Two days ago was Black Friday. It is consumer madness, retail hell. I was at Office Depot as of 4 a.m.; doors opened at 6 a.m. I did this last year at Staples in Sioux City, and what never ceases to amuse me is the first people in the door. Running. To shop. People all over the world are lined up outside places for bread, for water, for medicine. It's like that here in the United States, only people need that $350 laptop and it's a nationwide epidemic rather than a local problem.

Sure, there are plenty of things that are ridiculously cheap, but exactly how many of those things is a retail going to sell at a loss on the biggest shopping day of the year? In the fine print of the ads, you would read things like "store has a minimum of 10" laptops, cameras, flatscreen TVs, etc. Replace "minimum" with "maximum" and that's a little closer to the truth.
Also notice the can of chewing tobacco in the gentleman's back pocket.

For Thanksgiving, Yuka & I went to some friends' house and had an excellent vegetarian Thanksgiving, complete with some homemade 2002 and 2003 homemade pinot gris, grown south of Eugene, aged in Serbian oak barrels. Some of the best wine I've ever tasted.

I heard back from a school in Kunming, China. Southwest Forestry College is interested in hiring me and will soon be conducting a phone interview. More to follow.

From what I've researched, bringing a double bass on an airplane is quite a hassle. I don't want to put it in cargo (hell no!) so I'm going to bring it aboard. I even bought a seat for it, one way from Omaha to Portland, via Denver.

My dad was going to ship the bass to me via FedEx Freight, but that's a lot to worry about. A lot of things can happen between Iowa and Oregon. Just read my earlier posts on this weblog. A lot of things did happen between Iowa and here.

I am flying to Iowa for the holidays, so I had the idea of bringing the bass back with me. At least it would always be by my side.

So I tried calling United to request an extra seat. I ended up getting a call center in India, thanks to Globalization & Outsourcing-R-Us.

Call Center Rep: You want an extra seat for a double bass?

Ryan: Yes, it's like a cello, only much larger.

CCR: Let me put you on hold while I research this. (Five minutes later.) Sir? Is that instrument like a guitar? You should put that in cargo. ...Oh? You want to buy a ticket for it?

And around and around we went. I ended up calling back the next day and getting an American call center with a customer service rep whose expertise in this matter is only due to the fact that she's "been doing this for too long," which is precisely the kind of person you want to talk to on the phone when dealing with these matters. By the end of it, we got everything set.

Now I've got a ticket for Mr. Instrument (first name Double Bass). He'll be traveling with me on 7 Jan. I can't wait to hear the jokes from the other passengers: "Hey, I don't think that's going to fit in the overhead!" "Can I have his peanuts?" Etc.

RDRR

I'll be in Sioux City on December 21. Apparently many people from outside of Sioux City are making it a sort of homecoming. So I guess I'll go too. So to all the non-Sioux Cityans who are in that town and then quickly leaving thereafter: See you there, Tavia, Sarah, Nima, Mr. Green, Mariko, Yoko, Kana, Nami, Wataru(?), Himi(?), maybe even Haithem. To all the other Sioux Cityans who will be there, sometimes it seems like for all eternity: See you there, Wingert, Darijia, Ilisja.

And then there's Washington (Iowa that is), the great city who is planning to tear down the nation's first county tax-supported hospital in favor of progress, and Washington County, who is opening the Washington County Casino Resort in Riverside, the future birthplace of Captain Kirk.

Also I'll be seeing my old college roommate (thereby a future political appointee) Walker who is apparently not that far from Kentucky. Hey, all you need is cornmeal, water, sugar, salt, yeast, and malt!

I ride the bus a lot. I've got a bus pass, and public transportation is really good, plus there are great bike paths (and I've got a bike), so I don't drive a whole lot. Anyway, coming home from work, I met a guy on the bus named Daniel.

Daniel: I hitchhiked here from Indiana. Hitchhiking's not like what it was in the 80s. You gotta be crazy to do it now.
Ryan: How long did it take you to get here?
D: Two weeks. I got stuck in Harlem, Illinois for a day. No one would pick me up because there's a mental institution there. I almost got arrested.
R: Why did you come to Eugene?
D: I thought this would be a nice place, since I'm an artist, a drummer, and a peace activist. I tell you what. I was living at the mission just to get off the street. Now I'm living in a quad at West University. The guy tried to get me to bribe him just to shampoo the carpets. I couldn't even walk barefoot there! I went down to Rainbow [drum circle and free potluck held each Sunday before the full moon] yesterday--they had was organic food. I realized that I haven't eaten real food all my life; I've been eating chemicals. They said next time if I come down early, I can hand out ribbons.
I'm thinking about getting into goldsmithing or silversmithing.

I'll be back in Iowa from 20 December to 8 January.

I met with the ESL tutor coödinator at Lane Community College's Downtown Campus two weeks ago. She informed me of a part-time ESL Computer Lab Specialist position, teaching computer skills and basic English. I was all for it and dropped off the application last Monday. Now it's the waiting game....

In the meantime, I have also applied as a (paid) ESL tutor, possibly starting next semester at the main campus of LCC, and have been looking at assistant classroom teaching positions at Downtown English (a low-cost ESL program in Eugene), and tomorrow I will check out the University of Oregon's American English Institute.

I keep thinking about going to China. It would only be for 6 - 7 months, though. I think I would miss Yuka too much otherwise.

I've met some French people who really like jazz, so I've been going to Jo Frederigo's, a jazz club on 5th Avenue. Still patiently waiting for my bass to arrive, and when it does, I'll be on stage playing too.

This Saturday is my birthday. 26.

I have recently become very interested in teaching English. I went to the University of Oregon's coffee hour with Yuka about a week and a half ago, and had an intense two hours of conversation with people from all over the world. I met a guy from Bhutan and a cool dude from Haiti. I also met an American guy who just got back from a year of teaching English in China. That really got my itch going.

So I've done some research into teaching English in China. There are more people in China learning English than the total population of the US. Crazy, eh? Plus, to be a good global citizen of the 21st century, you should know China. So, there, that's my goal. Teach English in China. I signed up for the English Conversation Partner Program at Lane Community College and I got matched up with a Japanese student. Basically, you just have a conversation once a week or so with an international student and help their English get better.

Also, I am enquiring about a more serious position in downtown Eugene, at the ESL center. I'm hoping to get on as an assistant ESL classroom teacher so I can have some experience & know if this is something that would truly interest me. I have a feeling it will.

T'ai Chi is going great. I usually have Tuesday & Thursday afternoons off so I can go to the afternoon session in addition to the morning class (and don't have to pay extra!). It's a difficult practice, but already I'm seeing the benefits in increased flexibility, increased leg strength, better posture, and probably better circulation & balance. Also, I'm noticing how things move in nature, how people move. It reminds me of T'ai Chi Chuan.

I start T'ai Chi Ch'uan (太極拳) tomorrow. First of all, what are these crazy symbols called? Chinese characters? Hànzì? Kanji? Hanja? 汉字? 漢字? 한자? I'm not sure what to call them. I usually call them kanji since I study Japanese.

I like learning Chinese characters. Although most are not pictographs (actually the majority are based on homonyms of other characters), they still convey a certain meaning and elegance that our clunky phonetic alphabet does not. So I hopped on Google to understand these three characters.

太 (t'ai): greatest, but with a nuance of extreme or too much, so usually it's translated as "supreme."
極 (chi): extreme, utmost, furthest, so translated as "ultimate."
拳 (ch'uan): fist.

T'ai Chi Ch'uan is a martial art. But how can a series of slow movements protect you in the fury of combat? Laozi (老子/Lao Tzu) said in his Tao Te Ching, "The soft and pliable will defeat the hard and strong." In a fight, if both opponents use hardness, both will sustain injury to some degree. On the other hand, if hard is met with soft, soft is met with hard...in other words not resisting an incoming force, but meeting it, and sticking to it and neutralizing it. Of course, it takes many years to become disciplined enough to know the Way of these things.

I think T'ai Chi is about finding balance--your center of gravity, your place in the environment, and adapting to the changes in the environment.

A Taoist saying goes, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."

It has been raining since Friday night. The change of seasons here is dramatic. I'm used to Iowa's scorching summer, followed by about 2 weeks of autumn, then bitter coldness. Here I think the seasons are more equal in duration and more temperate.

Last Saturday, Yuka and I ascended the great Spencer Butte. It took maybe 45 mins to an hour to climb, and the view was spectacular. The summit was very small and about 15 people and 15 dogs were milling about up there. All of Eugene was visible, as were the distant Cascades (the Three Sisters, Mt Jefferson, and a curiously named Three-Fingered Jack). A panorama of the Willamette Valley was all around, along with appearances by the great river itself. It was a fine day, as it has been for the past two weeks or so. In the mid-70s, clear skies, low humidity.

Everytime I see someone here who is bored or upset or otherwise negative, I just want to say, "Take a look around you!"

I'm trying to enjoy as much time out of doors as possible. The rain will start in a couple of weeks. It will continue raining until spring, from what I understand. I still believe though that it will beat snow & ice & Iowa cold.

This weekend is the Eugene Celebration, a citywide festival downtown, with food, beer, and music. The North Mississippi Allstars will be here tomorrow night. I will too. Frank Slugsnotra was crowned Eugene's Slug Queen for the festival.

Enjoying work at the O'Depot.

This is the bike path through Amazon Park, going south to my house. The path goes directly to my street. The mountain ahead is Spencer Butte (2062 ft./625m). A butte is an isolated hill or mountain with very steep slopes and a flat top, but with a smaller summit area than a mesa. It is covered in Douglas Fir trees. I hope to climb it sometime soon.


There are over 30 miles of paved off-road bike paths in Eugene. Some go along the Willamette River, which make spectacular views:

The river is left undeveloped, which preserves the natural beauty of the area.

Today, Yuka and I drove out to Florence, Oregon, about 55 miles west of Eugene. It is at the end of North America. Sand dunes, high winds, empty shores, an abandoned crab shell. I put my feet in the great Pacific Ocean.

Florence, Oregon

The beach is a very spiritual place for me. Maybe because of the waves rushing in, the constantly shifting sand, the flux of change all around. It as evident here of the universal law of change as anywhere, I suppose. A few months ago, I trudged up to Nagoya Bay in central Japan. It was my last day there. I stood there, under the cloudy sky, watching fishing boats and huge ships sailing into the Taiheiyou, the Pacific, that great expanse of water that has no memory and knows no equal on this earth, a sea that reaches all the way to America. Now, today, I was looking back toward Asia, that land impossibly far away but yet always connected by the rolling waves and shifting sand.

Got a job offer yesterday from Office Depot. I think one may be in the works for Market of Choice as well. Six interviews done as of this morning. Well, it will be good to be working again--it's been about six weeks.

I was thinking about my Japanese friends today--the ones in America & the ones back home--what's up!

oooh yeah!!!

Also, I got a bike. A Schwinn. It's got a flat tire. So I'm learning Zen & the Art of Bicycle Maintenance. I learned about a the quick release lever on the front wheel (a ten-second way to get the front wheel off the bike) and how to take the tire off the wheel (using the backs of spoons as tire levers!). The tube has a hole in it that was previously patched, so I'm not sure if I'll patch the hole or get a new tube and save this one for future scenarios. I got the bike for $50, by the way, from a guy named Dave in a storage lot. Long story.

Eugene's a great bicycling town. According to a website, Eugene's bicycle path network "includes 30 miles of off-street paths, 89 miles of on-street bicycle lanes, and 5 bicycle/pedestrian bridges spanning the Willamette River." Near my house are great bike paths--I can bike all the way to grocery store without touching the street (about seven blocks). This grocery store deserves attention. It's called Sundance, and it's been open since 1971. All of its produce is organic, and much of it is locally grown. Also, you can buy many things in bulk. They have hot vegetarian options for an alternative to fast food and around 170 beers available. I go there almost every day.

Finally got a call back from job my job apps. It's for Market of Choice, a locally-owed, progressive food store not three blocks from my house. They place organic products right next to the GM items. Also you can buy many items in bulk, which is great for single people like me--you don't have to keep buying family sized items and not being able to eat it all. Also, they have the biggest beer selection I've seen. There's beer from Austria, Kenya, Belgium, even Stella Artois, which I have never seen in the US (only Europe). I also bought a bottle (yes, you can buy single bottles here) of Kotayk, the most famous Armenian beer. Plus there are tons of microbrews from the Western Oregon area and also northern California which are all quite tasty.

