Day Seven--Wyoming & Utah

In the morning we got pelted by a lawn sprinkler again, but this time we had our rain fly on, thankfully. We waited about an hour for a ride and got picked up by an truck driver that was orginally from Indian, and he said he could take us to Salt Lake City.

When we got in his semi, he asked us where we were going and we said "San Francisco". He then told us that he was going to Yuma City just outside of San Fran and that he could take us all the way to San Francisco. We were really happy to hear that and we slept some in the back of his cab. He had two bunk beds in there and his semi cab was brand new, so everything was really nice and clean.

He ended up driving for 24 hours straight, only stopping TWICE. The first time was for a few minutes in Salt Lake City. The next time was when we were near Sacramento and he was just about to get on 80 going into San Fran and he was kind of nodding off. "I said...ummm...maybe you should pull over and get some rest." He said "Yes, I'm going to stop up here and sleep for awhile." This was around seven in the morning, so we had slept through the night. We got some stuff to change and clean up and went inside the truck stop to let him rest alone for awhile. He came into the truck stop two hours later to get us. AMAZING! He drove almost 1200 miles straight!

He dropped us off at a BART station outside of the city and we got on a train that took us to downtown San Fran. We ate some lunch in China town, then we found out that Kevin's friend Tyler's (who we were going to see in Sebastopol) housemate was coming to the airport to drop some people off and he could pick us up there if we wanted to get a ride with him back to Sebastopol. So we took the BART to the airport and met him there.

On the way back he wanted to stop and get some Puerto Rican food at this place called Sol in Santa Rosa, I believe. It was AMAZING. Kevin and I split a vegetarian plate and it was so tasty!

Finally, we made it to Green Valley Village to meet Tyler & his partner, Corrina. It felt so nice to finally know we would be in one spot for a few days.

Day Six-Bowling with Whit & Megan

We woke up and ate some breakfast. I can't say enough how wonderful Micaela and her parents were to us, they let us help ourselves to whatever we needed, even let us do a load of laundry! We packed up our stuff and took a city bus to meet Micaela for lunch. We ate some good Noodles & Co for lunch. That place has the BIGGEST rice krispie treats in the world! They were sooo good.

After lunch, we had some time to kill before we met Whitney and Megan, so we went and used the internet at the Denver Public Library. It was a beautiful library.

We went and found Whitney & Megan at the mall and we all went bowling. It was a lot of fun. Whit and Megan are so adorable and we had a great time with them. It was too bad it was so short.

After that we met up with Micaela and went to my friend Amy's house in Denver. She is an old friend of my mom's that I've known my whole life, so I wanted to see her while I was there. She made dinner for all us and we drank some Fat Tire beer. We said goodbye to Micaela. :( We stayed at Amy's that night and we set up our tent in her backyard.

We woke up at 6am to her lawn sprinklers going off and soaking us. We didn't put our rain cover on because it rarely rains in Denver! We thought we were getting caught in a downpour and we made a mad dash for the house only to discover that it was the sprinklers. Haha.

That afternoon Amy drove us to a truck stop and we got a ride from a really nice truck driver named Michael. He took us to Cheyenne, Wyoming. By the time we got there, it was dark, so we just decided to set up the tent behind the truck stop and sleep there for the night.

Day Five-Denver Museum of Natural History & Rugby!

Micaela had to work during the weekdays (working stiff) so Kevin and I were left to explore on our own. On Monday we took the bikes and went to the Denver Museum of Natural History with some guest passes Mic's mom had. We enjoyed ourselves a lot at the museum. We learned about Native American cultures and sat in a canoe hand carved from one piece of wood. It was the second museum we had visited together, the first being the Museum of Natural History of University of Michigan's campus.

We had a lot of fun riding the bikes through city park. We came back home and met Micaela and went to her rugby practice that night. It was fun to watch, even though it wasn't a game. Micaela got new juggling balls so she gave me her old ones to learn with. Kevin and I had fun trying to learn how to juggle while watching the rugby practice. It was a beautiful day in Denver. We borrowed Micaela's camera to take some pics during the day.

After rugby, we went to Blingo at this hipster bar. Blingo is where you play bingo to win cash or clothes from local designers. They also play really great music while you play. It was a lot of fun. Kevin LOVES bingo, and Micaela won big--$37!

