Vagabender

Hello! It's been a while. I'm pleased to say we've got more in the way of updates here. There are some bloggy notes from the road below, as well as two new entries in our travelogue, where I try and chronicle what happens in a collected and thought-out fashion. We've also got a bunch of new photos added as well.

We've been 2,800 miles, burning about 180 gallons of gasoline. We've been through LA, Joshua Tree, Las Vegas, Zion, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon's North Rim, Goblin Valley and now Moab. It's been a wild ride. The goddamn Space Lion drank all our tequilla.

The current situation is that we're in Moab, Utah. We stayed last night in the Lazy Lizard Hostel, treating ourselves to a cabin. We took in the sunset at Arches National Park then made some food and went out to take in some local nightlife. We've been six days in the desert without much in the way of real human contact, so hanging around playing pool with some seasonal workers was a pretty good thing.

Our next move is South, down to check out some Pueblos and canyons, and then to stay in Tucson for the 4th of July, sticking there for a few days after while Old Shifty gets a little love from a mechanic we know there.

More to come in the next weeks, including some audio content which we're all pretty excited about. See you on the road!

Hoora! We've made it to Tucson and Taelyn and Rachel's. It's still the stinking desert heat, but the swamp cooler keeps their floor plenty cool.

We went out last night to the hip hotel where Taelyn's the cheif and they have $1 Pabsts and amazing hot dogs. Needless to say we closed the place out, mainly hanging on the patio in the heat of the night.

Choice quotes from a Tucson native buddy named Jericho, said to his girlfriend one night in bed after a night of boozin it up: Leave me alone, you baboon she-devil! Don't touch my wardrobe, I've got a job interview! I can't procreate with you; I'm a scientist!

It's been a good run. We spent another day and night in Moab, then ran down into the Navajo rez and Canyon de Chelly for a night, then a long driving day to get here.

More photos and stuff soon. We're having the Fourth here and then the truck is going to get a little love, so we'll be connected for a bit. May rent a car for a day and make the run up to Santa Fe. We'll see.

It's a rest day for us. You don't go out during the sunlight hours in Tucson unless you have to, and we don't have to. The truck is at John's and Mark and I have access to 4th of July leftovers, Taelyn's DVD collection, the swamp cooler, and enough cold beer to make it a real vacation day. Luke got lawyer lucky, should be home later.

Just another lazy afternoon in America. Tomorrow we may be on the move to Northern New Mexico by way of rental car. Today we rest.

Bueno, compañeros quiero agradecerles por visitar nuestro sitio de web y invitarles a visitarlo en el futuro. Bienvenidos! Primero quiero mandar saludos y cariño a todos mis amigos hispanohablantes en todas partes del mundo especialmente a mis queridos chilenos. Les quiero muchísimo hueones. Ademas, voy a pedir perdón ahora por los numerosos errores del futuro con la escritura de un gringo flojo que casi no ha usado el espanol en mucho tiempo y nunca ha escrito por una pagina de web, po. Gracias por su paciencia. Si quieren llamar mi atención a algún error especialmente horroroso o solamente dejar un comentario o mandar cariño, por favor deja un mensaje en la sección de comentario (add a new comment.) Será excelente.

Bueno pues, ?Qué pasa conmigo? y ?Qué es Vagabender? Las ultimas noticias de mi vida son que me gradué con honores en una carrera de pedagogía en castellano en la Universidad estatal de Humboldt y con la abundancia de libertad que ahora tengo empecé con un viaje gigante por todas partes de los EEUU. En ingles es el famoso o sea infame tradición de "Roadtrip." Salimos juntos, yo y dos amigos muy buenos de secundaria, Josh y Luke, y un perro medio malcriado que nunca se calla que es el famoso y querido Sixto.

Hicimos planes para ver lo máximo de la naturaleza increíble en mi país y entender como son los norteamericanos que han votado por Bush, el otro lado digamos. Es decir, ?Qué son los Estados Unidos ahora? ?De verdad son unidos? ?Como son la gente corriente? ?Quienes somos nosotros mismos? ?Donde están las cervezas mas frías y las chicas mas bonitas? Todas las respuestas de esas preguntas, compañeros, salimos a encontrar. Vagabender es una combinación /juego de palabras entre la palabra vagabundo y la palabra borrachera. Que puedo decir po, a mi me gusta una chelita bien helada. Entonces, nuestro roadtrip es una búsqueda por el corazón del pueblo estadounidense y un chance para tomar algunos refrescos por el camino. Es un viaje de descubrimiento, de lo que tenemos afuera y lo que tenemos adentro.

Aquí, pueden encontrar muchas fotos, noticias y comentarios en ingles (muy bueno para ejercer) y espanol de lo que hemos encontrado, a veces serio a veces chistoso. Espero que les gusten y disfruten!

We're packing up to head out of Tucson, saying goodbye to the swamp-cooled box of heaven we knew as Taelyn and Rachel's house.

The regemin of sun-avoidance spurred Mark on creatively, but left me only a few pounds heavier and a couple brain-cells short. Last night we did get out into the outskirts of town to take in a great combination desert thunderstorm and sunset. That was a treat from the natural world.

We'll have more soon. Luke is going to take a turn on the wheels of steel and I'm going to get serious about producing some audio. Maybe we'll get out another mass email when we hit Texas.

