The Map of "US"

Jeb Update 11-22

2008-11-22T18:59:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone. I’m not sure if anyone still comes to the site but I figured I’d get on and give an update.

Mike and I have been actively seeking jobs in NYC. I have applied at McKinsey and Company along with some other consulting firms. I know New York wasn’t our top city or our favorite region but after the trip ended we realized a few things.

First, I love the seasons. There is nothing better than fall. Also, NY has a romantic quality to in the winter.

Second, NYC is the place where the jobs are at. Recently, the financial sector has been hurting big time. I figured I have better odds to score an interview there than anywhere else.

Third, it’s close to home. NY is only 6 hours away from Johnstown. Moving there wouldn’t be too much of a hassle and visits home are only a short train ride away. Also, it would be nearly impossible to interview at places like Austin and California and get a job by graduation.

Thanks to all of you that have been to our site and read what we had to write. The hit count was one of the only things that motivated us to continue to write on the road. Who knows... Maybe there will be a new blog to come. “The Map of US: New York City”

Superlatives!

2008-08-27T22:07:00.008-04:00

This is a list of our favorites and least favorites. This will be updated here and there when we think of new things to add.

Favorite fast food:

Jeb- Taco Bell. It is cheap and never got old. We would go on a taco binge for days at a time. I would always order two Fresco tacos and a cheesy bean and rice burrito with a side of sour cream. I have never been so full for $3.

Mike- Taco Bell was definitely the best. But Arby's was a close second. 5 for $5.95 is pretty sweet. We couldn't pass up a TB though.

Worst fast food:

Jeb- McDonalds. The food is super cheap and you can get a $1 large drink. However, you feel terrible after every meal. Just watch “Supersize Me”... it says it all.

Mike- I got nauseas just reading Jeb's response..

Best roads:

Jeb- If it didn’t cost a fortune to ride on their roads, it would be Florida. But surprisingly, I liked the Jersey roads. I had no problems there.

Worst roads:

Jeb- Pennsylvania has absolutely terrible roads and there is always construction. However, they do have people that know how to hold signs. The construction in Wyoming was the worst. We would wait for 15 minutes at a time while they trimmed a bush.

Best city:

Jeb- Austin

Mike- Austin. eventually Savannah .

Worst city:

Jeb- Phoenix

Mike- Philadelphia

Coolest sight:

Jeb- The geysers of Yellowstone

Mike - The bats in Austin.

Best Public Restroom:

Mike- When you need to go, and I mean go, find a Starbucks. There are always a million people in there so nobody notices, the bathrooms are private and clean, and they always have toilet seat covers. I prefer them to my bathroom at my house at school.

Worst Public Restroom:

Mike- I don't remember where it was, I think I blocked it from my memory, but at one gas station was the most disgusting bathroom I have ever seen. The flusher had been broke for weeks it seemed and every thing you can imagine added up. I mean it was everywhere, the seat, garbage can, the sink.. gross.

Chicago 2.

2008-08-25T09:56:00.008-04:00

Our last day in Chicago, Jeb and I searched for Lincoln Park. We made a complete circle on our trip. We started in New York City getting on Subways the wrong direction and we did it in our last city too. We asked a man, who had just given other tourists the same news, and he told us to get off and head the other direction. 10 weeks, 30 cities, and we still were getting lost on the Subway, haha.

We finally made it to Lincoln Park. It is where the band Linkin Park got its name. That's a lie. But it would have made Lincoln Park a lot more interesting. We walked around the park and the little part of the city it was in. We had one last nice, relaxing day in a city other than Johnstown.

We met Taryn for sushi when she got out of work. She said she saw us with Dob walking down the street and he looked like our dad. Hahaha. I do get carded at R rated movies. Sushi was a lot less dramatic this time. Instead of gagging at every piece I put into my mouth, it was like every third piece. Jeb was already a sushi pro, so I couldn't seem like too much of a rookie. He got Unagi. It made me laugh every time I thought about it because of the Friend's episode where Ross thinks he has Unagi, and Rachel and Phoebe say "fresh water eel?" Watch it if you never saw it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpOTNKHvISM

Chicago is amazing. We both could definitely live there for a while. Taryn did scare us when she told us about the winters, though. She said it's windy, freezing cold, and kind of miserable. But there was an apartment open in their building that had us tempted..

Johnstown Magazine.

2008-08-23T17:22:00.002-04:00

You know you've hit it big when you're in the Johnstown Magazine, haha. Check us out in the September issue, in stores now. Or pretty soon. Don't feel shy to ask for an autograph.. we might even do it for you. Haha, just kidding, but seriously go buy it.

And if you don't know by now, I'm talkin' about Chi town

2008-08-23T12:41:00.007-04:00

Mike and I slept in our car for the last time somewhere in Nebraska. We drove all day and stopped at a rest stop around 2 am for some shut eye. Sadly, I can not say that our last sleep in our mystery machine was a good one. The sun came up at six and made our car into a hot box. We hit the road and headed for Chicago. The affect of 9 weeks of traveling was obviously taking its tool. We both were chronically tired and looked like zombies.

We got to Chicago around noon the next day. Our friend Taryn from high school lives there with her boyfriend, Dobber. They could not have a better location for an apartment. They are only two blocks from the legendary Wrigley Field and close to both the red and brown train lines. We got there and raided the freezer. We got something that we had been missing all trip. Both of us are Polish and come from an area with a lot of Slavic influence, so pierogi have been a major part of our diet since we were born. We ate the whole box (Thanks Taryn and Dob!) Making ourselves at home in strange places is no longer a problem for us.

We explored the area around Wrigley Field, aka Wrigleyville, until our host returned from work. We pretty much just hung out and watched the Olympics that night. Dobber made us a nice pork-chop dinner and we all caught up. Mike was super excited to hear that Dob is an accountant and actually enjoys his job. We caught Taryn up with the local scoop and then all went to bed.

The next day we took the red line to downtown Chicago. The transit system is pretty amazing there. It is no NYC but it comes damn close. We got off near Michigan Ave. We headed first to the Navy Pier. It is Taryn’s favorite place. There are restaurants, boats and a Ferris wheel. Head to http://www.navypier.com/ to learn a little more about this place.

We then headed to the nearest place to get a Chicago style hot dog. I got a hot dog and Mike got cheese sticks or something. The dogs are topped with mustard, onion, sweet pickle relish (usually neon green), a dill pickle spear, tomato slices or wedges, sport peppers, and a dash of celery salt. However, it never has my favorite condiment, ketchup. Strange. But the hot dog was great. Hands down the best that I ever had.

We walked down and back Michigan Avenue, aka The Magnificent Mile. For any readers out there that love to shop, this is the place for you! There is store after store. The girls all look pretty and are dressed in high fashion. The buildings are attractive and we crossed the Michigan Avenue Bridge, which was gorgeous.

We then headed to Millennium Park and took in the sights. The park is filled with art. There are many sculptures and striking architecture. There were tons of little kids enjoying the gigantic fountains. We stayed there for a little while until it was time to meet with our host for some Chicago pizza.

We met a Gino’s East of Chicago. This place was packed! We ordered a large supreme pizza and that was enough to fill the four of us and leave some left-overs. There was some confusion when we ordered however. We had the option of getting crumpled sausage or one large piece of sausage that covers the middle of the pizza. I wanted the crumpled but Mike was dead set on the other option. He rationalized, “Why wouldn’t we want sauce all over the middle of the pizza?” We looked like total tourists. Lol Well it could have been that or all of the pictures we were taking of the pizza.

Come back to hear a little more from Chi town and get our final thoughts on the city.

Denver, CO.

2008-08-19T13:02:00.007-04:00

Ryan, our host from Denver, had easily more energy than anyone we have stayed with. So it was no surprise to us when he was yelling down the stairs, "wake up girls!" early Saturday morning. He had a whole day planned for us already.

His energy could be due to the fact that he bikes like 100 miles a day. There are a lot of outdoor activities in Denver. It seemed like everybody had a bike rack on the top of their vehicles. Other than bikers, we saw runners, mountain climbers, roller bladders, and even roller skaters. It’s a very athletic looking city during the day.

Our first mission was to tackle the highest paved road in America. Jeb went into a little restaurant and stole me napkins in case I got an inevitable nose bleed at the top. Luckily, I didn’t have to use any of them, haha. It was insane driving up there and the view was so sick. The most amazing thing about it was that people were actually biking up the side of the mountain. I think I’d rather jump off the top than ever attempt to bike it. At the top the temperature dipped the whole way down to 44 degrees. [This is the reason I am wearing Ryan’s Chandler Bing vest in the pictures.]

After we left the mountain, we went to explore downtown. Ryan had tickets for us to go to the Rockies game at Coors Stadium. We had time to kill and went on an adventure. And I truly mean an adventure. We went on one of the most trippy things we’ve experienced so far… the Denver bus. I’m not exaggerating when I say that at least half of the women didn’t believe in shaving. At one point a group of 4 fully dressed, in costume elves walked onto the bus. Ryan tried getting us to flirt with 3 of the strangest girls I had ever seen. It was a bad foreshadowing to the night ahead, haha.

We exited the bus and went to the capital building. It was really pretty but we didn’t get to go inside. We also got to see City Hall. We walked down a strip with more interesting characters. I spotted a Starbucks and had to go in, but not for the coffee, you will see what I’m talking about when you read all of our final thoughts.

After exploring, it was time to go to the game. Nothing beats a baseball game in the summer. Coors Stadium was packed with excited fans. We still think Pittsburgh has the most beautiful stadium, but it was nice to see a lot of support for the team, which is usually lacking for the Pirates. Jeb got to drink a Coors at Coors Stadium and we made new friends with the Grandma sitting next to him. After nine weeks, we needed to have fun with a grandma.

When the game was over, we decided to go explore the nightlife. It became a very interesting night. We were told that Denver was the “number one place for singles.” I don’t know if we went out on an off night but it was excruciatingly hard to even find one attractive girl. (The girls in the pic were the best looking ones in the bar... yikes) Ryan taught us all his old moves from college and tried hooking us up with every girl that walked by. In Southern California this would have been greatly appreciated, but not here tonight. We had more luck during the day with the attractive, athletic girls.

Denver was a really cool city and Ryan was one of our favorite hosts. I don’t think Denver was for me, but we could both see a lot of our friends loving it. If you love biking in the summer and skiing in the winter, and are a hippie at heart, you found your perfect city, courtesy of The Map of US.

Golden, CO

2008-08-17T23:45:00.018-04:00

As Mike wrote before, it took us 13 hours to get to Denver when it was only supposed to take 10. When you start with the mind set that you will be traveling for a certain amount of time and it ends up being longer, even 3 extra hours can feel like a lifetime.

We finally did arrive at Ryan’s house just outside of the city. We had never met before. He could see that we were in no mood for the standard, “I don’t know you and you don’t know me so let’s talk for a few hours so I don’t think that you will murder me in my sleep” convo that we go through at every stranger's house. He was going strictly off of a reference from our good friends Jeanne and Howie Tompkins from Atlanta. We set up camp in the basement and hit the sack.

Ryan had to go to work early, early in the morning so he let us sleep in. On the counter in the morning were a hand-drawn map and a list of things to do. It is amazing how trusting people can be. We must have made one hell of a good impression on the Tompkins.

I quickly realized that we were only about 15 minutes from Golden, Colorado. We went there and to our surprise there was a brewery there. I don’t know if you have heard of it... It’s called Coors. And since we were by such a prominent land mark, we figured we had to check it out. For Blog’s sake.

This day happened to be the busiest day in Coors’ history. We just managed to beat the rush. Just before we were about to get into our little shuttle to go to the factory, the line doubled in size and stretched far beyond the designated standing area.

We got to the factory and began our FREE tour. It was pretty amazing. I learned a lot about the company and a lot about the beer making process itself. We got to sample some Coors that has never left the factory and also got the opportunity to grab 3 FREE 16 ounce beers at the end. The line was ridiculous so we decided that one was plenty. We joked and said that it would be a great place to pre-game. Later that evening we told Ryan we went there and he said that many college students at the Colorado School of Mines actually do pre-game there. We aren’t the only geniuses I guess.

We explored Golden for awhile after the tour and actually liked the town. However, from what Ryan told us, it is quite pricey to live there. We went hiking up “look-out” point to get a good view of Golden and then went to Buffalo Bill’s burial ground. It is featured i

n the book “1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die” and only God knows why. When we got to the museum it was closed. Well it was actually about 20 minutes before close but what can ya do? Rhetorical question but Anonymous says: Maybe you should spend less time drinking beer at Coors and then you could actually get to the museums on time.

Really the only thing that the man at the desk could tell us about Buffalo Bill Cody was that he was a glorified circus star. He started the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. This made the site a little less exciting. I wish we would have done research about the man before we headed up there. Apparently the man was a true pioneer of the west and quite the hero in his day. Learn more about this at http://www.buffalobill.org/.

That night we went to Boulder with Ryan. We had a blast! There is a lot to write about but this post is already way too long. All I have to say is Stamps and Hippies. Come back soon to read

about day two with Ryan as we take on the highest paved road in the US as well as Denver itself.

Coming Soon..

2008-08-14T09:17:00.000-04:00

Denver
Chicago
Final Thoughts.

Lia Show Update.

2008-08-13T20:40:00.003-04:00

We've been notified that we are scheduled to air on The Lia Show tomorrow, Thursday, night. Make sure you check it out and try to find a station close to you that airs the show. We know that Froggy airs it in Johnstown. Check out Lia's website at www.radiolia.com.

Atlantic Beach, FL

2008-08-13T16:54:00.001-04:00

Here is a little something that we found on the camera that we thought was long gone.

Hot Geyser in Yellowstone.

2008-08-12T12:59:00.001-04:00

From Seattle to Denver..

2008-08-12T12:58:00.004-04:00

After a wonderful night courtesy of Lia, which you’ll read about after we air on her show, we started our 20 hour trek to Denver. We decided to do 10 hours each day, which didn’t seem too bad. Jeb had a friend visiting Big Sky, Montana that we were going to stay with.

Everything was going smoothly until we started to hit road work. These people are complete idiots. They let one side go for 10 minutes, regardless of how many cars, and then let the other side go 10 minutes. So one side of traffic is packed, while 3 cars coming the other direction pass them in the whole 10 minute period. It made no sense at all. It turned our 10 hour trip into a 12 hour trip.

When we got to Montana the family we were staying with was out eating dinner, so Jeb and I had some time to kill. We decided to take an adventure. A Taiwanese worker at the hotel told us where we could hang out and told us she would take us on a short cut because her housing was near there. Before we knew it we were wondering through the woods with her and one flashlight. We both fell over at least three stumps and logs. A guy creeped up on us with his flashlight aiming at the ground and I thought we were goners. He wouldn’t answer when we tried to talk to him. I wasn’t about to die in the Montana woods.

We made it out of the woods safely, but on our way home without a guide we, of course, got lost. After a 20 minute walk, we found our way thanks to a 13 year old who told us we were standing right in front of what we were looking for. We had a rough night of sleep and headed out early in the morning.

The next day was miserable. It was the same type of roadwork. Morons. And travelling through Wyoming there are no radio stations. Not a single one. We sporadically got talk radio which talked about the same things over and over again. We tried AM music that sounded like someone recorded it from a real radio station and played it on a boom box with only one working speaker. We didn’t have our iPod’s charged, so it was pretty bad.

We did get something cool out of our journey, though. Little British GPS Jill took us through the Yellowstone National Park. We got to see bald eagles, a family of moose, and a coyote. But the coolest things we got to see, and also the most unexpected, were the geysers and hot springs. They are random holes in the ground that explode streams of water and steam into the air. It is one of the coolest things we’ve seen so far. We got to see Old Faithful, which was also really crazy. They had paint pots bubbling and steaming red rocks. It looked so fake but it was real. We have a video that we will be posting of one of the geysers.

Sadly, the forests there have a lot of fire damage. We got to see some elk rubs, too. Jeb was really excited about them, haha. A lot of people said they got to see herds of bison as well. We weren’t as lucky. You should definitely check out Yellowstone if you ever get the chance. We would’ve loved to camp there but we didn’t have time.

We also went through Grand Teton which was beautiful as well.

We made it to Denver after over 13 hours. I didn’t think we were ever going to make it, but we did. We have a lot of interesting stories coming from Denver. So come back and comment, haha.

Pike Place Market

2008-08-10T14:25:00.005-04:00

It was a sunny Saturday in Seattle. Mike and I decided that it would be a good day to go to the Pike Place Market. For anyone who doesn’t know about the market, check out this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pike_Place_Market

We started off by walking beside the water on Alaskan Street. There were a couple fish and chips places and an aquarium. There is also the former Real World house on Pier 70. After walking a few blocks, we headed up to Pike Place.

During the fall semester of my Junior year I had a class called Organizational Behavior. It was taught by Professor Doug Reed and it was a great class. It was fun, challenging and useful. In that class we watched a video called “FiSH!” It was about the workers at the world famous Pike Place Fish Market. It taught us the value of team work and how you can make the best out of any work environment. The four pillars of the FiSH! philosophy: Play, Make their day, Be there, and Choose your attitude.

Anyway, Mike and I went to the Fish Market. It was fun to watch the guys there work. It seemed like they were having a blast. And you should have seen the crowd! These guys were yelling out the orders in goofy voices and tossing fish around. They threw a fake fish into the crowd causing everyone to scatter and laugh. There is a lot to be learned from a work environment like this. Their customer service and team work is inspirational.

After hanging out at the fish joint, we checked out some of the fresh produce. There were salesmen cutting up peaches and other fruit for samples. They had any kind of produce, meat, cheese and fish that you could ever want. We felt like we were in Aladin where they have all of the open air markets. I was waiting to see a monkey swing down and steal an apple or something. It was a great experience and any mom, grandma, or food connoisseur would love this place and be sold on Seattle on the spot!

A bridge. A waterfall. A fake beach.

2008-08-10T10:41:00.003-04:00

As Jeb and I headed off for another adventure in Seattle, we hit an unexpected road block. We were on the freeway crossing a bridge when all of a sudden traffic came to a complete stop. At first I wanted to murder someone. Then, we found out that we were stopped because they were raising the bridge up for a ship. We talked to people who said they have lived there all their lives and this has never happened to them.

One of the funniest things we’ve seen so far happened on the bridge. A lady’s dog jumped out of her car, over the median, and tried to dive off the bridge. Women starting screaming as this lady did an Olympic dive over the median, almost crashing to the ground, and flew to the other side of the bridge. The dog almost made it until she got there. It was hilarious.

We got to walk down the middle of the freeway during rush hour. How many people can say that? Haha, how many people would even want to say that? Anyway, we got on our way again. We were headed to a hike down to a waterfall. I was skeptical. I wasn’t really in a hiking mood.

We got to the waterfall and it was beautiful. We started our “hike.” I was expecting something hardcore; this was a trail down a mountain. 3 year olds were sprinting up this thing. Not really, but I did almost have to punch a dude who was dragging a toddler up the mountain. We got to do some rock climbing at the bottom to get to the perfect spot near the waterfall. Unfortunately, we wasted all of our camera battery while occupying ourselves on the bridge.

We also got to check out another natural beauty. We went to one of Seattle’s beaches. When I say “natural” and “beach,” I am totally kidding. It was more like a manmade giant sand box along a bay. It was pretty funny. There were rocks, a stretch of sand, and more rocks. And don’t try jumping in, because there are rocks there too. It did have a beautiful view of the city though.

We have a few more tidbits from Seattle coming soon. It seemed like a pretty cool city. Housing is apparently outrageous though. But there is a lot of business and cool stuff to do in the city. The verdict is still out, check back soon.

Welcome to Seattle

2008-08-08T14:35:00.008-04:00

After hanging out in Portland for awhile, Mike and I decided that it was time to head to Seattle. We didn’t want to spend another night in our car and we had a place to stay up there.

Chad Bennett from Hot 92 in Johnstown, PA found our blog from http://www.hot92and100.com/ and offered us a place to stay. He is a new transplant to Seattle. He moved there only three months prior.

When we got to his apartment, we unpacked and relaxed for a little while. But there is no rest for the weary. It was Friday night and there was a whole new city to explore. Chad got some advice from a bar tender friend and we headed down town. We had a lot of fun and got the low down on Seattle. Obviously, Chad is new to the city and doesn’t know everything but he did have a lot of information to offer.

He told us how it rains everyday during the winter months but it doesn’t get cold-cold. It is relatively mild all year. However, I think that we got some fluke weather. It was nothing but clear blue skies and 90 degree weather. We called it an early night and headed back to Lynnwood.

