How I spent my summer vacation

13Aug09

So, it’s been a long time since I posted anything here…

This has been an absolute whirlwind of a summer, so in addition to trying to explain what I’ve done, I’ll post some photos of my adventures.

First up, I spent a week traveling the across the USA in the Race Across America, which is billed as the toughest cycling race in the world. I drove the van for a group of Type 2 diabetics, and let me tell you, these guys are an ispiration. They rode hard all the way, and our crew (Curt and I in the front seat, Bob, Cleve, Bill, and Pete) got the race down to a science, and somewhere around Arizona, everything started feeling very organic and cool.

After RAAM, I was home for a few days, and then I jet-setted my way across the Atlantic Ocean to spend a little more than a week in Switzerland for a friend’s wedding. The beauty of the Swiss countryside really took me by surprise, and the hospitality of the Swiss people (at least the handful of them that I met) certainly rivals that storied and largely absent architypal “southern hospitality.” We spent some time seeing the sites (and drinking the beer and eating all the bratwurst mit roshti we could handle) of Appenzellerland, and then a couple of us drove across to Munich, Germany for a night. The trip ended with me spending a couple of nights wandering around Zurich by myself. It was an adventure: jumping trains, carrying my backpack, and having no idea where I was going. I kept a journal during the trip, and soon enough, I’ll try transcribing, or even scanning some of it in here.

At some point, my brother and I spent an afternoon splatter-painting a couple of canvasses (we were aiming to recreate the style of Jackson Pollock, but we just ended up making a mess). This was a great day, and the paintings hang proudly in my living room.

Also, my band Dead Letters has been playing shows around Tallahassee. We’re really starting to write some exciting stuff, and I look forward to recording some stuff this Fall.

This has been an admittedly rudimentary and unflourished recounting of my summer, but I wanted to get it down before I forgot too much of it. I’m starting to get itchy feet again, though, looking for the next plane to catch, or the next road to drive.

Here are a few photos: