Going Home

Well we arrived at our destination in Shreveport, Louisiana safely. We arrived late afternoon on Friday evening. It was not too long after our arrival that those who would be in the wedding left for the rehearsal. They were gone for a couple hours. When they returned there was a cook out at my aunt’s house as the rehearsal dinner. The kids played in the pool.

On Sunday night we went out to Cracker Barrel. Afterwards my cousins Angie and Steve and I went to the boardwalk and watched The Hangover. The Hangover, by the way, made me laugh. I don’t normally laugh that much at movies. The last time was when I saw Mall Cop. The Boardwalk was pretty cool. We had parked in a parking garage, which just so you know is the first time I have ever parked in one before. Shocking, I know.

On our way back we stopped off in Memphis, Tennessee. I took some pictures of the storm we passed through. We passed another storm on our way to Effingham again. We’re staying in the same place we stayed at last Wednesday. I took more pictures, including more of the World’s Largest Cross.

We also stopped back at the place where I went into the trucker’s bathroom area. We talked to a trucker who was in Shreveport, Louisiana yesterday and was on

his way to Detroit as well! Except, well, I’m on my way to Camden, not Detroit. My grandma and Frank are on their way to Detroit though. He answered our question as to why not all truckers stop at weigh stations. Apparently some trucks have a transponder that triggers something under an overpass that sends the information on their truck and load to the cops, and those trucks who don’t have them are to stop at the weigh stations. He was a really nice trucker. He was actually on his to Canada.

When we got to the motel, we went to Ruby Tuesday and I got to drive the Flex, which is my grandma’s new vehicle. I had not been to a Ruby Tuesday before. It was a nifty place, with lights that had glass fruit lampshades, as well as some plain ones. The food was fantastic and the waitress (Britney) was the best. Britney was on top of everything and she was very sweet.

I’m now using the last stop of high-speed internet to upload pictures and videos. I go home tomorrow. I then go to Holland on Thursday to hang out with and crash at Sarah’s place. Friday I am to hang out with Laura B, then go to Grand Rapids for LauRA’s wedding. After the wedding I’m crashing at Aubrey’s, hoping to hang out with her Saturday. Then going home Saturday. After this weekend ends I think I’ll be home most of the summer. I cannot wait to see how my garden and strawberry patch has fared in my absence.

By the way, all pictures were taken by me, except for the one of the car. I found it online at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jpowers65/2599567870/

Walking in Memphis

Or West Memphis as the case may be. I sit in a motel in West Mephis, Arkansas for the moment. The wi-fi, which took forever to connect to my laptop, likes to kick me off. The people here at the motel had to get a manager to reroute the signal for the wifi. We called my dad earlier, and he said that he fell last night! We leave him for one day and he falls... Anyway, I wrote the following earlier, right after lunch.


We left the motel at who knows what time, finding out where the World’s Largest Cross was, and went to see it. The motel was only maybe a mile from it. I took some pictures, and managed to get me in some when I switched the camera angle. It stands 185 feet high and 113 feet wide. Maybe it was 195 feet high. I don’t quite remember. It was cool. It stands by the highway. We stopped off at this rest area with cool floor. They looked like polished rocks. It was uneven too, which wasn’t the best idea in the world I will admit, but it was awesome to look at. I almost ran into a wall because I was distracted by it. We stopped off at this truck stop area for lunch in a small town. There were a couple truckers eating at the restaurant as well, that’s not surprising of course, considering it was a truck stop. It had a buffet and that’s what we ate. It was pretty decent. I noticed when I got my second plate of food that there was this one guy who watched me as I walked past. When I sat back down at our table I saw him turn around in his seat and look at me. I then kept noticing his friend was watching me as well. They kept this up the entire time they were eating, taking turns watching me.