The next day we went back into Seattle. We couldn’t miss the Space Needle so we hit that up. It cost $16 to go up it so we decided to pass. During the weekend that we were there, so was Seattle’s Seafair Festival. Some events in the festival include hydroplanes, Blue Angels, a Milk Carton Derby, and a Triathlon. When we were directly under Space Needle, the Blue Angels did a fly-by. Mike and I almost hit the deck. It was really embarrassing considering nobody else reacted at all.

We went to the radio station where Chad works. The Lia show is recorded there. It was fun to see where all of the celebs hang in the green room and where they sit to be interviewed. Little did we know that we would soon be on that very show. More to come on that.

We walked down Alaskan Street and looked at the piers. We also went to Pike Place Market. This place was amazing. It deserves its own post. Check back tomorrow for that one and more Seattle fun!

Portland, Oregon.

2008-08-08T11:20:00.005-04:00

After the worst day ever of travel we had to sleep in our car. We were about 3 hours outside of Portland. Of course, there is no regular town or rest stop to pull over and sleep. Also, about every 15 miles there is a new, creepier hitchhiker. We were too delirious to keep driving, though, so we had to make due with what Oregon offered us.

Jeb pulled into a parking lot behind a school right next to the highway. There weren’t any swings that were swinging themselves, but that’s just because the school was too shady to have a playground. The rundown basketball court, or maybe it was a tennis court, looked like the gathering place where crazed hitchhikers picked their prey. I just laughed at Jeb and told him if he was serious we were going to die. He reluctantly left the abandoned parking lot and searched for something else.

We ended up sleeping in between miles of trailer parks at an RV park. It was no Wal*Mart parking lot, haha, but it did the trick. We never slept better in our car than we did there. We woke up in the morning as refreshed as we could be and drove to Portland.

We were kind of lost in Portland. Groggily and deliriously we drove around. It is a really pretty city. There are trees everywhere. It reminded both of us of the cliché college town in every movie. It had a lot of parks, college aged looking kids, and art theaters. We decided to rest and rejuvenate our cranky spirits by going to see Step-Brothers, haha, it was hilarious and just what we needed.

We did some exploring after the movie. We talked to a lot of people who told us Portland was pretty but boring. Our friend, Logan from Houston, disagrees. It is her favorite city. After we thought about it, we figured out that coming from Houston, Portland must be amazing. It is completely green and has rain.

We unfortunately had no where to stay in Portland and Seattle was only three hours away, so we left at night. We didn’t get a great look at Portland from just one day but it didn’t seem like anywhere we would want to live.

Brb...

2008-08-06T12:52:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone... Mike and I are heading South East to denver and will not be able to post for a day or two. Please go back and check out some of the earlier post; they miss you. =)

Coming soon: Seattle Part I & II
Lia Show

Map of US on The Lia Show!

2008-08-05T19:00:00.004-04:00

The Map of US just had the huge honor of doing an interview with Lia for The Lia Show. On a tour of our host Chad’s office, we snuck into her studio and left one of our homemade business cards. Yesterday, we got an exciting e-mail from Lia’s producer asking us if we would do an interview with Lia. It is tentatively scheduled to air next Monday but we'll keep you posted. The Lia Show is broadcasted on over 180 radio stations nationwide and has an audience of over 4 million listeners. It was pretty exciting! [In Johnstown it airs on Froggy 95.] We shared a microphone that has been used by all of country music’s biggest stars ranging from Taylor Swift to Randy Owen, the lead singer of Alabama. We really appreciate the opportunity and want to give a big thanks to Lia. We won’t give anything away about the interview, so make sure you check it out! Check out Lia’s website at http://www.radiolia.com/.

On the road again...

2008-08-05T13:30:00.007-04:00

The night before we left San Francisco, Mike and I plotted our journey north with the Brummerts. They gave us the option of traveling on the 5 and seeing mountains or the 101 and seeing the Redwood Forest and the coast. We chose 101.

We stayed up relatively late with the Brummerts and had to leave the house at 7am! That made for a pretty interesting day. I was tired as hell from the start and I knew that it wouldn’t get any better. I had an energy drink which only made things worse.

Along the way, we took a bit of a scenic route called Avenue of the Giants. It runs just off of the 101. You get to see some red woods and you have to option to jump back on the 101 every 6 miles. I would highly suggest it.

I drove about 200 miles to Eureka, CA and we stopped for lunch. Before the trip started, I looked at a map and pointed to Eureka. I thought that this would be the perfect city because it is on the coast and in Northern California. Unfortunately, I was too sick for us to explore. After lunch, I had Mike take the wheel for the first time since Maryland so I could get some sleep. The reason Mike doesn’t drive is because I get extremely motion sick. I got sick when we were surfing in Jacksonville; I get sick on a swing set.

Mike drove about 25 miles to the Red Wood National Park when I told him to find a side road and pull over. There were two deer grazing on the side of the road. I told Mike to watch for them and somehow he didn’t see them until we were right on top of them. Unfortunately we couldn’t take any pictures because I yelled at Mike to keep driving. After christening the side of the road at the foot of a giant red wood, we stopped to take a nap.

I have to say, after all of the deliriousness passed and I could explore the forest… It was amazing. These trees are enormous. When you look through the forest, you feel like you have been sent back to a prehistoric time. Mike said, “It feels like you are in the movie Honey I Shrunk The Kids.” lol

I took the drivers seat again and headed for the California boarder. The 101 takes you right up the Oregon coast and it is beautiful. Remember the scene from “The Goonies” when the pirate ship rolls out of the cave? There are huge rocks in the water that come up like fingers from the sea. The entire coast is picturesque.

After awhile we left the coast and headed to the interior of Oregon. We were in route for Portland. We had to sleep in our car that night in one of the creepiest towns that we have been through. That will be our next post.

The "Most Crookedest Street"

2008-08-03T16:57:00.003-04:00

The Map of "US" vs The Most Crookedest Street in San Francisco!

Try not to vomit.

San Fran, Part II.

2008-08-03T16:56:00.005-04:00

I didn’t know what to expect going into San Francisco. I definitely didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. Jeb already went over the weather and fogginess, which were my only two drawbacks. It had the best skyline, especially at night. Downtown is different than any other city we’ve been in. After awhile it started to get repetitive walking through big down town cities. San Francisco was a nice, pleasant change. The picture of the Full House houses is pretty much what most of the houses in the city look like. It’s a very clean and classic looking city.

We started our second day in search for the Myth Busters lot. And man was it a myth to bust. Haha, that doesn’t make sense. It was more like a hard mystery to bust. We found the lot, which is in Alameda, where we were staying. It is located at the US Naval Air Station in Alameda. Once we got through the gate all bets were off. Nobody working there could offer any help. We did find a beautiful view of the city and looked at every lot just to say we saw it. Maybe it’s a myth that they film there? I’m done.

We went into the city next to find the Golden Gate Bridge. You might wonder how the Golden Gate Bridge is hard to find, but it was almost completely covered in fog. It’s kind of confusing to drive in San Fran because we ended up going down a few one way streets the wrong way, haha. The bridge is large and red. I agree with Jeb, though, that the Bay Bridge is a lot prettier with a better view of the city. We walked across the bridge and then jumped back in our car. Check out Jeb's Martella's Pharmacy shirt.

The map that we were using to get around the city already had some sites circled. We went to “The World’s Most Crookedest Street.” We took a video that will probably make you throw up that we’ll post later. It was really strange. After that, we set off for Twin Peaks. We drove a long way and got to the top of the mountain, where it was raining. We had an excellent view of fog. Seriously, you could only see fog. It was pretty funny.

That night we stayed with Jeb’s friend and my old coworker, Kevin Brummert. His family lives in Dublin, about 45 minutes out of the city. We had dinner with him and his family. They are no strangers to travel themselves, so we got to share a lot of stories. His dad is also the Vice President of a company out there and it was interesting to hear about that. We stayed up late with the family, which led to an interesting day of travel the next morning. You can hear about that in the next post.

Like I said before, I loved San Francisco. It is easily in my top 5, maybe top 3. The cost of living is higher than it is in Johnstown. Brianne said their rent for their apartment is what they’d pay for a house in Johnstown. But it is feasible to live and work there. Besides missing family, she said that it doesn’t get boring there. There is something always fun and interesting to do. I love it. Maybe I will be there someday.

San Francisco, Part I

2008-08-03T15:28:00.008-04:00

Sitting in the morning sun

I'll be sitting when the evening comes

Watching the ships roll in

And I watch 'em roll away again

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Watching the tide roll away

I'm just sitting on the dock of the bay

Wasting time
-Ottis Redding

After leaving Los Osos we continued up highway 1 to San Francisco. A couple from Johnstown found us from the article in the Tribune Democrat. Brianne sent us a lengthy email explaining that she and her boyfriend, Wes, live in Alameda which is only 15 minutes from San Fran and they would take us in.

The first night we just hung out in Alameda and got to know each other. Wes went to UPJ and moved to San Francisco with a few of his friends because “well, why not.” The weather in their town was rather cold; colder than you would think Cali would be. We were told what we should check out the following day and hit the sack early.

We headed into the city via the Bay Bridge. I have to say, I thought that the Bay Bridge trumped the Golden Gate Bridge. It has a much better view and looks cooler, too. The temperature was a chilly 56 degrees and was only projected to hit 59. And this isn’t fluke, freak-of-nature weather. It is always that cold in the summer. San Fran is also super foggy.

The first stop was the Fishermen’s Wharf. We pictured the Wharf as being full of white bearded men with yellow overalls. It was actually far from it. It was basically a mall. There were also a lot of street venders that were serving fresh seafood. I went for the clam chowder in a sour-dough bread bowl. Apparently there are lots of seals there but we didn’t see any. You have a good view of Alcatraz Island from the Wharf. It is pretty amazing and Mike became obsessed with it.

After that we went in search of the famed “painted ladies.” For anyone who isn’t familiar with what the painted ladies are, let me call them by another name. They are the “Full House” houses. You know, in the theme sound when they pan past 5 houses; that is them. It was actually rather hard to find. We called our Assistant to get the address. That ended up being wrong. We then texted our go to guy and got the directions. They were located across from Alamo Park. There was some fanatical Full House fans there taking pictures. I have to say, we blended in quite well. We also talked to a guy that actually lives in one of the ladies. He lived there since 1973. He just laughed when we asked him what he thought about the fame of his home.

That night we went into the city again and went to a Steelers bar for dinner. We had some Primanti Bothers style sandwiches. For anyone not from Pittsburgh, they are sandwiches made with meat, tomatoes, french-fries, mayo, provolone cheese and slaw, all on Italian bread. After a little taste of home, we went to a few other bars on the North Shore, aka Little Italy. We all had fun and we continued to compare life in Johnstown to San Fran. We will get into that more later on.

Coming soon… San Fran, Part II.

Los Osos, CA.

2008-08-02T14:03:00.004-04:00

After we left Los Angeles we headed north towards San Luis Obispo. Instead of going to the city, we went to the coast to Los Osos to stay with another one of Arron’s friends, Erin. As we headed into Los Osos it looked like we were going straight into a cloud. We learned that during the summer there is a lot of fog there, but it is usually clearer during other seasons.

When you walk into someone’s house for the first time a one word description usually comes to mind. Walking into this house, I instantly thought “home.” Erin’s two sons, Ryan, 6, and Sam, 4, greeted us at the door before we had time to knock. They instantly started sword fighting and at sight of their toy pirate ship I knew that I would fit in great. It was so nice to be at a house that was completely filled with fun. When asked by her mother-in-law if the kids should be jumping off the new couch, Erin told her that’s what they were there for. I instantly fell in love.

After Erin and Jeb tore us away from the toy room we went to Morro Bay. There were a lot of cool shops, restaurants, and a beautiful view. People were out on their boats and kayaks. Not only did they have birds flirting for food, but seals as well. Jeb, Ryan, and Sam had a seal mating call competition. Los Osos used to be full of Grizzly Bears and Indians. Los Osos means “The Bears” in Spanish. They also have a lot of bird watching areas.

That night we just hung out and watched Night at the Museum. They could recite every word after watching it only one time before, pretty impressive. Erin’s husband Chris’s parents came after the kids went to bed. They had been on a 9 year boating adventure down to South America. It started out as only 2 years. It inspired Jeb and I to stay in California for at least 3 more years. Haha, just kidding, we wish, but soon.

The next morning, after Ryan successfully saved the Princess’s hair from the newly evil Santa Claus and Death Angel, we went out to have an authentic Mexican breakfast. Having Sam clutched on my arm as I ate my side of rice and beans instantly took me back to Honduras. My ultimate city might end up being San Pedro Sula. To learn more about the orphanage check out our sponsors list, http://www.hogaremanuel.com/.

We only got to spend one night in Los Osos but it looked like a really fun city to raise little kids. They are surrounded by a lot of parks and have a Farmer’s Market every Monday afternoon. Another awesome city in California, this is our state.

[We're dumb and forgot our camera, hence the stolen picture.]

#1

2008-07-31T03:57:00.005-04:00

Gather ‘round young kitties and let me tell you a story about Highway One. Have you ever wanted to see elephant seals, walruses, and whales? Well we have! And ya’ll can be very jealous because we live the dream. We have seen all of that and more.

Mike and I left So Cal in total dismay. How can we leave somewhere so perfect without some discord?? Really. It is the PERFECT PLACE. Minus the cost of living. However, for the sake of the blog, we trudged on, looking for a place better than southern California. We were in route for the middle coast, Los Osos, CA, and beyond. We stopped there for a night and met some very RAD people in the process. That is “totally” a Mike post waiting to happen. Stay tuned.

How many have you heard about Highway One? Probably nobody from western PA, but this is something that you need to Google! Mike and I had a blast. We left LA and headed to “the One.” It is THE highway up the western coastline. And I have to say; this is a coast dominated by foreigners. It is really saddening that we didn’t meet more US road-trippers.

Mike and I saw it all. We saw the Hurst Castle from some distance; give us a few more sponsors and we would have been up close and personal with it. We saw Elephant Seals, which are the ugliest animals that God ever created. Look at the pictures… I DARE YOU TO FIND ANOTHER ANIMAL more ugly!

We followed the One, only stopping for photo ops and what nots. We stopped at this one place because the scenery was gorgeous and because both Mike and I had to pee. After we finished our business, we came back to the car. Waiting there was the paparazzi. There were two whales swimming twenty-yards from the coast! We watched them for an hour before we went back to the car. They were so graceful and I am sad that ya’ll can only see them in this mere photo.

Palos Verdes, CA.

2008-07-29T15:12:00.005-04:00

While Jeb and I were on our way to Los Angeles with no where to stay, our new friends from the OC worked diligently to find us a home for the night. Arron called us with very exciting news. He had talked to a friend who had a friend in Palos Verdes, right near LA. Julie and her family had become our longest, most random link in the chain of our hosts.

Julie had more energy than anyone we had met so far, maybe with exception to Kyle from Pahrump. We sat around and talked for awhile and then all of a sudden she jumped up and told us that we had 5 minutes to leave. We learned that was something common, haha. She took us to her cousin’s birthday bash in LA and then to see a mechanical bull. We had a lot of fun and got to see the wild nightlife of LA. Both places only had one bathroom with one toilet for both guys and girls though, it was the worst.

The next morning we woke up and got to meet the infamous Susan B, Julie’s mother. She had pancakes, sausage, and bacon waiting for us as soon as we got out of bed. Since Julie had to go to work, she was also prepared to show us everything that Palos Verdes had to offer. Before I go on, I have to add that she has one of those hilarious personalities that is even funnier because she doesn’t know she’s hilarious. We loved her.

Palos Verdes is a peninsula. They have a very famous whale watching area there at Point Vicente. Susan B took us there first. There weren’t any whales there at this time of year but it was still really beautiful. There was a lighthouse and a museum. The museum was really cool. They had a lot of information on whales and Marineland. They had their own version of Sea World that featured Orky and Corky, two famous killer whales. Susan B used to live right next to Marineland and it took her back. She happily exclaimed that she would be donating her original Marineland shirts as soon as possible. The ones in the museum currently were “knockoffs.”

We went to the Trump National Golf Club next. I personally am not a huge fan of Trump, but his golf course was beautiful. And it should be, it cost between $225-$250 million. Hole 18, which fell into the ocean, cost $67 million to fix. (Palos Verdes has a problem with this; she took us on a highway that falls into the ocean every few years.) They also have a humongous flag. You might have seen it on the Colbert Report. Apparently the mayor says it is too big and wants to take it down. Susan B told us that the mayor is crazy and that everyone who lives in Palos Verdes thinks that a flag any smaller would look out of place. We had lunch at the beautiful course which overlooks the ocean.

We checked out Wayfarers Chapel next. It is a glass and stone church right in Palos Verdes. It was really beautiful, but we didn’t get to check out everything because a wedding was going on. It had nothing on Susan B’s backyard though. She is a planting connoisseur. She took us on a 20 minute tour. She has apples, the best oranges either of us have ever tried, lemons, limes, fig, peaches, mint, everything. She has a lot more spices and 100 roses. It is amazing.

That night, as Susan B set off to a Diana Ross concert in the Hollywood Bowl, Julie took us to see a band on Hermosa Beach. It was really cool; they had a fireplace and everything. The fireplace made it extremely too hot though. Julie works at a beauty saloon. She graduated from “the Harvard of beauty schools” according to Susan B. We had a blast going out with her. She strictly orders sodas and is still the life of the party.

Palos Verdes had some of our favorite people. Susan B told us we could move into her garage anytime. Their front yard overlooks Los Angeles by the way, one of the prettiest things we’ve seen so far. We just might take her up on her offer.

Hollywood Hills and Suburban Thrills

2008-07-28T16:06:00.007-04:00

After leaving the OC, Mike and I stopped at the University of Phoenix where Arron works. He gave us the grand tour and we got to meet all of his co-workers. I don’t think that working at a college is a bad gig. I could work with my finance and management degree and work towards my MBA for free. How sweet is that deal? After a sad goodbye we headed north.

Los Angeles was a mere one hour from where Arron worked but it ended up taking us longer than that. We heard rumors of the terrible traffic in LA and they were all true. It was 1 and the traffic was ridiculous. Also, a fellow PA driver decided to swerve into our lane and almost crash into us. So by the time we got into the City of Angels I was frazzled. We opted to just take a driving tour and head to Hollywood. I can not live in a city that has bad traffic. It was like Houston all over again.

After visiting all of these big cities so far, I have decided that I most likely don’t want to live in one. I think that it is my small town Pennsylvania roots coming out. There are a lot of smaller cities that could suit me better.

We hit up Hollywood and walked down Hollywood Blvd. and looked at the sidewalk of stars. You could tell the locals from the tourists by the way the tourist have their eyes glued to the ground looking for their favorite celeb’s name. We also stopped at this stand that said “Free Stress Test.” It was some kind of Scientology recruitment strategy. There was this machine with all kinds of dials and switches. Connected to the machine were two metal cylinders that you are supposed to hold. She asked me a series of questions which all showed that I have stress about everything. Family, school, past relationships, religion; nothing was left out. Every time she asked me a question the needle spiked toward super stressed out. She suggested I read this Dianetics book that will help me cope with life. lol It was a riot. We then hiked up the Hollywood Hills to check out the famous sign.

We headed into Beverly Hills looking like total scrubs. We walked around there for an hour or so. We walked down Rodeo and checked out the stores. There was a store that had everything 70% off so we stopped in. Some of the ties were regularly priced at $300! And to be honest, most of them look like something you could buy for $.50 at Goodwill. There was one that was green and red that you couldn’t pay me to wear.

We apologize if you were looking for more of an in depth look at Los Angeles. We were pretty much your typical tourists there. We just feel that a place like LA isn’t for us. There was way too much traffic, it looked like every other city that we have seen, and the smog is crazy. We did go back into LA with our host Julie, but that is all for another post.

The OC.

2008-07-27T14:41:00.005-04:00

There is a lot of fun stuff to do in Orange County. They have the Spectrum, an outdoor mall with restaurants, a movie theater, stores, and bars. We went there a few nights and it was full of people every time. It’s perfect at night. The weather in California is the best. During the day it is sunny and hot, but not unbearably hot. At night it gets cooler and is the perfect temperature for a sweatshirt. It’s been the best climate by far.

We ate at the Spectrum one night, caught a movie another, and went out with the official Map of US stalker on our last night. Tab Adams, who we also met up with in Brooklyn, was in California for work, 10 minutes away from where we were staying. We were excited to see a familiar Johnstown face. Jeb, Arron, and I met her and her friend Stephanie at Dave and Busters.

D&B is probably one of the most fun places I have been to. It’s Chuck E. Cheese on steroids for adults. I don’t know if any of our readers know this, but I have set a few CEC basketball records in my day. Haha, the basketball game here is a little tougher, seeing that it’s not made for 11 year olds. We started playing shuffle board. It got pretty competitive. Tab was the worst and had to pull us off of the table as we demanded rematches.

Jeb and Arron started with a shooting game, as Tab and Stephanie raced each other. It was probably one of the most pathetic attempts at a racing game I have ever seen. The only thing Tab could say after they both finished in last place was, “I hit more lampposts than anyone in history at this game.” We played Jurassic Park, a dance game, skee ball, and basketball. But our claim to fame happened at the giant crane machine.

Stephanie, who didn’t even know what a crane machine was, took over the claw. I was her eyes from the side. We won a huge boxing glove! It was so exciting. Then Arron decided to play and he won three huge things at once. Pandemonium broke out in Dave and Busters. A whole group of people ran over and started taking our picture and screaming with joy. It was really exciting, and really weird, haha.

Jeb and I went out another night in Laguna Beach. It was a Tuesday, so we went to the only place that was open for people our age. It was 80’s night. These people danced insane. Even the waitress was a little bit crazy. Every person on the dance floor was in their own world. We don’t know if they just love to dance or they were tripping on something, but it was too much to handle. We left there after about 2 hours and took a stroll around Laguna. It is so beautiful.

We would love to live in Orange County. Who wouldn’t? It can be really expensive to live there, but if you’re determined to make it work, it can. After our stay in the OC, we’re pretty determined.

Huntington Beach

2008-07-25T14:27:00.008-04:00

If you go into Hollister you are able to see a bunch of TV screens showing a live feed of Huntington Beach, California. I never thought that I would be at that very beach but that’s where I found myself yesterday.

Mike and I were told by our host, Arron, that Huntington Beach was only about 20 miles away. We decided that we would make a day of it and headed north. Jill, our British GPS guide, told us to take 73. That was a mistake. It cost us $4.75 just to ride the road for 11 miles. It was ridiculous. I am usually pretty chatty with the toll-workers but I was dumb-struck. (We were dumb enough to do the same thing on the way back and were slammed with a $5.25 fee this time.) We got off on the 405 and passed Newport Beach. We continued N and saw a sign on the over pass that read “Huntington Beach.”

We parked at a relatively affordable parking meter, $1.50 per hour, and hit the beach. We were in luck because this week was the week of the surf boarding competition. There were bleachers set up for that. There were also bmx and skateboarding arenas with bleachers. Luckily for us, there was free food. Ball Park Franks was giving out hot dogs and there were also free energy bars. It was the perfect compliment to the lunch that Christina packed us. There were famous surfers and boarders signing autographs but I had no idea who any of them were. There were some people giving out promotions for some club but apparently Mike and I look too young to even be bothered with that. lol

We met a girl that relocated to LA not too long ago and now she is doing some comedy. She also works at the Hard Rock Café. It is almost too cliché, a girl from Indiana moves to LA to be a comedian and ends up working her ass off at a restaurant to pay rent. But all and all she seemed happy and was fun to talk to.

Mike and I had a great time in SoCal. It was hard as hell to leave but the trip must go on. Some day I hope to live in this part of California. Maybe Arron will have a few extra tenants next year. =)

Laguna Beach, California.

2008-07-25T12:12:00.007-04:00

Laguna Beach is everything you would picture it to be: beautiful beach, beautiful water, and beautiful girls. We are staying at an awesome apartment 5 miles from the beach. It is seriously amazing. We would move in tomorrow if we were given the opportunity.

We spent our first day checking out Laguna at the bottom end of the beach. It isn’t really a swimming area of the beach. It has a beautiful creek and a lot of big rocks to admire. This part of the beach is where the water-active beach goers spend their time. We saw a lot of skim boarders. And probably not the kind that you are used to, these guys knew what they were doing. They could ride into the water hit a monstrous wave and jump over top of it. My previous knowledge of skim boards was the chubby kid at Ocean City taking out his younger sister as he flew off his skim board after a 1 second ride.

Our second day at Laguna was dedicated to the Main beach. This is where the swimming and other activities take place. At the other beach Jeb took some nasty falls and sliced up his back, this beach was better but the waves are still huge and fun. They have volleyball nets everywhere and we challenged two sisters to doubles, a 14 and 12 year old. They dominated us. It was so embarrassing. We like to blame their parents for distracting us with conversation, but the truth is, we were pathetic.

They were also having lifeguard training at the beach. It was all dudes though, so no eye candy, but it made me jealous that I didn’t grow up here, spending my summer days on the beach. These people have it made. We met so many nice and friendly people at the beach. Two girls were at the beach since 9am waiting by a bon fire spot for later that night. That’s right, what better way to spend your night other than a bon fire at the beach with all of your friends?

They have a grassy area right off the sand where we got to play frisbee. To our left was the ocean; to our right were the houses of Laguna Beach. They have all kinds of restaurants and shops and even a little Laguna Theater. I think we said 20 times how cool it was to be in the middle of Laguna Beach in California. The little houses right across from the beach are easily 2 million we were told by people we passed on the beach. If we ever lived in Laguna we wouldn’t start that close to the beach. The houses further out are cheaper but still pretty expensive.

You could drop a lot of money at the beach, but if you are being smart you can avoid it. They have Subways and Quizno’s everywhere that have $5 foot longs, where as a sub on the beach is less tasty and cost over double. And if you’re lucky like us, you might meet someone like Christina who packs you snacks and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It’s such a gorgeous beach; the show didn’t overstate its beauty at all. We’re still looking for our Kristin Cavallari though.

Our night out in Laguna will be featured in another post. And we still have a lot of other fun stories from Cali.

San Diego

2008-07-24T02:49:00.009-04:00

Ron Burgundy: Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale's vagina.

Veronica Corningstone: No, there's no way that's correct.

Ron Burgundy: I'm sorry, I was trying to impress you. I don't know what it means. I'll be honest, I don't think anyone knows what it means anymore. Scholars maintain that the translation was lost hundreds of years ago.

Veronica Corningstone: Doesn't it mean Saint Diego?

Ron Burgundy: No. No.

Veronica Corningstone: No, that's - that's what it means. Really.

Ron Burgundy: Agree to disagree.

The ride from Aliso Viejo to San Diego was a mix of stress and relaxation. It was stressful because we almost wrecked twice. Once because an air-headed soccer mom swerved in front of us and another time because traffic went from 70 to zero. California traffic has a tendency of doing that. But after all of that madness the drive was pretty cool. We were just off of the coast; we could see the ocean and watched a helicopter land about 20 feet from us at a military base.

We rolled into the city and parked downtown. We found the shadiest parking garage. It was $8 when most of the others were $15. We were right in the middle of the business district. We saw all of the business men and women chatting and smiling outside of their buildings. It had to be the weather. It was a cool 74 degrees with low humidity. That is one thing that totally surprised me about California. It is nothing like Florida. Florida is hot as hell and very humid. The coast of Cali is the perfect temperature.

We talked to two separate transplants that moved to San Diego only a few years ago. They were both very friendly and happy to live where they do. One directed us to Balboa Park to check out some of the museums there. I snuck into the Museum of Man. I tried to get Mike to come in with me but I guess his flash-backs to the Today Show stopped him. I left him wander around while I explored. The museum was pretty great and I took a few pictures for you all. It focused on Ancient Egypt and the evolution of man. And that little monkey looking thing is our oldest ancestor. It is a replica of the one and only Lucy.

After that, we went to the Timken Museum of Art. This one was free so we both went in. It was a nice museum with some great pieces. And you can’t beat free!

We walked to the Zoo which was right around the corner. We didn’t get in but we sure tried. I talked to 6 different people trying to get a student discount because the $25 admission charge just wasn’t worth it to me and is totally out of budget. I almost had PR convinced but there was no manager there that could actually make the call. Defeated by bureaucracy. lol

We returned downtown and went to the Gas Lamp District. Gas Lamp is just on the other side of Broadway. There were many bars and fun things to do. From asking a few people we found that this was a very happening hot-spot at night. While wandering aimlessly, we stumbled into a four-story, outdoors mall. Very random.

We hit the road at 4:30, knowing that we were most likely in for a long ride because of rush hour. To our surprise, however, the traffic was non-existent. We traveled 70+ all the way to the OC. And even more surprising, there was bumper to bumper traffic going into the city at that time. If anyone could figure that one out… let us know!

The city was great and everyone there seemed happy. We ate at a pizza shop that has a combo of a pizza slice, side salad, and medium drink for $4.25. You can’t beat that. There are many financial institutions for Mike and I to look into. I will definitely not roll out San Diego and will continue to research this city. There are beaches all around it and the night life looks happening. Balboa Park is nice and the museums are beautiful. Could I seem myself in SD? Definitely. But I won’t call it my perfect city.

Sushi Cocktail

2008-07-23T13:46:00.002-04:00

Aliso Viejo, CA.

2008-07-23T12:23:00.002-04:00

We finally made it to California. Getting here was the fun part, leaving is going to be the hard part. We were warned that once we made it to Cali, we would never want to go home. It’s the truth. The place and people are amazing here. We could stay, well, forever.

We are staying with a guy, Aaron, which is a story in itself. Remember Caitlin, the girl we met camping? When we had spaghetti at her house, we met Caitlin’s mom’s friend, Debbie. Debbie used to live in California and worked with Aaron and set us up with him. Haha, so confusing and random, especially for them. Aaron was nice and crazy enough to accept Debbie’s offer.

He lives in an awesome, modern apartment, exactly what you would expect for California, less than 4 miles away from Main Laguna Beach. On our drive, he pointed out houses where the stars of the MTV show lived. We figured our female fans would get pleasure, or jealousy, out of that. We’ll have more on Laguna Beach upcoming.

Everything in California has been relax and chill. Everyone seems to be in a good mood, and really, who could blame them? They live in paradise. The beaches are breathtaking, when you look at them and when you jump in. The Pacific Ocean is colder than the Southern Atlantic, which really shocked us.

Aaron, and his great friend Christina, have been making sure that we experience everything that we should while we’re in California. They have been great. We have a lot of stories coming up that wouldn’t have been possible, or fun, without them. Before we leave, we’ll also be checking out San Diego. We have a lot to do during our stay in Laguna and we can’t wait to tell you all of the crazy things we’ve done so far. For example, a shot of all raw seafood, some still alive… That’s for tomorrow.

Pahrump, NV

2008-07-22T13:02:00.005-04:00

While in Cavelese, Italy during my Euro-tour 06, I met a guy from Pahrump, NV. Kyle is the most energetic person that I know. And because Pahrump is only 45 minutes from Vegas, we were grateful to be able to stay with Kyle and his mother.

Pahrump can be summed up with my favorite phrase for the south-west… desolate waste-land. There is nothing but sand and tiny bushes. If it wasn’t for Kyle’s crazy antics we would have been bored out of our minds.

Kyle took us off-roading and I was sure that it was going to be the end of The Map of “US.” We survived Johnny, the Grand Canyon, and even Philadelphia but this was going to be our demise. We spent more time on two wheels than four. We were going 60+ mph’s down a gravel road five feet from a ravine. I looked over at Mike who had a look of terror, severe car sickness, and rage. I should have let him write this post because I am sure that he has a thing or two to say about off-roading.

We got to the top of the mountain only to find a locked gate. There were signs that said “KEEP OUT. PRIVATE PROPERTY.” and “BEWARE OF DOGS.” This didn’t stop Kyle from dragging us past the gate and up the summit. I was leery every step of the hike and Mike just kept repeating how stupid this whole thing was. We must have this embedded thought of the Wild West where anything goes. You step on my ground and you get shot. No questions asked.

We survived the mountain and off-roading and made it home in one piece. That will surely be the last time either of us do that again. When it was time to leave Pahrump, there were clouds rolling in. When we crossed the Cali boarder and looked back we saw the town engulfed by a massive dust storm. We then saw 5 little tornados in an open dust field.

Hanging out with Kyle was fun and it was nice to reminisce on our euro-trip two years before. It was great to check out Las Vegas and do a little gambling in Pahrump. (Mike and I dominate at Roulette btw.) Also, the dealers at the casino told us that their town was known for two things, brothels and being in the movie Mars Attacks. We would surely go back to Vegas and visit Kyle but Pahrump and the Sin City is officially crossed of the Map.

What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas!

2008-07-22T13:00:00.001-04:00

Sorry everyone. This is a story reserved for the explicit, tell-all book.

Our Grand Adventure.

2008-07-21T12:54:00.006-04:00

You can’t go to the Grand Canyon without a little adventure. At one of the points we noticed that there was a cliff pretty far down where no other tourist dared to venture. Of course, there was probably a reason for this but we decided to go down there anyway.

Jeb assured me that it would be easy. As I looked below me at our first obstacle, pretty much a vertical drop off, I shook my head in disbelief because I knew that we weren’t stopping anytime soon. Rocks slid, I slid, my skinny legs bounced off the bottom, I stumbled, and, finally, almost ended up a permanent feature of the Grand Canyon. That was only the first cliff.

If this was a song, that last paragraph would be the chorus. And I would be writing “Repeat Chorus x3” about 10 times throughout this story. At the point in the song when you think that if you had to listen to the chorus one more time you would shoot yourself, we made it to the dramatic ending. The singer has had enough with restraining their vocals and decides to go all out and ignores the background singers and just starts belting out whatever word of the song that is currently in their head. Our end was thankfully not as dramatic as an R. Kelly song, but it could have been.

We made it to just above our destination. There was a mammoth cliff with rocks lodged in every direction. The hill beside the lookout promised that one small slip ended in a plummet to your death. Jeb carefully maneuvered himself down the side of the mountain. On more than one occasion, I thought he was a goner. I started down the side. Then I remembered that if we were both down there who would take our picture? So I stopped my descent and took some sweet pictures of Jeb on the cliff. Haha, that’s not really why I stopped, but a man needs his pride. (Try to find me in the picture, haha.)

We made it back to the top and wished that we could trade our K Swiss tennis shoes in for some hiking boots and go on a really wild adventure. If we ever make it back to the Grand Canyon, we will be resting at the Colorado River or Havasu Waterfalls. And not because we fell off the mountain and landed there.

The Grand Canyon.

2008-07-21T12:39:00.003-04:00

I don’t understand why it is called the “Grand” Canyon. It was probably one of the lamest and most boring stops that we’ve made so far. How can you compare hills in a ditch with a State Capital Building? Grand Canyon is for nomads. Haha, just kidding. The Grand Canyon was of course amazing.

We made it to the Grand Canyon’s South Rim and had to pay a $25 entrance fee. We found our campsite and had to pay again. It was pretty lame. We set up our tent and then went to a Watch Tower to see the sunset. Our tour guide told us that recently the sunsets have been less than stellar. They haven’t been up to par because of a mixture of monsoon season and smoke that has settled in the Canyon from the California fires. Our night at the Canyon was no exception. However, being the indefatigable optimists that we are, we were thrilled by the striking full moon.

Seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time was really overwhelming. Pictures and the Brady’s adventure there can’t prepare you for the real thing. I never expected this thing to be so huge. It is so beautiful with the Colorado River running through the center of it. All of the mountains and ravines are so intimidating. It makes you feel so small, but in a good way. I never wanted to be an Indian more in my life.

We went back to our campsite after the sunset. Jeb had tuna with Long John Silvers malt vinegar. It was smelled so nasty. All of a sudden, I smelled the salty, buttery aroma of popcorn float over from another campsite. Then I heard the amazing sound of it popping. Popcorn is probably in my top 3 favorite foods, go to Target, they have the best for $1. We decided that it was time to explore and make some new friends, haha.

We wandered over to a family of six. They were currently on their own two week road trip. It was really cool to see a family taking two weeks off and just going out on an adventure. They told us that they have been doing this for years and every year the trip gets a little longer. We talked to them for awhile and then went back to our tent to rest up for the next day.

You can’t go to the Grand Canyon without a little adventure (one of our adventures is featured in the next story.) We started at the Tusayan Ruin and Museum. Walking through the ruins was so interesting. Their houses look like the homes that I used to make out of blocks. The men even built themselves their own getaway spot to sit and complain about their wives. Now I really wanted to be an Indian, but only for like a month.

We could easily have spent a week at the Grand Canyon. There is so much to do. We would have loved to take some of the hikes that they offer. A lot of people recommended the Havasu Waterfalls. There is also a glass skywalk that you can walk across the Grand Canyon on. It costs $80 per person though and you aren’t allowed to carry your camera. The Grand Canyon would be a sweet vacation for anyone. It’s something you have to see and experience for yourself.

Phoenix, AZ

2008-07-19T18:05:00.006-04:00

Some of our viewers have complained that we “love every city” that we go to. Well, here is an exception. Phoenix, Arizona is far too hot for either of us to live in. And it is not just the heat, many people that we talked to there really didn’t love their city.

As Mike wrote before, we met Caitlin at Canyon Lake. At some point during the night we started talking about spaghetti. It is weird what you start to miss after 5 weeks of traveling. My mom makes spaghetti on average 1.72 times a week. Spaghetti, roast and chicken are three things that I never thought I’d miss. But anyway, Cait said that her mom makes the best spaghetti, “better than in Italy.” lol We invited ourselves to spaghetti dinner the following night and she thought that it was a good idea. If you give me an inch, I will take a mile. It was perfect because we wanted to see the city and she lives in Mesa which is only minutes from Phoenix.

We met her the next day in Mesa and had lunch. She brought her friend Christa who had little more to bring to the table than talk about burritos. I’m not sure what the infatuation was all about but I guess Phoenix has pretty good ones. For the rest of the trip she was burrito girl.

After lunch we picked up spaghetti supplies to Caitlyn’s mom’s standards. We then headed into Phoenix and went to the Phoenix Art Museum. It is the largest visual arts museum between Denver and Los Angles. It was a great museum and to make it better, it is free on Tuesdays. Burrito girl insisted that we check out an exhibit called “firefly.” I am not the most visual writer and I will probably ruin this for many of you but here it goes. Firefly is a dark room surrounded by mirrors and different color strings of Christmas lights hanging from the roof. That sounds really lame but it actually was really cool.

We drove through the city for awhile and then went back to have some spaghetti. It was just what we needed. We talked to Cait’s mom and her mom’s friend, Debbie, about the city and our trip. It is funny how we stay with such random people. I would have never have guessed that I would be staying at a stranger’s house in Mesa, Arizona. It is a great experience.

The next day was spent cruising around Phoenix and the surrounding cities. Phoenix has terrible traffic, fifth worst in the nation according to Cait (but not as bad as Houston!) It was 111 degrees out so exploring by foot would have been impossible. The city’s center looked nice. They are remodeling much of it. They are also installing a light-rail to improve transportation in the Phoenix-Tempe area. However, the rail has been under construction for over 5 years and it still isn’t completed! Some citizens are skeptical of the rail and are skeptical of its efficiency and effectiveness.

Phoenix doesn’t have an impressive sky line and the night life is lacking. Apparently Tempe is the place to go for that. All and all, Mike and I were less than impressed with the city. The blazing heat was too much for us Yankees. We know that it is the summer and monsoon season so we can’t base our judgment strictly on climate. It is also a very bland place. All of the scenery is sand and brown mountains. Most houses are made from a cookie-cutter with little character. I hope that the light-rail improves transportation because it is less than optimal.

Thank you to Caitlyn and family for having us. Along with my second-cousin Tracy and Mike who let us crash on night two. This city has been crossed off the map.

Prickly Pear Ice Cream

2008-07-19T18:00:00.008-04:00

We were told by multiple campers that while we were in Apache Junction that we had to go to Tortilla Flats and get the famous Prickly Pear Ice Cream. Prickly Pear is the fruit produced by a cactus. Mike and I figured that we might as well try it… for Blog’s sake.

We drove two more miles back into the mountains and came to the ice cream joint. There was actually a line at this place and it is literally 18 miles in the middle of nowhere. I think the dude in front of me hadn't had ice cream in years. He reassured us that this would be a good investment by the moans of satisfaction. Needless to say, this guy was a total weirdo and really freaked us out.

We got our $4 cone. Yea, it was a bit over priced but, like I said, it was for the blog... and we were hot. The ice cream is reddish purple with like purple chunks in it. It is supposed to taste like a mix between strawberry and raspberry but I didn’t really make the connection. It really didn’t have much taste. The little purple things tasted like craisins. So we paid $4 for some watered down raspberry ice cream with craisins. We are suckers. lol

Our advice: skip the Prickly Pear and go for the butter pecan.

I Need A Nap, Part 2

2008-07-16T15:54:00.004-04:00

We made it to our campsite, Canyon Lake, in one piece. We had been warned that crazy driving spelled out the end for a lot of people’s cars on these mountains. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I’m sitting on a picnic table right now, staring into the cactus filled mountains and river on one side, with another mountain range on my other. After the night in our car, we expected to get a great sleep here. We were so, so wrong.

Our adventure started when we went to get fire wood. We met this awesome couple at the campsite next to us. They told us what to do if we encountered rattle snakes and warned not to go up into the mountains to get wood because that is where the snakes dwelled. At the Ghost Town they told us that the mountains contained twelve breeds of rattle snakes, six sub-breeds, and “a ton” of other poisonous snakes. Okay.

After setting up the tent, we set off on our quest for fire wood. We started driving up the mountain. When Jeb stopped the car I was thoroughly confused. All that I could see surrounding me were mountainsides. The same mountains that house legions of poisonous snakes were right in front of my eyes. Even Indiana Jones is afraid of snakes, so I’m not ashamed to say that I was more than nervous when Jeb said this was the perfect spot.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that 5 vultures circled overhead as we climbed into the mountains. They were as 100% sure as I was that my imminent death loomed via snake bite. Flashbacks of the old Rescue 911 show haunted my mind. It might have been my imagination, but I could hear rattles all around me. The vultures could hear them too. Being the moron that I am, watching my surroundings soo intently for snakes and other perils, I ran right into a cactus. It’s a really good thing there were no snakes or I would have been screwed. I spent the next 10 minutes painfully pulling cactus needles out of my legs.

We came back to camp and set up our tent and fire. We went next door and talked to our neighbors for a pretty long time. They were really nice people and even made us hot dogs. If you know me, prepare to be stunned. I ate a hot dog. It was the first hot dog I’ve ate in the last 17 years. It wasn’t as bad as I remembered, but it will probably be the last as well. We hung out with them until they went to bed and then came back over and made soup on the fire. Yeah, we’re hardcore.

A little later we went two campsites down to where a group of kids were. They were all 19, very redneck, drunk, and immature. We could only take so much and then went to our humble abode of Aunt Toni’s tent. Too bad we got barely a wink of sleep. My description of these campers earlier was an understatement. They had loud country music blaring, and were screaming and laughing until literally 8am in the morning when they packed up and left. They drove away two campsites, one including our friends from the night before and the other containing our new friend Caitlin, who will be popping up again in a future post. We were disappointed we didn’t get to talk to them further.

Since we got 20 minutes of sleep last night, our plan is to hang out and relax here in peace until we get kicked out. Next stop Prickly Pear ice cream and Phoenix, Arizona.

I Need A Nap, Part 1

2008-07-16T15:39:00.008-04:00

We left Austin and headed west. Our goal was to make it to Phoenix, Arizona by Tuesday night. It was Sunday. Everybody told us that our drive through Western Texas would be miserably boring. They couldn’t have been more wrong. The drive is gorgeous. There are so many different terrains as you drive. They have mountains, cacti, desert, green, I mean everything. We drove for 12 straight hours without becoming bored by our scenery. At night, there was a thunderstorm in the distance. Bolts of lightning crashed almost every 10 seconds behind clouds. The outlines and bolts were one of the coolest things we’ve seen.

We almost camped out in a Texas ghost town. The town was scary but the campsite was voted the best 3 different years. However, the fact that it was completely void of people made us keep on trucking. We made it to a rest area in New Mexico and slept the worst night’s sleep of our lives. It was cool waking up there though. At night it was too dark to see but when we woke up it was like suddenly being dropped down into the middle of a desert.

Okay, the drive through New Mexico is boring. Arizona had a lot of cool stuff though. Driving past mountains with cacti covering them is pretty awesome. Some of the scenery makes it feel like you are in a different country. Jeb had me convinced we were in a different year. We were really confused because Arizona doesn’t believe in daylight savings. This means it has the same time as the Pacific Time zone, rather than the Mountain Time zone, where it is located. I had to talk to at least 4 different people at McDonalds to fully understand this, and they were all dressed from 1992.

We continued on our way to the Tortilla Flat and Canyon Lake. We stopped at a recreated ghost town. It was pretty cool, but very commercialized. It was cool just to see the buildings though. We rode through the mountains until we found our perfect campsite along the River…

Barton Springs

2008-07-16T15:30:00.005-04:00

Jeb and I had planned to leave Austin early Saturday morning. Of course this was before we had met Sam and fallen in love with the city. Sam told us Friday night that she had to take us to Barton Springs after she got off of work on Saturday around 2. She scoffed when she saw that we had considered leaving Austin without checking out Barton Springs and told us that she’d love to have us around for another day. We happily accepted.

Sam’s sister, Logan, decided to come visit us in Austin with her friend Victoria. The five of us set off for Barton Springs after Sam got off of work. Seeing Jeb, Sam, and I together freaked Logan out because it seemed like we had known each other forever. We made it to the springs in one piece, which is something exceptional considering Logan’s driving.

It is such a cool place. The water stays 68 degrees at all times. That may seem like it’s too cold, but when you are walking around in Texas heat it’s the most refreshing thing in the world. They have trees to jump from or just relax on. It’s crowded with so many people who are also there just to relax and have a good time. We met two really nice girls that attend the University of Texas and go to Barton Springs regularly.

It’s such a fun, relaxing place. There are turtles all through the fresh spring water. And if you are looking for more adventure than a lazy day in the water, you can rent canoes, kayaks, and boats. We had planned on doing this, but after our lunch at the famous P. Terry’s, we thought that it was best to just sit back and watch other people take a little voyage.

This was a big draw to Austin for us. We love hanging out in and around water. It gives something free and fun to do at any time of the week. It also helps to downplay the Austin heat.

The Bats Are Back In Town

2008-07-16T15:20:00.006-04:00

Sam had an idea for our Saturday evening. She always gets these ideas and is so excited about them that you can’t help but to be excited too. We were going to see bats. And not just any bats, Austin’s Mexican free-tailed bats.

These bats reside under the Congress Avenue Bridge in downtown Austin. The cool thing about them is that there are a lot of them. Well, a lot is an understatement. At the time we went, there were over 750,000 under this bridge. And that is the off season. During the prime-time viewing season, there are over 1.5 million bats under a relatively small bridge. A lady at the University of Texas told us that the bats were in Mexico at this time of the season but Sam reassured us that she called the Bat-Hotline and they were definitely in town. Mike and I waited for her to laugh but she was dead-serious. There is an actual hotline for these bats.

We were late to leave because Sam was getting ready. We hopped into her VW and headed to the bridge. She was stressing because she didn’t want us to be late so we weaved our way downtown. We got a little lost along the way which added to her anxiety level. When we finally got to the bridge it was nearly 9. We could see people lining the walkways with camera in hand. These bats really must be a big deal.

Sam could see that the bats were already pouring out so she pulled over on the bridge, opened my door, and kicked me out onto the sidewalk. You could see them all flying out of the bridge by the thousands. As they got further away, they formed a black tunnel. It was pretty amazing to see. There were about 70 people on the bridge, people in boats below, and about 25 kayaks all there to see the bats. The show lasted for about 10 minutes. They would weave from one arch of the bridge to the other and then off into the distance.

It was one of the coolest things that we have seen so far on this trip. If you are ever in Austin, make sure you hit up the Bat-Line and find out if the bats are back in town.

Learn more about these bats at http://austin.about.com/cs/bats/p/bats.htm

"Keep Austin Weird."

2008-07-16T14:30:00.011-04:00

By the number of posts you’ll see written about Austin, it’s easy to tell that it has been our favorite so far. The combination of our perfect host and a city that has everything made us never want to leave Austin. It has something for everyone. Well, it has more than something; it has a lot of things for everyone.

The capital building is one of the biggest and most beautiful from the outside that we’ve seen so far. The inside was really nice as well but it was kind of boring. It had most of the same features of the other capitals we’ve been to, but it lacked some of the charm. Raleigh has still been the nicest and most original capital I’ve seen.

We went to the University of Texas next. We went specifically to the law school. We met an awesome lady there, Pat (www.pattaylorfineart.com), who directed us around the university, as well as the city of Austin. Jeb and I have both been thinking about law school and now this one especially. The library, where we were told we would be spending a majority of our time, was really beautiful. The classrooms were nice as well. We could definitely see ourselves becoming Longhorns in the future.

Aside from providing an awesome education, having the University of Texas in Austin makes for a pretty booming nightlife as well with its 52,000 students. Austin’s motto is “Keep Austin Weird.” Everyone in Austin seems different but everybody gets along perfectly. At night they close off 6^th St. This street has everything. It has crowded bars, mellow bars, dance clubs, live music everywhere, and even a dueling piano place. Dueling pianos are one the coolest things you can ever see. It also has “The Smallest Bar in Texas” with some of the nicest, friendliest people Austin has to offer. Anybody, no matter the age or your preference of fun on a Friday night, could go out in downtown Austin and have a great, unique time.

In our other two posts about the bats and Barton Springs you’ll also be able to see some of the different things Austin has to offer other than informational or nightlife. Austin is definitely the city for me. It was so hard to leave. And not because of the traffic, which is minimal in Austin, but because of all of the “weird” things it has to offer.

Sam Austin

2008-07-16T14:16:00.003-04:00

Mike and I entered Austin just like we have every other city. We had no where to stay and we weren’t really sure what to do. But really, what is there to do in Austin? That’s what we thought anyway.

We got a call from Logan’s step sister who lives in Austin around 5 on Thursday. As you can recall, Logan was a girl that we met through Miranda during our stay in Houston. She told us some fun things to do and directed us to another hostel to say at. Fortunately for us, the hostel was booked to capacity. We called Sam back and she said that we could stay in her apartment. She gave us the disclaimer, however, that she has the smallest apartment in Austin as well as a dog and a cat. We didn’t care; it was a place to crash with someone who seemed excited about her city.

Sam wasn’t lying about her apartment. It was located in the backyard of a large house. It almost looked like a doll-house. It has two rooms, a kitchen-bed-dinning room and a bathroom. No problem. We would rather stay there for free than crash at a hostel with Mark Champion, our creeper from Philly.

Sam greeted us at the door of her apartment with a smile. We got settled in and started talking like we were old friends. She just moved to Austin one month before and was eager to show us everything she loves about the city. She had all kinds of plans for us and the list grew every day. We went out the three nights that we were there. We met up for lunch at Dirty Martin’s on the day that she had to work. We all just instantly bonded.

We ended up staying an extra night in Austin because we had to go to Barton Springs (that’s another post.) Sam was happy to have us. She had to be tired from going out, then working, then showing us something cool, and then doing it all over again. But she never complained. Once a total stranger and now a lifelong friend, Sam made Austin truly unforgettable.

From the streets of Austin..

2008-07-16T01:57:00.005-04:00

A special treat from Larry from Austin, TX.

Map of US, Inc.

2008-07-16T01:44:00.004-04:00

We’ve learned car mechanics, conquered waves, dabbled in the chauffer business, and now have decided to take on the music industry. Don’t start calling us the next Jay-Z’s yet, but I think we are well on our way. Our dreams all started in a Taco Bell at the Houston Galleria. I've heard thats where a lot of the greats started to pave the way.

I’ve been tricked into buying a fake $12 rap CD before in New York City, so when the Freestyle Bully approached me I was weary. I must be an easy target or something. He told me I could buy two of his CD’s for $20. I started fidgeting and stuttering until I saw hope in the fact that Jeb was walking my way. He came over and the Bully went back into his spill.

Jeb declined his offer and then did the unthinkable, he left me alone. I knew that I only had $7 in my wallet. Last time when I revealed that I only had $12 I was the proud new owner of a crappy CD. So I thought I would outsmart him and tell him that I only had $5. Well guess what, $5 was the perfect price. As he walked away, I embarrassingly went and told Jeb that I had caved once again. But when I opened the CD I found out that he was voted #1 in Houston. He had also sold over 128,000 albums by hand without any radio play. So, we are breaking him out of Houston. Find him on YouTube and tell him The Map of Us sent you. He’s really good.

My next big break came in Austin, Texas. Within 5 minutes of being in the self-proclaimed music capital, I had become a money making singer/song writer. We ran into an awesome homeless man on the corner of the street with his two pals. He was really nice and we told him about our trip. He asked if either of us knew how to play the guitar. I jumped at the opportunity and told him that I indeed did know.

To put my skills into prospective, my only formal guitar training has come from Ashley Cobaugh, who has absolutely no training herself. He handed me his makeshift guitar pic, a bread clip, and I strummed away like I had been taught. I personally thought it was rather good. Needless to say, I was a hit. My song had the homeless man dancing with his majestic lady friend as her armpit hair blew in the breeze. I earned him $2. This, if you remember, is almost half of what I paid for the #1 underground Houston rapper’s CD. I don’t want to put words into anyone’s mouth, but I believe that I should be voted the highest paid, most successful, non-homeless, homeless, underground singer in Austin, Texas. You can have a sneak peak of my instant hit.

Now that we are breaking artists on our site and earning money with our musical talents, I think it’s time that you watch out for us in the music scene. LA isn’t far away. After we make it big, we will be selling our tee-shirts with our autographs for the low price of $50. So act fast, and call Ashley Cobaugh now for your $10 tee shirt. It was just her birthday and all she wants is for you to buy a shirt from her. She’ll throw in a free guitar lesson while you’re at it. ; )

Update: My song now has 1 spin at radio. Hahaha.

Shout Out from Space.

2008-07-16T01:43:00.003-04:00

The one and only.. Nina!

Gone Campin'...

2008-07-13T12:35:00.005-04:00

Hello Viewers! Mike and I are going to be camping across west Texas and Arizona for the next two nights. During this time it is highly doubtful that we will be able to put up any post due to the lack of internet. We put up a few extras posts today to hold you over. Read the Houston, TX one and then "Houston, we have no problems."

We had a great time with our lovely host Sam, but now it is time to head out into the Wild West. We will be very close to the boarder in El Paso so there should be some pretty interesting things going on there.

We will post Austin and others when we arrive in Phoenix. Keep on leaving those comments!

Thank you,

Management

Houston, we have no problems.

2008-07-13T12:16:00.009-04:00

I’ve wanted to be a lot of crazy things in my life; a mortician, a marine biologist, an archeologist. Don’t ask me how I ended up in accounting. Now, I’m determined to go to law school. However, one of my favorite dreams was of becoming an astronaut. Seriously, how sweet would that be? I could definitely pioneer a new planet. Haha, well probably not. Anyway, one of the coolest things we got to see in Houston was the NASA Space Center in Houston.

Miranda had the day off from work and took us to the Space Center. She was probably really excited, haha. There is a lot of stuff for young kids at the Space Center, which is probably why I loved it so much. They have all kinds of gravity games and activities. The lines were too long for us to try most of them out.. and we were a little too old. But I did get lost in a maze for like 15 minutes. They had a lot of other cool stuff for us, as well.

We went on a tour to the Neutral Buoyancy Training Facility. This is one the biggest reasons I wanted to be an astronaut. It’s the largest inside pool in the world. It has over 6.2 million gallons of water and took a month to fill. It creates an atmosphere of being on the moon. They told us that weightless rooms where people can float around are myths. I wanted to go into the pool so bad. Obviously, you’re not allowed, even if you did dream of being an astronaut 7 years ago.

They also have a lot of theaters that play movies about NASA and space. We went to one that was all about a blast off. After the movie, they shuttle you into another room. In the room, Nina, our faithful host tells you more about NASA. She talked about what it’s like preparing for a blast off. The next flight into space is to change a light bulb. But by changing that light bulb, we can go to Mars and the Moon. It takes 10 years for some astronauts to train. While we were there, one space shuttle traveled like 3 continents, and that was in 20 minutes.

You could spend an entire day in the NASA Space Center. And we did, and still didn’t see everything. It’s a pretty awesome place. I definitely recommend stopping there if you’re ever in Houston. But don’t expect to leave without regretting that you aren’t an astronaut.

Rebuilding New Orleans

2008-07-12T14:04:00.005-04:00

Mike and I wanted to volunteer on one of our days in New Orleans. We asked around to find out where we would be most useful and we were directed to Habitat for Humanity. We called there only to find that all of the job sites were filled. That was good news but we wanted to be a part of it. The person on the phone reassured us that she would email a list of references; maybe they would know where we could work. We never got that email.

There was a lot of construction going on in the city. For the most part, New Orleans looked good. They have done a great job of cleaning the city up. When Katrina hit, the hostel that we stayed at was under four feet of water. It looks great today. However, there are some places east of Cannel Street that need attention. There are also a lot of families who are still waiting for their houses and lives to return to normal. Here are some pictures of such buildings. The city has come a long way, but it still needs our help and attention.

Houston, TX

2008-07-12T13:07:00.006-04:00

I got a good vibe from Houston. Mike and I both agree that it was probably the cleanest and safest place that we have been. The city is huge. It is the 4th largest city in the U.S. The city expands over 660 square miles. We were shocked to see skyscraper after skyscraper downtown. We were again shocked to see many skyscrapers in the midtown and uptown area. We would drive five miles out of downtown and then see what looked like another small city. That was only midtown.

Houston has hundreds of restaurants. According to Miranda, it is the food capital of the country. There is also a lively night life. For history buffs, there are tons of museums. There is the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which currently holds Lucy, and the Holocaust Museum among many others. Just Google it.

We went to The Galleria. According to the self-proclaimed “spoiled city kitty” that we met in uptown, it is the largest indoor mall in the US. I heard it was the Mall of America. Someone is lying. But regardless, this mall was ginormous. Mike picked out three button-ups from Express’s $6.99 clearance bin because he left all of his in Fort Lauderdale. After happily trying them all on he went to the check out. His happiness was soon squelched when they rang up to 50 bucks each. lol Needless to say, those shirts went right back on the rack.

How many of you have seen Apollo 13? I think that I am the only one that watched it that didn’t know that the line “Houston, we have a problem,” was referring to the Space Center Houston. We actually went to see it. Mike always wanted to be an astronaut so he will be writing the post on that.

Houston is not far from the beach. It is only about an hour from Galveston. However, the water is not very pretty. The water is dirty from the outflow of the Mississippi River. But, hey, a beach is a beach. If you want to see water, you can travel to Clear Lake. It is only a half hour away and is beautiful. There are some spectacular lake houses. Also, there is the Kemah Boardwalk which was a lot of fun. There are many restaurants with great happy hour specials and some amusement park rides.

There were a few things that I didn’t like about Houston. The biggest thing was the traffic. It didn’t matter what time it was; the streets were always packed. It was like a constant rush hour from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Also, I couldn’t stand the humidity. Mostly because of the sticky heat, but also because of my sinuses. Houston was a fabulous city to visit, but it isn’t my favorite so far. Ya’ll can cross this one off of my list.

Coming soon: NASA, the Underground Bully and Austin

The Braddy’s and the Carriage House

2008-07-12T12:43:00.005-04:00

Once again Mike and I had to rely on his aunt Stacy to hook us up with a place to stay. She contacted Sandy and Rick Braddy of Houston, Texas. The Braddys live about 10 miles west of the city’s center in a place called Jersey Village. After all of the fun we had with Jeanne and Howie in Atlanta, we were sure that her Houston connection would be a good one. We were not disappointed.

We were warmly welcomed after our 7 hour drive. We both looked like wrecks after driving in the Texas heat and construction delays. I have to say, road work and traffic were the worst so far in eastern Texas. No sooner than we finished introductions, we were on our way to have some Texas style dining. So that means there was no shower.

We met Mrs. and Mr. Braddy, her two kids Amanda and Miranda, and Miranda’s friend Logan. The restaurant that we decided on was called the Carriage House. The Carriage House serves traditional Texas cuisine with an old west feel. There are theme rooms like the horseshoe fitting room.

Mr. Braddy more or less ordered for us. He decided that Mike would order the BBQ beef sandwich and I would have the chicken fried steak. I got a side of sweet potatoes which, according to Logan, was “a very Texas thing to do.” The food was fabulous. We talked about our trip with the Braddy’s and they were very eager to help us plan the rest of our adventure. They had some great ideas on where to go on the way to California and Rick just grinned when he said that we have to stop in Vegas on the way through.

