…from a computer, at least. If all goes well I’ll be posting this from the van on my new (to me) Treo. No pictures, no links, and possibily more typos, but having access to the internet anywhere I can get a Sprint signal will make some things much easier on the road. No more searching for a library or dragging my computer in to a coffee shop just to check my email. I suspect it will be just about the perfect balance between handy-ness (handiness?) and awkwardness. Handy enough to be useful, awkward enough to be non-adictive.

I also suspect I’ll find the GoogleMaps application quite useful too. A great big thank you goes out to my friend Colin for selling his old Treo to me and helping me get set up on the employee plan with unlimited data.

Today was my first day back in the office at KJAZZ. Have I mentioned how much I love this place? It’s not a job I’ll have forever, and I probably wouldn’t like if it were year round, but it sure is a lot of fun. I think I enjoy the project nature of the job. Tons of random different things to stay on top of to get ready for the pledge drive, (which let’s me indulge in my obessive to-do list making), then with some luck the drive goes off without a hitch. Or at least without a hitch that completely throws us and puts the station under. Sort of reminds me of putting on a play, except afterwards we don’t have an artistic collaboration, we have a small pile of money and jazz and blues still on the air in Southern California.

After just over a month, it’s nice to be back in the van again. And nice to be back in LA. It is definitely a city that grows on you, especially if you’re able to avoid driving 7-9am or 4-8pm. There are people at work who drive 1.5-2 hrs each way everyday. I couldn’t do it. Seeing the streets of West LA at 6pm makes me happy I live in a van and have nowhere to go.

Ok, I’ve been typing with just my thumbs for a half an hour now. I’ll be very annoyed if this doesn’t post to the page like it’s supposed to.

Oh, and The Indie Travel Podcast might give me Lonely Planet books for writing this.  The podcast and website is celebrating their one year anniversary.  If you’re thinking about traveling Europe long-term, give them a listen.

Categories: Car Living
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26 degrees outside this morning. Stupid elevation. But it sure didn’t feel that cold in my cozy little van.

Well, at least not under the covers.

Flagstaff will probably be colder.

Categories: Car Living
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Have I really not posted in almost a month? I’ve been in the middle of the KJAZZ pledge drive bubble, where the only thing that exists is the pledge drive itself and the people calling in. We didn’t even know that southern California was on fire until Sunday afternoon.

One of the interesting things about the pledge drive was meeting new people. And meeting new people usually means at some point telling them about my trip. It’s not: “Hi, how’s it going? I’m living in my van. Nice to meet you.” At least not quite. I have heard that one of the first “rules” of living in your vehicle is not to tell anyone that you’re living in your vehicle, but that’s one that I break all the time. Supposedly it causes problems. You’ll be fired or something. I don’t know. Maybe you’re supposed to feel ashamed that you’re living in your vehicle. That just not true for me.

Anyone at work who doesn’t know I live in my van just hasn’t talked to me very much in the last couple weeks. I suppose I’m in a slightly different situation than most people living in their vehicle. I work in white collared jobs; I have the immediate excuse that I’m taking off on a road trip and not sticking around in town indefinitely; I don’t sleep anywhere I work; and most importantly I work with cool people, many of whom have done things like backpacking around Europe when they were my age or younger.

It works out for me. So if you’re here because you know me from KJAZZ, KCRW, Go Country 105.1, NPR or Clear Channel then welcome. Hope you enjoy this blog and don’t think I’m too crazy. If you do, then that’s fine too. I’m enjoying myself.

As for an actual update of what’s going on with the trip… Well, I’m flying out to a conference in Chicago on Thursday, back on Monday. Then a couple more days in LA; A couple days in San Diego at my parents to celebrate family birthdays, (mine, my dad’s and my cousin’s); Then I head off to Anza Borrego, the Salton Sea and other places further out east. At one point I was hoping to head out of town on my birthday, Nov. 5th, just for the poetry of starting the trip on the day I turn 27, but since that’s not going to happen I’ll just relax and leave the week later.

While in San Diego, (stalling until a birthday party over the weekend), I’ll be doing further work on the website and getting the podcast up and running. So I promise that little link on the right will be working soon.

Categories: Car Living, Podcast
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Yesterday I got off of work and it was 96 degrees outside. The day before it was 92 and the day before that 94.

Folks, I get off work at midnight.

True, it cool off a bit when I left the concrete parking structure that was radiating stored up heat from the day, but was still mid 80s all last night.

It got up to 112 yesterday afternoon. Luckily I was spending it the shade in a park with a very nice breeze.

If I could I’d head somewhere cooler. I’m wondering if once I get into the winter I’m going to be wishing for this weather. Probably not. I think I might prefer the cold to the heat.

At least while I’m still in LA I can head into work to get out of the heat. The studios at Clear Channel are always so air conditioned I have to wear a jacket.

Categories: Car Living
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I mentioned earlier to some friends that I didn’t really feel like I was living in the van, just sleeping in it, because I’d been spending so much time at work. (One friend asked if I actually felt like I’d been LIVING in my apartment, which is a very good point.)

Well, I started feeling settled into the van about three or four weeks ago, (something I think would probably have happened sooner if I hadn’t had so many 15 hour work days in a row), but thanks to some actual time off this week I’m starting to feel like I’m finally living in the van. Or rather living just outside the van. I had a very lovely Sunday morning and early afternoon spent at Woodley park in the valley, part of a couple of parks next to each other that I just discovered. (It reminded me of a Minnesota park actually, if you ignore the white noise of the 405 freeway 100 yards away, and the lack of sweltering humidity and swarms of bugs.)

I laid out on my brand new KJAZZ blanket and read a book on California history, nothing exciting to read about (as usual), but was great to be getting out. If I still had an apartment I’d probably would have spent the morning inside. True, I probably still would have been reading the same book, but it’s more exciting to me to know it’s being done in a park I never would have discovered otherwise.

I heard a guy once say that he loved road trips with his dog because his dog helped him meet other people. Well, tatting is my dog. I suppose it’s somewhat the same with knitting and crocheting in public. You always meet up with another crafter who wants to see what you’re working on. Tatting I think is sometimes even better because people can’t figure out what you’re doing without asking or without me noticing their interest and volunteering the information. Occasionally I meet someone who knows what it is, but I have yet to randomly run into another tatter.

The other day I was at Palisades Park in Santa Monica, when a group of women I’m calling the Armenian grandmothers sat down next to me and one asked me what I was doing. Not in English, but you can get the gist of tatting just by watching so slowed down and pointed out exactly what I was doing and got to use some of the eight words of Russian that I remember. Eventually another woman came who spoke better English and we talked for a while about how she came to the US.

That represents one of the things I’m looking for in this trip. I could just travel around the US and visit all the places listed in the guide books, but I’d be missing out on a lot. Tatting I think will work out as an excellent ambassador.

I suppose I could also spend a year sitting at Palisades Park tatting and meeting the people who stop to ask me what I’m doing, but I DO want to see the places in the guide book too. :)

Categories: Car Living
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