Miles to go before I sleep...

Pictures to come soon...first, a summary of what's been up:

So we went to the Oregon Country Fair and saw a bunch of near-naked hippies eating frozen bananas and vegan coconut ice cream. It was crazy hot that day but there was plenty of shade and sprinklers distributed throughout the festival grounds for refreshment. We had such a great time and would highly recommend the festival to anyone who is in Oregon near Eugene in July. Our friends Ginny and John housed our tired, road-weary butts in Eugene and Stephanie and Ginny made us a homemade pasta dinner. It was amazing.

Heading south from Eugene through wildfire plagued northern California, we began one of the most harrowing parts of our journey thus far. From road closings to driving through hours of yellow-orange smoke haze, we finally made it to Fort Bragg, California, home of the College of the Redwoods Fine Furniture School and sea glass beaches. To make a long story shorter, we met four previous students, three of which are instructors now and think that this school is tops on our list of where we might be in the future. We're a little shaky about Fort Bragg, but it seems like a cool small community that we might become a part of for a while. We'll see...

After California, we zipped through Nevada, skinny-dipped, saw Lake Tahoe, about 1000 casinos. I can't possibly exaggerate how many opportunities one has to blow his money in Nevada. I swear they will start putting slot machines between the urinals in the gas station restrooms soon. You might win the jack-potty.

Western Utah made me feel like there are places on this planet where man is not supposed to ever go unless he is on his way elsewhere. Surprisingly enough, some people have stayed in this forsaken wasteland and have planted lawns. Arches National Park redeemed our "quick" ride through Utah.

We're in Denver until Sunday and staying with Sheralee, a good friend transplanted from Grand Rapids here in the mile-high city. We've already hung out with Maria, Jim and new friend Stuart and had some great beer (see Old Chub). Today, Stephanie and I decided that we're about out of gas for seeing the sights and are ready to take the most direct routes to visit our loved ones as we can. For those of you along this route, that means our schedule has changed again and we'll let you know how much sooner to expect us :)

More to come soon...