That night, Miranda, Logan and another friend, Sheredith, took us to a hookah cafe in the heart of Houston. We got to see pretty much all of the city because we were lost for about an hour on the way down. By the time we made it to the place I was completely carsick. I was also half sick from Sheredith’s crazy dances. This girl is full of energy and had the goofiest dances to all of the songs that came on the iPod. If you want to be scared, watch her moves to Bleeding Love. But they were all really fun. It was my first hookah experience and probably the last. It’s just not my scene.

In the evenings, you can find the Braddys watching Star Trek. They go through four episodes a night. Well all of the Braddys minus Miranda. When we asked her why she wasn’t hanging with her fam, she replied, “Do I look like a Treky to you?!” lol. Sandy was hilarious. She constantly had us rolling. And don’t think that just because she’s a “Treky” that she can’t have a good time. When she breaks out the Jimmy Buffet Margarita maker, she gets the party started.

We had a good time with the Braddy’s and we want to thank Miranda for hanging out with us. She showed us Houston and even spent her day off taking us to NASA. We will be posting on Houston soon and NASA.

Hostel III.

2008-07-11T13:02:00.007-04:00

I woke up to the sound of a bunk bed screeching at 7am. Normally, this would be very annoying but not this particular morning. You see, I was happy just to wake up. I hadn’t been murdered or inappropriately touched. And my creepy friend had made his way out of the room without poisoning me and taking me for a swim in the Mississippi. I’m not talking about Jeb, either. Let’s go back a little bit in this story..

We were in New Orleans and had nowhere to sleep. Sleeping in our car and tent is nothing new to us, but we were told this wasn’t the place. Jeb said that we should try staying at a Hostel. The same images I had in Philadelphia, when the next big film director asked us to go back to his room, came flooding into my brain.

A hostel? My brain started to malfunction. Every time I thought about it, I panicked and started to laugh. And it was that weird creepy laugh, like you don’t want to be laughing but you don’t know what else to do and it sneaks out. We set off for the India House Hostel. Haha.

I expected a hostel to be a gothic weird little house, with a lot of weird armoires and candles. The lady at the desk would have crazy grey hair with one silver tooth beaming at me as her crazy eyes circled and darted across the room. She would welcome us, size us up, and send a signal to her brother/husband that she had two skinny dudes coming upstairs. He would pretend to be the only other guest and when we went to sleep he would make his move and they’d be eating “Map of US” stew by lunch the next day.

When we got to the hostel I was happy to see that I was totally wrong. There were so many people there, all from different countries. Hostels are for cheap travelers and cost less than $20 to sleep at. It was set up like a community. There was a living room with a TV, a reading room, an outside kitchen, and a pool. We didn’t really fit in though.

As I sat in the reading room, typing up a blog, the guy beside me and his friend talked about the strangest things I have ever heard. I peaked over to see what they looked like and the guy directly to my right had his entire head shaved except for one patch of shoulder length hair above his ear that he was wearing in a bun. I would say he was the creepiest person in the room, but my laugh still kept blurting out, making me look insane.

The next time I heard people talking about weird stuff, I looked over and it was Jeb and a creepy, old man with open sores on his face. Jeb told me they were from fighting and that’s why he said he asked him to come out with us, for protection. Yes, he asked him to come out with us. My head flew up as I said the quickest prayer of my life and luckily he didn’t want to come out. Jeb was upset, I was thrilled.

We noticed that everyone went to sleep at 8. We walked around our room that contained 6 bunk beds. Only 10 other strangers and a family of roaches. Yeah, roaches. When we got back later that night nobody was stirring. I thought I could just go to sleep and hopefully wake up. My cousin Amber texted me, "Night night, sleep tight, don't let the creepers bite." Hahaha.

I woke up about 2 hours later. I looked over to my right and the man sleeping on top of that bunk was wide eyed, staring at me. Full on stare. It scared the crap out of me. I jumped and bounced off the wall. I looked back over and he was miraculously passed out. I convinced myself it was all in my head. Probably an hour later, the same thing! I had to pee so bad. But I knew if I went to the bathroom when I opened the door he would be standing there staring at me with his head cocked to one side. Then he would start laughing that crazy, psycho killer laugh, and push me into the bathroom and drown me in the shower. So I held my pee in, probably got a kidney stone, and eventually made it through the night. They all woke up between the hours of 5 and 7. I was happy just to wake up and see my friend was no longer there.

The hostel wasn’t as bad as I thought. I would stay in another one if it was the last resort, haha. My mind always races to the craziest scenarios, so if you’re a normal person you probably wouldn’t even be scared. It was a really cool experience.

New Orleans.

2008-07-10T12:21:00.007-04:00

Jeb and I spent a night in Alabama before we made our way to New Orleans. We slept in our car again at a rest area. This is exactly like our last car story so I won’t go into details, but I can tell you that we slept a lot worse this time. Haha.

I really didn’t know what to expect in New Orleans. I was thinking that it was going to be a bigger city Savannah. However, I learned that a lot of Savannah’s charm is being a smaller, homier city. New Orleans is neither small nor homey, at least in my opinion.

We started our day at the City Hall looking for a map. It’s still under a lot of reconstruction from the Hurricane. We set off for the French Quarter first. It’s a very interesting place. I don’t really understand it. There were more strip joints and voodoo places than shops and restaurants. It was really creepy. We did walk into some smaller places and talk to a few locals to try and get a feel for the city. They were hard to read, everyone is just really relaxed here.

The French Quarter did have some pretty cool stuff though. We went to the St. Louis Cathedral. Catholic churches are so beautiful and have such a holy feel to them. We’ve been to a few Catholic churches on our trip and I’m excited to learn more about this religion as we continue our journeys and when I return home.

We also walked through Jackson Square. It’s really peaceful there and away from all of the chaos of the city. It also gives you an amazing view of the Cathedral. And then, what I was most excited about, the Mississippi River. Being the genius that I am, I thought it would be a great idea to submerge my right foot into the river. It was cool for a second, until I walked around for four hours with a soaking wet sock and shoe. My toes even pruned.

Everybody told us a million times that while we were in New Orleans we needed to try a Po-Boy sandwich. So we set off on a search for the perfect, cheapest Po-Boy. We talked to locals who sent us in every different direction. They would tell us where their favorite version was 14 blocks away. We literally walked around for 52 minutes. We finally found the best place. Jeb had a Po-Boy and Jambalaya, and I just had a Po-Boy. They were so delicious. It reminded me of Em’s subs, my favorite sandwiches next to Gram’s egg salad. Jeb told me I was crazy. He forced me to try his jambalaya and I almost puked. It tasted like those cinnamon pine cones from Christmas. He told me I was crazy again. Which, I probably am. He loved the jambalaya.

Jeb and I went to the art and museum district next. After the 3rd museum we went to had a Monday – Closed sign, we asked a guard what the deal was. He told us that every Monday museum employees work on art or something. When Jeb asked for a sign that he could take a picture of that said Monday – Closed, the guard took offense and asked if we were calling him a liar. We chuckled, backed away, said no, and left as fast as possible.

After we caught up on some blogs, we decided to see what New Orleans was like at night. They have street cars that take you around town for only $1.25. It’s a really good, safe idea. Bourbon St. at night was very interesting. Not only do drunk, obnoxious, old people come out but so do the roaches. The streets are also lined with creepy old men trying to get you to check out their establishments. It’s a very strange place.

The city of New Orleans isn’t quite what I expected. This just wasn’t the place for me. A lot of people love it though, so you’ll have to judge for yourself.

Coming Tomorrow: My first stay at a Hostel
Hurricane

Toll Booth: 1 Mile.

2008-07-08T11:53:00.002-04:00

For any of you that aren’t familiar with Florida traveling, here is some insight. Be prepared to pay tolls. Lots of tolls. I swear that Mike and I spent more at toll booths than at gas stations.

We were only on two roads where you had to take a ticket and pay at the end. Each of those cost us over $8. What really kills the wallet are the $.50 to $1 tolls located about every fifteen miles. To travel from Adam’s house to Fort Lauderdale, an 18 mile trip one way, had three booths. A round trip ride cost us six bucks.

Also, have tons of quarters. Some booths didn’t provide change. I found myself begging for change at one such booths and the only way that I got money was so I would move my car out of the way. lol

Here is my advice. Look into getting a SunPass. It is like an E-Z Pass and you won’t have to worry about carrying so much money. If you choose not to go with the pass, carry more singles with you than if you were going to a strip club because you will need them!

PS Read the Devil Rays post below

Rules of the Street.

2008-07-08T11:49:00.002-04:00

Because Mike and I always get lost, it was no surprise that we found ourselves wondering around a shady section of Atlanta. The way we typically travel in cities depends on the street cross walk signs. If one way has a walk signal, we almost always take it. We spend more time being lost than knowing where we are at. This is usually a pretty cool way to see the city. You never know what you will get yourself into.

While walking around north of Peachtree Street, a homeless man walked directly up to us. He was about a foot from me when he started delivering a sermon. He gave me three facts that tourists have to know in order to survive the mean streets of ATL.

1. “Never, NEVER walk with your map out! A homeless person will attack you if you look like you don’t know where you are at.”

2. “Atlanta has the second largest homeless population in the United States. They will not hesitate to kill you for your money.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me a few feet forward to where I could see the street corner. “Go to the yellow light and go right, down to Five Points.”

3. “I am homeless. Out of the kindness of your heart, will you give me five dollars?”

This man knew what he was doing. Provide a service and then ask for money. Smooth. Unfortunately for him my wallet was bone dry. Mostly, because I didn’t want to pay the outrageous ATM fees in the city. All that Mike had were Now-and-Laters which he kindly offered. He picked the poorest tourists in the city to help. From that point forward, you better believe that I kept the map in my pocket.

Austin, Texas.

2008-07-08T10:54:00.002-04:00

The Map of US is headed to Austin, Texas within the next week. We were wondering if any of our fan's knew anyone in that area that would be interested in showing us the city. You can e-mail either of us at mmarano@mix.wvu.edu or jlb115@pitt.edu . Thanks a lot!

Devil Rays

2008-07-07T22:30:00.010-04:00

To our surprise, Kacee had four tickets to a Tampa Bay Devil Rays game and she was taking us. She took her friend Biz, Mike and I to the Kansas City game on Sunday.

A year before, we took Kacee to a Pittsburgh Pirates game when she came to visit our friend Kim so we figured that she was returning the favor. There were a few differences, however. The Pirates are one of the worst teams in baseball and Tampa is number one. We had to park a mile away from the stadium in the burgh but in Tampa we were right next to the stadium. And finally, we were in the nose bleed section in PNC park but at Tropicana stadium, we were in a box. That’s right a box.

Before we went to the game I asked Kacee if we should stop and get a bite to eat. We only ate one meal the day before and hadn’t had anything for breakfast. She told us not to worry, the box was catered. You know with all of the normal ball game foods: prime rib, shrimp alfredo, chef salad, and a full buffet of anything you could think of! Oh and by the way, the beer and wine was free as well.

We had a great time at the game and the Rays won. Oh, and I saw the funniest thing that I ever saw at a game . Watch this banana dance. Classic.

Tampa Bay

2008-07-07T22:25:00.004-04:00

Our trip to Tampa was a sad one. Early on the voyage my friend, Patches, called with the sad news that one of our greatest friends passed away. The trip was almost totally silent aside from our muffled sobs, both trying to hide our tears. Guys don’t cry… It’s just not cool. This was not going to be the day of celebration that we anticipated on July 4^th.

Mike and I called a friend of ours, Kacee Kier, from Fort Lauderdale not totally expecting her to welcome us to stay with her in Tampa. Not because she is that kind of person but because it seems that we visit cities while everyone that we know is on vacation or just busy period. To our delight, Kacee answered and was very excited.

We arrived there on the Fourth at a pool party in an apartment complex filled with all USF students. Kacee was all smiles as usual and there was cool beer and burgers waiting for us. We played beach volleyball and hung out by the pool. Unfortunately, neither of us was feeling social or totally ourselves. We went out that night, only to leave the bar early.

The next day we went to Shepard’s in Clearwater beach to eat and catch some rays. The beach was actually the tiniest thing that I have ever seen. It was cartoonishly small. But fun none the less. Tampa is a cool city because it is part of a tripod. There is Tampa, St. Petersburg, and Clearwater. Each city is great for its own reasons. Tampa is the big city with the most industry. It is also quite beautiful. Clearwater has the nice beaches and St. Pete’s has… well, the only place we went there was the Tropicana Stadium. We went to a Ray’s game. That will be the next post.

Kacee made sure that we had a good time despite the tragedy on our minds. We thank her for the good times. Sorry, there isn’t too much on the city. We were not in the right mind set.

So Random.

2008-07-07T21:17:00.002-04:00

This post is really random. But one of the things we witnessed in Fort Lauderdale was really random. And it was probably one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen.

As Jeb and I were walking through Fort Lauderdale we noticed a homeless man dart to the streets as fast as he could. He bent over, picked something up, started cackling, and ran into the park. I could've sworn he picked up a fire extinguisher.

We continued to walk in his direction and we could see him dancing through the park with pure happiness. Then all of a sudden streaks of fire extinguisher flew through the air. It looked like an interpretive dance. It was so funny.

I still don't know why there was a fire extinguisher lying in the middle of the road, but it make my night and his. This might not sound funny, but just try to imagine this sight.

First Odd Job!

2008-07-07T21:13:00.002-04:00

We had our first odd job while we were in Fort Lauderdale. We have been trying in other cities to find random work, but very unsuccessfully. We thought that by staying in Southern Florida for a few days we would be guaranteed some kind of work along the beach. However, the storms prevented this.

We have tried to wash dishes and sweep floors in little restaurants on our way down the East Coast. Restaurant owners seriously think you are insane. I expected to have to run away from a few places like we ran from Chinatown. If I ever own a restaurant, which I probably never will, road trippers are welcome to randomly work.

I was tempted to ask the man cutting all of the yards in my Uncle Adam’s neighborhood if I could be his assistant. Then I had a flash back of when I started daydreaming on our riding mower at home and took out our sliding board. Then I had another flashback of when I put the tractor in neutral instead of park and jumped off when it started drifting down a hill. My third flashback, a rapid fire slide show of all of the weed eaters that have broken at my finger tips, snapped me out of this idea. I figured the damage I would inflict on this man would cost more than the whole trip.

But then an odd job fell into our lap. My uncle Adam had hired a car service to transport him to the airport. Fortunately for us, the car service had their days mixed up. So we took him to the airport in our Green Weenie. On top of letting us stay at his house for a week, he gave us a tip that classified this as an odd job. Thank you!

To our future hosts: If people that our supposed to work for you start getting confused and not showing up, leaving us to take over their jobs, we have nothing to do with it. : )

Fort Lauderdale.

2008-07-07T20:58:00.003-04:00

Jeb and I stayed at my Uncle Adam and Aunt Stacy’s house. My aunt Stacy and two cousins Alden and Kallie were actually in Johnstown celebrating the 4th while we were down there. How ironic. We were really upset to miss them. My Uncle Adam was there the first three nights and for our last night in Fort Lauderdale we got to pretend we owned the place.

The first night we were there we went out with my Uncle Adam and talked a lot about jobs. He told us about a lot of the advantages we would have working at smaller firms. We have been focusing mainly on larger corporations. At a smaller company the work that you do has a bigger impact than what it would have at a larger corporation with thousands of employees. It is also a lot less political and not as cut throat. Everyday I feel more and more that business isn’t right for me, but a smaller company seems like a much better fit.

We, of course, picked the rainiest week of the summer to be in South Florida. It stormed every afternoon for long periods of time. Usually, it only lasts for about a half an hour, but not this week. It did give us an excuse to relax in the afternoons, which was nice.

We still tried to get a lot done while we were in Southern Florida. We were going to check out the Fort Lauderdale beach one day but parked at the opposite side of the city. Fort Lauderdale is a lot bigger than what either of us had thought. There were a lot of nice financial buildings that gave it a scenic skyline. The city is beautiful and is known as the “Venice” of the US because of all its gorgeous boats. There are a lot of restaurants and nice shops on Las Olas St. We tried to go into museums but they were all closed on Tuesdays. There were also really nice neighborhoods tucked away in the city which gave it a really neat and different feel.

We went to Miami Beach one day. We were only there for about an hour and a half before it started to storm but it was the nicest beach I was ever at. The water was completely clear. You could see your feet perfectly and made going deep into the water fearless. It’s also hard to be in a bad mood with palm trees lining the roads.

After being called losers the first three nights by my uncle because we both fell asleep by 11pm every night, we decided to see what the city was like at night. It was the first time I was trusted to drive our new car. I only tried going off one wrong exit. It was boring at first because we were told that no one goes out before midnight. Haha, the opposite of Johnstown. We found a pretty fun place and talked to a few native girls for awhile. After talking to them and my uncle, it seems like Southern Florida would be a fun place.

Fort Lauderdale and Miami were gorgeous cities by what we could tell through the storm clouds. The traffic was crazy though. I don’t think that I would ever work in either of these cities, but there is a guest house with our name on it in the future, sorry Grandma ; ).

ps: sorry all the pictures are on one side. haha.

The Loss of a Great Friend

2008-07-04T18:47:00.004-04:00

The Map of “US” mourns with the rest of Johnstown, PA over the death of Caleb Strayer. Caleb passed away last night in a car accident. It is truly one of the greatest tragedies in this city’s history. We endured three floods and the loss of the steel mills and nothing has touched so close to me as this.

This is Jeb and my heart is totally broken over the loss of a great friend. He touched so many people in his short twenty years of life. Caleb had the greatest attitude no matter what the situation. He always knew how to make a friend laugh when they were down. I was on the road when the news hit me. You never know how you will react to something like this until it happens. I was mostly in shock and totally unemotional. I was like a stone for a solid hour. Mike and I didn’t say a word for over 80 miles. My legs were numb and my head felt like it was going to implode. It wasn’t until I talked to my parents that the water works started.

Anyone who has ever met Caleb loved him. He had the kind of personality that could make even the most boring party a blast. His hilarious impersonations livened up any occasion. I have been truly blessed to have met such an amazing person and I will be morning for a long, long time to come. Mike and I send out our blessing to all Caleb’s family and friends.

I always wanted to save this song for my funeral but I think that it is more appropriate under these circumstances. The lyrics are from Winter by Bayside.

When winter falls next year,

I’ll be holding on to anything nailed down.
As for being patient,

With fate and all it's getting old.

And my mind is slowly changing.

I’m calling all my oldest friends,

Saying sorry for this mess we’re in.

And I’m waiting, waiting,

For the sun to come and melt this snow,

Wash away the pain and give me back control, control.

An angel got his wings and we'll hold our heads up,

Knowing that he’s fine.

We’d all be lucky to have a love like that in a lifetime.

Should we still set his plate?

Should we still save his chair?

Should we still buy him gifts?

And if we don’t did we not care?

It makes you think about the life you've led,

The shit you’ve done, the things you've said,

And its grounding, grounding.

I’ve been feeling 3 feet tall this month, hardly indestructible,

But the snow melts and the rhythm still goes on.

An angel got his wings and we'll hold our heads up,

Knowing that he’s fine.

We’d all be lucky to have a love like that in a lifetime.

Friends stay side by side. In life and death you’ve always stole my heart.

You’ll always mean so much to me it’s hard to believe this.

These nights in vans,

These nights in bars,

Don’t mean a thing with empty hearts.

With empty hearts.

An angel got his wings and we'll hold our heads up,

Knowing that he’s fine.

We'd all be lucky to have a love like that in a lifetime.

Friends stay side by side. In life and death you always stole my heart.

You’ve always meant so much to me it’s hard to believe.

So much to me it’s hard to believe.

So much to me it’s hard to believe this.

We love you Caleb and miss you already. We will NEVER forget you brother.

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T09:31:00.001-04:00

Hello viewers. Today Mike and I will be traveling for most of the day. We are heading to a friend’s in TAMPA to celebrate our nation’s birthday. We hope all of you a fun and safe holiday. Posts will resume on Saturday.

Coming soon…
Street Smarts
Fort Lauderdale and Miami

Also, some special thanks.

Our main squeeze Stacy, from American Eagle Printing for hooking us up.
The fine ladies that worked hard and had the car wash for us.
All of our loyal readers and, of course, all of our hosts for being so welcoming.

The Fountain of Youth

2008-07-03T11:03:00.007-04:00

Ok you history junkies. Here is a post dedicated to you. On our way to Fort Lauderdale from Jacksonville we stopped in a town called St. Augustine. There was no hidden motive for going there; we just wanted to have a post for all of the nerds out there (and that includes us.)