Did I mention that we are in the middle of Oregon wine country? I'll have to check that out and write more about that later.

I should make a plug for Yuka's Time, my favorite weblog.

Found a house. It's with a guy from New Hampshire. Big fenced-in backyard, a couple of picnic tables, tiki torches, a garden full of tomatoes, peppers, onions, and cucumbers. A washer and a dryer, dishwasher, quiet street. It's also got a wireless internet connection so I can use Yuka's laptop here in the back. Not bad. It took about five days to find the place.

Haven't found a job, but already approaching double digits on job apps, so one should turn up soon. That will provide some money until I can find "a niche in some unconventional but satisfying way," to quote a mentor of mine.

First impressions of Eugene:A Grateful Dead-painted Volkswagon van three houses down. A psychadelic VW van three houses down the other way. Tie-dye is in style. Mohawks of such brilliance and stunning coiffure to be art forms. Three weather forecasts: one for the Coast, one for the Valley, and one for the Mountains. Foggy, cloudy mornings giving way to cloudless days. Used book stores, local food, recycling, urban shamanism, organic restaurants, bicycles, aging hippies, long beards & army pants. A true American city.

You can rent dune buggeys for rides along the Pacific Coast, jump off cliffs into 40-ft. pools, take a dip in a hot spring, climb mountains, go white-water rafting. All this is about an hour away. Zazen meditation every weekday morning at 5:15 a.m. at the local zendo.

Pictures from our trip

Eugene, Oregon.

We've made it. Now the tricky part has come. I need to find a place to live. I need a job.

Yesterday, we left Boise and crossed the Snake River into Oregon about an hour later. I've seen the Snake a couple of times on our way out here, and it never ceases to amaze me. It cuts wide swaths through deep canyons, and winds around enough to keep popping up, from Jackson Hole, Wyoming to southern Idaho to eastern Oregon where it finally dumps into the Columbia River and heads west to the Pacific Ocean.

Although I don't have a digital camera, I plan on taking my finished rolls of film to be developed tonight and paying a little extra to get them on a CD-ROM as well. That way I can publish them on this weblog and you can see pictures of the Snake River and other things that make this country truly great & beautiful. Stay tuned.

Eastern Oregon is mainly badlands and lava flows. We stopped at the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, a geological wonderland where an astoundingly complete fossil record exists--40 of the 65 million years of the "Age of Mammals & Flowering Plants" are here. You can see perfectly intact skulls & skeletons of animals that are just not around anymore--four-tusked elephants, deer-mice, badger-skunk-dogs, wolf-horses, I'm serious. This is the only known place in the world where the early period of mammals is so perfectly preserved. There are prints of leaves & flowers & seeds, even one of those ubiquitous cicada shells from back in the day!

After about five hours of volcanic ash, we arrived at the snowcapped Cascade Mountains. We spent the night in pretty Sisters, where there were no tent camping grounds, but we were allowed to stay in the city park. This morning, we drove through the scenic McKenzie Pass and over & around the McKenzie River and down, down, down the mountains through 15 mph hairpin turns, signs counting down the elevation 5000 ft., elevation 4000 ft., elevations 3000 ft., ears popping, until we reached the fabled promised land of the Oregon Trail pioneers, the Willamette Valley, and my new home, Eugene, Oregon 97401.

We are staying the night at Eugene Kamping World in Coburg, about six miles north of town, and for practical reasons we may stay at a budget motel tomorrow. I'm kind of at a dilemma. What is the first thing you do when you get to a new town where you know not a soul and have no home, no gainful employment? The post office? Only three pieces of mail, none important.

We met Chieko, a nice lady who runs a district chapter of Soka Gakkai International, a branch of Nichiren Buddhism that Yuka belongs to. She's going to hold Yuka's stuff until she finds an apartment with her younger sister (who also will be attending the University of Oregon). My dad will send me my stuff once I find a place. Thanks, Dad. Still not sure how we're getting my double bass out here, but that's another story.

Wow, I've got an audience! People are actually reading this, as far away as Albania & Serbia. I think I'll continue writing, as I have a feeling things will be getting more interesting in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for all the emails and well-wishes; it really means a lot in this trying but exciting time.

I gotta start looking for apts & jobs, and I'll let you know how that goes next. Also, watch for pictures! Everyone loves pictures.

(Updated 8/17)
Boise, Idaho.

On Sunday, we had a good, traditional Montana pancake breakfast at Martin's (since 1902) in Livingston's old train depot. That was our prelude to our second day in Yellowstone. We saw the Grand Canyon & Lower Falls, a spectactular show of nature. We also went to see the Sapphire Pool, the clearest, bluest water you'll ever see. It was a hot spring coming up from who knows where, steam everywhere. After Yellowstone, we drove through the magnificent Grand Teton National Park, where there are 14 jagged, granite, huge mountains neatly placed in a row across from the alpine Jackson Lake. We made it through there and into Jackson, Wyoming, a world-famous ski resort, and infamous home of those damn liberals!

Into Idaho. My impression of Idaho is brown hills & mountains dotted with shrubs amidst fields of golden hay. Not many people, not many houses, just more of the same. We drove along the Snake River Valley and made it to Lava Hot Springs for the night. This is a very small town tucked away in the mountains, just off US Highway 30. Wait a minute, what's this Lava Hot Springs, you ask. It's not in the Lonely Planet USA guidebook! Well, funny story. We were in Sheridan, Wyoming a couple days back, looking for a Wells Fargo ATM. We couldn't find any so I tried calling the customer service number. Apparently Wells Fargos are a rare breed in Wyoming, but they abound in Idaho, so I was told. The customer service rep sounded familiar with where the branches were in Pocatello & Twin Falls so I asked her if she was from there. She said yes. So I asked her if there was anything cool to see in the area. She suggested Lava. She was right.

There are hot mineral springs everywhere in town, and three public pools to dip in. The water is between 102-108 degrees Fahrenheit. It was really relaxing after a long day's drive. After the bath, we checked into the Cottonwood Family Campground and pitched our tent next to a waterfall. We slept & slept.

Yesterday, we cooked some Ma Po Tofu on my camp stove and headed west, always west, into Pocatello, Twin Falls, Filer, Idaho. We made a detour to see a balanced rock, driving through rows of cornfields to suddenly, abruptly find ourselves in a painted desert scene. It looked like somewhere in Nevada, although I've never been to Nevada. A huge 40 ft. by 48 ft. question mark of a rock balanced precariously above the others, in a 3 ft by 19 inch poise of nature's harmony.

Boise, Idaho. Once again, I'm on the web from my tent! We went into downtown Old Boise last night, had a meal outdoors in the Basque Town. Who would've ever guessed I'd be in the Old West of Boise, Idaho? It's actually pretty cool. The downtown is full of restaurants & pubs & movie theatres, people everywhere. This is the first town of any size we've been in since Sioux City, so it's nice to get that cosmopolitan vibe once again & Boise's happening like that. After our stroll, we checked into Idaho's #1 microbrew, the Table Rock Brewery, for a taste of an Idaho beer (I had an India Pale Ale, quite tasty).

Today, it's Oregon, my new home state. We're about one hour from it now, and will be in Eugene tomorrow afternoon, hopefully. From then the work starts. Have to find a job, have to find an apt., etc., etc. But two more days to enjoy ourselves. I'll do my best

Livingston, Montana.

Today, we made it to Yellowstone. There's a lot of people there, but that didn't detract from the amazing beauty of the place. We drove through Lake Country, seeing Lake Yellowstone (one of the largest alpine lakes in the world), and then went to Old Faithful. There are about 900 geysers in Yellowstone (about 300 active ones). You can see steam coming up from all over the park.

Also this is the highest concentration of wild animals in North America. We haven't seen a bear yet, but we did get to see plenty of mule deer, elk, some ground squirrels, and many birds. Hopefully tomorrow we can see some moose & bison. There are waterfalls, many rivers (we cooked lunch & I played guitar by a beautiful mountain stream this afternoon), sulfur springs, canyons, who knows what else here. I don't want to leave.

A cold front moved through the West on Thursday and it feels like autumn is in the air. Right now it's 44 degrees Fahrenheit, a little cold for camping in the park, so we came up here to Livingston, Montana & are staying at the fabulous Del Mar Hotel. The hotel matches the downtown, which is a surprisingly happening place. Everything is neon 1950s style. You can go to the saloons that Calamity Jane raised hell in or have a beer at the Mint.