Day Four- We arrive in Denver

We made it to Denver on Sunday morning around 5am. My dear friend, Micaela picked us up at the closest exit to her place in Denver where the Louisville boys dropped us off. She took us back to her place and let us crash in her bed.

We woke up to her mom and dad making french toast, bacon, and cantelope for breakfast. It was delicious. They gave us such a warm welcome, we felt like we were part of the family. Her mom suggested that we take the bikes for a ride since Micaela's plans to go tubing in the river in the mountains fell through because of rain. We took the bikes for a spin along a cool paved path all the way into downtown. Micaela took Kevin and I to the biggest R.E.I. store we've ever seen. I climbed a boulder out front. I had never really climbed any rocks before, so that was kind of exciting. I didn't really know how to get down until a ten year old that climbed up there with me showed me the ropes. YOU JUMP. It was nice to bike around downtown Denver. We had lunch at little cafe, it was really yummy. We biked to Whole Foods and got some goodies to make chocomole and got some bottled Yerba Mate. YUM.

We came home and Micaela's parents made an AMAZING spread for dinner. We had three different salads from her mother's garden. A tomato, basil, mozzarella salad that had about four different types of tomatoes in it. It was SO good. We had a corn salad and a cucumber salad also.

That night Micaela took us out to a dive bar to meet some of her friends, that was fun. We were going to play shuffleboard but we didn't get a chance. I was ready to go to sleep by 11pm. Trying to catch up on all the lost sleeping time is difficult. I feel the need to be up early in order to see as much as possible and maximize my day here in Denver.

Day Three-Peeing on the side of the road in pitch black Kansas can really make your mind wander...

We woke up and got lunch at Subway. Five-dollar foot longs are a blessing when you're traveling. For me, it was two meals. For Kevin, only one; but the guy at Subway hooked Kevin up with a second one for free. That free one and my leftover half was really nice to have later for dinner.

It was kind of rainy still from the night before so we hung out in Subway until about 3pm. We made new signs that said WEST and went to wait in the median by the highway.

We got a ride within 20 minutes from a couple, his name was Noah, but her name escapes me. They also had their three-year-old daughter, Shayla in the car with them. They were really nice and said they would take us about 20 or 30 minutes up the road to Lawrence, KS. It was a college town and they really talked it up. It was nice of them to give us a ride, but they dropped us off in the middle of town.

We looked around a little and went to the public library to use the Internet. Then we started walking back towards the highway and stopped at the river and at our leftover subs. It was about 7pm by now and we continued to walk toward the highway when a college student from Kansas City picked us up. He was headed east to KC but said he would drive us about 20 miles west to big rest stop. He had to pay a toll to get back so I gave him $2 for the toll since he went out of his way to help us. He was really nice.

At the rest stop, we changed into warmer clothes and then went to wait. It was still a little rainy, so we were hoping to get picked up quickly and we were. Two college kids/camp counselors from Louisville, KY picked us up. They said they were going to Salt Lake and that they would take us all the way to Denver.

We rode with them and met up with two of their other friends in another vehicle and ate some French fries at McDonald's. They drove all through the night and we made it to Denver at 5am on Sunday morning.

Day Two-God Bless the Hanna's from Liberty, MO

We waited about three hours and around 7am, Kevin ran in to go to the bathroom and a truck driver pulled up. He asked me if I needed a ride and I said yes, but explained that Kevin was inside and he'd be back any second. The driver looked at his watch and said he didn't have much time. Just then, Kevin came out and we jumped in. Again, I sat in the back and Kevin up front.

About ten minutes into the ride, I noticed that the driver had a sex toy (simulated vagina) sitting next to the bed I was sitting on. I was EXTREMELY creeped out, but knew we were only going about 60 miles from the east side of St. Louis to the west side to another truck stop, so I just sat there waiting for the ride to end. Just as we pulled into the truck stop, Kevin looked back at me and he saw the toy. His eyes got huge and he looked at me in horror. I gave him a look to say "I KNOW. TRUST ME, I KNOW." What was I supposed to say? "Umm...excuse me sir, but your vagina is CREEPING. ME. OUT."

We got out as quickly as possible. It was about 7am and we were in Kingdom City, MO at an exit with two HUGE truck stops next to each other. The amount of traffic going in and out looked promising.

