Welcome Home: The SFO > STL Roadtrip Move, Day 5

Late Post for Sunday, December 5, 2010.

Total miles = 2,034. Having driven across approximately 70% the width of the North American continent, I arrived in St. Louis, MO last night.

Because of the quick start date to my new job, the past several days and couple of weeks seemed to go by at a dizzying pace. I'm being put up in transitional housing by the university, which is a great relief. This fast move would not have been possible without that support. I called the campus administrator on duty for the week when I was close to St. Louis (about 100 miles west of the city, filling up the gas tank one final time in Kingdom City, MO), and she planned to give me my apartment key and help orient me to parking and the building. She met me and I parked in the underground garage of the two-story apartment building that is owned by a private company that could not rent all the units, so the university partnered with it to put upperclass and graduate students in here as an off-campus housing option. "Off-Campus" meaning it is literally across the street from the southern edge of the main campus, so it is very conveniently located and I am walking distance to work. The apartment I am in was the space used as the "model"/"showcase" apartment to recruit students to live here (which you will see was not a very hard sell). So this will be a good place to settle in a bit (with just a few weeks' worth of stuff) and take some good time to look for a permanent address.

I've already posted the cute door tag that welcomed me on the front door of the apartment (see yesterday's blog post). Now let me show you inside the door (the whole place reminded me of the clean and colorful mid-century modern designs of Palm Springs)...

Bedroom #1: bed was fully made up just in case I didn't have any bedding with me (or in case I was too tired to make the bed, which was the case with me); working clock radio, dresser behind the desk table, and even a very cool pre-installed wall-mounted hanging magazine rack.

Bathroom (with a towel, just in case).

Bedroom #2: with minimal bedding in case I wanted to use my own.

Closets are smartly designed with pre-installed organizer units (Bedroom #1 has gray fabric curtains that slide on a thin line to cover the closet). Bedroom #2 had a cool pre-installed wall-mounted invisible shelf for books above the desk.

Even a working iPod docking stereo station (Bedroom #2) and a combination pushpin/magnet board.

Full kitchen (electric range, dishwasher, microwave, and a "disposal in the sink" - lyric from "Somewhere That's Green" from the musical Little Shop Of Horrors): refrigerator was stocked with beverages, freezer had two vegetarian frozen pizzas, and the tote bag on the countertop had some assorted snacks and treats for me.

A SLU totebag with teas, cookies, granola bars, and an assortment of oatmeal.

Cafe seating area right by the kitchen.

Living room: the use of carpet remnant squares on top of the gray commercial carpet was a very nice pop of color (yes, the chair and couch are black "leather").

Every apartment in this building has a wall-mounted flat screen TV - not surprisingly, the university was able to fill it with students!

An assortment of local reading materials (magazines, entertainment guides, SLU newspaper) was laid out for me on the coffee table. (I felt like Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada: "That's all...")

A great notebook that I am using for my first weeks of meeting notes, SLU drinking cups, pens, highlighters, keychains, sticky notes, notepads, and magnet-backed grocery shopping list pads.

Another totebag with a polo shirt and a T-shirt, courtesy of Housing and Residence Life. (The note explaining the contents is tucked into a front pocket and is addressed to "Dr. Ray!")

Coffee table even had a poinsettia and some votive holders.

Side table in the living room: the street address of this building is "374."

As I prepared to go to bed early for my first day of work in four months, I felt restless with anticipation and excitement. I hope many great adventures await me, and I'm sure I will be challenged in this job, and maybe I will challenge others back (in a good way). I recalled something I saw on that long stretch of my drive through Kansas: I noticed that the jet airplanes high overhead seemed to be following each other's contrails. I guess that makes sense: air traffic control and flight paths must all have designated routes to follow (weather permitting). So I wondered about my career in this context: whose trail would I be following if this job had never existed before? Even though my position at St. Louis University is a newly created one, I know I am indebted to all those who have taught and mentored me, and I hope I will always leave some brand new trails of my own wherever I go.

After unpacking the car Sunday morning, I went to meet my friend Melanie (who was gracious enough to receive the boxes I had shipped ahead of time). I got my boxes, we unloaded at the apartment, and then Melanie took me to a great brunch place downtown where we enjoyed savory crepes and lots of hot coffee!

Melanie's home (practically "down the street" from SLU and my temporary apartment).

Mittens Jersey, Melanie's cat (ah-choo!).

Brunch at Rooster: goat cheese and veggie crepe with a creamy tomato aioli sauce, coffee, and very spicy breakfast potatoes!

Off to post-brunch shopping (probably not since grad school in Vermont in 1993 has a winter photo like this been possible)!

After our Sunday brunch, Melanie took me to some stores and we shopped for groceries and some other essentials I needed to live in my temporary apartment for a while (and we completed some of her shopping errands too). (Yes, Tim and Margot - surprise, surprise: a day with Melanie that involved shopping - shocking!)

