoping there was an alley or something so i could get in the backyard. no luck. so i starting texting and calling old friends from high school that were still good friends with pete to try to get the phone number of his housemate. she was drinking with us all night (all night being about 9:30 for me) so i knew she would be inside. that was ridiculous.

eventually pete called me and got me back inside. i sat talking with his girlfriend, ann, for awhile. she made me some tea and then some french toast. what a nice person. around 1 in the afternoon i decided that i should head back to bronxville. i gathered my things, but there wasnt much left: my backpack, an empty cooler and about an inch of whiskey left in the fifth. i planned to go to the library and chill out for awhile, read and use the internet, until my dinner date with rob and his wife. i got lost on the way back and my truck starting making some noises that i didnt like at all and i was just feeling like shit. but i made it back and went to the library. it was nice to be inside and chill out for awhile.

when the library closed, around 5, i called rob and the three of us went out to a nice dinner at a local restaurant. that was nice. robs wife, lisa, is a real nice person and i think they work together well. of course, i only saw them out with friends, but still. i am happy for their happiness. we got to really catch up and chat about life. it was sad to hear that the store isnt doing very well and that rob is pretty much trapped in the business. but his art is doing great and he has been able to travel and just have a real life. i cant wait for him to really be able to break away from that place and realize his potential.

now, i am starting to feel normal again and am looking forward to getting going again. i know i have only been here a few days, i would like to spend more, especially hanging out with pete in the city, but i did some route planning today and the future is bleak. i looked at where i am and to where i want to go and there is just so much space in between, it is daunting. i had hoped to be able to bypass philadelphia, but i pretty much have to go right to it to get to baltimore. so i might as well stop in and see my people there.

if i can make it to baltimore by the 24th i should be good to make it to richmond by the 1st and everything will be back on track. the second set of tracks.