So, where are you guys from?

Jessica here:

Since we last wrote, our travels have taken a decidedly westward bent and we've covered some serious ground in our little Subaru including a 14 hour trek from Ithaca, NY to Chicago...oy vey! A funny realization is now sinking in...we really are "homeless." No house, just a mobile concept of "home"....familiar music, food & scents create a comfort in each new spot. Of course, we chose this, and it feels quite liberating. Some things I miss...our kitty Zooey greeting us at the front door, a kitchen of our own, bed linens of our own. But...no house repairs, no mortgage, no daily routine...sweet freedom! The funny thing is, when asked where we're visiting from, the only logical answer is "that blue Subaru Outback". I get strange and annoyed looks, but, hey, makes me chuckle. Streamlined down to a small carload of stuff and a road atlas...I could get used to this, at least for a while.

At the moment, we're sipping coffee and munching the last of our NY bagels in Angie Head's cozy Chicago living room. Angie is a friend from way back in Fayetteville and we've appreciated her generosity despite a busy work schedule. She served up tasty red wine upon our arrival, much welcomed after navigating the hellacious nighttime highway thru Gary, IN. Next day we skipped the roads and travelled downtown on the awesome "EL". Chi-town has delighted us with sunny, warm weather and great lounging and strolling along the lakeshore. This is one of the few cities that neither Liam nor I have visited....it's pretty darn beautiful this time of year, though I'm thinking it'd be a different story come December.

So, backing up about three weeks, in an effort to represent all the great stops on our journey, we had an action-packed two weeks in NYC and Boston. Especially fun was leaving the car in NJ and travelling north by train. Dining car, reading, relaxing as the scenery whizzes past...I LOVE trains. Arriving in Brooklyn we were excited to catch up with Liam's cuz Sara who welcomed us into her lovely Carroll Gardens apartment. We dove right in to good NY chow at a nearby Thai restaurant....Tom Yum soup, yummm. Well nourished, we set off to walk across the magnificent Brooklyn Bridge...what an experience! Our gastronomical adventures continued with local microbrews at a Brooklyn pub and of course, a huge Coney Island hot dog, devoured with gusto by one very happy Liam. A highlight for me was rollerskating on the crazy little rink at Dreamland, right on the boardwalk at Coney Island. Despite the painful wound inflicted by their awful rental skates, I loved getting back on my wheels! Tried not to take out too many innocent children on my loops around the track...hehe. More highlights from NY include gin & tonics and jazz at the Carlyle for my birthday, walking through Chelsea and the West Village on the impressive Highline trail, hanging out with cousins Colene & Jeff on their midtown rooftop terrace, working the lanes at Brooklyn Bowl with cousins Chad and Sara, dancing to a blow-out show by Toots & the Maytals, and of course, chowing on ever-satisfyingly-cheesy-crusty NY pizza. Yummmmm.

After a week of thrills and spills in NYC, we hopped a train up to Boston and arrived at the comfy home of Liam's aunt Carol. We can't express enough thanks for Carol's generosity...gourmet lunches at Gloucester beach, BBQ picnic on labor day, tickets to see the Red Sox at Fenway Park!...such fun. Another beantown highlight: the extreme sport called "Bob Nesson's walking tour of Cambidge and Boston." Seriously, this was such a cool experience for us. History, geography, urban planning, film studies, landscape design...it was all inclusive and Uncle Bob knew we'd be up for the hike. I've always found Boston to be a confusing city to navigate, but the walking tour really established a great sense of the city's layout for me. Also got to see Aunt Kathe, albeit too briefly, for tasty Chinese fare and a fun discussion of Hawaiian Hula...next time I'm hoping for an extended dance lesson! So, the adventures continued with a train ride up to Beverly, Mass, about an hour north of Boston. We visited Uncle John and stayed up late talking about old times in the Conway family...so many cousins, stories, characters...somebody needs to write a book about this amazing family.

