California
We headed west for California from Las Vegas with our sights set on seeing some giant trees. It was October 2011 and the tourist season was winding down.
Just as we arrived at Sequoia National Park, the road closed for construction, but would reopen in an hour. Parked up on a hillside, the views of California were not too bad from where we sat.
Finally, the road opened for us to get into the park and we were at the front of the line of cars.
Within a few minutes of driving, a car pulls alongside of us, waving their arms and pointing until we finally understood, “SMOKE!”
My dad looked in his mirror and, sure enough, smoke was billowing out from the RV so we pulled over and popped the hood.
After some investigation, it seemed the transmission was shot! In the middle of Sequoia National Park! In the off season! And the only roads in and out were under construction! Despite all of that hilarious bad luck, another car that had been in the line pulled over to check on us and happened to have a 10-gallon bucket of transmission fluid! No joke!
He offered to drive right behind us, and every time the RV started smoking again, we’d pull over, refill it with transmission fluid, and carry on.
Eventually we got to a parking lot at a locked up Visitor’s Center (remember, it's off season?). Deep in the hills, no one had cell service and we still needed to figure out how we’d get a tow truck through the construction and detours.
A park ranger was able to let us into the Visitor's Center to use the phones. After many attempted calls, transfers, upgrades, disconnections, we were finally told that a tow truck would be coming for us. In a few hours.
When it got dark, the bears emerged from the forest but didn't cause any trouble (although, that would've made for a better story). I still think it's worth mentioning! Seeing bears and being broken down in a National Park!
Once the tow truck arrived after many, many hours, we realized there was only enough room in the cab for two adults. Somehow it was decided that my partner, myself, and the dog, would have to ride in the RV while we were towed for hours to a repair shop.
I remember laying in the bed of the RV and watching the full moon from the window. We were finally being rescued!
We were dropped off somewhere in Visalia, California where we’d have to stay until they opened the shop in the morning.
So, that is where I slept in California for the first time: in an RV in the parking lot of a repair shop.
The stress of having to wait a few days for the RV to get fixed with your short-tempered parents was trying, to say the least, but no one got killed and we even made it to Yosemite in our rental car. By the end of it, my dad didn't want to see anymore "stupid trees."
I would return to California again in April 2015 when I was exploring the West Coast on my Great Big Adventure. I found a ride with a stranger via CraigsList and we took a couple days to drive down Highway 101.
A few months later, I’d return after on my way back from Hawaii and New Zealand to try In-N-Out Burger and see Lake Tahoe.
Colorado
The first time I ever flew on an airplane, I was 18-years-old. I flew from Atlantic City to Denver in April 2003. When I returned to New Jersey from that trip, I tried convincing my brother to move to Colorado with me.
Fast forward five and a half years. It was my final semester in college and I was finishing a paper at a cafe with a friend. I looked up from my computer and told him that I just booked a one-way flight to Colorado and I was going to move to Boulder, despite having never been there, right after graduation in a few weeks.
Two days before I was supposed to leave, my dad had a heart attack at my going away party and we didn’t think he was going to survive. It was an intense couple of weeks, but he recovered and told me I needed to resume my plan to move to Colorado. So I did.
My flight arrived on the afternoon of July 9, 2008. As the bus from the airport drove through Boulder, it was much less green and more developed with big, chain stores than I was expecting.
During my first month in the West, I explored different parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and New Mexico! It was so different than everything I had known on the East Coast!
When I returned to Boulder, I got two jobs: a flower shop and a cafe! All I ever wanted! I didn't stay at the flower shop for very long, but I continued working at the cafe for nearly a year where I met some of the coolest people I'm happy to still call friends.
Somehow, my Colorado adventure turned into almost 6 years once I found myself in a relationship with 3 dogs, a cat, and a career. In January of 2014, I drove away from those mountains for a new beginning in New York City.
The thing about Colorado is that I keep coming back. In fact, as I type this right now, here I am, drinking too much water because it's so dry and squinting in the bright sunlight. Still, here I am again.
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| "Let's go, Rockies!" |
Connecticut
On February 4, 2006, I traveled to Connecticut to see my favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut, speak in Hartford.
I was introduced to Vonnegut in 2002 with “The Breakfast of Champions.” I had never read a book so ridiculous and I wanted more. After reading “Slaughterhouse Five” and learning about his experience as a prisoner of war in the Bombing of Dresden, I was completely hooked and continued devouring the rest of his books.
When I saw he would be within driving distance, I could not pass the opportunity. For some reason, I believed that my Vonnegut infatuation was mine alone, so you can imagine my surprise to see a huge auditorium full of other fans. In fact, I actually thought I would get to meet him or something. Crazy kid.
Either way, I got to sit in the same room as him and watch him talk from the stage. I’ve always been grateful for that.
That night, I stayed at a friend's house.
Just over a year later, while I was reading “Fates Worse Than Death,” I received the news of Vonnegut's passing. I cried.
"So it goes."
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