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Three Days in Abilene

When you drive as much as I do, breakdowns happen. You only hope that when the breakdown hits, you’re not in Joplin, Tulsa, or Cheyenne. Add Abilene to that list. I stopped at a truck stop on the outskirts of town to sleep and when I fired up the truck the next morning, I had a slew of indicator lights on so I went to a garage and ended up having to get a hotel room, which ended up with me in a…

“The floors of bus stations are the same all over the country, always covered with butts and spit and they give a feeling of sadness that only bus stations have.” ― Jack Kerouac, On the Road   The more I travel, the more I love this county. Most of my pieces have been about cool places and things I love seeing in my travels, even the piece titled I Hate Texas. From sea to shining sea, I’ve tried…

The World’s (Second) Largest Ball of Twine

A tribute to the American way of life is our, at times, boredom. The two largest balls of twine in the world aren’t in Saudi Arabia, Japan, or Mexico. They are right here! Today I will focus on what is technically the second largest, but I believe it to be the de facto largest and I will also explain why.   Seated in Darwin, Minnesota is a big ass ball of twine and without a doubt it is the…

Since I started this job I’ve learned just how much I love New York City. I was there once before years back and it was a fantastic sight to behold, but at the time I wasn’t able to truly appreciate the city. There was so much I hadn’t seen or experienced on that one single trip. This piece is based on my most recent trip that I ended up there on a Saturday night and I didn’t realize how much I…

There! I said it! But what if I really don’t hate Texas? I’ve taken more than a few trips through Texas but always down Interstate 40 through Amarillo, but I haven’t seen the whole state really. Maybe there’s more to see than a desert and stockyard. Statewide Texas is a strange mix of churches and strip clubs; adult toy superstores and stores just named “guns.”   Going down I40 from Oklahoma you…

The Great American Road Trip

One of the hardest things about writing this blog is the variety of places I go but only for a short time. How do I sit down and talk about Times Square in five hundred to a thousand words when pictures can’t even do such an amazing place justice? Do people want to really know about me sleeping upright on a Manhattan park bench because I missed my flight and got stuck taking a bus home from the…

Nowhere Special in North Dakota

With my job, I have visited a lot of states. Coupled with family vacations, I’m so close to seeing the Lower 48. I had two to go and now there’s just one. I drove through North Dakota last week…and it sucked.   It started out when I got to Fargo and took a nap, then woke up to snow…a lot of snow. I asked the girl about the storm and it’s size and she looked it up on her phone. She then responded,…