Merry Christmas Day!

Christmas Eve night in warm, sunny, dry Texas in the south of the United States was eleven degrees Fahrenheit. So, we went from our cozy campsite with its breathtaking view (not Kendra)...


...to the cozy bathroom floor with its heated air. :) Merry Christmas morning everybody! A shout-out to the poor woman who had to crawl over us to take a dump at 6 a.m. Kudos to her for her lack of shame though!

After a brisk run in the chilled air (Kendra), a walk with the sunrise (Keturah) and some serious banana-honey-oatmeal eating, we went for a romp on Hueco...

...followed by a hike an hour away up part of the Franklin Mountain Range...

The land stretches flat for hundreds of miles until you enter a city sprawled equally flatly with a curtain backdrop of faded watercolor mountains. And as you are finally growing accustomed to the simplicity of landscape, the mountain range suddenly blocks the road directly in front of you. But as much as you expected it to be there and anticipated its arrival, the contrasted reality takes you so much by surprise that you are left dazed and dazzled and speechless all over again. Settling in, you realize the mountains actually maintain the simplicity. There aren't the trees of the Adirondacks and certainly not the color, but there is a glorious evolving view all the way up and all the way down. Let your filter dissolve in the altitude and beauty overwhelms you...an earth form unfathomably massive fading to the contour it draws across the sky and the pattern of snow-frosted shrubs like a fabric print laid over changing light and shadows. The sun was warm and the steep hike up loose stone heated our blood, but the wind blew chills into our parched skin. It felt as though we were phantom angels, surely about to be blown to a fine dust, forever claimed by the harsh arid land. An extraordinary experience to rest atop a mountain you hiked yourself on Christmas Day and realize the glory of existence, of the earth and the possibilities of our lives on it, in it...of it. To be free...Merry Christmas!



Christmas Dinner was on Grandma & Grandpa C at the only place open in Texas (unfortunately not a steakhouse) - IHOP. Good water. Great chicken. OK service. It looks like a lot of food, but don't worry, we ate it all!

WEST TEXAS!

We made a day stop at the Monahans Sandhills...this strange waterless beach land in the middle of nowhere....literally....it is a hundred miles from anything in both latitudinal directions. Sandstone rock was eroded for a godzillion years and blown across the desert until it landed here, stopped by trees whose roots stretch out 70 feet horizontally to hold the dunes in place. The sand is more fine and smooth than ocean sand because it is blown by the wind and erodes evenly. We rented sand disks for $1/hour (!) until a cold storm front blew in and whipped sand against our bare legs, torturing us off its territory...Beautiful place though. Silence is absolutely extraordinary. It is a different kind of silence here because there isn't as much wildlife, cacti don't have leaves and any noise that doesn't exist is hidden in the rolling winds. It is both restful and frightening. One could get lost in this sparse landscape...

(...a tumbleweed Christmas tree!)

From the sandhills, we drove to Hueco Tanks State Park, apparently the world's fifth best bouldering destination - who knew? (we certainly didn't). The ranger asked us if we were going to go bouldering. Us: "Sure, is there room on the bouldering tour or can we just hook up with one that went out?" Him: "Uh, do you know what bouldering is?" Us: "Studying rocks?" We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. People from around the globe, New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, Bulgaria and other places come to this historic site to free climb...basically climbing up a rock using only your fingers and toes, gripping 1/4 inch huecos (hollows) and hoping to God you don't fall to your crash pad below. It looked amazing! And apparently we looked like climbers because people kept asking us if we were...although we think it had more to do with the fact that our hair was oily, we drank milk out of the carton, ate granola, tented in below freezing weather, and wore whatever mismatched clothes we had....just like them! We aren't alone in the world!

The reason we ended up here is because it was in the State Park Guide and we thought it would be cool to see big rocks and pictographs, the camping was cheap and they advertised wi-fi (which didn't even work...). Felt a little guilty walking amongst the true-blood climbers who spend weeks there just to climb rocks...just had to laugh at our ignorance, I guess. We did go on a guided tour and learned about the natives who lived here, the plant life and saw some pictographs dated thousands of years ago, as well as names carved in from pioneers and rangers in the nineteenth century. Pretty cool...