For anyone who doesn’t know the significance of St. Augustine, it is the oldest, non-Native American founded city in the United States. It was founded by Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés of Spain in 1565. Prior to this a man named Ponce de León visited this area in search of the fountain of youth. History books say that this fountain was never found but Mike and I have heard different.

Disclaimer: You will not find this on wikipedia.com so believe this if you want.

When we were driving through the ancient city, we saw a sign that advertised “The Fountain of Youth.” Mike and I couldn’t pass it up. I pulled a U-turn and headed to the park. To our dismay the park cost $7.50 each and that just wasn’t in the budget. Although the Student Writer from Pennsylvania tactic failed miserably at the aquarium in Atlanta, I decided to give it another try. There were no PR people to deal with so I figured we had a chance. When I gave the lady at the desk the whole shpill about the website and what we were doing and blatantly asked for free admission, Mike let out a little “there is no way this is going to work” chuckle. I kept a straight face because I am good at these things and everything I was saying is 100% true. She said that she would find the manager and when he came over, I retold our mission and what we are doing as well as the fact that we have a rowdy audience that demands museums and history. lol He laughed and showed us the way in.

We started the tour at the actual fountain of youth. That’s right. According to this museum, Ponce de Leon found the fountain in what would be St. Augustine, Florida. Of course I thought that this was totally folk lore, but when I saw the lady handing out cups of water from the fountain, I pounded three of those bad boys. I even splashed that water all over my face. I have to tell you this water does not taste like what you would think the legendary “Fountain of Youth” water would. It tasted like, pardon my Johnstown reference, what you would picture the stream in St. Michael would. In other words, pure sulfur.

After we learned about the Seloy Indians that lived in St. Augustine and the adventures of Ponce, we headed to a room to learn about the entire history of Spanish exploration. This was portrayed on a giant, two-story globe. All of this was definitely cool but when it was time to head to the planetarium, we decided to leave. This was mostly because there was a huge storm rolling in but also because I felt light-headed and dizzy from all of that “miracle” water.

On our way out, we got lost as usual. We marched past a caged ostrich and stumbled across an ancient Indian burial ground. Creepy, huh? And I’m talking about the ostrich. This was the ugliest animal that I have ever seen. When we finally found our way out, the monsoon was setting in. The wind was blowing signs over and a hat off of a little old man. We thanked the people who let us in. Mike gave them our web address and I am sure that they lost it in the barrage of papers that were flying through the air out of the outdoors office.

Fact or fiction, this place was cool. Mike and I dig going to museums and little out of the way places like this. If you are ever near St. Augustine I would check it out. Our tour guide made it quite funny as well as educational.

http://www.fountainofyouthflorida.com/

Surfs Up Dude.

2008-07-02T09:33:00.011-04:00

Ever since I was 12 years old and first saw Otto Rocket take on a wave like it was nobody's business, I have always wanted to be a surfer. Of course my worst fear was that I was going to be a Squid. And I'm sure you completely agree with me if you know what I'm talking about.

Jeb's cousin, Josh, told us he was going to take us surfing with him. We were both really excited. But I was nervous as well. Not about the actual surfing, but about the failure. You know when you dream about doing something for a long time and then you try it and fail miserably and then can't even pretend you're good at it. That's what I'm talking about. I didn't want my dreams to be the next Rocket Boy lost at sea.

When we got to the beach, Jeb and I stopped to put on our sun tan lotion and Josh went to paddle out. We asked a surfer lady and Josh's dad, Mark, what we should know. Mark told us to just get out there and we'd figure it out, haha. The lady yelled cautiously to "watch for the sharks!" Now, this was our second shark warning in two days. I don't know about you, but two shark warnings seemed pretty intimidating to me. She "reassured" our looks of panic by saying, "They'll only chomp you once, not like your taste and swim away. But they can get a pretty big chunk."

Convinced, as we walked to the water, that one of my limbs would never see land again, I just prayed that it wasn't my hands. We started to paddle out. Paddling out. How simple. The easiest part. Wrong! Experienced surfers make it look so easy. It took us about 15 minutes and all of our energy to get to where Josh was. We drifted, took mouthfuls of saltwater, and looked like dummies as we flailed our hands through the air.

But we made it. It was so sick being on a surf board in the middle of the ocean riding waves. Don't get me wrong, we couldn't stand yet, but even hitting the waves lying down was fun. It was also sweet to see the other surfers out there tear up the waves. It's a pretty incredible sight. Jeb tried to stand on his little board a few unsuccessful, comical times. I needed a break. Every time I rolled off of my board I felt the nickname Squid creeping in on me.

I stood with Mark at the edge of the water. We watched Jeb try to hit some waves. We laughed but I admired his determination. Josh swam into the shore with Jeb's board. He told us that his friend had a long board which is what we should’ve started out with as beginners. We dropped our boards and set off for Jeb.

Now, I don't know if everyone knows this, but one of my favorite movies ever is Open Water. If you haven't seen it, go rent it. But my dream was always to be able to play Open Water, stuck in the middle of the ocean for days. I don't know why. Paddling out to where Jeb and the other surfers were without a board was like Open Water. I couldn't touch the ground, waves were knocking me over, I drank my full 8 glasses of salt water, and I could sense the sharks around me. I loved it.

We finally made it to where Jeb was chilling. Josh told him what to do, as I floundered around, half drowning beside them. And all of a sudden, I saw Jeb riding his first wave. What a moment, seeing your best friend hit his first wave, my eyes watered. Hahaha, just kidding, but it was really cool. Then it hit me, what if he does it and I Squid out. He made it look easy, but he can make a lot of stuff look easy that really isn’t.

He returned to shore with sea sickness, hahah. He forgot to take his Surfer's Dramamine. It was my turn. The first wave came; "perfect" Josh called it. I started to ride with it and forgot to stand. Idiot. Second wave, "a real beauty dude," I only made it to my knees. The third wave, "this is yours!," I stood up. It was the most miraculous 1.5 seconds of my life. Then I flew through the air like, well I can't describe it, but there's a picture. Then finally, I hit my first wave. Riding on top of the water was like nothing I've ever experienced. I felt so cool, and then I crashed and lost the surf board, haha. We decided to call it a day.
It was a crazy experience, and we thank our coach Josh and our photog Mark. I'm no Rocket Boy yet, but I'm also no Squid.

Coming Soon..

2008-07-01T12:31:00.002-04:00

Our first waves: Mike and Jeb "learn" to surf.

St. Augustine, FL: The oldest city in the US and The Fountain of Youth.

Jacksonville, Fl

2008-07-01T11:31:00.010-04:00

It is nice to see familiar faces on a road trip. We have been staying mostly at Mike’s relatives or people that we barely know. My second cousin, Leslie Rosenberg, has lived in Jacksonville for 11 years and I always enjoy staying at her house. She lives in Atlantic Beach which is only about 15 miles from the city. The beach is a mere two minute bike ride away. While staying with Leslie and family, we got to see both the beach life as well as the Florida city life. It was the best of both worlds.

Atlantic Beach is a beautiful place. The beach is pristine with good surf. It doesn’t have a public beach feel and it seems that many people know each other. If you stay away from the Jax Beach pier, there is virtually no crowding. But if you want to scope for babes or studs, you should definitely make your way there. You will see many of the locals floating 50 yards off the coast on their surf boards. My cousin, Josh Rosenberg, took Mike and I surfing but that is another story.

The first night that we arrived at Atlantic Beach, Leslie and her husband, Mark, took us to Al’s Pizza. On the way there we were making small talk. Leslie matter-of-factly told us that there are a lot of sharks in the Florida Ocean and that we should watch out. Mark quickly interjected “Leslie, are you INSANE! You don’t know what you are talking about.” She then told us about the six foot shark she saw caught right off the pier and Mark told us that it was really about a foot long. It was probably the funniest argument I have ever seen. Anywho… Little did I know, we were rolling with “the Queen of Al’s,” as Mark puts it with a slight eye roll every time he says it. lol All of the waitresses adore Leslie and we had top notch service all night.

At night we would take our bikes up to 3rd street and hit up some of the local bars. They were all fun and different. Pete’s is the local pool hall where you can play for only a quarter. That crowd seemed a little rough for Mike and I but I did stay long enough to get whooped by a girl at ping-pong. Caribees has an islandy feel and had live music both Friday and Saturday. There was Rag-Time that had an older crowd and delicious micro-brews.

When we were finally able to pull ourselves away from the beach, we went into downtown Jacksonville. The city was nice even though it was raining. As we crossed the bridge to enter the city, we saw the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium. My cousin Josh and his friend Josh N. drove us around downtown to checkout the parks and business district. Unfortunately, we went there on a Sunday and the entire city was basically shut down. I don’t know if that is just Jacksonville but I’ve never seen anything like it. The streets were pretty much abandoned. Once I looked down a back alley and saw a tumbleweed bouncing across it. We went to the Jacksonville Landing, which was apparently the only place with a pulse, to have a bite to eat. We talked to a few locals to see how they felt about the city and sat down to some cuisine dining at Hooters.

The landing was a great place and I could see that it was probably a pretty hot spot at night. There was a Jimmy Buffet cover band and bars and restaurants lining the square. In the middle was a fountain where little kids can play in the water and a river at the edge. There was a middle aged lady doing some kind of wacko interpretive dance in the fountain. I can only guess that it was inspired by the late, great Captain Morgan. On the way out of the landing there was a woman passed out on the ground with medics surrounding her. The only thing that I could think would make that happen was the repulsive sound of the cover band. She seemed to be coming to though when there was an intermission.

My final thoughts of Jacksonville: I loved staying with the Rosenberg’s. If I ever lived at Jacksonville, it would be to live by the beach. It would be perfect to live in Atlantic beach and commute to Jacksonville.

Savannah, GA.

2008-06-30T09:18:00.006-04:00

Savannah, GA. If you've never been there, go. Now. If you can't move there, at least go on vacation there. I'm telling you, you will never regret it. It is the perfect city. The rest of the cities on the trip have a lot to live up to. First, I'm going to tell you what Jeb and I had time to do in the day that we were in Savannah, then I'll tell you some of the other cool things I've experienced here previously.

We had a rough night in our car, as you've read in the previous post. I looked like a sweaty four-year old who had just woken up from a long nap in the car. With four bottles of hair gel, I could never make my hair stand in the ways and places that it was in Savannah. This is the reason I took no pictures in Savannah..

Unlike a grumpy toddler though, it is impossible to be in a bad mood in this city. It's something in the air. We went to the City Information Center and talked to a man Bud. He lived in something similar to where we first stayed outside of Atlanta. He lived on a little island 30 minutes away on a golf course. He said no one in his community drove cars after 6pm, only golf carts. When I move to Savannah and have kids, my parents can be his neighbors and my babysitters.

Bud told us how to hit a lot of spots in a short amount of time. We started down Bull St. It has a lot of historical houses and parks/squares. Every time I have ever been to Savannah I have seen loads of girl scouts. It's because the founder of the Girl Scout’s house is on Bull St. Hoards of little Scouts parade in and out of her original house. They even have Girl Scout lunch specials. We were kind of hoping for Lois and Clark's house so we could get a nice road tripper special. We didn't find any though..

The squares are awesome as well. They aren't huge but they are homey. Big trees, statues, and benches. One of the squares on Bull St. is where Tom Hanks sat in Forrest Gump. His original bench was located in Chippewa Square. However they had to move it because people would "chip away" at it. Haha. Get it? Chippewa, chip away. Bud was quite the jester. When we went to City Hall the lady working told us that there wasn't anything exciting to see there but at 1130 a band was setting up in one of the squares. She gave us an impressive schedule that had numerous bands in numerous squares on numerous days. She said she opens up the door and enjoys the music while she works. A live band, in the middle of the day, in a little square. I don't think you can beat it.

We also went into a Bank of America and talked to one of the executives. He told us he loved working in Savannah. He said that Savannah had a lot of job opportunity for our majors because it has a lot of banks. He had me 100% sold, until we talked to another woman. She said that her son graduated with an economics major and couldn't get a good job in Savannah without experience and had to relocate to Atlanta.

The nightlife in Savannah is a young, fresh crowd. A lot of college aged kids are down there from SCAD. There is a strip of fun places on the river to go to at night with live entertainment and music. There happy hour is from 11-7pm. They are also known for the biggest St. Patty's Day party in the nation. They dye the whole river green. The nightlife is very laid back and fun, just like the city.

Jeb and I also checked out Tybee Island. It is just a 25 minute car ride from the heart of the city. It's a nice beach and there were a lot of waves. Although, when it gets windy shells pelt into your face and body. I thought I was getting shot with a bee bee gun.

There are a lot of other fun things to do down in Savannah. I went on a haunted hearse tour when I was here before. You ride in an actual hearse that used to really carry dead bodies. It's so sweet. It takes you around to Savannah's most haunted, historical places. It's a really informative and different way to learn about history. I mentioned the Girl Scout founder's house, and they have a lot of other houses like that. I visited a house from centuries ago, and they lead you through the house telling you all of the stories and scandals that happened there. They have museums and shops everywhere. And they give you free ice water, which is very hard to come by in other cities.

I hope I've sold you on Savannah. I don't know if I'll move there right after college but I will live there one day. If you were in Savannah for one minute you would completely understand the atmosphere. I've never been anywhere that just makes you feel happy. Savannah is it.

Wal*Mart Parking Lot, GA.

2008-06-30T09:14:00.000-04:00

We made it to Savannah at around 1 am. We had no plan. No where to sleep. Going to Savannah that night was a last minute idea. It was a way better idea than sleeping in the empty car garage in the middle of downtown Atlanta, though, which was our original plan.

When we rolled into the city it was just as beautiful as I remembered. I spent a week in Savannah two summers ago with my old roommate. It's amazing. It has the perfect combination of history, beaches, and nightlife to fulfill all of my needs. When I was there two years ago I had a lot more time to see all of the things it has to offer.

But before I start telling you why Savannah is my favorite city and why it should be yours too, I'll tell you about our night in the Wal*Mart parking lot. After we drove around Savannah for a while, we typed Wal*Mart into our GPS. When we had Johnny everyone always told us to sleep in their parking lots. The closest one was five miles away.

Things started to get weird as our British Jill GPS Advisor took us down windy roads with abandoned stores. We went down a dirt road and ended up in an empty circle of land with woods all around it. She announced we had reached our destination. I was convinced that British Jill had schemed with a group of mutated Wrong Turn cannibals to lead Jeb and I to this patch of woods. The ultimate conspiracy, nomad inbreeds turning technology against us. I was seriously waiting to be surrounded by torches and pitch forks at any moment.

We booked it out of there and tried again. This time we went to a SuperCenter. We brushed our teeth and washed our faces with bottled water in the parking lot, which took me back to Honduras. The only difference was that I didn't have to pick ants out of my toothbrush. After we were settled we tried to sleep. This was hard because our seats didn't recline because of our backseat grocery store and this Wal*Mart was right beside an airport. Also, we picked the loading and docking area for all of the Wal*Mart trucks.

Needless to say, we didn't sleep well. But we found that it was impossible to be in a bad mood in the city of Savannah..

Hotlanta

2008-06-29T11:07:00.005-04:00

Mike and I arrived at Atlanta after leaving Golden Creek. We heard mixed reviews about the city, so we weren’t sure what to expect. The night before, Howie showed me a map of the city and showed us some nice places to go. He warned us about going to the Coke Museum because it was one glorified commercial. He gave us his map and we were on our way.

The name “Hotlanta” is very apropos. It was scorching hot there. Within minutes I was covered with sweat. As a ritual, we parked our car near the capital building. The first person that we met was a man that just got out of jail and needed some money. He wouldn’t be the last homeless person we met that day.

We checked out the capital building and even got to enter the governor’s office. They had all you can eat Georgia peanuts and watermelon. After we explained what we were doing in Atlanta, the secretary allowed us to enter the room where the Governor’s desk is. We asked for a pic and he obliged. I sat down in the main man’s chair and smiled for the camera. Just as the secretary was snapping the pic, the Governor and his posse entered the room. Hence the blurry photo seen here. You could tell that the secretary was quite embarrassed and quickly, but politely, showed us the door.

Everyone in the building, and in Atlanta for that matter, was extremely nice. I didn’t meet anyone there that was not eager to help us. Many people went the extra mile to tell us where to go or even walked a few blocks with us to help us get there. We stayed primarily downtown. That was the first time in my life that I felt like a minority. And I truly was. The entire time that I was downtown, I probably only saw 10 other white people. Mike and I stuck out like a sore thumb but everyone was still super helpful. It was a unique and eye-opening experience.

We visited some of Atlanta’s main attractions. We first went to “Atlanta Underground” which is a mall/entertainment spot downtown. It is two stories underground and a very cool spot to check out. There are a few bars/clubs at one end of the mall. We went in there and asked about the night life. We talked to a very attractive female at the bar who kindly explained that there are more “diverse” bars in midtown. I think that was her way of saying that this isn’t the place for two skinny white guys at night. Before we got to talk any more, a guy that looked like he was the lead singer from Pearl Jam came over to throw in his two cents. This man was relentless. He talked a mile a minute and didn’t make much sense. He kept rambling about someplace called something willies and said “Ya’ll can hear some REM man. I’m telling you man! Go to that [something] willies man. REM man. I’m telling you!” lol. And he kept going on and on. He was a very strange man with probably too many Alabama Slammers and a slight mental condition. Speaking of drinks, all of the places that we stopped in to check out had some very pricy drinks and no happy hour… just a little FYI.

We went to Centennial Olympic Park. It was a beautiful park constructed for the Olympic games of 1996. There is a great view of the Atlanta skyline (which is gorgeous and second only to NYC so far) and the rings fountain. Some of the buildings, as you can see from the pics, have cracked windows from a tornado that ripped through the city mid-March of this year. There was about one hundred little kids jumping and playing in these fountains. Every time the waterspouts would shoot out a periodic burst of water, it was followed by a shriek of excitement from a small child. It was a scene out of a movie. Also in the park is a program called “Screen on the Green.” Every night at sundown, they play a movie for all to watch. Mike and I would have checked it out if Footloose wasn’t playing. I think that the movie is a great idea but the movie selection was less than exciting. I think Jaws played the night before.

We were going to go into the aquarium until we learned that it was $27. I love aquariums and museums but we are on a budget. And before some anonymous commenter says “Well stop going to bars and maybe you will have some money for museums…” I will tell you that we didn’t even buy a single drink it Atlanta. I tried to get in for free, explaining that we are student writers for our blog, but the most that we could get was half price when there was only an hour left. And everyone gets that deal. lol

After a long day of walking around Atlanta, we went back to the car to take a nap. We figured that because we were in a parking garage, it would be relatively cool. Wow, were we wrong. I was sweating so much, that sweat drops were running into my ears. I was soaked. It was the most unconformable hour and a half spent on the trip... and also the most pointless. Instead of going out like we planned and sleeping in our car, we set out for Savannah that night around 9.

There is a lot of job opportunity for our majors in Atlanta. With all of the aesthetic beauty and culture, I wouldn’t mind working there. We did find the more “diverse” areas in midtown and Buckhead which were both cool looking places. Could Atlanta be my city? I’m not sold yet but it is definitely a possibility.

Coming soon… Savannah, GA and our first sleep out at Wal-Mart

Golden Creek - Dawsonville, GA

2008-06-27T18:36:00.003-04:00

When Mike told me that we were staying with his aunt’s aunt one hour outside of Atlanta, I was more than skeptical. I pictured this old couple sitting on their porch swing, gnawing on grits and listening to Merle Haggard. We traveled for about an hour and a half on back roads trough the sticks and with each passing minute it seemed that my thoughts were more and more realistic.

However, out of nowhere was a sign that said “Golden Creek” and a large gate. I thought grrreaat, now we are in a retirement community. To my surprise, the first things that we passed were tennis courts and a golf course. After that was gorgeous house after gorgeous house.

Howie and Jeanne are both very active and greatly loved in the community. The day that we arrived in their home, they were hosting a meeting for a charity golf outing for leukemia. As soon as we rolled into their drive way Jeanne asked if I liked golf. Without hesitation, I jumped on the opportunity to hit the links. I have to apologize to anyone who thought that this trip was strictly business… but a chance to go golfing on a trip like ours is hard to come by. I accepted Jeanne’s offer in a second and soon Mike and I were off on the links.

This place was amazing. The course was intertwined within the homes and it was also an entire 18 hole course. Mike and I played the first nine.

After golf, Mike, Jeanne, Howie and I sat down to dinner. They told us how affordable life in the south is when you are outside of the city. Anyone who is well invested can afford a home at Golden Creek in Dawsonville, GA. Howie told us about his inspirational battle with Leukemia only two years ago. They told us how the community at Golden Creek came together to give donations of gifts, money and time. Many of them made the trip down to Atlanta to donate their blood platelets.

This story of strength and community was truly heart warming. We will never forget Jeanne and Howie. Someday I hope to live in a place like Golden Creek.

Raccoons at #14.

2008-06-26T00:06:00.007-04:00

Camping out on Lake Norman turned out to be a more difficult task than Mike and I imagined. We figured that we would roll up to the lake, find the nearest shore and set up a tent. We fantasized that there might even be other young people our age there as well just chilling around the campfire. We found nothing like this when we got to the lake.

Mike and I headed out of Charlotte towards the lake around 5:45. We were almost in stand still traffic for 40 minutes until we got to the first exit for Lake Norman. We took the exit and looked for the perfect place to set up a tent. This was no easy task.

Unlike what we envisioned, the lake looks more like a millipede than a beetle. It is impossible to stand on a bank and see more than the immediate branch of the lake. Therefore, we could not simply go to the side of the lake and look for people swimming and camping.

Also, Lake Norman is huge! After we tried several boat launches and other parks and realized that we couldn’t camp at any of them, we set off for the national park. To do that, we had to get back on the highway, go about 8 miles north, and then back into the sticks about 8 more miles. What was supposed to be a 20 minute trip to the lake ended up taking about an hour.

The campsites at the national park weren’t too shabby. There was a spot to park, set up a tent, and make a fire. We met some other road trippers from Michigan but they looked kind of mean so we stayed to our spot, campsite 14. We both agreed to bypass 13, not only because we already have the worst luck possible, but also the burnt outline of a chair chilling in the fire pit. This turned out to be a terrible idea.

Joan stayed at the campsite as a volunteer and collected money from campers. It is $15 for a night and $3 for unlimited firewood. Mike and I only had $14 in cash and a Long John Silvers gift card to bargain with. Needless to say, we did not get kicked out of the campgrounds. Joan explained to us (after we set up our tent with no spikes as you can see in the pic) that there are many raccoons in the park and their favorite spot is #14. Sometimes they even come as close as two feet to the guests. Great. At least it wasn’t bears.

After we got everything situated and the fire going it was soon dark. And that’s when our minds started to wander. We started to think about every scary movie and creepy scenario possible. It didn’t help that there were 5 pit-bull sized raccoons circling our tent. No lie.

When the fire started to die down, we hit the sack. As we zipped the tent closed, the raccoons came in for the attack. There must have been some sort of food right outside the tent because as soon as the door was closed two coons started going at it. The sound of the scrap was only masked by Mike’s shriek of terror. We said our prayers and hoped for the best. Needless to say, we survived the night but it was definitely one of our more interesting ones.

Car & Bike Wash in Johnstown!!

2008-06-25T23:46:00.005-04:00

Hi everyone! This is Kayla 2 :) Michael and Jeb asked me to put a special guest post on here. Basically, they want me to let everyone in the Johnstown area know about a car and bike wash that we have put together to raise money for them.

We all know how much trouble our favorite boys have been running into with Johnny. We (their Johnstown fan base) have decided to host a car and bike wash to help increase their funds and let them know we wish them the best! As most everyone knows, this weekend is the famous Thunder in the Valley Bike Rally. If you don't know what it is, you can check it out here! What better way to get the word out about The Map of US than to have some traveling bike enthusiasts sport our tshirts on their journeys? None. Our thoughts exactly!

I want to stress that this is a FREE event!
We will only be taking donations!

The fundraiser is to be held on Saturday, June 28 at Roxbury Tires from 1PM until 4PM. Roxbury Tires is located between downtown Thunder headquarters and Greenhouse Park (map here.) We would like to extend a special thank you to Fred Hicks, owner, for allowing us to use his location! Thanks Freddie!!

Special appearance by Johnny the Deceased Travel Van! Come see Johnny and pick up an official Map of US tshirt. What wardrobe is complete without one? Last but not least, Jeb and Michael wanted me to mention the attractive girls that will be shining up your rides. So come support your favorite Johnstownian City Seekers and get your vehicle cleaned while you are at it!

Map of US Fundraising Car & Bike Wash

Roxbury Tires

Saturday, June 28

1PM to 4 PM

Much love & appreciation in advance,
Kayla ♥

Charlotte.

2008-06-25T23:39:00.001-04:00

From our last post you’ll see that we were most recently in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was the first city that we didn’t have anyone to stay with. We found cheap parking very quickly. It was one of the first things we loved about Charlotte after being in bigger cities like NYC and Philadelphia.

After we left Levine, we started to go to some of the places that our new friends suggested. Charlotte is the second largest banking city in the country, which is perfect for us. We started our way uptown. They don’t like to call it downtown and apparently get annoyed when you do.

We went to The Bank of America Annex. It stretches down six blocks and as you walk through it you can see all of the other buildings on the streets. It was almost like Bank of America sponsors everything in the city. Their name is before so many little businesses and the mall in the Annex has Bank of America everything. We toured a lot of the buildings and started loving how beautiful they were on the inside and out.

We ran into a younger girl on the street who was from Minneapolis. She helped us from going the wrong direction and made it the first city that we didn’t get lost in. She had been in the city for a little over three years now. She said everyone there was nice, but different. Kind of like stuck up. We were getting worried because this was the second time we were hearing something like this.

To clear things up, we tried to talk to as many people as possible. Everyone was very nice and friendly, but you could tell they were “different” as well. We won’t say it was a bad different though because we didn’t run into anyone that was rude or unhelpful to us.

Charlotte is also an awesome location. It’s only a few hours from beaches, mountains with skiing, and lakes. You could lie on the beach one weekend and go camping the next. We actually did go camping, which you’ll read about soon.

It seems like a very up and coming place to live and work. There are cheap, beautiful housing opportunities all around the city. It would be the perfect place for any young person to start working. We’ll keep you posted after our other cities if we think it could be the perfect one.

Levine.

2008-06-25T23:11:00.003-04:00

When Jeb and I first got to Charlotte we really didn’t have any idea where to go. We stopped and asked directions at a Target. It was nice to see a Target right inside of a big city. It reminded me of being at home. We figured out where to park and walked into the Levine Museum of the New South.

We had no idea how much information and love we were about to get. We walked into the museum and started talking to the two workers, Rebecca and Portia. We asked them what they thought about the city and where we should start our tour of Charlotte. They told us that some of the people were a little snooty but that they loved living and working in the city. They also gave us the names of streets to see the big corporations there.

We told them that we were on our road trip, and they started to feel bad for us after they asked us where we ate for lunch and we told them that we had popcorn and pizza crust. Then Sally came out and told us to go check out the museum for free. She also said that it could take anywhere between 45 minutes and 2 hours.

Now, we both love visiting museums in each of the cities but this sounded a little extreme. But when we got inside we understood. The museum was all about the time following the Civil War up until the present. It had all kind of scenes being recreated. You’ll see Jeb in the picture playing air-banjo.

We sat at a recreated version of a living room from the 60’s and watched some really crazy videos of how bad racism used to be. It’s mind boggling that we went from that 40 years ago to Barrack Obama. It was a really awesome place to visit and we loved the fact that we got in for free.

When we walked out of the museum we had even more surprises. Our friends that worked at the front desk had been working diligently to hook us up. They scavenged a draw string bag, a water bottle, 2 cans of Coke, 2 bottles of water, official Levine Museum pencils, and our favorite, a Starbucks gift card with “between $3 and $4.”

So this blog entry is devoted to Portia, Rebecca, and Sally. And they better comment ; ). www.museumofthenewsouth.org

Our overall views of Charlotte are coming soon.

A Rude Awakening

2008-06-23T21:57:00.003-04:00

This post is a continuation of “Ocean City, MD” below… Read it first.

The mattress must have had a hole or something because within a half hour I was bottoming out. This made it nearly impossible to sleep because every time Mike would move, the bed would move as well. This was no good because apparently Mike has a bladder the size of a pea. The kid went to the bathroom three times that night. After one of these restroom trips I was semi-awake and rolling around trying to get comfortable. I felt something on the side of the bed when I rolled over and then hear something move over head. About a second later, I was seeing stars. I was dazed and confused… literally. I had no idea what had happened but I knew that it hurt. Something bashed me in the head.

I heard a girl, obviously concerned by my moans of pain, yell “what happened!?” Then Mike busts out laughing “You got hit by an IRON!”

When I finally gathered myself, I figured out that there was an iron on the shelf seven feet about me and the cord was dangling to the floor. I rolled over and pulled the cord, causing the iron to come hurtling down at my head.

I must have a thick skull or it must have hit me just right because the pain soon subsided. It was actually kind of funny after the fact. When everything settled down and I got to sleep I would wake up from time to time from the bed shaking because Mike couldn’t stop giggling. After a night like that, I was soo ready for the pull out bed waiting for me in Raleigh.

Raleigh,NC

2008-06-23T20:33:00.011-04:00

I think you'll be surprised to see no comments about our car breaking down. Nothing overheated, nothing leaked, and nothing went flying down the highway. We miss the attention that Johnny brought us and all of his Johnny-ness, but it felt nice to have no worries driving to Raleigh. We send a big shout out to Jeb's dad and my second dad, Bunk.

We are staying with my family Heather and Craig in Raleigh, North Carolina. They have the two cutest little kids Carter and Brooks. Carter, 3, could be a lot of help on the trip. Not to mention the girls he'd help us pick up, he can already name every state on the map. It's pretty amazing. The first night we got here we hung out with them until the kids went to sleep.

After they went to bed, we had a little guy’s night out. Craig took us to Bass Lake Draft House to eat and relax for a little while. It was nice to have a meal that wasn't soup or a bag of chips. We talked about a lot of different things over a few brews and got a good inside scoop on Raleigh. He told us that Raleigh was the perfect city to work at and raise a family. And after visiting the city and his house and family we couldn't agree more.

Before heading to Raleigh, they warned us that we might not be that into it. Little did they know that when it comes to history, Jeb and I are complete nerds. We first went to the original Capital Building. The only changes that have been made to the building are indoor plumbing and an elevator. The inside was beautiful and the architecture was amazing.

We got an awesome lesson from a history buff, Joan. If she taught history in high school, kids would never complain about going to class. She explained to us how all of the architecture was built and gave us the down low on the building. I don't know if any of you know this, but the NC capital building is the most haunted in the nation. Joan has even had her own experiences, and the police that close shop run in and out so that they don't hit any problems. Of course, after she told us that we thought of every creepy thing that could happen to us. She also explained that during the war, women would sew the soldier's uniforms in the middle of the building. She was the first person we met in Raleigh and was already one of the most helpful people on our trip.

After we left there we toured some really sweet, free museums and visited the new legislative building. We got to go onto the roof and got an amazing view of Raleigh. We went into an auditorium where Jeb played a little ditty on the piano. I thought for sure we were going to get kicked out, especially because we snuck past security to get in. Then, we went to the Governor's Mansion. Jeb buzzed in and tried to get the operator to let us in by explaining that the Governor had official Map of US business. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Hahaha. And of course, true to our nature, we ended the day lost. We got turned around somewhere and ended up in the Raleigh ghetto. The 4 old, creepy men chilling on their porch, smoking their pipes, and drinking their 40's didn't appreciate this too much.

All we were trying to find was a restaurant. We ran into an older lady who Jeb tried to get directions from. She fired back with a “What you say, Boo?” He explained that we were looking for somewhere to eat. She rolled her eyes and told us that a new restaurant just opened around the corner. We went in to find all soul food and no seats. No seats. Or tables. It was so confusing. We think they asked us to order, but we couldn’t comprehend what was going on. So we scurried away and had a healthy lunch of pop tarts and granola bars in the car.

Even with our accidental trip to the ghetto, we loved Raleigh. Everything and everybody was so laid back. It had that southern feel. It started to change our feelings for New York. There were no random smells, no chaos, and no beeping horns. It's a completely different feel than any city in the north. I won't even waste my time trying to compare it to Philly. Raleigh would be an awesome city to work at, especially as Craig put it, if you wanted to raise a family here.

Our next stop is Charlotte. We've been hearing a lot of great things about it.

Comments people.

2008-06-23T00:26:00.004-04:00

Dear Viewers,

It has come to our attention that you have not been commenting up to standard. We love blogging but it's hard to blog with our whole heart when we aren't getting love in return.

Love,

Jeb & Mike.

PS: Please excuse Mike's Flock of Seagulls hair.

Johnny's Final Voyage.

2008-06-22T11:24:00.003-04:00

*This is the story, told by Sam Barnouski, about the last ride of Johnny. Thank you for helping us get rid of our piece.

Ahh, Johnny’s final trip. In true Johnny nature the trip home from Ocean City got off to a rather ominous start with us having to jump start the van at 1 in the morning. It was at this time that Megan and Kathleen both called their mom to tell her they loved her because they were convinced we were not getting home alive. After being told we were probably better off not shutting Johnny off until we made it home (which was looking increasingly unlikely) we took off from OC.

Despite the fact that the windows in the front of the van didn’t close right, which made it impossible to hear the music, the trip got off to a surprisingly good start. As much as I was not looking forward to a 6 hour trip with no music I figured if that’s the worst of our problems I was doing alright. Little did I know I was about to find out what Jeb and Mike’s lives have been like for the past 2 weeks.

I ran into some rain about an hour into the trip. No big deal right? Wrong. When I turned on the wipers they bounced all the way up only taking half the water with them but caught the rest of the water on the way down. Thank God it only rained for a short time because looking out between the lines was not very easy. Megan and Kathleen both crawled into the back of the van to sleep leaving me to drive by myself in the most uncomfortable seat I’ve ever sat on. At around 4 a.m. Johnny started shuttering every time I got him up to 65 mph. I pulled into the nearest gas station to check the oil and call Jeb to find out what the sputtering was all about. He said it was normal but I’m thinking he was just tired and wanted to go back to sleep. Everything looked alright so we got back in the van and when Megan shut the passenger door the mirror fell off. Three hours from home and the van is falling apart. We got it reattached and headed for home.

Other than the Johnny shaking like crazy when you got to 65 mph we were doing alright. The closer we got to PA the colder it was getting and the heat in the van is like everything else, it doesn’t work. As I’m wrapping my legs in a beach towel for some warmth I hear this rattling on the right side. I look up just in time to see the passenger side mirror shooting off and flying down the highway. Megan looks at me with this panic look in her eyes and I just told her to go back to sleep. I’ve never been happier to be in PA to get this trip from hell over with.

The remaining part of the trip was uneventful except for the stops at Sheetz and all the people staring at us in the van. This is one trip that Megan, Kathleen and I won’t soon forget but we were happy to help out Jeb and Mike so they can continue on their trip. Besides, 2 days at the beach away from PA weather is a pretty decent trade off for riding home in Johnny.

Ocean City, MD

2008-06-21T14:55:00.006-04:00

Ocean City was a blast. We stayed with my cousin Tessa Barnouski and her seven girlfriends. They were nice enough to let us crash their hotel room for two nights to avoid sleeping in Johnny. Her brother, Sam, also stayed in with the girls and brought Johnny’s successor. It was sad to leave behind the van after all that we’ve been through but the thought of taking it across the US was giving me migraines.

There really wasn't anything job related to talk about from OC but, hey, we need a vaca too. And to clear up a little confusion about our mission, we are not “Job Seekers” as the Tribune put it; we are city seekers. Mike will have a degree in accounting and I will have one in finance and one in management. We are not 100% clear on what job we actually want but that will come later. Now, we are simply trying to find what city we want to work at. We could work in basically any corporation with our majors.

With all that said, our excursion to OC was great. The first night we went to a club called Seacrets. I think that it was forty-somethings night there because there was nobody there that was even close to our age. This is probably because it was senior week and all the hotels were jam packed with 18 year olds looking to get lucky on the board walk.

The next day we just took in some rays and relaxed on the beach. When we got back to the hotel we started watching Casino with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci. Little did we know this movie was like five hours on tv and before we knew it, it was 12 a.m. After hanging out for an hour or so Mike and I decided that we should at least go out for a night cap. I mean, we were in Ocean City. There was, what seemed to us, a dive bar across the street. It was called the Turtle something. You know, a quiet bar with an older crowd. We got there around last call and it was nothing like what we expected.

It was just our luck that this place was happening. There was music blaring and young people everywhere. We traveled the bus with drunk adolescents the night before for 50 some blocks to get to a lame crowd at Seacrets and that whole time there was a sweet club up on 117th called the Green Turtle. Who would have thought it.

Early that morning, all of the girls checked out… leaving Mike and I to a hotel room full of comfy beds. We stayed there until the cleaning lady kicked us out and headed to 17th street to hit the beach. We stayed with a friend, Shannan Kirk, and her boy toy Dustin. It turns out that it was Dustin’s 21st that weekend and there were seven other guests crashing her small apartment. We went to a bar on 17th for awhile that night and headed back to sleep on an air mattress on Shannan’s floor. Which leads us to the next entry…

"Son of a Biscuit."

2008-06-20T15:00:00.006-04:00

Two weeks ago we were supposed to be starting our adventure with Johnny. As everyone knows we were delayed a day because of a last minute trip to the garage. We should’ve known Johnny was going to be a problem when we held our going away party at a mechanic’s shop. Although we didn’t always want to be hanging out in various garages with numerous mechanics, we’ve had a lot of great and funny memories. And here are just a few…

Dave Kelly

Dave was our first mechanic in Johnstown. We spent the most hours in his garage trying to figure out where Johnny’s oil was bursting out of. We knew it would be a good time when Dave started touching liquids underneath the car and tasting them with his fingers. He even had Jeb doing it by the end of our 12 hour grueling day. Here is a Dave Kelly memorable quote.
Dave: [mumbling and punching]
Mike: Oh man, what happened now?
Jeb: I don’t know… but it was a “son of a biscuit” moment.

Mr. Moose

We stopped at my roommate Moose’s house in Freehold. By the time we got there our oil leak was under control, but we were overheating and breaking down at the most embarrassing places. Mr. Moose told us the problem and directed us to the mechanic shop. When we got back, Jeb went out to work on the car. As soon as Mr. Moose saw him he started to pace. Moose and his sister Anjelica started to look at each other and laugh. Mrs. Moose started laughing too and told him to just go help. He asked me if I thought Jeb needed help and when I said yes he looked like a 3 year old on Christmas. He ran upstairs, changed and was out helping Jeb put in a new thermostat before his family could stop laughing long enough to explain that working on cars was his favorite thing to do. When we expressed our thanks, he thanked us in return for letting him fix our piece. Too bad we didn’t have a Mr. Moose everywhere. Johnny may still be with us.

Billy of Mastrocola Trucking, Inc

Billy was our final mechanic in King of Prussia. He worked for Mike’s friend Ashlea’s dad at his Trucking Company. Billy is a great guy and knows his stuff. I think that I have described Billy in pretty clear detail in the KOP post but incase you forgot, he has a long beard and rather long hair. Being the big fan of beards that I am, I had to ask him how long it took to grow that beautiful mane of facial hair. He told me that he has always had a beard but at one time it was longer. Instead of to the chest, this thing was almost to his belly button. He said that he cut it for a woman but kicked her to the curb when she asked him to cut it off. I told him how much I respected the fact that he stuck to his guns and wouldn’t let a woman change who he is. He responded…
Billy: Hey man... That beard has always been a part of me. It was there before she was.
Jeb: I totally understand where you’re coming from… I had a mustache just yesterday.

Last night we traded Johnny in for Jeb’s dad’s Taurus. Jeb’s cousin Sam drove Johnny home from Ocean City, and will do a special celebrity blog entry about his ride home in Johnny with his two less than enthused passengers. Check back tomorrow for his story and find out why he needed help at 4:30 am.

Philly Blog Repping.

2008-06-20T14:53:00.004-04:00

While we were walking down the street one night in Philly, we happened upon this guy going crazy on a telephone pole. I thought Jeb was crazy when he wanted to take a video of him. We're hoping he's the next UFC All-Star. Also, sorry for the blog delays. We've had a hard time finding Wi-Fi. But we hope to be back on track with daily updates.

Our Almost Big Break.

2008-06-20T14:47:00.002-04:00

Philadelphia. We had one weird thing happen after another. After I had my first cheese steak, a bird pooped on my hand and into my cup of ice. That would be the third time I’ve been hit in the last year alone. Then, as we were walking down the street a frog, probably the only frog brave enough to hop the mean streets of Philly, suicide dived from the curb into my leg. And finally, as I called Hot 92, I was attacked by a stray cat. And not just any stray cat, the stray cat from cartoons, with mangled hair and no tail, which eventually claws out the face of Homer Simpson. Luckily, knowing my luck, I ran. But if you think I had bad luck with animals, just wait until you hear about the creeper me and Jeb met.

*Before I tell you this story, I just want you to know that this guy could be legitimate. Next week we will probably hear his name all over the world. But, it still doesn’t change the creepiness of the story. Or the fact that if we ever even considered this our moms would be the ones murdering us.

As Jeb and I were sitting in Johnny/Jenny/Piece of Crap Van, a man came up to our window. He was wearing a mismatching film school hat and jacket that looked like it was bought at GoodWill to give the illusion that he went to film school, while really he was just a murderer. Not saying that he was a murderer. Just saying.

He came to our window and expressed the “serendipity” that he would walk past our van while we were sitting inside of it. You see, he was just planning a film project about a road trip across the United States, in a van just like ours. He’s worked with A-List directors and even met Bill Gates. Hahaha, Bill Gates. He was looking for a driver – Jeb, and a right hand man – Me, to drive him around the United States while he filmed a documentary. What a coincidence.

Don’t worry, he would need to interview us first to see if we would take him around the country in our van. His eyes came straight out of a scary movie. He wouldn’t even be allowed to play the killer in a movie because it would be too obvious from the beginning that he was the psychopath slicing and dicing innocent road trippers. I felt his eyes penetrate my soul when he said “Mike, I can see it in you, we can change the world together.”

He invited us several times to his room to see his portfolio of work, or to just check out a baseball game. For some weird reason we decided that we didn’t want to go. It might have had something to do with the images in our heads of us hanging from his ceiling as he giggled, and made his real movie.

He proceeded to follow us down the street, “interviewing” us on our character. Jeb gave many subtle hints, but finally had to make it clear, “Listen man, I don’t know if we’re interested in doing this with you. I don’t know why you’re asking us questions. So, we’re going to walk this way and you’re going to walk that way.” He told us how dumb we were because of his background with Oscar winning directors and told me to take the lead and talk Jeb into this idea. Because apparently my fear of ending up on a Dateline NBC murder special gives the impression that I love traveling around with strangers. Especially strangers with scary, piercing eyes that I still feel following me down the street.

And that was one of our highlights from Philadelphia. Definitely not the place for me.

Philly..

2008-06-20T14:37:00.003-04:00

Mike and I arrived in Philly on Tuesday after we fixed up our van in KOP. We got to my cousin Matt Malesky’s around 5pm and needless to say Jenny was not running well. The steering was pulling to the right and the engine was puttering. There is no hope with that van.

After we relaxed for a while, we did what anyone who has never been to Philadelphia has to do… Got a Philly Cheesestake from the famous Pat’s. I was definitely impressed. Matt then took us down to South Street to check out the sights. The rest of the night was spent hanging out with Matt’s U of the Arts friends.

The next day Mike and I walked around Philly for 6 hours. We checked out the business district and then Old City. I have to be honest; after spending soo much time in NYC it was hard to love Philly. The city was much less crowded than New York and apparently the cost of living is lower. Also there are many beautiful murals on the buildings. However, it lacked some of the things that make NYC amazing. New York has an awesome transit system. Because Philly is smaller there isn’t a need for so many tunnels but there are far less busses and, in my opinion, too few subway stops. Philly is also more dangerous. I didn’t feel as comfortable there as I did in New York. A local brought up the interesting point that it is probably because NYC never sleeps and therefore there are more people around. Everything closes down at a certain time in Philly and there are fewer crowds and more opportunities for shady individuals to be, well, shady. We met one such individual. That will be in our next post.

We also went out that night to a great Irish pub named Finnegan’s with one of Tab’s friends, Zina, and hung out with the owners’ sons’. Mike and I got so show off our karaoke skills. I sung about every Prince song in the DJ’s collection. However, as nice as the bar was, there were only eight people there. Literally. Eight.

I am sorry Philadelphia, oh great city of brotherly love, but you are not our perfect city.

Our Man Main, LD.

2008-06-17T22:09:00.003-04:00

Our little guy repping The Map of US. Yeeeah.

Odd Jobs.

2008-06-17T09:37:00.006-04:00

A lot of people have been wondering if we ditched our idea for odd jobs in replacement of just having fun. That is definitly not the case. We have a BIG odd job. We spent hours in New York on our job, hours in Freehold, hours yesterday, and even more hours today. It's the worst kind of odd job because instead of getting paid, we are spending a lot of our money. We are pretty much replacing everything you could ever imgaine underneath a 1982 Ford Club Wagon. Yes, our piece. We really look forward to finding odd jobs and making some extra money but with the huge commitment of time our van is consuming, odd jobs will have to wait until it is fixed. We plan on having a lot of interesting experiences and stories while doing these odd jobs in the future and we are excited to share them with you.
We will be spending all day today in the garage of Mastrocola's Trucking. We are now both pretty used to garages and Jeb has learned a lot about what he's doing underneath a car. We'll keep you posted..

King of Prussia

2008-06-16T22:32:00.002-04:00

Because we were in the neighborhood, we decided to visit Michael’s friend from WVU, Ashlea Mastrocola. She lives in King of Prussia, a twenty-five minute drive from Philly.

It was father’s day when we arrived and Ashlea’s family was kind enough to let us crash their dinner. Her entire family was great. I feel that we nearly doubled our fan base at KOP. Lol (shout out to Corrine, my Amish brother Lee, and the little man LD)

On Monday morning we took Jenny to Ashlea’s dad’s shop. Her father owns Mastracola Trucking, Inc. in King of Prussia. He was nice enough to let us put our van on the lift and try to fix our oil leak. I tightened all of the bolts on the oil pan (God knows why they are constantly coming lose) and it turns out that two were stripped out. The shop was super busy so we couldn’t tap the threads and insert a heli-coil. I have to say, if anything, having a shitty van has vastly improved my mechanical know-how.

When we left the shop we went to the main attraction… the King of Prussia Mall. The KOP Mall is the third largest in the world and the second largest in America. The perfect place for the dudes on a paper thin budget, riiight. I have to say that I think the mall is over-rated. I know that all of our female readers will beg to differ but I didn’t see what all of the hype is all about.

We got to go out for another father’s day dinner with Ashlea’s mother and grand parents at the Longhorn Stake House. I think we are making out pretty well for some starving travelers lol. After dinner we went to Valley Forge Park. For all of you history buffs, here is the official website, http://www.nps.gov/vafo/.

Earlier today, Ashlea’s dad was generous enough to lend his lift again and his employees to help us get Jenny back on the road. Billy, a tractor trailer repair vet, helped us put in the heli-coils and tighten the pan. Billy was a very interesting character. He has a beard down to the nipple area and long white-gray hair. He definitely knew his cars and had us leak free and on the road in an hour.

All and all... KOP was a nice experience. The people there were great. We are blessed to meet such accomidating people in all of our stops so far. KOP wouldn't be a bad place to live at if you want to commute to Philly. However, there is only a two lane stretch in and out of the city to Prussia which could get pretty frustrating in rush hour.

Next stop… Philadelphia.

Home of The Boss.

2008-06-16T11:43:00.008-04:00

"Well, this summer everything was green in Freehold
Rode my kids on the fire engine through the streets of Freehold
I showed 'em where daddy was born and raised,
and first felt the sun on his face there in Freehold
I still got a lot of good friends right here in town
I can usually find me a free beer somewhere,
with offers of free meals I am blessed.."

- Bruce Springsteen, In Freehold.

Jeb and I spent some time in the hometown of The Boss, Freehold, NJ. We went past the road where he grew up and saw his elementary school. We stayed with my roommate from college Moose and his family and got to have a nice, relaxing weekend after the craziness of NYC. His parents were hilarious and we found a new supporter in his younger sister, Angelica. We went to a graduation party on Saturday and dominated at Corn Hole. After about 5 hours of straight victory, and many shut-outs, we were forced to disband. We'd like to thank the Stanzioli's for an awesome party. As you read earlier, Mr. Moose helped us fix our van, and is the inspiration for our next post.

Now, down to business. Freehold is the perfect place to live for anybody who is interested in working in NYC, but not ready to live there. Moose started work yesterday in Times Square and is still living at home. It's only a 45 minute train ride that he says will act as an extra nap. The neighborhoods there are beautiful and safe. Mr. Moose said we didn't even need to lock our doors.

We got a chance to watch Moose play lacrosse at a park that had a lot of different fields and games going on. It was also right next to the Jersey Shore, which was beautiful. The water was clear and the sand was really clean. However, to our supprise, it cost $7 to access the beach (which we avoided by jumping the dunes... Shhh.) As we walked away from the Shore we saw a family of four all riding bikes together. They told us Freehold was an amazing place to raise a family.

So, if you are interested in working in the city, but don't neccesarily want to live there, Freehold would be a perfect choice to settle down at.

The Death of "Johnny."

2008-06-16T11:43:00.007-04:00

The reason for this celebration was the death of "Johnny" and the birth of "Jenny." We decided that after all the work and changes we put into our van that it was a different person. The Moose even donated a new radio to us. Mr. Moose also informed us that all vehicles are women, for reasons we won't discuss on the blog, haha. And we thought that with a new, fitting name Jenny would be a new vehicle.

We made it to King of Prussia with no problems. We thought that everything would be perfect. Right? Wrong. We thought that after all the problems at the beginning of our trip things could finally be turning around. Right? Wrong. Maybe, that after all of the stress and headaches of Johnny, Jenny would be a perfect lady. Right? No, definitly wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Jenny is leaking oil. Just like good ole' Johnny. We'll keep you posted if Jenny is going to make it out of the KOP.

ps: comments make our mood a little better. : )

NYC Final Thoughts.

2008-06-16T11:31:00.002-04:00

As mentioned before, this trip is not all fun and games. We are on a mission to find the perfect city to live in after graduation. Here are our final thoughts on New York City, New York:

New York was just what I thought it would be. Because I am a finance and management major, NYC is a natural fit. There are so many large firms headquartered there. I could definitely see myself on Wall Street in a year from now.

The cost of living is obviously much higher than it is in Johnstown, PA. But they are truly not that high. Anyone that says “New York is soo expensive!” probably has not left the glamour of Times Square. After Mike and I left the Late Show, we went to a small Italian restaurant on Broadway. They had a lunch special for $7 that included a plate full of pasta, chicken parm, fresh bread and a drink. It was a delicious and filling meal at a great price.

If you want to live in midtown or downtown Manhattan, of course you will be paying an arm and a leg on rent. But there are many areas in Brooklyn and Queens that are just a three minute train ride to Manhattan and are reasonably priced. These places are out of the chaos of the big city and actually have something that Manhattan doesn’t, a gorgeous view of the Manhattan skyline.

To my surprise, the people of New York were very helpful and friendly. There wasn’t one person that denied us help in finding directions. When we broke down the first time, all of the officers that helped us were relatively nice and a random guy came to offer his advice on the situation. When we broke down on the way into the Lincoln Tunnel, a police officer and a fireman helped us to cool the engine down. Minus the lowlife that robbed our van, New Yorkers are top notch.

There are also many parks that you can slip away to in order to avoid the concrete jungle. Central Park is huge! I had no idea the size of this place until I saw it. There is a zoo, playgrounds, baseball fields, and many more attractions in this oasis. Behind the New York City Library is Bryant Park. There is free wi-fi internet connection and a restaurant. This park was relaxed and beautiful. And that is only two parks… there are many others.

There are some cons to go along with the pros. Sometimes, Mike and I would be randomly walking along and all of the sudden catch a whiff of the most terrible, pungent odor. Although it was mostly in Chinatown, there were other places that smelled like piss or just raw sewage. This was after the lengthy heat-wave and when it finally did rain, the city was quite aromatic.

Parking was horrible! We got a parking ticket on the first morning that we were there and we didn’t even park near a yellow curb. If New York turns out to be my city, I will definitely not take a car. And there is really no need with all of the subway trains and trains.

Johnny drank all the water.

2008-06-14T13:28:00.005-04:00

We did eventually make it to Moose's house in Freehold. It was the most stressful 3 hour, yes 3 hour, car ride ever. Jeb and Moose's dad are outside working on Johnny as I type. Moose's dad revels in fixing cars and we couldn't be happier. The problem was with the radiator's thermostat.. we didn't have one. Hopefully Johnny is ready to go the distance now. But we've all hoped that before..

tonight the bulls are in brooklyn and you're still at home.

2008-06-13T15:59:00.006-04:00

Jeb and I decided to go out Thursday night for our last night in NYC. We started in a ritzy part of town. Everyone looked older than us and richer. We were told that we either had to each have a sexy girl to get in or buy a bottle at the door. We thought the point of getting in was to find sexy girls. So, we left and went back to where Tab had taken us Tuesday, Brooklyn.

We met a girl who worked at MTV on the corner and asked her a fun place to go. She took us to a sport's bar where she knew the owner. When we got in there were about 3 minutes to go in the Lakers-Celtics game and the place was crazy. It was really exciting being in there, especially when the Celtics won.

It just so happened that it was our new friend's birthday at midnight. We got free everything, including the best plate of waffle fries I could ever ask for. She was really nice and talked to us about how fun and hectic it was to work in the city. She had just finished a 12 hour day with only one 15 minute lunch break. She took us back to her apartment to show us what they looked like in Brooklyn.

The apartment was so New York. It had lofts and curtains for doors. It was a really cool vibe. We met two of her roommates, Tim and Jill, and hung out with them for a little bit. Then, as we started talking about how creepy it was that it was Friday the 13th, a black cat with thumbs ran across the room. It was so bizzare, haha.

After we left, we tried hailing a cab. We got inside and when the driver saw that we were both clutching pepper spray he kicked us out. Yeah, we intimidated a New York City taxi driver!

NYC!

2008-06-13T15:58:00.005-04:00

While we were in New York City we got to see a lot of beautiful sights. One of the best was outside a restaurant City View. As you can see from the pictures the view was amazing. The restaurant wasn't too shabby either. You know a place is fancy when they give you olive spread instead of butter, and your water bubbles. Jeb feasted on lobster and fillet mignon. We had an awesome night, all thanks to our great host Dan. We also met some sexy Russian girls..

Jeb and I did a lot of touring as well during our days in the city. We got to play frisbee in Central Park, and we rode the Stanton Island ferry right past The Statue of Liberty. We had awesome pizza in Little Italy and a great time touring Wall Street. We walked miles and miles through the city and saw a lot of incredible things. Check back later for a post on our individual pros and cons of the city, and believe me it's mostly pro's.

"How old was that website I used?"

2008-06-13T12:06:00.005-04:00

Wednesday morning Jeb and I woke up with a mission. We got all dressed up and ready to tour some buisnesses. We found all of the addresses online for the buisnesses we wanted to see. Jeb found one website that gave him all the addresses he needed.

We made it to the Subway feeling great. We had a lot to accomplish. But we keep having the same problem. When we get off of one train, if another one is ready, we jump on it without thinking. It's the same thing with streets. When one street has a walking symbol, we just walk, and think about it later. Anyway, we ended up riding 5 different subway trains for an hour until we got where we needed to be.

When we made it out of the Subay, two of Jeb's businesses were on Broadway St. We found the first address but it was a different business now. So, we went to his next adress and it was for a place named Pink. I didn't think he wanted to work there. We eventually found out that almost all of the addresses he had were wrong. But we found most of the buildings and got to talk to a lot of the people that worked in them. All of the buildings were huge and beautiful. And all of the people we talked to loved working there and loved being in the city.

We both think it would be pretty amazing to live and work in the city. All of the businesses had an awesome vibe and we love almost everything about New York. As one little girl on the Bus put it, "Hold your nose, Chinatown smells like fish."

Poor Johnny.

2008-06-12T10:52:00.003-04:00

Johnny has gone through some rough times. And they just keep coming and coming. This morning I walked to the van to get one of our authentic Map of US tee shirts (contact Ashley Cobaugh if interested, haha) to wear to the Late Show with David Letterman today. As I got closer I noticed that our two front curtains were pulled down. When I opened the door I noticed that all of our things were disheveled. The radio, that took Jeb hours and hours to get to work, had been ripped out and it smelled a little bit like pee inside but other than that we had already brought everything of value inside. And they left Jeb his dried fruit..

Check back later for our misadventures from yesterday and some sexy pictures of us all dressed up.

Hello Brooklyn. How ya doin?

2008-06-11T18:19:00.008-04:00

This story starts in the 8th grade with a big crush and a Tablover23 Family Fued screenname. Who would have thought that 7 years later Tab would be showing Jeb and I the nightlife in Brooklyn? Tab took us to her old stomping grounds in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

We began the night at a Thai restaurant, Sea. It was the most interesting looking place I have ever eatean at. It was decorated really modern with swings, hanging chairs, and tables on the floor. The bathrooms were also pretty wild.. and confusing. The sink was in the middle of four huts. In the huts were bathrooms and security cameras to watch inside and outside of the restaurant. It took me a really long time to understand what was going on. The Thai food was amazing. We had a shrimp martini as an appetizer. It was the first time I was ever brave enough to try it and I almost swallowed the tail. Jeb went with duck for his meal, and Tab & I had brown noodles with chicken.

After we finished eating, we walked right next door to a little bar. We had Brooklyn lagers and sat near the stage waiting for the band to start. They were called The Shiver and the lead singer was really intense. Our favorite song was one with the opening, "this is about stalking a girl you really like." They were really good, haha.

We walked right next door again and were at another bar. We got a a table near the back and just talked about our New York experiences and relaxed. We argued over whether Matchbox 20 was a karoke crowd pleaser and Tab poisoned our lips with toxic chapstick. We left there and went to an Irish Pub. While we were sitting there they started handing out free pizzas, and Tab told us she had a crush on Drew Barrymore. Before we went back home we went to a "Barcade." The walls are all lined with classic video arcade games. It was crazy. I lost all my money on Mario Brothers while Jeb and Tab battled at Rampage.

It was a pretty awesome night. We got to see a completely different side of New York City that we never would have known about without Tab. We'd like to thank her for showing us around. It made us fall in love with the idea of living in New York even more.

Special Thanks.

2008-06-11T01:37:00.003-04:00

We'd like to thank all of our fans for a record setting day at The Map of US. We had over 550 visits today! Keep coming and telling all of your friends. We still have a lot of stories to tell from the past few days and of course many more adventures to come.

Today Show.

2008-06-10T17:27:00.005-04:00

Mark Wahlberg on the today show. Waait... Who is that in the top left corner?? hahaha It's our very own Mike Marano looking very cool. Check it out.

Big Trouble in Little Chinatown.

2008-06-10T16:42:00.009-04:00

What would a trip to New York be without a visit to China Town?? Yesterday, after Mike and I left the Today Show, we made our way down through Soho, Little Italy, Chinatown, Little Italy, down to Wall Street and to the Stanton Island Ferry. Don't read that last sentence again because Little Italy is written twice on purpose.

Little Italy is a great place. There are many authentic Italian restaurants and delis. Every block is decked in green, red and white. However, we were not there twice by choice.

When tourists go to China town, they have one thing in mind; knock-off shopping. You can get anything for a few bucks... well almost anything. We started off at a cologne shop. When I walked in I was instantly sprayed with some pungent cologne. Before I could catch my breath, I was hit with another brand. This happened six more times before I finally got the two colognes that I wanted. The price went from 60 to 25 for the two. I was satisfied... and slightly dazed from the bombardment of fragrances.

The next purchase was a sexy watch. The price went from something crazy like $30 to $7. You could see the pain in the salesman's eyes as he tossed it in a bag and handed it to me. Two stores, two successful bargains.

Finally, the ring store. There was this D & G ring that caught my eye. As with the previous vendors, the price began super high. Having talked the last two vendors down so easily, I was feeling a bit cocky with my bargaining skills. We played hardball for about 3 minutes. Finally I threw out an offer of $6. BIG MISTAKE. This Chinese man was having none of that. It was like I insulted his mother. He began screaming at me and dropping the F bomb every other word. But that's not the end of it. This little man grabbed a broomstick and started towards us while screaming "I CURSE YOU TO DEATH!!" It didn't take Mike and I long to make a B-line to the next block and around the corner. We didn't stop there. Somehow we ended up back in Little Italy. Now, I wouldn't consider myself a Hulk Hogan, but by no means am I a wimp... but there is something pretty intimidating about a 5'3" Asian with a makeshift bow staff.