The title might come across as a weird title but this blog is not premeditated at all. The only thing I ever have generally planned in any blog is a simple idea and the fact that I'm going to sit down and type it up. I had a dream the other day, and like most dreams I forgot most of it. All that I remember from the dream was that I had some form of list of things I've checked off that I've been fortunate enough to do on this trip. I have found that my brother and I are "Rolling Stones" in a sense that we drifters, nomads, travelers. The living in hotels and traveling from city to city and state to state hasn't ever really become a major concern to me. It is always interesting and fun seeing new towns no matter how boring, small, or disturbing they might be. My brother has his lists of states he has visited and along this trip I have crossed off a few. I had driven through states like Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and others but I actually got to experience some life in the following new states: Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Kansas. We have visited Missouri, Texas, Wisconsin, and South Carolina as well but I have visited these places before and spent a day in these areas. That is where I will start my unorganized checklist of sorts.
I had hoped to visit a new MLB ballpark and see a game. I didn't accomplish this but in the fine print I did go to two minor league games at ballparks I had never been to and I also saw a D1 college team play in one of these ballparks. I am a fan of the city St. Louis because of their sports teams and I finally made my way up to seeing The Arch in that area. I also visited Joe Buck's restaurant, who is a famous sports announcer. Over the last few years I have fallen in love with buying used book and reading books. I visited over ten bookstores on this trip and I bought at least eight books on this trip and none of them were over six bucks. I also believe I have evolved my music a little bit as well as my roommate has knowledge in some genres that I was always interested in but never knew where to start. I found a good station on Pandora for some blues music that I will continue to listen to and enjoy.
As weird as it sounds I've always wanted to befriend a stripper and ironically enough the one girl that I sat and talked with at a bar in Texas was an ex-stripper and also a girl that was incredibly book smart and graduated high school at sixteen. As juvenile as it is I've always wanted that stripper to find me attractive and come on to me and that also happened. A few dirty pictures later I can say I can cross that off my bucket list. Another weird sounding accomplishment was that I actually found a beer that I like at some fancy pizza joint in West Virginia. At the moment I can't even remember what it is but I believe it was some Porter brand. All I can remember was that it was a dark beer which I was always told I probably wouldn't like.
For the last three months I have been traveling for over 15,000 miles at least in a brand new car. Although it doesn't really seem that impressive to me right now I think it will later on when I have my old beat up blazer and I have to pay for gas again. By traveling on the road I have been forced to get creative with food on the menus and I have also discovered new places like frozen yogurt shops and Panera Bread that I never really gave a time of day before. Although I have been on college fields and even been to Miller Park I actually got to step on the fields and play catch at these fields. I try to act as the saying goes "act like you've been there before" but it's still pretty awesome to do some of that stuff.
I am a pretty random guy and I often find myself around a very conservative group of guys and I actually got to go out in ridiculous clothes, sing a karaoke song, and not be the only one who was comfortable enough and fun enough to do the same thing as well. I definitely feel like I have made a few friends that I will stay in contact with after all this is said and over with and it's always interesting to see where people end up and what they can accomplish when given a chance. On the flip side I also know we have done some dumb stuff and have stories about that as well and I might have installed the love of strip clubs into a few of them. I do not find that as a bad thing at all though. They are fun if you go into it with the right frame of mind.... which of course is usually at least buzzed on alcohol when you show up.
I booked my return bus trip form Nashville to my hometown in northern Illinois for only $27. I hope I don't miss this ride and have to reschedule like last time. Over my twelve hour ride I feel as if I am going to have a lot of time to reflect on this trip and where I am going from here on out. I have showed interest to the Park District in my town for some possible jobs with education and sports. I have also a possibility to be a pitching instructor for pay at a facility and have also been offered a paying gig to coach high school summer and fall leagues. I do not know how interested or qualified I feel for these positions but It might be time to push myself out of my comfort zone and take a chance again. I do not want to live in the same town I grew up in and would very much like to branch out to a new town and grow and explore with that town but times are not always so open for an open minded worker.
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