All we can say is you guys have to go! To all these places we have been. Pictures are so inadequate. They just look like little sandhills, like big rocks, but they are sky and space and color and depth and history and the only stationary beings in this spurting cycle of life. We can't understand how these places could exist and we didn't know about them! The world has become accessible to us. This is what we want to remember.

Conquering Eastern Texas

Well folks, come to find out, TEXAS IS HUGE. But not too huge for us. With our "game-plan" all made up we headed down the coast (avoiding the overwhelming Houston at all costs) to Baytown where our GPS calmly directed us to "drive 500 feet; board ferry" (after making sure the ride was free, you can imagine how exciting this was for us) in order to view the only Battleship to have survived both World Wars before being retired as a memorial. We spent the day roaming around the grounds of this Texas landmark and memorial site and basking in the 65degree sunshine.

From here we continued south along the coast to Goose Island State Park, just north of Rockport, where we experienced Big Tree, the oldest coastal live oak tree in Texas and well, probably THE WORLD! Estimated at more than 1000 years old, this huge, looming tree has survived years and years of hurricanes and weathering. Ranger Mike, who we would spend the evening singing Christmas Carols with while roasting S'Mores, told us all about Big Tree with the most adoration we've ever seen between a man and a tree.

Our next stop was a bit northwest - Goliad State Park, home of the first cattle ranch in Texas, where we learned about the historic Spanish Missions established by Spanish Franciscans in the early 1500s through the 1700s to "civilize" the Natives and spread Christianity.

Northwest of Goliad we went to *dundundun* THE ALAMO, lest we should forget to "remember the Alamo!" This experience was really incredible as we stood on the ground that the Texans fought with such ardor to defend from Mexico, leading directly to their independence.

After wandering around San Antonio we headed WEST, west, west.. through miles and miles of baren but oddly beautiful and fascinating desert land. Never before had we experienced such emptiness for so many consecutive miles. The towns, when we would find one after a hundred miles, were small and simple. I (Kendra) found this a bit unsettling as I tried to comprehend just how much empty space this was. The emtpiness "emptied" into the hillcountry after a bit, leading us to Enchanted Rock State Park - what a treasure! We keep entering these places with no idea where we're going other than a photo and a blurb in a Texas State Park only to find that they're beautiful beyond description; an entire, multidimensional experience. Enchanted Rock, one of the largest exposed underground rock formations in the US, was just this. We climbed 425 feet to the top where we caught our breath in unbelief. How could it be possible to climb such a short hike and see so much in what had seemed such a baren land? The wind at the top was frigid but we took our time, resting in the calm of the surrounding country. We spent the afternoon quietly hiking the "Loop Trail" that took us around incredible rock formations, absorbing as much as we could of this land, so different from anything we'd wittnessed before.

Happy Anniversary!

Tonight will be our one week anniversary of spending the night in WalMart parking lots!!!

Ahh, it feels good to drive home every night after a long day...

The 2008 Subaru Impreza (...don't worry Mom, all is well)

To pick up from where we left off at the library...
Let's set the scene. Kendra is floating somewhere in her need to run while Keturah is on a mission to plan how to see ALL of Texas in less than a week. Thus emerges:

Car Scenario #1 (as narrated by Kendra):
It all happened so fast, but so slowly. I JUST WANTED TO RUN! I got my clothes out of the car and walked inside, changed in the handicapped stall. When I went to leave the handicapped stall, I reached for the key in my sweatshirt pocket. *gasp* There was nothing! I padded myself down, but there was still nothing! So, I walked into the library in a zombie-like state, staring straight ahead. As I approached Keturah's cubicle, I said softly "Please tell me you have the other key." Her blank stare told me she did not. I crumpled to the floor in a heap for 14 hours....oops, that is a different story. I actually called Triple A on Keturah's phone as mine, too, was in the car. But the guy was really nice and it didn't cost us a thing! :)

Car Scenario #2 (as narrated by Keturah):
So we were driving along innocently at night when I saw flashing lights in the rearview mirror. I pulled to the side remarking to Kendra "Oh no! Someone is in trouble. We need to pull over." But lo and behold, he pulled up behind us! I was a nervous wreck - Texas has security for everything! They probably hate nosey New Yorkers. He kept shining his dumb flashlight in the car! Apparently I was going a little bit over the speed limit if you can call entering a 50mph zone at barely 70 mph in a strange land outrageous speed. Kendra handled everything very well and in the end he didn't give us a ticket. As we pulled away, it suddenly dawned on us that the only thing to save us from him searching our car for drugs was probably our smell ! Thanks for the air freshener Mrs. Chamberlain!

