a race to the end.

It doesn't matter.  I've lost the spirit to write about it.  We went from Nashville to Georgia.  I finally got to meet a long-term friend of mine - Michael.  He lives in Hiram.  Hiram isn't much to speak of, but Michael was amazing, and his video of backyard brutal wrestling I will never forget!!!

From there we went to Raleigh, but I thought I was going to die the whole time because of storms.  In Raleigh, I drank a lot of wine and whined about wood roaches, which are disgusting and wrong no matter what anyone tells me.

From Raleigh to Parrotsville - I love Jeff's grandparents on that side.  They're wonderful.  His grandma had a stroke, so she can't say very much, but she's sweet and she makes your heart ache.  His grandpa keeps up conversation wonderfully and is curious and kind and made us biscuits and boiled apples - with cinnamon, this is very yummy!!

From Parrotsville we went to Kentucky.  In Kentucky, we met up with Gela (friend of ours from back here), and her house was gross and I won't get into it (grossdoublegross).  This is a speed story, so I can only briefly tell you we ran into a bartender whom we left $40+ to as a tip, because she was quitting that day because the blonde owner was a bitch (she was totally a bitch.).  We gave her a thumbs up and well wishes and snuck out quietly.  After calling the owner a bitch.

From Kentucky to Ohio.  It's a story all its own that I don't know how to tell here just yet.  It was life changing, and I didn't want to leave, but I knew it was just a page to turn ...

... Ohio to Missouri, we met up with my little sister.  I stayed up much too late in Rolla and enjoyed conversing with new friends and spending a giggly moment with my younger sibling...

... Rolla to Colorado Springs, where we met up with Amanda (previously of Amandatomical).  It was a horrible, horrible drive which involved too much tired, TOO MUCH KANSAS DEAR GOD (someone in Ohio compared this to a treadmill that goes on and on - a perfect description), Too much turnpike, and too much too much and we were at her house.  It was wonderful and smelled of home and pasta dinner (she made us food!) and warm bread and a guest room and a guest shower and the most perfect perfect puppies ever!
This was amazing.

Onward, from Colorado Springs to Denver, to Rawlins, Wyoming.  It should be noted there were real hobos here, with beards and a dog and the hats and clothes and everything that made them train-hopping hobos.  This was their ONE REDEEMING QUALITY.  I swear to god, on all of the road trip we did not fall into as much ass-hole-ism as we did in Rawlins, Wyoming.  There's a little shit-bar there called The Keg or Keg or something, and the old woman in there is about as far from friendly as you can get.   I guess tourist welcomings are a thing of the past - we come in to spend money, and we're nice, but you're a rude bitch.

We left there immediately, though we had planned on staying.  There was no way we'd pay $100 for a hotel room in a town where people are dicks.  Whizzing forward with rage and complaining about them most of the way to Rock Springs.  In this little snazzy town, I think we found Bombers.  This was a Karaoke sports bar with a bunch of people who'd been hurt or wanted to hurt people or were there just to sing and dance.  It was a blast talking and laughing and the food was DELICIOUS.  As an added bonus, our hotel room was next door.  I was glad we gave this place a try, as we were about to get bored of it, before there was almost a fight from a loud-mouth at the bar.

From Rock Springs, Wyoming to Elko, Nevada... I broke up with Randall here.  I'll never forget that.  It was kind of awful, actually, but I knew he was headed in a direction I didn't want to go along in.  He's still making mistakes to this day, so I know I made the right choice here.  I went into a Casino and sat next to a lady.  When I hit some money, she hit me.  When she hit some money,  I threatened to hit her, so she hit me again.  Somehow we got to talkin, something... She said "How are you?"

"I just broke up with my boyfriend in the parking lot..."  She gave me a sympathetic pat and an "Oooh darlin, you'll be okay" or something to that effect.  Can't remember exactly.. She explained how her husband had died of cancer, and how  you really are amazed at what can happen over time, or what's going to happen, or the strength of the human soul.  Turns out she was taking exactly the opposite of the trip we were taking, and her husband had grown up in Capitola, and she was going to Edmond, Oklahoma.  My angel.
Here to Carson City, Nevada.  There we met up with Chris (Jeff's friend) and hung out for a little while.  There wasn't a lot to say here, though there had been a shooting at the IHOP there not long before we arrived, so that seemed to be the thing to talk about.  We didn't stay long in the morning - there was home to be gotten to.

Carson City to Santa Cruz.  To Scotts Valley car wash.. To home... It's really been slow since then, but an emotional roller-coaster.  I didn't want to break up with anyone, but I am more important to me than anyone else in the world.

...Right?

a quick jaunt through nashville

I think you have to go through Arkansas to get to Nashville, but I'm pretty sure it's never worth mentioning.  Ten years ago, it wasn't worth mentioning either.  It's that little southern state you pass through that doesn't have anything you remember.  Yeah, that one..
We arrived in Nashville and shot over to Icon Studios to meet up with Betty Ann.  It was sort of a spur of the moment thing that we were ending up here (we had time!) so she had to work until midnight.  We were exhausted, but I was hankering for a drink and there were at least six bars on all of the corners around the shop.

Which one?

We stood there on one side of the street watching a deck with people piling up on it, but there were too many people and the music was loud and it wasn't our sort of atmosphere just yet -we were sober, remember.  There, across the way, was a little sign up above that spelled out "Winners!"

That was it!  That was our bar.  We were winners. The downside was that it was a sports bar, and we really aren't *those* type of people for sure.  Halfway across the street I saw the dingy little dark room beside the other bar.  This one had a little sign, nowhere near as big as the "Winners!"  It said: "Losers."

"My mistake," I told Jeff, "THAT is our bar."  And there we went, where I was mesmerized (as always) by the bartender and her oh-so-southern accent.  I have a thing for accents, if that hasn't been mentioned previously.  A few drinks in, we were once again remembering exhaustion and moved outside to find/eat some food.

We ended up back in front of the shop, where we actually sat and ended up hanging out for a couple of hours.  When Betty Ann got off work, we zipped over to here house, while I tried to resist my sleep yet again.  I think I fell asleep sitting up a few times.  I can't remember most of the conversations, and what I do remember wont be shared here, but we snuck out at 6am, long before anyone else would wake..