Perhaps prophetically, just over 12 hours before this Sunday started, one of the first place names I noticed after the Kansas-Missouri state border was "Raytown, MO." Well, I'm Ray. This is my town now. Hello, Missouri. Thank you for welcoming me. I'm happy to be home.

The Long Road (To My New) Home: The SFO > STL Roadtrip Move, Day 4

Another late post for Saturday, December 4, 2010...

Sadly, after less than 24 hours in Denver, my road warrior respite had to end. St. Louis was still about 900 miles away, and a quick calculation in my head during happy hour last night figured that at best if I averaged a speed of 75 miles per hour, that was still 12 hours on the road ahead of me, plus I would lose one hour with another time zone. So after an all-too-brief good night's sleep in the lofted bedroom of my sister's apartment, I had to pack up and head out again, and hit the road. I admit that I was nervous: I wanted to drive safely, but I also just wanted to get to my destination without another night in a motel and my stuff still packed in the car. So as I drove out of Denver I accepted the reality that I did not know where this long road or when this long day would end, and I just hoped for the best. After the mountainous passes of California, Nevada, Utah and western Denver, this last leg was going to be brutally flat in comparison. But the sights were still not bad. In the changing light of day and varying cloud cover, there really were amber waves of grain...and every other shade of yellow and brown and green.

Bye, bye City Park in Denver, CO: I'll have to explore this place the next time!

Early morning CO sky.

CO barn.

More changing patterns in the CO sky.

Welcome to Kansas: "The Wheat State" (oh yes, and welcome to all hunters too - huh?).

Irrigation equipment in KS.

More irrigation on the fields.

Fairly constant landscape...

Windfarms in Vesper, KS and Ellsworth, KS.

Yup: that's a pick-up truck hauling an entire vintage airplane all folded up like neat origami.

Do these horizontal stripes make my Kansas hills look fat?

Late afternoon with one lost hour into Central Time Zone.

Small reservoir under the setting sun in Kansas.

Fittingly, there is an OZ Museum near the border of Kansas and Missouri, to remind any east-bound traveler that soon you really won't be in Kansas anymore.

First sign of my final destination, spotted in Kansas City, KS.

In addition to the cows and horses and crows on this leg, there were some beautiful hawks in this region, a lot of bales of hay, and even an honest-to-goodness tumbleweed rolling across the highway median. Kansas was the longest state I had to cross, so I had a lot of time to think about The Wheat State. The state kept me company for many hours (and so did my trusty showtunes - see soundtrack listing below), so if I could address the state as a person, here are some things I might say:

• Dear Kansas: You were a grueling and long drive, so thank you for the mostly pleasant weather on this exhausting day. I appreciate all your gas station markets with flavored coffees and cappuccino machines with no cup (up to 24 ounces) costing more than $2 - those certainly helped me stay alert! I admit that all of the "adult superstores" along your highway and the random $2.50 toll to get from Topeka to not-quite the state line had me perplexed. But I think you need to collect additional revenues to pay for all those lovely sights that I wish I could have taken more advantage of. You certainly take multi-faceted pride in showing off this land: the Czech Museum and Opera House; "Yarns!" the second friendliest yarn store in the universe (is the first friendliest yarn store also in this state?); Rock City; the Eisenhower Presidential Library; the Greyhound Hall of Fame; the Museum of Independent Telephony; the Custer House; the U.S. Cavalry Museum; the Kansas Motorcycle Museum (do other states have their own such place?); the Kansas Speedway Museum (where is the national museum of this kind?); the "JC Naz" - such a hip and freshly youthful name for the Church of the Nazarene; the Combat Air Museum; the Kansas History Center and Museum; the Brown v. Board National Historic Site, the Agriculture Hall of Fame; and even a roadside attraction area that features the world's largest prairie dog, a live five-legged steer, and a live Russian wild boar! In a way, Kansas, I am almost relieved that I didn't even have time today to stop at the OZ winery and then the OZ Museum. I mean, the town of Alma alone could have filled a day of my trip, what with it being the City of Native Stone and also the Home of the Famous Alma Cheese! So Kansas, I suppose I will have to come back and try to locate a baked potato or two in all your steakhouses some other time...when I have built up my energy reserves again to take in all your fabulous sights and sounds!

Kansas even brought me back to San Francisco, in a way. Last Saturday, I ended my weekly routine of volunteering in the kitchen of Project Open Hand. I will miss my friends there, even all the teasing. But as the fates would have it, my "nemesis" Gregg found a way to haunt me even on this drive!

Gregg Stratton at POH: can I get a break from you for just one Saturday, already? Geez...where's my mac and cheese?

