I didn’t have time to create a redirect for the page, so you’ll just have to click the following link.
View my recent Twitter updates to track my status on my trip home.
Hello All,
Please excuse grammatical/spelling mistakes. Most of these posts have been made “on the fly” with little attention given to structure. The intention was to document the action “in the moment”; many of the entries were written in the bustling internet cafes of South East Asia or on my laptop while I fought the glare of the sun through the windows of my car and struggled with the void of internet connectivity for my blackberry in the “Great Plains” states. I will attempt to edit and review the writing in the future as time permits(Also, I will resize the pictures so that they don’t “blow-out” of the CSS layout I use). I hope that you enjoy the photos(realize that most images on the main page are links to galleries), make sure to check out the other galleries that are listed on the left-margin of this website.
Regards,
Clark
Ryan and I arrived safely in Phoenix today. We drove to Flagstaff last night and finished the last leg of our trip this morning. I’m unpacking, but some new pictures have been posted.
Regards,
C
Last night we arrived in Boulder around 7:30pm and met up with my long time friend, Mike AKA “Electric Nectar”. We have known each other for over a decade, this however was the first time we were able to meet in person. We went out for Sushi at a nice little place downtown, then we swung by the local dive bar and had a few pitchers of PBR while we played foosball. Then we went back to his place and rocked out on the Nintendo Wii for a while(I am an expert bowler, but I could not box to save my life). WE JUST HIT A TUMBLEWEED! The gods have smiled upon us and welcomed us to the South West! … Anyways, the long days caught up with us and Ryan and I were suffering from border-line narcolepsy by 12am, so we called it an early night.
Colorado is the most beautiful state we have driven through, it is full of rolling hills and scenic mountains. The weather is also very temperate, it was 45 degrees while we were there. The only climatic draw back that we witnessed was the raging winds, they peaked at over 100 mph during the evening hours. The locals were very friendly and helped us plot a course home to Phoenix that would keep us out of the worst weather. I could see relocating to this area at some point in the future, it’s metropolitan enough that you don’t feel like you are dealing with ignorant hicks but it also has enough terrain and scenery to meet my “country boy” needs for wide open spaces and wild life.
This morning Ryan and I left Boulder and we are heading South towards New Mexico. Originally, we were going to head South-West to Vegas and meet up with my friend Jason but we rerouted South due to the fact that it has been snowing in the Colorado passes for the last few days. Also it is 12 hours to Vegas and only 13 hours to Phoenix. We are getting a little tired of grinding out 12 hour days of driving, it will be nice to go to sleep tonight knowing that when I wake up in the morning I don’t have to drive anywhere.
The weary traveller,
Clark
Kansas is tough. Hey, this is Ryan, and we have just recently crossed the boarder from Kansas to Colorado. For the time spent in Kansas today we did not have any reception of any sort… none from verizon and none from cingular. It was a very long, brain numbing journey. With in five minutes of crossing the border we both had reception once again. Anyways, on top of there being no data transfer in Kansas, there is nothing else, except for a Cabella’s on the outskirts of Kansas City, which is the largest city we have driven through. The establishment we stayed in last night was tip top to say the least. There was a hunk of a turd stuck on the underside of the toilet lid, and stains on the walls and carpet. Wouldn’t you like to know where we stayed? When we departed the fine establishment, we saw the Cabella’s on the way out. Clark said we had to stop. I wasn’t expecting anything to great, but man, there was a lot of dead animals there, and a lot of guns, and, and a pillow cat fish that Clark promptly purchased(a fine purchase if I do say so myself). We then hit the road, I drove, and Clark prepared our photographed experience of Cabella’s to be posted. We quickly discovered that Kansas is a soul sucking black hole of nothing. Almost every experience can be compressed into a singularity of excrement. I decided that we had to eat at a Sonic, because I have never eaten there before. It was ok, but I suppose we could have done that anywhere, but we are patriots. We are now less than a few hours from Clark’s friend in Boulder.
regards, a fine co-pilot,
ryan
We’re on the Ohio Turn Pike and heading towards Illinois, we are hoping to grab some dinner in Indianapolis and then head south to St. Louis. The roads getting to the turn pike were horrible, evidently the government of Cleveland hasn’t heard of a little invention that we have in New York. We call it a “Snow Plow”. Though, once we were on the Turn Pike the roads cleared up and we’ve been able to achieve our cruising speed of 74 mph. There are 4-foot tall drifts on either side of the road and we have counted half a dozen 18 wheelers that have taken up residence in the farmers fields that neighbor the highway.
Somewhere in Ohio,
Clark
Song of the Hour: This is How I Disappear - My Chemical Romance
We went out to dinner at a place called “The Winking Lizard”, we scored some excellent food. I knew the place was a quality establishment when it was packed during the middle of a snowstorm; another hint was the fact that they stocked over 100 beers. After Ryan and I finished our dinners and a pitcher of Guiness, we noticed a couple of unescorted ladies that were about to order a meal. Being strangers in a strange town and tired of only conversing with each other, we decided to invite them to share a pitcher with them. I went over to their table and invited them to join us for a Pitcher and some conversation. It turned out that they were auditors for an accounting firm out of Chicago and were working for a client in Cleveland. The friendly and entertaining brunette turned out to be married and the blonde seemed disgusted with our love of metal and contact sports so we went our separate way after we exchanged a few entertaining anecdotes.
We then hiked back through the snow to hotel and had some very interesting conversations with a few members of the cast of Mayhem Poets.
Hopefully we will be able to get back on the road by afternoon tomorrow.
Regards,
Clark
We made it to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame but that’s as far as we got. We decided after we spent a few hours at the museum that the thick of the storm was on us. We also realized we were running on vapors, we had forgot to refuel and we had to find a fuel station ASAP… It wouldn’t have been a problem except for the fact that the city had ground to a gridlocked halt. It took us around an hour to travel 6 blocks. We made it to the gas station but the needle was buried a quarter-inch below E. We also used the tethered blackberry to book our hotel as we drove. We ended up at the Wyndham Cleveland for $120 a night. As we pulled up in the horrible snow and ice we decided to valet the car (for $22 over-night). As I was walking to the front desk, I realized what I had done. My entire life was in the backseat and trunk of the car and I had just given a random dude the keys. So I quickly went back and gave the man a $5 tip(it was all I had left in my wallet), then as I continued to check in I whispered to Ryan “Go slide the guy one of our Heinikens and become his friend”…. yes, you heard that right… we tipped the valet with an alcoholic beverage. So anyways, hopefully my life’s accumulations of goods are still intact in the morning. If not… it’s a fresh start.
Hopefully we will be able to leave for Dayton tomorrow morning.
Snowbound,
Clark
We have now entered Ohio and are waiting to hit the horrible storm. We decided that we want to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, so we are detouring to Cleveland to grab some lunch and some RockStardom. I have set up an image gallery, it’s pretty sparse now but we will continue to update. I may also post a video to youtube… we have been filming but I don’t think that the upwidth on my connection is good enough for video uploads.
Left Buffalo: 7:30am
Song of the hour: the Lying Lies and Dirty Secrets of Ms. Erica Court -Coheed and Cambria
Song of the Hour: One Love - Prodigy
10:00 am Song of the Hour: Love Lost in a Hail of Gunfire - Bleeding Through
Later,
Clark “The Road Warrior” Dever
Ryan arrived at my house around 1500 hrs and we left soon after. We have been shooting video on our trip, we may post it to youtube from the road. I drove the first leg; we left Rochester, NY at 1533 hrs and headed to Buffalo, NY for an evening of goodbyes with the family and mayhem with the fraternity. We arrived in Buffalo ahead of schedule at 1643 hrs. I will also try and post pictures from the road as we travel. There is a severe storm warning for tomorrow, it looks like it is going to get nasty between here and my cousins house in Ohio, wish us luck.
See you manana,
Clark
Song of the hour: 5,6, Kids - Bear vs. Shark