Livingston, Montana

We've passed the halfway point to Oregon. Next, it's another day of Yellowstone...need to see the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, Saphire Pool, and moose (hopefully bear, too). You need at least a week to really see everything in this park.

Cody, Wyoming

We left Spearfish yesterday morning and headed into Wyoming. I think I’ve had a smile on my face since I first arrived in this state. Getting past the Black Hills, we wondered through some low hills of scrubland—no trees, no houses, just a few very large ranches. It was pretty lonely out there, but still beautiful. We made the mandatory stop at Devils Tower, the sight of alien contact in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is a sacred site to 23 Native American tribes.

This feeling of spirituality pervades the land…I often wondered if Japan has Kyoto, if England has Stonehenge, if Israel & Palestine have Jerusalem, where are the United States’ spiritual centers? I’ve found some here in this region—the Black Hills, the Badlands, Devils Tower, the Bighorn Mountains. This land is truly sacred.

I never heard of the Bighorn Mountains before this trip. I’ll never forget them afterwards. It was a long, long climb up the steep slopes, until we were in the clouds & fog. There were a few mountain streams, a few ranches, a deer, but not much traffic. At times, the fog was so thick we could only see about 20 feet ahead of us. But after we crossed the top of the mountains and popped the car into second gear for the harrowing descent (there are many “runaway truck ramps” and brake cooling points), the clouds broke and we could see endless miles and miles and miles of untamed Wyoming beauty.

We made it as far as Cody last night, where it was very tough finding a room. This is a touristy Wild West town, and you can still stay at the Irma Hotel that Buffalo Bill built. The Cody Rodeo goes on every night and the downtown is gen-yuwine Old West. I’ve been listening to the radio in this area. You can pick up an NPR station from Billings, Montana, where they had a live broadcast of their 4th annual Magic City Blues Festival. Buddy Guy, Keb Mo, and the North Mississippi All Stars are there.

This is like a whole new country. How do people get down in Sheridan, Wyoming, or Boise, Idaho, or Billings, Montana? When I was talking to the bikers at Sturgis, they were talking about how it’s such a shame that Harvey, North Dakota has gone downhill since the 1960s. That’s a place where real Americans were from, I was told. It’s a real cryin’ shame what’s happened to North Dakota. Everyone’s leaving. For what?

Today we’re on our way to Yellowstone. I was speaking to a customer service rep yesterday, looking for a Wells Fargo branch out in Wyoming (there aren’t very many), and it turned out she was from Idaho. She recommended Lava Hot Springs outside of Pocatello, one of the best hot springs in the country. For my Japanese onsen-loving girlfriend, that will be a welcome break after Yellowstone.

I dig the West.

Spearfish, South Dakota.

Yesterday Yuka & I left Sioux City and headed for "somewhere in the Black mountain Hills of South Dakota...." We stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota and saw the world's largest bird feeder, the Corn Palace of Mitchell, South Dakota. Apparently, Lewis and Clark wrote that the Upper Midwest was some type of desert, unfit for growing anything of value. In a publicity bid to attract new settlers, the residents of Mitchell took their crops and nailed them to the side of the building in the 1880s. The idea stuck, but the corn doesn't always stick.



We took a drive through the Badlands National Park, which was incredible. I've never seen anything like it. The beauty isn't what you'd find in a traditional national park, but it's more of an austere, almost dreadful kind. We took a detour down a gravel road and saw bighorn sheep and bison. Seeing bison (aka buffalo) in the wild is a spiritual experience. We ended up on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation on about 40 miles of gravel road, which was eerily desolate and empty. I felt the ghosts of Wounded Knee crying out.

Then we stumbled on the Black Hills.

This week is the 64th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. It is the largest motorcycle rally in the world--I heard there's something like 700,000 Harley Davidson bikes here. It definitely seems like it.

We stayed in Hot Springs, next to a small stream. We had some problems getting our tent together, but some bikers from Minnesota (Larry, Jim, and Roger) gave us a much needed hand, and I ended up staying up and drinking beers with them. They were really interesting guys and good conversation. I learned quite a bit about biking, life in the 60s, Minnesota politics, and life in general. It was a great educational experience. I am really learning to appreciate the brotherhood, respect, and courtesy that goes along with biking.