Car Scenario #3 (as narrated by us):
Immediately following Scenario #2, we began to hear a rattling noise in the front right section of the vehicle. It sounded like wind was getting in somewhere, but after checking all our windows and silencing our rattling water bottles and pots, we concluded that the engine was about to go. Being the expert mechanics that we are, we pulled off and popped the hood. After assessing the problems with arms crossed and tobacco chew in our jaw, Kendra checked the oil while I cleaned leaves out of the cracks by the windshield wipers. After realizing we'd done all we could for her, we figured the problem was solved. We drove away and the sound hasn't come back since. You know an engine problem when you hear one, that is all we have to say about that.

Trying to find wi-fi in Texas:

Well, we made it to the Lone-Star State! Apparently the Lone-Star State hasn't made it to the 21st Century...

Our Experiences with Wi-Fi (or the lack of it):

#1) The Rest Stop

Driving into Texas we were full of hope as we looked at bold billboards announcing WI-FI at the rest stations! Upon arrival we discovered *dundundun* it was out of commission.

Keturah: "Excuse me, the wi-fi here doesn't seem to be working."Information Specialist: "Yeah, we are having a guy come to fix it."
Keturah: "How long do you think that might be?" (maybe we could wait for it...)
Information Specialist: "It will take about a week."

Apparently things really do move slower in the south. We have never felt so much like northerners before. haha.


#2) McDonald's

Our old faithful for coffee and an hour of internet surfing for free...

Kendra: "Do you have free wireless here?"
Result: blank stare from a Mexican woman


#3) Whataburger

Keturah: "Do you have wireless here?"
Cashier: "What?!"
Keturah: "Wireless internet."
Cashier: "Who?!"
Keturah: "I don't know ma'am. Where is your bottom row of teeth?"


#4) The Donut Place

At this point, we realized that our GPS gave us phone numbers, so rather than drive to every store in town (like we did for an hour the last time we looked for a cafe), we began calling, an equally remarkable adventure...

Kendra: "Hello, do you have free wireless internet at your store?"
Other Person: "What?"
Kendra: "Wireless internet."
Other Person (apparently Asian) three repetitions later: "No, we no wi-fi. We make donut."


#5) Some Cafe

Kendra: "Do you have wireless internet at your cafe?"

Nice woman with strong accent, probably in her 30s: "Well, now, I'm nawt shore whut kind of internet we have. The owner's nawt here rawght now."

Kendra: "It would be the free kind that anyone can just hook their computer up to."

Nice woman with strong accent, probably in her 30s: "Well, now, there was sumone in here jus this mawrnin with a lab top."

Kendra: "What kind of place is this?"

Nice woman with strong accent, probably in her 30s: "Well, we're just a cafe." :)



Then we used our brains and realized libraries probably have internet access! We are actually sitting in our car outside a closed library now, sinisterly sneaking their internet after hours. And this is the perfect transition to our next post...

Some Afternoon Ramblings from Kendra..

It's been a long time since I've written a "personal" post. I suppose it's time for that..

Wow. Today officially marks 6 weeks on the road. Can that be possible? We left Key West only two short weeks ago but there's been so much to take in since then that it seems like an entirely different time in my life. Every day seems to bring new and sometimes drastically different places, people, cultures, weather. The atosphere changes almost daily, save the recent consistency of the faithful Wal-Mart parking lots! There's been so much to absorb, so much to see, so much to sort through in my own my and heart. The moments of panic associated with wondering what the heck I'm going to do when this trip is over are beginning to slow down. It's becoming more and more natural every day to be doing this. I never imagined it would be so easy to sleep in a car in a parking lot, ask for mugs of hot water at fast food restaurants to make coffee in the morning, go days without a shower and feel beautiful. Had anyone told me this would be so natural I wouldn't have believed them, but it is. Even my aching knees after a night of being scrunched up in the car can't take away from the greatness of this.