After a quick visit back to NJ and more great times with the Bowers family, we were on the road again...headed for upstate NY and a visit back to my alma mater, Cornell. Memories came flooding back from undergrad years...what a treat to share them with Liam. We rented bikes and tore all around town & campus, stopping to swim in waterfalls, hike the ravines, devour some Cornell Dairy ice cream, and hit up my old haunts in Collegetown. I was stunned all over again by the beauty of the area, enhanced by sunny weather and leaves just starting to turn yellow, red, orange....my goodness, the old cliche is true. Ithaca IS gorges. Got me thinking about settling down there, maybe having a home base?...but no, westward ho!!

next post: Chicago tales and Colorado stories...Pacific ocean, here we come!!!

Catching Up to the Start

Liam here...

As we comment on the succession of our experiences, we'll also backtrack to the start in order to create a more complete picture of our journey. Today we're in Beachwood, NJ staying with George and Margaret Ann Bowers, Jessie's uncle and aunt on her papa's side (Margaret Ann is Andy's sister). It's a slow, relaxed morning, as we stayed up late feasting on a fabulous meal George spent most of the day preparing: a hearty veggie lasagna, garden salad, garlic bread, and apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Thanks uncle George! Our cousins Jake & Ryan, along with their lovely ladies Diana and Robyn (respectively) were also present at the feast; boisterous laughter carried into the neighborhood around Beacon Avenue well into the night. Much thanks to the Bowers for the cheer and generosity. Tomorrow we're off on our trajectory westward but hopefully not before we get out on Barnegat Bay's gorgeous waters!

So, now for the backtracking part....we've just returned to NJ, where we left our Subaru in the Bowers' backyard for two weeks. Happily car-less, we traveled by train, bus, boat and on foot in and around New York City and Boston. We caught up with aunts, uncles, cousins & old friends, made new friends, and created lots of great memories. I thought we'd run through some of those memories here (a sort of online journal...) full of delectable meals, drinks, and music that we encountered from the start of our trip.

On August 15, following a heartwarming send-off dinner at Ralph and Kate's, we drove away from Fayetteville to the motivating beat of Thunder Road (pure serendipity that it popped up on our ipod shuffle...). After stopping to pick up a Yakima roof box, generously loaned by good friend Brandon Simmons, our loaded down Subaru crossed the Mississippi River over the DeSoto Bridge to Memphis, leaving sweet home Arkansas behind. After six hours of restless sleep in a run down Howard Johnsons near Blue Goose, TN, we were psyched to get back on the road to Ferrum, Virginia, home of our dear friend Allison Harl and her baby boy, Eli.

Allison directed us to take scenic and winding Shooting Creek Road into Ferrum, along which we were impressed by sweeping views and thickly verdant valley ravines. We were reminded of the views and "yokuls" of the Ozarks. Allison greeted us at the end of her driveway on Franklin Street with tiny Eli nestled in her arms; she and Jessica walked from the roadside to Allison's front porch. With a widespread smile, I drove down the drive to park the car. What a pleasure to see Allison taking so naturally to motherhood. Soon after our arrival, Eli fell asleep in his "old man" slumber, and we caught up over locally produced wine and a tasty spinach, garlic, and feta quiche that Allison baked. The next morning we looked after the surprisingly calm two-month-old Eli while Dr./Mama Harl went to an English Department faculty meeting of the soon-to-commence Ferrum College fall semester.

After three days in and around Ferrum highlighted by a Chateau Morrisette Winery tour, a gourmet potluck at Allison's with a great group of local friends, and a hike along the Pig River, we headed for Bowie, Maryland, just 4 hours northeast. We pit-stopped for a hike along the Appalachian Trail, jogging through warm rain on the return hike. Once we reached Bowie, a leafy suburb of Washingtion, DC, we poured out of the hot car to greet Clare and Bryson Spangler and some hefty, cold margaritas that Clare, awesome hostess that she is, had just blended. It was my birthday, a memorable 33rd on August 19. We were thrilled to catch up with Bryson and Clare on their back deck, while their 1 year old boy, Brodie, slept upstairs in his room. Bryson surprised us with a homemade chocolate cake, a thoughtful greeting from old friends. We reminisced about previous fun times, from years past in Seattle and Alaska as we sipped maragaritas. Remembrance with old friends is the best kind.

