Devon Avenue, Chicago IL

I have been magically transported back to India.  Surly servers, slow service, thalis and delicious rava masala dosas.  

I was a little too excited. And hungry. I ordered way too much.

and look! There are even Betel nut stains on the sidewalk!  That's some authentic indian culture: 

End of my Southern Road trip

Time to start heading home.

I need to watch TV more Often

Why? So commercials can tell me that things like CougarLife.com exists. 

Road Tripping

You can only see so many small towns, interstates, highways, byways, farms and monuments before you get kind of jaded by it all.  This is not to say I don't like car road trips, I think i Just want to do quality over quantity in the future.  Instead of going far and wide and fast, i would like to focus in and dig deep into an area, really understand the local culture...you know?

It took a couple of days but my body got into road tripping trip shape a few days into.  That first day after driving about 11 hours and being on the road for 13, I was hurting.  But now, a 4 hour drive is easy peasy.

Ever get the feeling the world is too big?  I know its a big world out there, and it's a both comforting and annoying fact.

Also, I have to stop saying that the North Shore is too far.  It's not that far of a drive.  I realize that now.

Obligatory

Here is obligatory mountain ass. 

Sitting at the top in the fog was kind of cool, even though it admittedly wasn't the classic view, which is supposed to look something like this: 

Hell or high water, Charlie's Bunion or Death.

I went on one of those hikes motivated by sheer stubbornness more than any desire to enjoy nature or exercise.  I decided to hike Charlie's Bunion in the Great Smoky Mountains.  It was suppose to be a nice hike.  And it was (very atmospheric with the fog and cold and rain and lush forests).  But it was also 8 miles, round trip.  That's a bit much for me and my still questionable knee.  After the intermittent thunder storms, the 60 degree air temperature, soaking wet leather dress shoes and cotton socks, and after the 2.7 mile marker, it became one of those stubborn "i'm going to finish this whether I want to or not".  And like most acts of selfish, stupid, stubbornness, it's not me that is going to get hurt, but something else... in this case, my knee, I know it's going to be hurting tomorrow and it just started getting better.  FML. 

Beautiful lush drive into the park.  The park is free, which is nice.  The Motel 8 i'm staying in now is 70 bucks.  fair enough.  I've been staying at highway motels for most of my trip.  So far, I've avoided anything too gross and disgusting and managed to pay rates that don't make me cringe too much.  I think i will always be a hostel kind of guy.  

forests of Appalachia. I was actually hiking on the Appalachian Trail. 

I had a wonderful time in the South, in Tennessee and Georgia, I want to go watch Deliverance now.  

deer. 

It was rainy, and foggy and cold during my hike (good thing I had a blue umbrella with me); i guess they don't call it the Smoky Mountains for nothing.   The smoky mountains is a great marketing name for what are really just cloudy, foggy and hazy mountains...

Next on my bucket list is Kalalau trail on northern Kauai..  Under-prepared and over-confident baby.

Oh Tennessee...

Who would have thought there was a disneyland in eastern Tennessee:

A disneyland I tell you.

and here is a guy with what appears to be a g-string thong dangling from his rear-view mirror:

Take my love

Take my love, take my land.
Take me where i cannot stand.
That's OK, I'm still free,
you can't take the sky from me.

I get it. 

On Being Yellow in the South

The only thing I can say about being an asian minority in the south is that people might give me a second look, or a long first look.  This can get awkward at times since I like to people-watch and I end up making eye contact far too often… especially with the cute southern girls... i stare at them...they stare at me...very awkward. 

But sometimes I’m just begging for attention by making myself a spectacle with my blue umbrella… taking pictures of weird things and doing weird stuff….

and what is the deal with all these korean Presbyterian churches in Georgia? is it that chubby, bearded korean cult leader's doing?

The other ocean

Here I am seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time.   I can say I’ve touched both the water of the pacific and the atlantic ocean.  I guess that can be a retroactive bucket list item. Done.

AS I was driving up to the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee (a beautiful drive) I was listening to Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR.   I have decided to add a new item on the list: get interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air on NPR.    I realize this isn’t going to be easy, but hey, getting naked pics at the top of Angel’s landing wasn’t easy either and I managed to do that. 

Jekyll Island

This is my decadent meal for the trip.  A dinner at the fancy dining room of the Jekyll Island Hotel. It was the full authentic experience, had a coldly polite black man in a jacket serving me, calling me sir.  

here i am chilling in front of the Rockefeller's house on Jekyll Island. 

You know you’re in a fancy resort island when even the public restrooms have AC.  You know you’re in the south in the summertime when the freeway rest areas have AC.  

The South

As pretty as the roads may look during the sunset, I couldn't forget the fact I was still in the South and certain formalities about stereotypes needs to be addressed:

Georgia

The backroads of Georgia.  Sunset. Pretty. Atmospheric.  The stuff bad country songs are made of.   Thunder storms.  Thunder storms to clean the dead bugs all over the grill and windshield of my car. 

The Georgia Guidestones

I didn't realize how much I wanted to do this, and see this thing until I finally arrived after hours of driving in the Georgian back roads.  I was giddy when I got out of the car.  This bucket list item was unexpectantly important to me.  

Things I did

Ethiopian Diamond: it was okay.  The satisfaction of accomplishing this objective was as delicious as the food itself.

Jekyll Island.  Fail.  The Federal Reserve meeting room was locked and set up for a business meeting.  All I could do was look in through the windows and jiggle the door handles.  I am disappoint.  But not entirely surprised. 

I gotchu

I called up a friend and told him I needed a night on his floor, he said in his newly acquired Atlanta accident "I gotch you".   

Also, spending the night for free tonight (?).  At a Quality Inn.  All the hotels/motels in town were booked for some big convention in town.  I called all over and couldn't get a room, went online and a glitch in the system let me book a room with a hotel I already called.  I had a feeling it was a mix up and there wouldn't be a room, and when i got to the hotel, i was right and there was no room for me.  Luckily, this means they had to walk me next door and pay my room for me.    Ironically, they walked me to a motel I had declined to inquire with earlier because the reviews were so bad and full of complaints about mold, bed service, bugs and dirty rooms and whiny stuff like that.  I don't know when I got so picky, becuase the room is perfectly fine.  Far better than some of the dumpsI stayed in in Central America or India.   I don't know when I got so picky.

Holy crap, this was good.  The biscuits and gravy were some of the best I've ever had.  the omelette was delicious, and the hash browns were exceptionally well done; This place was called Narobia's, in the suburbs of Savanna, the AC was broken so it was a pretty authentic Georgian breakfast.  Great service too.  Friendly old black men sitting by the front door saying good morning to me.  good stuff.

Savannah, Georgia...or just "Sav" as I call it.  It is what it is. and it sort of looks like this:

I Found Waldo

 

San Francisco....we have to talk

SF, you are wonderful. And we had a good time together. But I I think it's time for me to move on. I found somebody else. Her name is Chicago.

Look who I found.

mission accomplished.

Where the hillbilly fuck am I?

I think I'm somewhere in Kentucky right now.

I thought GPS unit is suppose to help you get to places, not get you lost.

I hate you United Airlines. I hope you die from syphilis. I hope you die from syphilis and go straight to hell. That's where you belong United. In the deepest darkest circles of hell reserved for sti infested dysfunctional legacy companies too  incompetent to manage basic business fundamentals like timely service, staffing schedules and equipment maintenance.  salvadorian airlines are more competent than you.

Fuck you United airline.