It's been a few days of heavy travel since Tucson, but now we're resting comfortably in the home of Joshua's ETW friend Julia. Sixto is happily chewing on his rubber bone and all is well.

Tucson was fun, though unbearably hot. Mark and Josh beat the heat by holing up at Taelyn's and drinking. I on the other hand hung out with Rachel's lawyer friend Max.

For America's birthday, Taelyn cooked us a mean venison meal, and we partied with some Tucsonites until about midnight. Then we went to the bar. The aptly named Surley Wench is a pretty decent bar. Though they did try to kick us out when Taelyn tried to bring a bug he had befriended inside. The night became rapidly hazy, as we continued the regimin of Wild Turkey and beer backs.

Friday July 8th: We high tailed it out of Tucson. Got started a little late, but made
White Sands by 9pm. Late dinner at Applebees made us feel like a part of local life on the outskirts of Alamogordo(which Mark says is Spanish for Fat Fort). We pirate camped between Cloudcroft and Mayhill, NM.

Saturday July 9th: After breakfast at the Cafe in Mayhill, we hit the road for America's most beloved Caverns, Carlsbad. On the way we stopped at a dollar store in anticipation of how we might be recieved in Tejas.

Cavernous and gaping, like the deficit and filled with blood sucking rodents, like the halls of Congress, Carlsbad Caverns just might be America's most beloved national park. The steady downhill grade of the descent into the caves revealed once again that fat Americans walk slow and fall down a lot.

Driving South into the Guadalupe mountians, we caught our first Texas rainstorm. Big Thunder and Lightning abound in West Texas. We spent the night playing guitar, making audio, and maintaining the fragile social bonds that keep the wheels of Vagabender spinning.

Sunday, July 10th: Hit the road driving South to Big Bend. We chased a huge thunderstorm the whole way. At Marfa, we decided to take the road less traveled and head for Texas farm road 170. This is the only place where you can actually

drive alongside the Rio Grande for a significant streach.

We rolled into Presidio, Texas looking for gas and found a freaky scene out of a Zombie movie. None of the gas pumps worked. We tried to stop and get cash. At the drive through ATM a couple sat in their truck in front of the machine. When we pulled in behind them the woman got out and gesticulated wildly at us. Finally a kindly local told us that the electricity was out and in order to get gas we'd have to make it the 60 miles to Lajitas.

The road along the Rio was amazingly beautiful.

When we got to Lajitas, we found gas, and Clay Henry III. Clay is a beer drinking goat, and the Mayor of Lajitas. Texas is fucking weird.

When we finally got to Big Bend we camped in Big Basin, the most incredible campsite I've ever

seen. Down in a hollow, surrounded by mountains, Big Basin is lush. We saw wild pigs. A lightning storm just over the ridge lit up the basin in flashes for hours.

Monday, July 11th: We packed the truck and hit the road for a long day of driving. We arrived in San Antonio at around ten and stopped of to

see the pride of Texas, the Alamo. Honestly, I wasn't that impressed. Sorry Texas.

The 35 North from SA to Austin crawling with outlet malls. I thought all of central Texas smelled like shit until I realized I was smelling the inside of the Truck. Stinky.

Arrived in Austin to a welcome of beer drinking and sitting in the backyard with Julia and one of her roommates.

Tuesday, July 12th: AUSTIN! Eating breakfast tacos. MMMMM. We're planning on a crazy night in Austin and then on to Dallas.

We've been recording things. Stories, goofing off, music, etc. We're going to keep posting like this; it's like our own little internet radio show (or "podcast" for buzzword-compliance) and I think we like it.

This episode features our finest run-in with the law so far. All the way back in Eastern California we were running state roads through the Mojave desert. There were some pretty big brush fires and at one point we blew right by a ranger barricade. The rest is history.

Listen now.

Quick update; we're in Dallas making the most of Paul Wunderlich's extrordinary graciousness. I'm struck again and again by how lucky we are to know so many wonderful people.

Last night we went out with Nichole, Scott and Rodger to a local upscale-downscale hotspot -- Dukes "Original Roadhouse" (which seemed a little new to be all that original, but whatever), populated by America's winners. It was actually a pretty good scene. There were a gang of consultants in training playing a cup-flipping battle-of-the-sexes drinking game. We got hit by two guerilla marketing teams; one a Marlboro man giving out free zippos in return for a scan of your ID, the other a few kids being paid to go out and talk up the Texas Rangers. The baseball team, not the elite law enforcement unit. The Shiner Bock flowed and everyone was young and affluent, beautiful and laughing. We're having grand fun in Texas.

Today we re-orged the truck and declared total war on the stankiness that has infested it over the past month. This struggle is far from over, but we've struck another blow for freedom and justice, though the whole operation may have lowered the neighbors property values a bit. C'est la vie.

We'll be here in Big D another night, and then it's off to Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, and the Great Smokey Mountains. Always more to come.

24 ounces of fury, open until 5am, courtesy of Jesse James Dean.

Thrill to the Texas potato cannon and some other good times. Contains damning evidence. Not suitable for all audiences.

Listen Now.

Here you'll hear Rodger, Scott, Brieann and us fellas. "Kick him. Tell him Texas is calling" is Rodger trying to wake up Tom back in Portland at 4am Central/2am Pacific (on a work night). The thunk is three eggs hurtling across Rodger and Scott's back yard. The rest is history.