hi everyone
sorry that I haven't posted in a few days - it's hard to from the train ... anyway, here is my latest update from my travels ...
Fast forward from the hot, dry climate of Las Vegas to the grey, rainy sky of upstate New York - Rochester to be exact! I arrived here this morning for a few brief hours before I make my way up to Toronto & Montreal ... sadly, it does not look as though Tonya & I will be able to meet up this time 'round
Since my last post, I lost some $$ in Vegas
, met two very cute boys - one is a teacher from Long Island/Baltimore (that I spoke with for at least 9 straight hours from almost as soon as I boarded the train from Chicago-Rochester last night until about 5:30 this morning!) and the other was a guy from NZ staying at the same hostel in Las Vegas (whom I hung out with for 3 solid days) ... both were such amazing guys - the kicker? of course, both have long term girlfriends AGGGHH!!! that seems to be my fate - to meet men who are always taken (not that there wasn't a definite vibe between us!
... whatever. Hmm, besides these men, I have spent the better part of the past three days on buses & trains: from Las Vegas to Chicago via L.A. (yeah THAT made sense! Amtrak sucks!), and then directly onto a train in Chicago to Rochester ... all the while riding in coach - let's just say that that makes for some interesting people watching, especially at the bus/train stations at random hours of the night! Lets me see ... besides bussing & training & meeting boys, I did manage to find a cheap rental car with some people from the hostel, including the cute New Zealander (read: a real hoopty ghetto cruiser, complete with worn out shocks & an inability to exceed 60!) and make it to the west rim of the Grand Canyon (not quite in the grand canyon national park) & over the Hoover Dam 3 times, plus some cruising up & down the strip & to almost every fast food place in Vegas in search of something that DIDN'T taste like paper (that part of the mission was a failure!). White rental cars = filthy rental cars.
All in all, over the past several days, I have met some truly incredible individuals with whom I hope to remain friends with, and I have also realized a few things:
1) Amtrak sucks!!
2) Vegas climate is dry
3) Burger King Chicken Whopper = BLECK!! gross & slimy!
4) Having a laptop or palm pilot with me would have made
journaling much easier to do while on the train
5) Long Island has one of the two fire ecosystems in the US
6) the sleeper cars (the basic) looks like closets
7) Never wash your hair with hemp shampoo UNLESS you want
to achieve the greasy, oil slick look
8) I packed WAY too much stuff!
9) It's hard to diet on this trip - everything is carbs & fatty it
seems!
10) threatening to murder someone in San Fran is a felony
(there's quite a story here!)
11) I like taking showers & miss them terribly when I can't have 1!
12) guys I seem to meet either are already involved, have kidS,
or are, well, umm, not for me!
13) did I mention that Amtrak sucks!
14) Oprah Winfrey tickets are hard to come by!
15) I wish that I had more time to travel & see more of Canada's east coast
16) I really need to keep a journal from this point onward
17) Amtrak really & truly SUCKS!
okay, okay, I know that this has been a rather long post ... a BIG thank you to those of you who have made it thusfar
while I have had some setbacks & have had to change many of my plans, I am truly enjoying myself & wishing that I had more time to visit more places - l KNOW that I want to do something again like this in the near future (probably next spring!). Along the way, I have also had some interesting experiences & encounters that I will probably post at another time.
well, that's about all from me for now ... I am off to call Tonya & to explore a little bit of Rochester before I hop back on my next train in just over 3 hours
signing off from Rochester, NY ... liEP,
- Jen