But I've realized some things as the trip has progressed.
--In and of itself this trip has purpose: purpose for me to spend some pent-up adventurous energy while seeing and experiencing my own country; purpose for taking the time to really step back and look at my life and encounter myself as I struggle to sort through what I've been through, what it's been for, and how it's supposed to feed, fit into, or spur onward the next phase of my life. For these reasons this trip is necessary. The more I see, the further West we go, the more ground we cover, the less confined I feel. Slowly but surely I sense these feelings of being stuck, limited and restless leaving me. I'm seeing all these places, meeting all these people who are all living life in such radically different ways, and it's making me breathe a bit easier as I realize that somewhere out there, out here, there is a place for me. There's a whole lot of space out here, a whole lot of country.. the possibilities and the opportunities are really limitless, especially here in America. This country that once disgusted me is beginning to give me a lot of hope. There's so much more to see and I intend to see as much as I can in the next couple months, but when it's over I think I'll be ready to find a place and find a purpose beyond myself. I wasn't ready to do that before, and I'm still not. But if I'm reading myself and these experiences correctly, eventually I'm going to figure some of this stuff out, and eventually this restlessness is going dissipate, and when it does, I'm going to find something worth living for and just go for it. Whether it makes sense or not.
--I love being a part of a church body. It's been really incredible (Morning Star) and interesting at times (thank you, Christ Church, Rockport, haha!) experiencing other churches, but I miss having a church that I can be a part of and invest in and serve.
--It's really too bad no one has found a way to make a collapsable, portable, non-electric piano. I could really use one of those on this trip.
--I have truly incredible friends and family, for which I would be a fool to be too far away for far too long.
--The mountains, the rivers, and the dense forests know a part of me that the ocean, the cities, the vast lands do not. Ideally, I will live very close to a mountain range and every weekend I will grab someone I love and go hiking until every muscle in our bodies ache and our stomachs moan.
--I LOVE GRITS!! I almost can't even believe it myself, but I bought my first container of Quakers this morning!
--Running really does keep me sane.
--I Love Reading Maps!!
--Dandylion is one truly special friend..

There's really nothing quite like Callin' It Life.
*sigh*

New Orleans, LA

A very grateful shout-out to Miss Laura Martin for setting up our connection in New Orleans, LA!!

Monday afternoon we set out for New Orleans where the plan was to meet up with "Zac", a mystery man whom Laura said had been working there since Katrina. We arrived around 4:30 and met Zac in the SUM (School of Urban Missions) parking lot, where we would be staying for the night. We'll spare you the details, but Kendra needed carrots and despite having showered earlier that morning, we both could have used some nice hot, soapy showers. After a quick trip to a pretty ghetto but incredible cheap grocery store we changed into some "real" clothes and hit the city with Zac, carrots in tow. It was raining by the time we got into the city so we boarded the trolley and took a free ride (thank you, mr. trolleyman!) on the crickety, creaky, squeaky trolley for over an hour while the rain came down and the lights shorted out every few minutes. It was a wonderful ride, sitting in our puddles, watching the city go by slowly, enjoying one another's company as we shared stories from our trip with Zac, the first person to make us realize that by now we have some pretty good stories to tell!

The next hour we spent walking through the pouring rain as Zac pointed out buildings, brought us to the edge of the Mississippi River, and introduced us to Beignets (glorified fried dough, but oh, how glorious!) and fancy Cafe au Lait with chickory. The air was warm, the rains were refreshing, and we were soaked through and through, but we kept walking and walking through Bourbon Street and old cobblestone alleyways, music streaming into our ears as we passed from place to place. The night had an air all its own, a wonderful, magical air..

A bit about Zac - he's probably in his mid 20's. Three years ago he set out on a road trip to go hike Montana. Through some friends he made his way to New Orleans in hopes of helping out with Katrina relief for a few weeks. Three years later he's still there, helping restore an old church building to its pre-Katrina state and serving as associate pastor to a new church they started post-Katrina.

We couldn't have asked for a more authentic New Orleans experience. We spend the next day laying tiles in the church with Zac and his roommate/co-worker Sam.

In the afternoon we joined up with Marinda who drove us through the Ninth Ward, the area most affected by Katrina where the levees broke and the houses were entirely washed out... how to put this into words... Everyone talked so much about Katrina after it happened and the need that is there, but it didn't become truly real to us until we experienced the effects, effects that are still openly visible four years later. We have a new understanding of the immediacy of human need.