The sun was setting just as I crossed from Kansas into Missouri, and at that point I decided to push on, despite what had already been a very long road. Perhaps I was inspired with the recent remembrance of Beryl Markham (see blog post for Day 1). Perhaps all those Kansas gas fill-up cappuccinos kicked in. Perhaps I was just anxious to unpack and not be in a motel again, having just spent one night in my sister's place in Denver. Perhaps I was motivated by the four different trucks that passed me sporting bumper stickers exclaiming, "Cowboy Up!" So as darkness fell, I continued along the mostly well-lit and well-trafficked I-70. (Judging by all the cars that had been pulled over by law enforcement - I counted at least 12 - the Missouri interstate is also very well protected.) Since it was getting darker, I didn't take any other photos and I am sure I missed many sights and place names and billboards. But suddenly I was all "eyes on the prize" and knew that I needed to keep my focus on getting to my new home. I knew that if I could get there, then there would be plenty of time for regional explorations later.

So after about 12.5 hours on the road (plus one hour lost to the Central Time Zone)...I made it safely to St. Louis, MO and St. Louis University! I'll post more details later, but I will end for now with this photo: it's what greeted me on the door of the apartment I will be staying in for the time being, until I get a more permanent address of my own.

The SLU Housing and Residence Lie staff at the Flats (the student apartment building that is my new temporary home) welcomed me with my own door tag.

Day 4 Fact File:
Starting Mileage: 80,255
Average Miles Per Gallon: 27.67
Visible Roadkills: 4 deer (including one inside the enclosed cab of a pick-up truck - yuck!), 5 rabbits, 4 skunks, and one unidentifiable rump and single leg (ugh).
Places Passed: Limon, CO; Hugo, CO; Kit Carson, CO; Genoa, CO; Arriba, CO; Flagler State Wildlife Area, CO; Bethune, CO; Burlington, CO (no coat factory); Kanorado, KS (get it? - Kansas-Colorado, right near the border); Caruso, KS; South Fork Beaver Creek, KS; Logan County, KS; Oakley, KS; Campus Road, KS (my address when I lived in Los Angeles was on Campus Road); Wakeeney, KS; Grinnell, KS; Quinter, KS; Voda, KS (the Russian word for "water;" where's 'Vodka?'); Ogallah, KS; Fort Larned, KS (is that where all the educated soldiers go after they get learned?); Ellsworth, KS; Wilson, KS; Lucas, KS; Sylvan Grove, KS; Lincoln, KS; Minneapolis, KS; Saline River, KS; Manhattan, KS; Abilene, KS; Talmage, KS; Geary County, KS (no 38 Geary MUNI bus from San Francisco, I bet); Mud Creek KS (don't all creeks have mud?); Junction City, KS; the OZ Winery, KS; Topeka, KS; Lawrence, KS; Tonganoxie, KS; Eudora, KS (do they have free e-mail access there?); Fort Leavenworth, KS; M
Soundtrack: Matthew Sweet, "100% Fun;" Of Montreal, "The Gay Parade;" Music For Animals, "If Looks Could Kill;" Jamie Cullum, "The Pursuit;" Original Broadway Cast, "Aida;" Original Broadway Cast, "Avenue Q;" Original London Cast, "Mamma Mia!;" Original Off-Broadway Cast, "Little Shop Of Horrors;" Original Cast, "Songs For A New World;" Original Broadway Cast, "BKLYN;" Original Broadway Cast, "Spring Awakening."
Ending Mileage: 81,105
Total miles since leaving San Francisco: 2,126 (phew!)

Mile-High Mountain (Dew) Stop: The SFO > STL Roadtrip Move, Day 3

Apologies for late post #1: the last two days of this trip have been packed full so I've had no time or energy for the same-day blogging I had hoped to achieve on this trip. I hope to make up for it somehow. And if I don't, oh well.

Friday, December 3 started with a very restless sleep, and a long morning getting ready to hit the road. Maybe chilly morning air kept me from moving quickly. Maybe it was the allure of the breakfast danish and coffee conversation with the Polish immigrant woman proprietor of the Gas Lite Motel that kept me from driving out in a rush. Or maybe it was the crazy fake wildlife that had me hunkered down in my shelter-in-place mode.

Elk (braying) by my parking space

I guess I wasn't hallucinating last night: the motel is still inexplicably spelled "Lite" (is it low calorie?) in the morning light.

Hanging outside the second floor rooms. No that's not the proprietor. But if this is the saloon town I'm in, then I'm outta here!

I think that's an eagle on top of a bear with a freshly caught salmon: a totem to carnivores, outside the room of a vegetarian.

I credit the wolf with guarding my car and the entire parking lot last night.

I can't decide if the swimming pool bear is cite or scary - votes?