This morning, we made it out to Wind Cave National Park for a tour of Wind Cave, the 5th longest cave in the world & interesting because its unique formations. We saw some herds of bison & prairie dogs!

After that, we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial, a sculpture that was started in 1948 and will be the largest in the world after its completion (they've only finished his face--they still have to do the rest of the body & his horse). We got to witness a blast on the rock as workers tirelessly unveil this "ruin in reverse." To put this statue to scale, it will be larger than the Great Pyramid of Giza when finished. This is being built without any federal or state funding, as the creator wanted it to be a work brought from the American people, not something from the government.

We saw Mt. Rushmore which was actually pretty moving. It had just gotten done raining, so the crowd had thinned out considerably. It was Yuka, me, and about 50 bikers in chaps gazing at this monument when the clouds parted and the sun broke across the mountain. Seing all this natural beauty & touching monuments is really making me wonder why I don't work for the National Park Service.

Right now we're staying in a campground in Spearfish, just west of Sturgis. There are a lot of bikes. A LOT of bikes. It's a very modern campground, though. It has a playground, a swimming pool, shelters, laundry, a convenience store, and wireless Internet access. Who would've guessed you could be online in your tent?!?

Tomorrow, we're bound for Sheridan, Wyoming via Devil's Tower National Monument. I am just beginning to see the great beauty of America unfold in front of me, and from what I've heard it just gets better as you reach the Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons. I am keeping on this Oregon Trail, and America hasn't let me down yet.

Sioux City, Iowa.

We made the five hour trip from Washington this morning. It's kind of surreal being in Sioux City again. I've lived here for seven years, but suddenly, I don't have a home here. When Yuka & I arrived, we didn't have anywhere to go. So we ran errands: picked up my held mail, forwarded my future mail (word of advice, if you move to another town and don't know your address, forward it to "General Delivery" of the main post office of that town--you can cancel that forward once you get a place). Went to the bank, Yuka stopped at an import clothes shop Azapaza...we still didn't really have anywhere to go. People are still at work, so we came to the library. Once again, the refuge of refugees. I love the library.

I saw The Triplets of Belleville last night. This is one of the coolest movies I've seen in a long time. As a bonus, the music is great.

One of my new favorite movie characters is the waiter:

I heard that some classic 1957 Bethlehem Records albums are being reissued. Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Charlie Mingus albums. They're on sale at Shout Factory. My three favorite jazz musicians. Sweet on! (Did Mingus ever record with Coltrane? Could someone tell me?)

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times is a role model for me. He comptemplates the WiFi pioneers of Oregon.

In other news, Yuka is UPSing some boxes to Oregon. We don't know how to get the 10 boxes from the Morningside College Alumni House to the UPS terminal because my car is already full. We have to do it before 5 p.m.

I'm supposed to go out with Nick Wingert and Noum Vohanh tonight. It's my last night in town for awhile. Two good guys to rap things up with, for the time being.

Gotta send those boxes.

09 August 2005
---------------------

Washington, Iowa.

Here we go. Two time zones, 2000 miles are in front of us. Much uncertainty. I didn't sleep well last night, but I'm feeling good now.

Eugene is in the Willamette Valley, the promised land at the end of the Oregon Trail. I am a modern day pioneer.

Washington, Iowa.

It was Greeley or Soule or someone who said, "Go West, young man. Go West." I'm taking that advice and heading out on Tuesday morning to Eugene, Oregon. Some people move to new places because of jobs or other conveniences, but I'm taking a little different approach. I'm going to pick a good place first, and work everything else around that location. Yuka and I, after much deliberation, have chosen Eugene as that place.

So as of last Sunday, July 31, I became temporarily unemployed and homeless to pursue this great experiment. We're planning on camping out on our way out there, and perhaps staying in a campground in Eugene until we find suitable apartments. I also have to find a job. I'm doing this on about $500, maybe a little more; it depends on how much I get back from my old apartment's security deposit.