Our time in New Orleans ended with another sampling of the local fare...GUMBO! And not as gooey and gross as it sounds either. Basically it is a spicy chicken, sausage and okra soup on rice...mmm!

Lastly, a Merry Christmas from New Orleans!

Grandma & Grandpa C (Keturah)

Like we have mentioned several times, much of this trip is committed to experiencing different ways of life. So, what better life to experience than Polynesian Village - a retired seniors independent living community! Woot woot!

I was lucky enough to be adopted by a couple I traveled with in China in 2005 -Vernon and Barbara Campbell. We bonded strangely well over our two weeks together and have kept in touch since then, so it was a happy reunion after 4 years!

For both Kendra and I, this was sincerely one of our best experiences on this trip. We had so much fun and we were so loved. Ahhh...sigh. We could probably write about them for days, but we don't have days, so we'll give you a few hilarious anecdotes that might give you an idea about our stay...

The TV

Like I said, we haven't seen each other in four years, but it would seem that only hugs and a big dinner are allowed to upset the routine...

Grandma: "So, do you girls ever watch Wheel?"

Kendra & Keturah:

(1) confusion - apparently, we aren't in on the nighttime TV lingo

(2) understanding glances towards one another - "Ohhh, Wheel of Fortune. Hmn. Yeah, Grandma. Sure. We do sometimes."

Thus, our first night together was an intense interactive experience with Wheel of Fortune and Jeapordy, or "Alex" as Grandpa affectionately refers to him.

The Cat

Picture a fifteen pound cat who does nothing all day but sleep and beg for food - absolutely nothing else. Now picture two grown reasonable adults rubbing her belly every time happens to roll on her back, tying back curtains so she can see out the window even though she walks away in the process, hand feeding her scraps every time there is food, searching under all the furniture in the house for her toys before bed, and the mass searches throughout the community instigated by every momentary disappearance. Now, bear with us one more time and picture those two grown reasonable adults compelling us to join in all these endeavors. You now have two not-so-fat girls chasing two not-so-skinny old people chasing one VERY OBESE cat...only to see her wander out of some bedroom and stretch out on the floor as we are on our way out the door to notify the FBI.

I am glad you are all having a good laugh at our expense, but I'll have you know that such unconditional dedication was applied to us as well. They fattened us up and then even though we did absolutely nothing, they gave us all their love. "You girls made our year here." Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for everything...

The Passion...Fruit?

Breakfast conversation can be a tricky thing, especially when one discusses fruit, in particular, passion fruit with one whose hearing is not what it once was.

Keturah: "Have you ever had passion fruit, Grandma?"

Grandma (76) looks over at Grandpa (83): "Well, now dear, it has been so long, I can hardly remember!"

And she walks over and gives him a big kiss on the lips.

Oh dear. I don't want to know. Although I sort of do, because they have only been married four years. They were both married to other people for 52 years, but after their spouses died, they found each other. So, they are like newlyweds, happy and alive, which is maybe part of why they are still so fun. Seriously though, what are the logistics of that....???

The Crazy Night

On our last day, we ate more than we can list in this space and then stayed up until midnight with a rocking game of Dominoes! Keyed up on sugar and love, we laughed harder than we had in weeks. Grandpa went to bed when Grandma dropped something in the kitchen:

Grandpa: "What's the matter out there, Barbara? Did you drop your teeth on the floor again?"

Grandma: "Nooo, Vernon. I think I glued them in pretty well this morning!"

~~~

It was such a beautiful time with them. They introduced us around the community center to all their friends as their granddaughters, took us out to eat, let us decorate for Christmas, took us to an oldies concert, collected shark teeth on the Gulf and let us experience all the old people stereotypes. We love you Grandma & Grandpa!

As a sidenote, I think I should mention that this could be the life for me: slow pace, everyone takes care of everyone, you are allowed to indulge your sweet tooth and everyone sits together to read newspapers and books and magazines. Plus, I got to ride a bike with a basket!

Mallory Square, Key West (Keturah)

At Sunset, everyone goes to Mallory Square by the water to watch the magic and applaud the sun's drop off the earth. So, I was wandering among the vendors and performers when I happened upon a young artist drawing a girl's portrait. This sort of thing is fascinating to me, so I struck up a conversation with him when he finished. It was a slow night for him, but I didn't have any cash, but he offered to use me as a demo so that at least people could see him working. It turns out that the artist, Justin, went to school for photography, but has spent the last six years traveling from beach to boardwalk to tourist destination, drawing portraits.

It turned out to be his mistake, offering to draw me, because sitting there perfectly still, absorbing a sky bruised by dusk seems to uncap my stream of consciousness. He said the magic words after he finished drawing my mouth "Ok, you can talk now." And I wondered aloud at this world. How does anyone choose a life to live? There are too many options available... you have your career people who did college, worked hard, prepared a 50-year plan including a cushy retirement and even death. Some choose to dedicate their lives to family. Then there is the colorful group of vagabonds, gypsies, bums, hippies and traveling wanderers. Others do that in a more structured setting, like your artists, writers and poets. Still others dedicate their lives to a faction of the human, such as body (sports), spirituality (missions, church, etc.) or mind (professors, intellectuals). Some people give up their lives for the sake of humanity....serving, serving, serving. How does anyone have a clue? We have stayed with the rich and the middle class, the old and the young, in resorts and in parking lots. We have experienced the benefits and disadvantages of them all so far. I haven't found one that seems more worthwhile than another. In the end, we die. Even if there is a hereafter, I can't imagine that this life would exist for the sake of that one. If that were true, why wouldn't we all just start with that one?

In the end, I have no answers. I have read so many books, heard about so many people who muse over the meaning of life, the question that has plagued mankind for all of existence. No one seems to make any headway on it. In the end, I am left with one night set to a beautiful dipping sun, twirled around by musicians and performers and a lovely conversation with a talented artist who has found something that at least makes him happy for now.

Are we all only to be satisfied with happy for now?

Ft. Lauderdale --> Key West

The two adventurers went sailing on the high seas!!! Seriously, too.

Keturah's friend, Kasey, in Ft. Lauderdale, took us out for a sea-faring excursion on his sailboat. It was an incredible time, especially when we looked at each other hanging on for dear life in front of a back-drop picturing crashing waves and asked Kasey "Huh, why aren't there any other boats out here?" Does "small craft warning" mean anything to anyone out there? Still, we are officially ruined for a life of dangerous sailing. Smooth seas will never do for us now.

After Ft. Lauderdale, we returned to wheels and drove to Key West over bridges and under sunshine! Eighty-Five Degrees New York! After a few dances of joyful abandonment on one bridge, as well as a little harmless flirting with an eighty-year-old fisherman (we made his day, by the way...hehe), we hit the Southernmost Point of the United States and decided not to cross the 90 miles to Cuba until the next trip...

Welcome to our sunset in Key West...a giant orange ball melting into the water like butter...

The people in Key West are really what's worth talking about though. Dan was the guitar-playing hippie who sold us a snorkeling trip and let us know how to get weed (we didn't even have to ask!). He backpacked around the country "with a girlfriend way back." But the real connection was made when he mentioned the homemade granola they took with them. Did we tell you that Kendra made 20 lbs of it for us?! What really stuck out was his humble generosity, offering us his houseboat to crash in and his friends to hang out with. Such is the life we wondered about. There are people who exist on the planet for the sake of enjoying the other people who are here too. Without question, they offer hospitality and help in any way they can. Thanks Dan for such a beautiful introduction to the heart of living in Key West.

On our walk back to our car that night, we walked by two scraggly guys on a bench, the kind of men your mother turns you away from when you are little and curious. They handed us roses made of palm leaves. We apologized, explaining our lack of cash..."Well, we didn't ask ya for any money, now did we? Just said Merry Christmas." We were won over instantly by their genuine smiles and happy spirits. John and John chatted with us, all the while expertly fashioning roses, sailboats and fish on a line for the kiddies who strolled by. John showed Keturah how to make a fish, but it is quite an intricate art! It turns out the bums your nice ladies in white shoes warn you about are actually a couple of intelligent guys who have travelled the country and hold humankind in their hearts. Cheesy? Maybe only if you haven't experienced it in its real form.

We actually slept in our car in a parking lot that night. Thanks Publix for the use of your bathrooms! If only they knew what occurred there...