So I fueled up the car at the Laramie, WY Safeway (I skipped the very cheap gas advertised at the "Kum-N-Go" station - no commentary needed - and who knew that my grocery club card could save me $0.03 per gallon?), I took my Gas Lite Motel-recommended route to Denver, bypassing Cheyenne, WY (not to be confused with bypassing Cheyenne Jackson, which I would never do) and cutting about 45 minutes off the driving time of what would be the least amount of driving I would do in one day during this whole trip. It was the 287 South to the I-25 to the I-70. More "Strong Winds" and "Pass With Caution" signs peppered the route, along with the occasional horse ranches.

Cold winter clouds in the WY morning.

Strong winds allowing bright winter sun to peek through.

Hello, Colorado!

Red Mountain Granite Canyon, CO

CO landscape: lots of "Falling Rocks" signs along the route too!

These twin rock formations in CO can't possibly be natural, right?

Green locomotive pushing one coal car through a traffic intersection in Fort Collins, CO: definitely not the Hogwarts Express!

Having passed signs for the Ever Open Cafe (Fort Collins, CO), a "Large Goose Contest," multiple Cracker Barrel restaurants, multiple shooting ranges and "Guns, Guns, Guns" (for sale), and assorted shrapnel on the road (tire treads, railroad ties, assorted lumber, PVC pipes - all fallen victims to the wind gusts, perhaps), it was a rather welcome experience to hit new maximum speeds of 15 MPH through road construction in the surface streets of Denver, CO. My sister, Ana-Liza, moved to the Mile-High City of Denver with her job at Pepsi (makers of Mountain Dew) in June so the brief visit also helped re-energize my spirit about facing changes in life with a good attitude.

After parking, Ana-Liza's cockapoo, Lincoln meets me at the door and here he is (between tail wags and jumps on me).

Aw, cute! Lincoln and my sister.

A very welcome "real meal" not eaten on the road: Denver Biscuit Company's biscuit with a fried egg and cheese, smothered in vegetarian mushroom gravy.

After the quick lunch break, I took advantage of my sister's free and secure WiFi to get some work done on the computer, including uploading the Day 2 blog post. Sadly, there was no time for a nap, but that didn't stop Lincoln:

A dog's life is hard!

Ana-Liza and I ventured over to the western side of the city, and one or two wrong turns later, we ended up at the store of our friend, Mona Lucero. 

Mona Lucero Design Boutique (2544 15th Street; Denver, CO 80211): amazing stuff here, so go check it out and support a super-talented designer friend!

Even Mona's store logo and the label tags on her designs are cool!

Window displays are warm, fun, and inviting.

Here's Mona at work: fitting and styling a model for an upcoming in-store fashion show event. (Yes, I felt very "Project Runway"/"America's Next Top Model" by witnessing all of this first-hand!)

Mona graciously took time out from her crazy workday to hang out a bit.

The kitty guardian of the store: Vincent Lucero, the cat that acts like a puppy (ah-choo!).

After checking out the boutique and scoring a one-of-a-kind find, Ana-Liza and I headed over to Root Down, a fantastic nearby restaurant. We were about to play hosts to two consecutive "Parties of 4" and I think the house staff at the place were even impressed!

"Little" Brother and "Older" Sister happy at Happy Hour

Root Down is an earthy and sustainable restaurant that used to be a greasy service station and approximately 70% of the entire place was built and furnished with reclaimed, reused, and recycled materials. For this business model and professional commitment to valuable philosophy, this restaurant deserves your support! (These scales decorated the restrooms.)

Party #1: Arlene Rapal (Ana-Liza's friend from Michigan State), me, sis, Alvin Cruz (visiting Arlene from San Diego, CA). Yes, that's four Filipinos in one place in Denver, CO. No, lightning did not strike, the earth did not swallow us whole, and the world did not end. How about that?

Party #2: Sis, Mona Lucero, me, Don Grant (Mona's buddy and hair stylist, whom I had met when they recently visited San Francisco - go support him at Hair On Earth: 2557 W 46th Ave; Denver, CO 80211)

The short day was packed full with a lot of fun stories, good laughs, decent food and drinks, it was time to head right to bed and prepare for a long day of driving in Day 4 of the journey. Good night from one mile up in the Mountain Time Zone!

Bag at Mona Lucero Design Boutique

Day 3 Fact File:
Starting Mileage: 80,109
Average Miles Per Gallon: 28.03
Visible Roadkills: 0 (maybe the cold mountain air quickly freeze dries the animals?)
Places Passed: Rawhide Road, WY; Tie Siding, WY; Red Mountain Granite Canyon, CO; Cherokee Park, CO; Owl Canyon, CO; Poudre Canyon, CO; Gateway Bridge, CO; Colorado State University; Fort Collins, CO.
Soundtrack: Jason Gray, “Everything Sad Is Coming Untrue” (deluxe edition); Kris Allen, "Kris Allen;" Esmee Denters, "Outta Here."