Wanderlusting.

I woke up this morning, and the world was blanketed with snow. Living out here in Colorado like this, snow is anything but a nuisance — it’s just magic, plain and simple. The world looks so beautiful, and it’s hard to keep from smiling no matter what you’re doing. The fact that I don’t usually…

Yes, believe it or not, I do still exist. I may be off in Colorado, and I may have detoured for quite a while with a number of different things, but I’m not planning on abandoning this blog. Not in the least. Next up, I’m planning to finish the series I started on my trip…

For those demanding more…yes, this is for you. I suppose I knew that last philosophical/emotional post wouldn’t satisfy everybody for long…“Pictures! We want pictures!” you say. And who am I to deny anybody that? So here it is: a series of posts on my drive from California to Colorado, and everything in between. Leaving home…

In so many ways, I can hardly believe that I’m leaving California. I’ve been there for more than ten years, and it only seems a day — yet things have changed so much for me while I’ve been there, from the day I arrived with a car of my belongings as a new graduate student…

All the posts from my trip: Day 1: From Berkeley, CA to Lompoc, CA, including Pescadero, Duarte’s, kitesurfing in Santa Cruz, Big Sur… in words and pictures. Also: anticipation, iPhone angst, miscellaneous thoughts, on detours, and yum. Day 2: From Lompoc, CA to Joshua Tree National Park, CA, including Carpinteria State Beach, LA traffic, Indio…

Days: 16 Miles: 6,472.1 Time spent driving: 147:55 Average miles/day: 404.5 Average time spent driving each day: 9:15 Average speed: 40 MPH MPG: 23.6

One thing I noticed with a smile after a few days on the road: when you’re out there driving in a convertible, with the top down, bikers — including the huge, burly guys on Harleys — tend to give you a little wave, thumbs-up, or peace sign as you pass them by. It got me…

On the final day of my trip… Sparks, NV is, um, not the world’s most amazing town. Someone called the Reno area (Sparks is basically a sister city of Reno) “like Las Vegas’s seedy younger brother”. I’d say that’s about right, and that’s saying something. It’s good for hotels, places to eat…and gas. Coming up…