The few days around the DC area were filled with walking, talking, pictures on The Mall, and eating ice cream. Unfortunately Bryson got sick moments into a delicious blue crab feast; he had to retire for the evening and after midnight Clare took the poor chap to the emergency room for some reviving fluids. However, he was happy to know his misery didn't keep us from a fun night chilling on their back deck, or from getting a fabulous lesson on the proper method of drinking scotch with Scotswoman Clare. Cheers for the hospitality Clare and Bryson! On this leg of the journey, we also caught up with my cousin Billy Young and his sweet girlfriend Rachel. He was about to start law school at George Washington U--a smart guy and an engaging conversationalist. Thanks for introducing us to your hip DC neighborhood, Billy and Rachel!

Saying goodbye to great friends, leaving Bowie, heading across the Chesapeake Bay into Delaware, we soon arrived at Primehook Beach. There we were greeted with beer and delicious honeydew melon after being led by Paul and Douglas down a short boardwalk to their Delaware Bay beachfront gazebo. A cool breeze blew as we caught up with Paul, Jessie's dad's best friend from college, and Douglas, Paul's partner. We were entertained by memories of Paul, Andy, and Pam and their gang cavorting around Maryland, Delaware, and NYC in their teens-20's. Douglas' loquacious, engaging stories were the source of many smiles and memories after our visit to this unique spot on the bay side of a beautiful wetlands preserve. And the purist crab cakes and locally grown veggies were phenomenal - thank you Paul and Douglas!

After a night in their antique filled beachside bungalow, we drove south to Assateague National Seashore and camped in the dunes after a four mile beach hike. Treated to a pink, orange and misty blue sunset, swarms of mosquitoes at dusk, tofu dogs and wading into the Maryland breakers, we slept a bit restlessly in the cozy tent. Getting up the next morning, jarred awake by a baja-style driving session on the beach, we were off for points north: New Jersey, New York, and Bean Town!

Now off to enjoy the late summer warmth in Toms River on our last East Coast day.

next post: jessie dishes on food, tunes and rollerskating in NJ, NY and MA...

Delectable Enjoyments of the Best Kind...or, Is a Theme Forthcoming?

We are nearing the four week mark of our travels...adventure...journey...exploratory transition phase. It's still challenging for us to describe, without some hesitation, just what we're doing, but we sure are having a blast, whatever the overarching theme. Since selling our house in Fayetteville, leaving behind the office/college life, unloading many of our possessions, storing what little remained, housing our dear kitty Zooey with Liam's parents, the reality is well underway. In this beginning trajectory, we are allowing the conception of our journey to materialize...hence, a title in process.

So, to begin, we thought of addressing our forming "theme." At various points over the past four weeks we've had conversations, privately and with friends, about a theme for these blog entries, and of course for the journey as a whole. And we've all thrown out some promising ideas. But how do you assign a theme to something that is in the process of unfolding, on a day to day basis? Part of the allure of travel, as we discover, is the physical and emotional experience of embracing the unexpected. It's a process that we affect and are affected by. And we've already butted up against many preconceived expectations, ill-formed plans, disappointments, and, best of all, enduring beautiful surprises. Like the thrill of blasting an old Ice-T album as we tore down the unfamiliar roads along the Blue Ridge Mountains, or the double rainbow that beamed out of the rainy sky over Bowie, MD, or the huge harvest moon that rose over the NY skyline as we picnicked in Central Park....this could go on and on. And as we all know, any little disappointments fade in memory and relevance.

Some of our most unforgettable moments along this journey have revolved around food and music shared with friends and family. Home cooked meals, restaurant delicacies, street side vendors... friends' aged CD collections, iTunes selections ready for download, street musicians serenading subway riders, and a jazz trio in a dark bar on the upper east side. Delectable enjoyments of the best kind! Beginning in Fayetteville with dinners straight from summer gardens and a delicious send-off feast, we have been overwhelmed with kindness and loving hospitality along the way, welcomed into the homes of close family, distant relatives, dogs, cats, babies and dear friends alike. Our journey is becoming a thread of experiences, of good meals, conversations and music, shared with all of YOU. Literally, we often look at each other and repeat the same feelings again and again: we are so very lucky to have a wonderful family and treasured friends who show us such kindness. We only hope to return the good energy....and to to keep it going.

With love,

Jessie & Liam

Coming soon: Recounted memories of delectable goodness from the past four weeks....from Arkansas to Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York & Massachusetts. Off now to catch a train up to Beverly, Mass....and so it goes!