Culture Shock

I stopped outside of St. Louis to stay with a cousin overnight on the way through.  It was fun to reconnect with her.  She will only be about 4 hours from me so that was a nice realization too.  It’s always nice to have family so close.  We were sitting at dinner talking about my move and such and her boyfriend kept laughing at me and saying I was going to have some serious culture shock because I’m from “the north country.”  I realize that Tennessee is different than Montana, Colorado and Alaska, but really, how different can it be right? 

 

I arrived at my new home around 4:30 in the afternoon.  My little neighbors were in their carport next door and they were so welcoming.  They talked and gushed about how happy they were to meet me.  It was a nice way to arrive.  My mom and I unloaded the car despite the hot and humid afternoon.  The air conditioner was not working so by the time I was unloaded I was sticky and quite cranky and completely exhausted.  Around 10:00 there was an odd smell in the house.  I opened the back door to see if it was coming from outside.  There was no smell outside but there was a bug the size of my palm that flew in the door at my face and then all around the light and then landed in the hall.  Now I’m not a shrieker, but that got a shriek.  Seriously, it was tangled in my hair.  Then we had to catch the dumb thing and get it back out of the house because who wants that crawling over their face in the middle of the night.  Turns out it was most likely a cicada. Very pretty noise, but they look like a cockroach with beady eyes.  My mom thinks it’s ridiculous that I can hike through an Alaskan forest and not worry about bears or moose, but a 3 inch bugs puts me over the edge, but that’s the way it is. 

 

Outside our back door there is a concrete slab with mulch on either side.  One side we use for composing.  When I went to bed the first night there was simply mulch.  The next morning there was an entire patch of some yellow bubbly growth.  By the evening the inside of each bubble had turned green.  I’m told it’s some sort of mold, but I’m convinced it is a birth sack for some alien creature.  It’s just not normal.  Things don’t grow that fast.  I’m keeping a close eye on it and I will try to give early warning when the alien beings are born so you can all escape to some underground bunker in time. 

 

Danielle and I took a long drive on Saturday to some of the cutest little towns on the backcountry roads.  They are rich with Civil War history and there are plaques everywhere telling about battles and famous people who spent time there.  There are also Confederate Flags flying in all of them.  Huh. 

 

Murfreesboro is kind of a strange little town so we have been getting out when we can.  We decided to go to Henry Horton State Park to take a hike (there are no hills so really it’s just a walk).  It was a nice little walk and a beautiful drive.  When we get home I got out my computer to figure out exactly where we were and lo and behold, we could have rented shotguns and used them to participate in the free squirrel hunting day.  Who knew? 

 

People keep asking me questions about my kin and they gave me directions to drive between 2 buildings on campus that are half a block from each other and then were stunned that I would consider walking.  Even at Wal-Mart everyone is wearing nice clothes and their hair and make-up are done.  I had my hair thrown up and was wearing capris and a tank and I got the funny looks instead of the lady with the giant hair and the 3-inch heels. 

 

So maybe Jeremy was right.  It might take a little while for this north-country girl to feel at home here.   

Denver

  Even though it was slightly out of the way I decided to go through Denver on my cross-country trip.   I debated about not going, but it was a good decision.  I was able to reconnect and say good-bye.

When I lived in Denver I couldn’t get a full-time teaching position.  I ended up working in a bar called the Handle Bar and Grill.  It was a weird little restaurant that I love dearly to this day.  I met some of the most interesting, heart-breaking and wonderful people in the world while I was working there.  Many of the regulars at the restaurant became very good friends.  Chad-O was one of these.  He came in most evening to have a drink and unwind from the day.  As we got to know each other better I appreciated him more and more.  The restaurant business is extremely frustrating and I often had rough shifts.  He always had a smile and a joke to bring me out of my misery.  So may times he’d say, “You’ve had a rough week, let me take you out to dinner.”  And we weren’t talking Applebees.  He took me to nice restaurants and bought nice wine and we just would have fun.  It was one of the biggest blessings of that time in my life.  I was routinely treated like dirt by restaurant customers and to have Chad treat me to dinner always made things better.  When Willie Nelson came to Red Rocks I was so sad that I couldn’t afford a ticket and he showed up at the bar one night with 2 tickets.  One for him and one for me.  He started coming to dinners at my house and Brandy and I would go to his house and lay in the hammocks and jump on the trampoline and play horse shoes (he had a great roommate) and he’d be cooking pork tenderloin with crazy cheese plates and again, good wine.  He had a smile all the time and a fantastic laugh.  He was simply a good person. 

I was finishing packing up my apartment in Anchorage on one of my last nights when Brandy called to tell me Chad had had a heart attack that morning and was gone.  I was stunned.  It was incomprehensible to me that he wouldn’t be there anymore.  He’d had a rough couple of years and we hadn’t talked consistently, but whenever we did we were just able to pick up where we’d left off and he always finished the conversation with a positive attitude that things were going to get better.  I’d talked to him just a few weeks before and we’d planned to get together when I went through Denver.  It didn’t seem real that I couldn’t pick up my phone and talk to him.  I had to give up on my packing for the day and I just fell apart.  I got up the next day and went back to business and just moved on.  I had too much on my plate to deal with it.  I just didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with everything all at once.

So I decided to go through Denver.  I arrived at Brandy’s house and we had a glass of wine on the porch and then she suggested we go to the Handle Bar.  We walked the mile to the bar and when I walked in the bar the first thing I saw was an 8 x 10 photo of Chad hanging by the bar.  It was surreal.  I kept thinking he would walk in and order his traditional Makers and 7.  But he didn’t and Brandy and I talked about him and laughed about the time we’d had with him and I cried a little and I said good-bye.  It’s hard to lose people.  It’s hard to say good-bye.  Chad was a good man I will miss him every time I hear Ryan Adams or Willie Nelson or the Grateful Dead.  But I am so grateful for his friendship and his kindness in my life and I feel blessed to have known him and have had the opportunity to be called his friend.  

Montana Fair

Tonight we celebrated my birthday.  It isn’t actually for another week, but we were together tonight and we celebrated.  At first I wanted to go out to a nice dinner.  Then, Karen mentioned that the fair was in town.  I haven’t been to the Montana Fair in years and Riley has never been.  So instead of dinner we went to the fair.  It was so fun.  We took Riley on all the little kid rides.  The first ride was the carousel and I stood beside her on her horse and the minute that horse started moving her eyes opened wide and a smile of sheer joy lit up her face.  We hopped from ride to ride for the rest of the evening.  There was the coolest petting zoo I’ve ever seen.  They had the traditional goats and sheep but also thrown in was a 4 horned sheep, a “hairy coo” calf (highland cow), zebra, emu, baby camel, and even a kangaroo.  Seriously, have you ever pet a kangaroo? 

 

All day long Karen had been talking to Riley about the ferris wheel and how it goes around and around.  She was so excited.  Karen graciously allowed me to take her on it.  We got on and Riley was so excited she could barely sit still.  The minute it started moving she started shouting, “I’m riding the ferris wheel, I’m riding the ferris wheel!!!”  We got to the top of the wheel and as we came over I suddenly remembered, “Oh yeah, I hate the feeling of falling and this pretty much scares me to death every time.”  So I clung to the bar and tried to smile.  After about 2 times around I decided I probably wasn’t going to plummet to my death on the ferris wheel and just enjoyed the ride. 

 

When I got off the ride I mentioned this irrational fear to Karen and she said, “I bet you hate the zipper.”  I then had to tell her I’d never ridden the zipper for just that reason.  I should have kept my mouth shut.  She decides it’s time that I ride the zipper.  She drags me to the line and tells me I have no choice.  I’m determined to prove that I am not a scardey-cat and I can do this.  It’s only a carnival ride.  It’s only a carnival ride.  Now the worst thing is that I don’t just walk over, get dragged on the ride and get it over with.  No, I have to stand there listening to the shrieks and watch the ride over and over and over.  The closer we get to the front, the worse I feel.  My mom finally took a picture because I looked like I might die.  The whole time I’m in line I’m pleading, “ Let Riley throw a fit and we have to leave, Let one of the cars come loose and go spinning off (safely so no one is hurt of course) and they have to close the ride, Let the earth open and swallow me whole.  Something!!!”  We’re about 4 people from the front of the line and my heart is in my throat and my hands are clammy.  I can hardly breathe.  When suddenly, as if by the hand of God himself, lightning streaks across the sky and the wind starts blowing flags and blow up hammers crazily around the carnival.  And the ride is shut down.  I almost fell on the gross disgusting fair ground.  SAVED!!! I’m SAVED!!!  Hallelujah. 

 

Maybe someday I’ll ride the zipper.  Maybe someday I won’t be terrified of falling.  That day is not today.  Today I'm glad I made it through the ferris wheel without Riley having to take care of me.  Today I’m glad my fair finished with a Norskie instead of a zipper ride. 

Montana

I’ve had a wonderful, restful time in Montana.  My grandparents came from North Dakota for the weekend.  I haven’t seen them in 2 years and it was so nice to spend time with them.  They took a trip to Alaska when I was little and then ferried the inside passage so we spent a lot of time talking about our experiences. 

 

Saturday the Longs were in town.  I went to lunch with Natalie and Marcie and we laughed and talked and spent some time reminiscing about last summer in England.  That evening they invited me to the Mustangs game.  I’ve never been a huge Mustangs fan, but baseball is always fun.  And no matter what it is you’re doing, if you do it with Natalie, you will laugh.  We made it through about 2 innings when the clouds started rolling in.  I tried really hard to convince her they were going around us.  She didn’t believe me.  All of a sudden there was a huge burst of thunder and the sky pretty much opened up and it started to rain.  This was rain like Noah must have seen.  The field was flooded within minutes.  We huddled under a hot dog stand and were ok until the hail started pelting us.  Then we had to hold up blankets to keep it off.  It was obvious the game was not starting again so Nolan braved the hail and ran and got the car.  We went to the classy Rimrock Inn bar and drank gin and tonics and caught up.  I always love catching up. 

 

The rest of the week I spent playing princesses, bouncing Jack, swimming, seeing old friends, bouncing Jack, playing barbies, reading books, putting together puzzles, bouncing Jack.  We hiked Woodbine on Wednesday.  I lived in Montana for 22 years, went to camp every summer on the other side of the mountain, and never hiked Woodbine.  It is a nice little hike up to a waterfall.  Then we played in the icy cold river on the way back down.  It was wonderful.  It’s always good to be back home.  

Missoula (sorta)

I’m a pretty put-together girl.  I’m organized and punctual and generally think things through.  It seems this trip is the exception to that.  First, I came relatively close to missing my border crossing coming out of Canada.  I will say that was not really my fault.  Bad roads and road construction caused most of the delay.  Then, I almost missed my ferry.  Totally my fault.  Just careless.  But lucky. 

 

After I spent 2 days at Pend Oreille I was ready to head to Montana.  Jon’s niece needed a ride to Missoula and since I was going right through I offered to take her.  We headed out on the road and had a nice drive.  Her friends were going to pick her up just outside of Missoula.  However, they had been out picking huckleberries and just happened to drive up right next to us about 20 miles outside of Missoula.  We pulled over and switched at a nearby rest stop.  I was back in my car and on my way. 

 

Now I had planned out my stops carefully that morning.  I figured, when I drop off Kaelyn in Missoula I will get gas.  Then, I’ll stop in Bozeman for dinner and top off for the ride home.  Unfortunately, I dropped Kaelyn off before Missoula.  So, when I got to Missoula I was thrilled to not have to stop and just kept driving.  I went along for quite a ways when all of a sudden I looked down and noticed that my gas light was flashing at me.  Oh, no.  Where is my head?  This audiobook isn’t that good.  What do I do?  I’m in the middle of rural Montana.  Deer Lodge is the closest town and it’s 15 miles away.  So I pray.  Hard.  Plead really.  My fingernails are being chewed and all I can think is, “My dad is a really long way away if I run out of gas.”  I count every milepost.  Didn’t my dad tell me once that you get better gas mileage if you slow down to 50?  Maybe I should start chucking stuff out the windows to relieve some weight. 

 

Finally, after the longest 15 miles of my life I limp into Deer Lodge and fill my 14-gallon tank with 13.89 gallons of gas.  Phew!!!  I have to say, I have an amazing guardian angel.  But really, you gotta wonder…just how many close calls does one girl get?    

Lake Pend Oreille

I left Seattle Monday morning and headed East to Idaho.  I’d never driven between Seattle and Spokane before.  I gotta say, not the most exciting drive.  Especially when it’s as dry as it is this year.  However, I was on my way to yet another lake and at least there was that to look forward to. 

 

My sister and her family spend a week every summer on Lake Pend Oreille (ponderay) in Idaho with Jon’s brother’s family at their cabin.  They very graciously invited me to come stay for a few nights.  Karen has talked about these vacations so much that it seemed like I’d been there even though I hadn’t.  I arrived at the “cabin” (not a cabin by my standards, it is a beautiful house) and was given my own little air- conditioned camper to sleep in.  Before I even had all my stuff brought in I had a margarita in my hand and my niece chattering away on my lap.  I instantly understood why Jon and Karen keep going back.  We ate good food, laughed, played in the lake, boated, wandered around town, drank good wine.  It was a perfect day and a half.  Completely restful and relaxing. 

 

It was fun to spend a day looking at the huge houses scattered along the shoreline and lay on the dock in the sunshine and have drinks brought to me.    That kind of vacation is pretty fun.  I probably won’t have the chance to have a vacation like that again anytime soon.  But really, I’m pretty happy spending my vacations sleeping under a big blue tarp carefully suspended from the nearby bushes with a fellow knitwit snoring away beside me.  

Seattle

I had a fantastic weekend.  My cousin Todd and his wife are temporarily living in Seattle.  When I got off the ferry Friday morning I drove to their little place on the edge of Lake Washington.  Todd has been my best friend for as long as I can remember.  We are two months apart in age and for most of our growing up years we would do anything to have the chance to be together.  He lived in Bozeman and I in Billings and through the years we rode with some pretty odd people just so we could spend time together.  Most of the time we were climbing trees, building forts under every tree and in every abandoned building on the farm, digging through junk heaps to furnish our forts, floating the canal, chasing cows, playing runaway orphans, hiking to the chalky bank, and as we grew older, jet skiing, cliff jumping and camping.  He’s still one of my very best friends and every time I’m in Montana I make a point to spend time with him and his wife and kids.  Right now he is in Seattle undergoing chemo for colon cancer.  I was nervous about seeing him and about how things would be different.  When I walked in the door he had his chemo pump working and he is thinner than he was, but one of the first things he said was, “Hey, Erin’s cousin is letting us use his boat.  Let’s go out on the water this weekend.”  Definitely still the same Todd.

 

The blue angels were in town and we watched them from the water 2 days in a row.  It was incredible.  They were flying right above us so close that it felt like you could reach up and touch them.  Our other cousin Tyson and his girlfriend joined us and we swam and played in the water.  Right before it was time to go back Hannah, Todd’s 3-year-old daughter, decided the two of us needed a ride on the tube.  Off we went.  The water was pretty rough and it was hard work holding onto the tube and Hannah.  All of a sudden the wake of another boat hit us and off I went, not head over heels, but rather heels over head off the back of the tube, Hannah in my arms.  I managed to hang onto her and we came up sputtering.  She panicked when she saw the boat driving away from us, but actually laughed when she realized we weren’t being left.  She’s a tough little cookie.  I came out sputtering and coughing, having swallowed about half the lake and inhaled the rest up my nose, but laughing also.  I figure everyone has to get bucked off something every now and then. 

I finished my time in Seattle having coffee with a friend from Denver.  He drove over to spend an hour and half with me and we just talked and laughed and caught up on our lives and the movies we hadn’t yet discussed.  Casey is my friend who I can go to a movie with and he laughs at all the same things even if no one else in the theater does.  I love that. 

It was fun to spend a week of anonymity.  Traveling through Alaska and being on the ferry and knowing that no one else knew me.  But it was also comforting to walk into a place with shared memory.  Being with people who have known me my whole life or people who think the same way I do.  It’s nice to have that break to be able to just sit and breathe and rest knowing you are with people who love you no matter what.

Shooting Stars

Three days on a ferry is a long time.  I was pretty antsy by the third day.  At the same time, I had a lot of trepidation about actually getting off the ferry.  It was sort of the final act of my leaving Alaska.  As long as I was on the ferry I was on Alaska time and thus, still in Alaska.  The minute my wheels touched solid ground it was all over.  Thursday night I had drinks in the bar with some other people from the ferry.  We laughed and talked and had a great time.  I came back out on deck to one of the most beautiful night skies I have ever seen.  The stars were brilliant and the Milky Way was clear.  I ended up walking to the railing and lying down on the deck with one of the guys I met on the ferry and just watching the sky and talking about all our travel adventures.  I love to hear about other people’s stories and it was fun to find someone who loves to travel in the same way I do.  Pretty soon, we started to see shooting stars.  Lots of them.  I felt like it was a show put on just for me.  Sort of a farewell back from the place I’d been saying goodbye to for weeks.  What a perfect way to end the trip.  

Tunnel Vision

I have gotten to see so much of Alaska in the past week.  I feel like my mouth has just been hanging open in a perpetual state of “Wow!”  The more I saw, and the farther I got from my friends the more I began to wonder, “Why in the world am I leaving this place?”  I mentioned this to my brother when I was in Haines and he promptly replied with, “Do you know the answer to that?”  I quickly said yes and moved on, not wanting to dwell on that thought for too long.  In fact, a knot has been building in the pit of my stomach for about a month now due to that question.  It seemed like 800 miles south of Anchorage and hours from boarding the ferry was not the time to really question my resolve.  So I ignored it again. 

 

Tonight on the ferry I met some people from a tour group.  We got to chatting and ended up having drinks together in the bar.  As we talked one of them asked me what brought me to the point of wanting to go all the way to Tennessee to get my degree.  Without even having to think I launched into a rather passionate explanation of my job, my heart for my students, the appalling lack of help for them in the public school system and my goals for when I have completed my degree.  I admit, I got a little carried away and I’m sure by the end they all wished they hadn’t actually asked.  But at that moment it was like that knot disappeared.  I knew in my gut that I had made the right decision.  I still have the I-miss-Alaska-and-the-best-friends-a-girl-could-ask-for blues, but I know I’m doing the right thing.  Someone has to fight for these kids who can’t fight for themselves especially since most of them don’t even believe they are worth fighting for.   In the last few months I’ve gotten tunnel vision and have only been looking at what I’m leaving behind.  It’s good to be reminded of what I’m heading toward and why.  

Ketchikan

I don’t know if you’ve ever run a mile through the dirty streets of Ketchikan, barefoot with a stomach full of beer, but I don’t recommend it. 

 

            The ferry stopped in Ketchikan today and we had 4 hours.  4 hours is plenty of time to walk the 2 miles into town, grab some real food, maybe a beer, and walk back.  After all, I’ve been sitting for days.  As I’m coming into town I run into the guy who has a chair right behind me and we start chatting.  We wander together for quite awhile, grab something to eat and head back.  On the way back there’s a bar called the Arctic Bar and it’s “Home of the Happy Bears.”  You can imagine what the picture of the bears was.  Of course, we have to stop for a drink.  You can’t pass that up.  We get to drinking and talking and then I notice kids jumping off the pier.  He’s from New York so I tell him he can hardly leave Alaska without jumping in the ocean.  I can be quite convincing when I put my head to it and eventually, he decides to do it.   We finish our pitcher and head to the pier.  In he goes and then understands why I stayed on land.  40 degree water is cold no matter how hot it is outside. 

 

            We start back to the boat and suddenly realize there is no way we’re going to make it.  Panic.  Huge panic.  We have to run.  We’ve had a pitcher of beer, which my gluten-free-stomach was already angry about and I’m wearing flops.  So, we’re running down the main street in Ketchikan to catch the ferry.  They saw us sprinting across the parking lot and were gracious enough to wait for us as I limped in barefoot.  But you know, once I could breathe and was sure I wasn’t going to puke, the only thing I could think was, “Man, I wish I’d jumped in too!”

Juneau

7/28

 

            When I was in Juneau I was looking at the cruise boars and made the comment that I probably would never do a cruise.  “I think I’d get bored” was my comment.  I got on the ferry that night.  Today, I’ve spent the day laying the lawn chair that is my bed in the sunshine on deck with my thermarest and sleeping bag on it and my food within arms reach alternating between reading and sleeping.  Every once in awhile I’m forced to move so I can get a picture of a passing whale or bear or porpoise.  Other than that, I haven’t moved for hours.  I’m starting to re-think that whole bored thing.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m still not sure I’m the cruise type.  Most people from the cruise boats drive me nuts.  But it got me thinking about the private yachts in the Juneau harbor.  Now there’s something I could get on board with.  Sun bathe, hot tub, heli-pad, go wherever you want.  That’s more my style.  So I think I’m going to do it.  You’re probably wondering how I’m going to finance it, but it’s really very simple.  I read once in a financial magazine that people would be amazed how much money they could save if they just gave up buying coffees.  So that’s my plan.  Give up lattes.  Buy a yacht.  

                                                            7/25/09

 

            I was feeling down and stressed out tonight.  I left Tok this morning to head to Haines.  I knew there was a deadline of 7:00 p.m. to cross the border, but I gave myself 11 hours.  Plenty of time.  (For those of you who don’t know, to drive from Anchorage to Haines you have to cross into Canada and then back into Alaska.  So really I had 2 border crossings.)  The first one was no problem.  I was across by 10:00 a.m.  On my way and feeling good.  Unfortunately, the Yukon Territory has bad winters and the weather is not easy on the roads.  There was road construction and very bad roads.  The roads were horrible and then they have signs that say “Road Damage.  Reduce Speed.”  Just a tip, when they say that, do it!!!  The road has to be BAD to warrant a sign.  There are little orange flags everywhere there is a bad bump.  The higher I got, the more flags on the side of the road.  A few years ago our school got one of those giant bouncy houses for a day and my students dragged me in there with them.  Perpetual bouncing up and down and from side to side.  This road was very similar.  I was extremely annoyed by the bumps after an hour and yet they kept coming.  Then there was the road construction.  Time after time I sat waiting for a pilot car to come guide me through miles of dusty, dirty construction.  By the time I got to Haines Junction I was a mess.  If I miss the border today it doesn’t open again until 7 a.m tomorrow.  I have to be at my ferry at 7 a.m. tomorrow.  So I powered through.  I stopped twice all day.  By the time I got to my B&B in Haines I was exhausted, stressed and feeling blue.  I went for a walk hoping it would help.  It didn’t.  And then I remembered.  I have wine.  Lucia gave me wine.  Yes!!!!  So I went to my car and opened my bottle of wine with the wine key I’ve taken to carrying in my purse.  (What exactly does that say about me?)  Now, what to put it in?  The only thing I have is an empty camelbak water bottle.  Perfect.  So I put my wine in my camelbak, went to the beach and enjoyed.  It just shows you, wine is always a good idea.  

Leaving

                                    7/24/09           

 

Three years ago I made a spontaneous decision to pack up my life in Denver and move to Anchorage.  It was a big adventure for me and I was so excited.  After a few months the reality of the move began to sink in and life got hard.  No money, few friends, no sun, cold weather.  What was I thinking?  And then I settled in.  I got a job that for the first time in my life I LOVED and I was good at.  I not only made friends, I made the kind of friends that are more like family than friends.  I hiked and fished and camped and clammed and learned to knit.  I snow shoed and went through Denali Park and flew around the mountain.  I had baby moose born in my backyard.  Every time I stepped out my door I was amazed that I had the opportunity to live in such an amazing place.   And just when Alaska began to truly be home, I decided to go back to school and the school with the best program is all the way across the country in Tennessee.  So, today I left Anchorage. 

 

            Leaving has never been easy for me.  It takes me a long time to let people into my life, but once they’re in, they’re in.  They become a part of me and leaving them is like leaving little pieces of me.  I made the decision on this move to take only what would fit in my car.  Everything else I would sell or give away.  So I started the process of sorting and packing.  It wasn’t easy.  How does one go about packing three years of living into 1 little Mazda 626?  Eventually, it became easier and easier to just get rid of things.  They’re really not that important.  I realized that if I had the option, I would sell every item I own to replace them with the people I was leaving behind.   During my sorting process a good friend told me to leave things behind to ensure that I would have to come back.  I guess that’s what I did.  I left myself in the people I care about.  And I also took little pieces of them to cheer me up when the leaving starts dragging me down again.  When life in Tennessee doesn’t look the way I expect.  When for some odd reason I’m missing the eternal winter of Alaska. 

 

            I drove from Anchorage to Tok today, checked into a hotel, ate some dinner and took my computer to the lobby to feel sorry for myself and write emails and moan on facebook about the sad state of my life.  Of course the hotel I checked into is full of 70 year old tourists who I was annoyed by before I even made it to my room.  So I sit down with my mac in the lobby and start to type.  Not 30 seconds later I have a 77 year old man beside me needing to know how to use his computer.  He had no idea what a sobfest he was interrupting, but being the polite person I am, I helped.  We started to look at pictures on his computer of Egypt, Nairobi, Europe.  He’s been everywhere.  We of course do the pleasantries of “where are you from” and “where are you going.”  When I tell him I’m headed to Nashville he begins to tell me about his trek through the Smoky Mountains and his time in Nashville and Memphis in 1940.  Seriously, who would have thought?  So instead of spending my evening crying in my hotel room I heard about what a hopping place Nashville was in the 40’s.  And I was reminded why I love to travel.  I love hearing stories of people’s lives.  For some reason when we are away from home and everything that is comfortable we are more willing to share.  There will be many more tears in this leaving I’m sure.  They seem to have a will of their own and just pop up when I least expect it, but I’m beginning to feel some of the anticipation come back too.  The “what’s around the next corner?” feeling.  ‘Cause like a wise man once told me, “Alaska will always be here.  We’ll always be here.  Go do what you have to do.”