Heading out on the Great Adventure!

I feel like I need a Crock Dundee hat or something after that title. But alas, I am clad only in my knit blue hippie dippie hat on a hot July day. Don't ask me why. During this crazy transition/adventure/nutso period of life I need all the comfort I can get. I actually sort of dig living in my car. I was telling someone the other day that I feel as if I hadn't bonded with my vehicle the way I had with my old one. The old Suuubs. The car I had for eleven years that sported a bumper sticker that said "I Brake for Butterflies". It was an awesome car. My new little scion TC is sporty and fast and has blacklight features and the music gets louder when you speed up and the previous owner added all these little 'pimped' out thingys to it. I feel as if my mojo and my car's have not become one yet. But baby, it's time! I feel we are getting to know eachother. I think we are on the brink of a beautiful relationship.

I would also like you to meet my travel companion, Pony. Pony has accompanied me on other trips, namely the big one out to Australia

with my fabulous foursome of foreigners. Pony loves to push the envelope. So watch out for some crazy shit. Here she is at the wheel - peeling out of Cambridge over the Charles River.

So I left Boston in the ole TC on Thursday. As my beautiful grandmother waved me off, my heart sank a little bit. I listened to Joni's "Blue" through to the end - no skips - and cried the whole time. I'm going to miss Boston/Cambridge a lot. I love the trees there. They seem to speak in the wind. And I also feel like they have seen so much and that nothing phases them. I have walked around Cambridge so many times in a funk and felt completely comforted by the rustle of their branches in the wind. Amen! I will miss that. But mostly I'm going to miss my family of friends and relatives. Seriously there is something so sweet about a community of people who love and accept you just as you are - on a bad hair day and on a red lipstick/freaking fabulous day. I am so lucky. And I hope that this physical separation will only make those relationships stronger!

My drive to State College, PA - my hometown- was sweet. I stopped at a random diner in Camel, NY for a diet Coke and some onion rings and ended up talking to the sweetest, most loving couple from Tulsa, OKlahoma. They were having a lil road trip and we talked about adventure and music and muddy waters and garth brooks and they asked for a copy of my CD. They paid me $10 for it! I felt so loved and supported in an instant. It was as if they universe was saying - are you having doubts about whether or not I will pay you for your music? Well who just paid for lunch, bitch! haha. It was wonderful, thank you God.

My time in State College was great. I always feel renewed and energized when I can sing with my choir - Essence of Joy Alumni Singers. It is truly the environment I learned to praise God with my voice in. No matter where we are or what the freaky circumstances may be, we always end up hitting some chord or reaching some cadance and this spirit takes over and all of a sudden, we are flying. It is awesome! Nothing like it. A great way to start the trip.

I also had some good times and good beers with old friends. EOJAS buddies - as well as my BF and her GF - Rager and Molly. Two people who keep me looking on the bright and hilarious side of life. I'm so lucky to have them and they threw me a kick ass going away party in Boston. I'm feeling a CA visit coming on!!!!! Here we are with Pony and the crazy ass rusty knife I received as a safety net from my mom's hubby. Hilarious.

The most important task was to sit down with my Dad and map out the route on the big Atlas. It's a little daunting. Over 3,000 miles to go. Yippity skippy! But it looks like a challenge and I"m no chump. I'm ready for whatever that road has to throw at me. BRING IT ON, MOFO! It's LA or bust and I'm not bustin.

Right now, I'm in Panera - sipping an Americano and about to hit the road to see my good friends Lauren, Scott, and Clint in Philidelphia. I've never hung out in the city of brotherly Love, but the theme sounds good to me. I'm looking forward to recharging my batteries with their love and support and hitting the road for a long day of driving early on monday morn. First planned stop: GRACELAND

stay tuned!!!!