3600 miles later...

Well, I've just driven from Berkeley to Boston in 7 days. Here's a quick review of my trip:

After emptying my apartment, I drove from Berkeley through Tahoe and then down into Reno. Passing through Reno, I ended up in the eastern Nevada desert and spent a night in a weird casino in Wendover. For $65, I got a room with a jacuzzi and a mirror on the ceiling above it.

Next day, it was through the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, passed through Salt Lake City, then into Wyoming, through the sparseness that is Laramie and Cheyenne, and down into Boulder to visit Garvin and Tania and their son Aden.

Leaving Boulder, I took I-76 through desolate eastern Colorado. This was my chance to see real tumbleweeds. I took a little video of them, but it doesn't capture the true weirdness of giant rolling bushes:



To get a sense of what I was really seeing, here's some more videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWm0SudZTvw (warning, horrible music!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_hKDp0Zlnk (my tumbleweeds weren't this big)

Entering Nebraska, land of "the Good Life", I encountered sleet and snow and long, flat prairie. Spent the night in Omaha. There really is a Mutual there.

Next day through Iowa. Very exciting. I spent the night in Chicago at Stacey's, with a quick visit to Tami and my cousin Erik and his new baby Frida Ruckus.

Passing through Benton Harbor in Western Michigan, I got to see the old Holiday Inn where my parents were married in the late 60's (now a Lake Breeze Inn).

Also got to see the former Howard Johnsons where my mother used to work as a waitress summers between college (now an abandoned 'City Buffet').

Next, on to Ann Arbor, where I entered heaven, aka Zingerman's, the best deli on the planet.

I bought something like $80 worth of their food, saw my friend Jacqe Kaufman, then headed to Detroit. In Huntington Woods, I saw my old friend Abby Rutheiser Kushner and her family.

Then brunch with Mandy and Mel, and a visit to my old high school, Andover, then to West Bloomfield, to see the house of my childhood.

On the road to Cleveland, with a surprise visit to Angela, and eastward through Erie, PA to the state of New York. A night in Oneonta then led me finally into Western Mass, where I drove through Northampton, Amherst, and stopped to admire the scenery for lunch at the Montague Bookmill with a pint of stout and some peanut udon noodles. The bathroom had a sweet sign.

Then, finally, after 7 days of driving, I arrived at John and Justine Neely's house in Boston, just in time for dinner.

Whew. I think I'll avoid the car for a few weeks.

On the road again

It's finally that time. It's Sunday night, October 19th. 9:00 PM. My apartment is just about empty. My car is packed. Tomorrow, I will be doing a very quintessentially American task .. that is, driving my car across country to a new job in Boston.

We Americans are incredibly mobile. Moving cities for our jobs, sometimes across the country, to places where we know very few people. But I haven't done this kind of thing since my mid-20's. So I'm kind of stepping back in time.

It's probably one of the last times I'll be quite so mobile - able to uproot so quickly, sell everything and move. It's just me and my cat right now, so that's what makes it so easy.

I'm a little sad to leave my amazing community of friends, but strangely detached from the whole experience. Watching all my possessions sell and leave my world forever. Saying goodbye to everyone I've known for 9.5 years here in the beautiful Bay Area. Having my last Bay Area sushi dinner.

Who knows...maybe after 7 cold months in cold Boston I'll want to come back. I'm leaving the option open...

More stories from the road. Next stop, eastern Nevada.

I'm official.

I now have two shows that have been officially published into DVD's by the networks who I produced them for. That means you can buy these programs and keep them in your home library. Right next to your copy of "The Matrix" and "Shrek". Seriously.

Here's the first...Hooked: Monster Fish!



Here's the second...Rebuilding the Boat: The I-5 Fix in Sacramento.



You know you want a copy of each. Don't deny it.

Actually, you can watch the entire I-5 Fix show on YouTube - how cool is that: