bits of a journey which got hit by a tornado

[lotteliebchen]

Escaping from new york can be challenging, when you lock yourself out of a friends apartment w/o cell phone, then finally retrieve all contact information via the internet in a tourist cafe that charges $5 for 10 min. Then retrieve 50 pounds of luggage, return keys, then try to get said luggage through the turnstiles onto the subway, changing trains twice, ride to Chinatown.. push through crowds of people laughing at the poor white people with lots of luggage. We get our seats assigned on the bus and then I go out to browse Korean boutique, where nice Korean lady accosts me, trying to make me try everthing on because "I such pretty girl". I wrest myself away, bus leaving, hurry hurry or you miss bus, but bus picks up people at various other unannounced stops at Dim sum restaurants before heading for New Jersey. In the background, cell phone ringtones featuring pop and traditional favorites from various Asian homelands. People eat squid and other things from lunchboxes. We are riding this bus because it is only $12 from New York to Philadelphia. We arrive and there are no relatives waiting for us .. yet... get over to the Market East station and board the 4 train to Westminster and head for the suburb where my Grandma lives.

That was only the escape from New York part...

Since then we have crossed PA,WV,OH,IN,IL,IA,NE,SD,WY,MT,ID,and WA

We have seen marble sized hail, and flash flooding, had a tornado warning and been warned to stay on the pavement because of rattlesnakes. There was driving rain and 90 degree, midwestern humidity. We saw wild turkeys, mule deer and an antelope, as well as signs for a Montana festival devoted to "rocky mountain oysters"

I had a birthday party in a room with a hearse painted like an alien spacecraft. Our backyard looks like a jungle. I have a new car.

At some point.. I am going to have to spend some time sorting all of this out.