It's truly beautiful out there in western Oregon--one hour from the Pacific Ocean and one hour from the Cascade Mountains. From what I've heard there are spectacular summers, great outdoor activities, good restaurants, good local food & wine.

On this journey, we will be stopping in Sioux City, Iowa; the Black Hills of South Dakota; Sheridan, Wyoming; Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Park; somewhere in Idaho; somewhere in eastern Oregon; and finally, Eugene. We should be arriving in Eugene on 17 August. It is my intention to document this voyage.

This move is important to my personal growth. In today's society, being formally educated is not enough. There are more and more people graduating with bachelor's (and even higher) degrees than ever before. The market is diluted. In today's globalized society it is also important to be mobile. If I can make it in Oregon, starting from nothing (or near nothing), I can make it other places too. Not so many people are willing to do this. If necessary, I can then take this project worldwide. This is a start.

I have arrived in Japan. After twelve hours aboard a plane from Detroit to Nagoya, fifteen time zones, some 6000 miles over four countries (U.S., Canada, Russia, Japan), an International Date Line, Yuka and I landed at Nagoya's brand new Centrair Airport (http://www.centrair.jp/en/index.html) at around 6:30 p.m. local time (there's no Daylight Saving Time here). The airport is built on an artificial island in Nagoya-Ko (Nagoya Bay) so landing was a bit like on an aircraft carrier.

So far we've been in Japan about four days. We are staying at Yuka's dad's house and have been enjoying the sights of Nagoya. I will be here until 23 June and hope to keep this weblog fairly up-to-date. On this trip I also intend to visit Yokohama, Motomiya-machi, Sagae-shi, and Kyoto, but who knows where I may end up.

So far, after the airport, we went to eat nizakana (pan-cooked fish[?]). Yuka says it's called "Sugi-something." Her father and I had a little too much sake, that's all I know.

The next day, we went to visit Yuka's mother and grandmother in Sakae, the downtown district of Nagoya. We went to Osu, an area named after the Buddhist temple built there in the 1600s, now full of shops & restaurants & many people. The temple is still there and at 6:00 p.m. a wall opens up and a robotic samurai dancer unsheathes his sword to strange music. Hopefully I will get a video of this and post it. Yuka & her mom went to DoCoMo to set up Yuka's cellphone, so I had tried to have a nice conversation with Yuka's grandmother in Japanese. It was a very pleasant conversation, but lacking in depth since our knowledge of the other's language is severely limited.

Yesterday, I woke at 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. due to jetlag (and probably some excitement mixed in there). Yuka got up around that time too, so we decided to take her dog Brad (black Lab) for a walk to nearby Nittaiji temple. We discovered that a monthly market was going to be held that day, so I came back a couple of hours later while Yuka was getting her hair cut.

The market was packed. There were people selling the strangest things, from preserved vegetables slathered in miso paste (tsukemono) to every kind of dried fish next to burning incense (to keep the flies away) to wooden sandals for sale to piles of multicolored yarn. I took a lot of pictures and smelled ten thousand smells. Ten thousand voices kept saying "Iraisshaimase" (loosely translated: welcome, can I help you?). All of this under a massive five-story pagoda and the large gate of the temple entrance. Spectacular.

We met Yuka's friends downtown in Sakae, went to eat some Italian food made by Japanese (not bad) and went to a large inter-collegiate "Campus Paradise" outdoor festival...dancing college students, bands, food stalls, and people handing out fliers to me that I couldn't read.

After that, we got some groceries. Going to supermarkets in other countries is always a very interesting activity. I didn't recognize most of the items there and some of the produce was very different from the US--short, fat carrots, tiny eggplants, huge daikons...and many things that I would question as being truly edible. By this time (9:00 p.m.) the jetlag was a force too strong to resist and I fell asleep until five this morning.

Right now I am at the world headquarters of Chuuobussan, Yuka's dad's company. Actually, it's just a small office, but I thought he might appreciate the endorsement. Tonight we're eating my favorite Japanese food (possibly my favorite food in the world)...okonomiyaki. It's kind of like a pizza or a pancake in shape and that its base is made from dough, but the similarity ends there. The toppings include cabbage and then anything else you want to put on it ("okonomi" means "as you like it") from squid to octopus to dried fish skin to who knows what else I'm ingesting.

More to follow when I get to a computer next.

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