We went into a Denny's and had a bite to eat, brushed our teeth and cleaned up. We went out and started waiting at a spot between both of the truck stops where all the trucks were entering and exiting. We waited, and waited…and waited some more. We moved up closer to the road, no luck. We moved directly to the exit ramp and stood there. No luck. It was 2pm now and we had been waiting for seven hours. We were getting frustrated because people would look at us and lock their doors or mouth the words "no money". We weren't asking for money, we only wanted a ride. It bothered us that people automatically thought we would try and get into their cars or wanted money. We didn't look dirty or homeless. We both were at the point of giving up and just going to set up our tent. We were both sun burnt and tired.

Just as we were gathering our packs, a car pulled over. It was a couple named Nikki and Glen that were headed to Kansas City and said they'd give us a ride there. We piled in and both of us fell asleep almost immediately. They ended up dropping us off at an exit in the suburbs on the east side of Kansas City.

It was now around 5pm on Friday and the closest place to eat was Red Lobster. We split a meal and started walking to a truck stop. As we were walking in about 100-degree heat, a woman came running up behind us. She asked us if we needed a ride and explained that she and her husband were going the opposite direction but she had told him to turn around to help us. She said, "It's way too hot for you to be carrying all that stuff."

They took us back to their house, let us use the internet, offered us water and food. We had just eaten, but we filled up our water bottles and accepted another that they gave us. We never did get their first names, but their last name was Hanna. She had to go to a church meeting or something but he offered to take us anywhere we needed to go. He ended up taking us to the other side of Kansas City, MO and dropped us off in Bonner Springs, KS.

By then, it was about 8pm and raining so we decided to just stay in Bonner Springs for the night. We had a Frosty from Wendy's and fell asleep immediately from exhaustion.

Day One-Learning to Hitchhike

We left Indianapolis today around 9pm. Grandpa, Grandma, Tayler and Ali drove us to an exit off 70W. They dropped us off at a gas station, we put on our packs, said goodbye and started the trek up the road.

We were so anxious, we didn't care that it was dark we were starting our journey. We waved at my family as they drove back onto the highway. We got picked up within ten to fifteen minutes by a guy named Don that said he could take us about 30 miles up the road to a truck stop. We thought that would help our chances, so we loaded our stuff and got in. He drove us to the truck stop and dropped us off.

We had made signs that said ST LOUIS on them, so we waited at the truck stop for about an hour or so. A truck driver stopped and said he could take us to St. Louis. He put our stuff in the very back of his trailer. His name was Kuba (koo-bah) and he was from Kazakhstan. He picked us up around 10:30pm and said that we could sleep in the back on his bed. I went to the back to sleep and Kevin stayed up riding in the front for a while. Kuba was really nice and friendly. He asked us if we would mind if played music from Kazakhstan. Of course not; so he played us some c.d. He was really nice, said he had been in the military in Kazakhstan for twelve years and had done a lot of training in the U.S. so he moved here to be a truck driver after finishing in the military. He drove us to St. Louis and dropped us at another truck stop around 3am.

Almost every truck stop has a grease pit restaurant. We decided we'd get something to eat, something simple like toast or oatmeal, I can't remember. The waitresses in these places are either REALLY talkative at 3am or we were just looked like we needed to be talked at. The waitress asked us what we were doing and then proceeded to pull some locals that were there into the conversation. "Yous guys better be careful. Yous guys are crazy." After eating and regrouping a little, we started our wait again.

We would wait at the exit of the truck stops, that way drivers would see us on their way out and have time to stop. These areas are always super well lit and usually had big rocks for us to sit on and rest our packs against.

pictures and update

Kevin with his mom, Kathy and step-dad, Brian.

Allie, Kevin & I at Kevin's last show at the Blind Pig

Kevin with his grandma before we left Ann Arbor

Again with his grandma and his Aunt Kristi



we are STILL in indiana. we should be leaving within the next two days. we are waiting for some stuff to arrive in the mail that we ordered and then we're gone!

my family is great, but we are getting really antsy being here this long. it'll be nice to finally be alone, just the two of us again. i think that we miss that.


Kevin helping my grandfather take a fish off a hook. My grandpa fishes everyday at the ponds behind his house. He is unable to keep any of the fish because they put chemicals into these ponds, so he throws them back. He has caught several large bass though.