Cleveland?

Hello all! I find myself in Cleveland, Ohio on this soggy morning. It's been awhile since I have updated. Spent a few days with my good friends in Boston- doing some site seeing and drinking too much coffee- very relaxing. I left Boston on Friday night and pulled over somewhere in New York. I was able to score another free continental breakfast which I am proud to say. On my drive to Cleveland I saw a sign for Niagra Falls so I made the game time decision to check it out. I have no idea when I'll be on the east coast again so I figured what the hell. Checked it out- pretty awesome- the falls were great but it was BEYOND touristy which I didn't exactly like. After that I drove through the most ridiculous rain storm of all time to get to the mighty might Cleveland, Ohio. I spent the night watching the Hawks game (they won against #5 Penn State at Happy Valley!) with fellow hawkeyes and friends. It's been a wild ride and my trip seems to be coming to an end. I'm heading up to Grand Rapids today to visit the one and only Kristin Miller and after that I am Crystal Lake bound.

Washington DC and Bahston

Greetings from Boston! It was a long road from West Virginia to Boston, but I finally made it. I left West Virginia on Sunday and headed east to Washington DC. I pulled in pretty late and slept in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn Express. I tried to finagle some free breakfast, but they didn't serve a free continental breakfast- I was NOT happy. I settled on peanuts. Anywho, I headed into DC on the metro and got to siteseeing. I hit up the Capital building, WWII monument, Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, the Reflecting Pool, the Vietnam Memorial, the White House, the museum of American History, and the Museum of Air and Space. The Museum of American History was BY FAR the coolest thing around (and free!). After a long day of walking around I headed for Boston. After a ridiculous drive (and like 40 dollars in toll fees) I stopped at in a parking lot of a Comfort Inn for the night. I was able to score a free continental breakfast and hit the road. Now I am sitting in Ed Liesio and Steve Jorgensen's place in Boston. It's nice to just relax for a change.

Lake Watauga, Gauley River, and West Virginia

Hello there!
It's been awhile since I've posted because I have been crazy busy bouncing around. Since the last post I have been to Asheville for a couple of nights, Lake Watauga in Tennessee, and finally Summersville, West Virginia. Spent two nights in Asheville with friends from out West. Great bluegrass concert the first night at the Gray Eagle bar. I was planning on leaving the next day, but just so happened to bump into an old friend from high school in Asheville and ended up having some beers at an 80's dance night at a local bar. Real fun.
After that, my friend Brandon (who I raft with out West) and I headed up to Lake Watauga for a night of camping to break up the drive to Gauley Fest. Nice relaxing campground with awesomely green water to swim in.
After a night there we headed up to Gauley Fest in West Virginia. Bumped into a handful of people I knew from out West and North Carolina- great fun talking with them all. This past saturday we got to raft the Gauley and oh my lord it was amazing. Brandon hooked us up with a group and I was lucky enough to jump onto a little boat with another guy and we went BIG BIG BIG. Ended up swimming some really nasty rapids (sorry mom!) and pretty much had adrenaline going all day. As for now- I am headed to Washington DC to check out the town and see what the capital is all about. Hopefully I will post a little more regularly and put up more pictures.

To Asheville and on!

It's been a couple of days since I posted. Went backpacking in Pisgah National forest which was probably the most stressful thing I've done in years- ask me about that sometime because I can't let Mom know what happened. Anywho, spent a couple of days mentally and physically recovering from that little ordeal and now I am in Asheville. Met up with a couple of friends from out West and went to a Bluegrass show last night. AMAZING musicians! Holy crap.
As of right now, I am with my friend, Brandon, and we are planning out the next stage of the trip. We are headed (tentatively) to Cherokee National Forest up in TN to camp out for a day or two before we hit up West Virginia and the Gauley River. He knows some people there so hopefully we can get on the mecca of whitewater in America for free! Go on to youtube and search Gauley river to see how big the water is (awesome!).

Brevard

Made it to Brevard. Got in last night after spending most of the day in Boone. Went and saw Greg Mortenson speak. He is the author of "Three Cups of Tea" and is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. It was an interesting speech and I'm happy I stayed to watch. Anywho, made to Brevard in time for the disco party. Doesn't compare to Colorado disco party, but it was fun to meet a bunch of new people and hang out with old friends. Today has been spent swimming in a freezing freezing cold creek and cliff jumping in the water. I had to ditch out of my buddy's house because the landlord was coming and she was PISSED. I'll put a picture or two up as soon as I get them on my computer.

BOOOOOOOOONE

MADE IT TO BOONE! Considering that a small miracle considering the Garmin which I was totally reliant on decided to bring me on the most preposterous mountain route possible and then dropping its signal several times at night in an insane thunderstorm. Anywho, sitting in a coffee shop waiting for Kevin to get out of meetings. I am leaning towards heading to Brevard, NC to go to a disco party with friends from out West. After that the plan is up in the air. A friend from out West is rafting on the Ocoee River and he just contacted me. If he has a work opportunity I may be hitting that up. The next 48 hours should be interesting and probably decide what I am doing for the next month. If all else fails I can always go backpacking for a week or two.
(this blogging thing is kind of fun- I have to give credit to Mr. Clarke for the inspiration to this blog)

On to NC

Well, this is my first blog entry ever and I haven't quite gotten the hang of it. Anywho, I am sitting here in Crystal Lake enjoying a cup of coffee before the drive to North Carolina. It's been a great week- seeing a bunch of old friends and getting to get down to Chicago and up to Madison. I have certainly filled up on food this week- pickings were slim towards the end of my summer in Colorado. I had no idea how excited I was to get down to North Carolina until I couldn't sleep at all last night. I have no idea what is in store for the next month, but I find myself enjoying that feeling more and more. This should be fun getting some of stories out onto this thing- hopefully some fun pictures as well. North Carolina ahoy!