When I had finished eating I had to use the bathroom. I thought it was out and around the corner and when I asked my mom she said yes. I had been confused when we came in because of the last place we went in at had the bathrooms right across from the door we came in. Well, I went out into the store that was connected to the restaurant and turned the corner and didn’t see them where I thought they would be. I saw a sign that said trucker facilities and I assumed the restaurant wanted us to use the trucker bathrooms. Thinking nothing of it I go over there, through the trucker lounge where this bigger truck driver glanced in my direction when I walked through and I went into the bathroom marked women. I use the bathroom, come out, and the driver glances at me again. I still am not thinking anything about how this might look, or how it could be odd that a restaurant wants people to walk all the way over to the other side of the building to use the bathroom that is designated for truckers. When I came back towards the restaurant I saw the bathrooms. They had been just around the corner from the restaurant. I should have turned left instead of right.

My mother had been confused when I said the bathrooms were out and around and I had pointed. She had thought I was pointing at the bathroom. When I came back and told then I had gone over to use the trucker bathroom and had been confused as to where the bathrooms were my mom laughed at me. She said my “out and around the corner” must have been different than hers. I told her had I thought the bathrooms were right there I would have asked “Are the bathrooms right there?” and pointed. We had just been talking about assuming things and the things not being right. I said what I had just done was an example of assuming things. It had turned out to be wrong. They teased me about it until we left.

Back to those two guys who had been watching me. When they got up to pay they stared at me the entire time they walked to the cash register. Mom and grandma went to the bathroom and Frank went to look at something. The two guys had gone to the bathroom and gone outside by then. Well, they came back in and looked over at me, staring at me some more as they walked over to the store. They stood around in the store and I know they were watching as we walked out. I feel as though it might be odd that I wasn’t scared or nervous by any of this. Is it normal to not be scared of truckers? Or of two guys who seem to watch your every move very creeper like?

We went to a Mexican place for dinner tonight. It was really good. It tasted just like the Mexican place we have back home. Now we're hanging out in the motel. Grandma and mom are watching Iron Chef on tv. Frank is...I don't know. He was looking at a map, now he's drinking a V8. I think I'm going to get grandma to tell me about her family tonight so I can record it and research that side of my family. I need to get more information from my dad about his side, so that I can research that side of my family. I love history. Anyway, I do believe that is enough adventure for now. Bye!

In Dreams

Perhaps it happens the best in horror movies. Perhaps in the nightmares you have. You think about it whenever you have a big window. In a motel with the big window that looks out onto the parking lot on the ground floor. You look up whenever someone walks by. You see them glance up, acting like they aren't looking in, but you know they are. Looking. Watching. Perhaps waiting. Waiting for what? Well, that can be open to interpretation.

Last night as my mom, grandma, Frank and I sat in the motel room, this tall skinny man with gray hair walked by. He looked in, attempting to make it look like he was not looking, but we knew he was. Frank was the only one who did not see. The man walked by again a short while later, looking in. We laughed. The third time he walked by, he slowed and was very deliberate about his looking in. Frank and mom immediately closed the large, dark red drapes. They still laughed about it. I found it annoying. Then again, we did have the drapes open, so it was partially our fault. Why people feel the need to look in open lit up windows when they go by somewhere is beyond me. I do admit though, that I am guilty of it at times. Curiosity I suppose.

Well, as everyone else was settling in at around 11pm our time, 10 pm here, I felt the need to get ready for bed as well. I shut off the laptop, disconnected the cords and put it away. Everyone else was in bed. I didn't fall asleep until at least 1am my time. I tossed and turned most of the night. I slept maybe a half hour to an hour at most at one time, then something would wake me up, I'd try to get comfortable again and fail many times. It most likely took all of about a half hour or so each time for me to fall back to sleep.

We are now off to have a quick bite at the continental breakfast here at the motel. I bid you all a farewell as I continue on my exciting travels. I find that I do like travelling very much so.

On The Road Again

Well lovelies, I greet you tonight from the lovely Econo Lodge in Effingham, Illinois. I began this day with a bad sunburn on my lower back that came from wedding in my strawberry patch for about 6 hours yesterday afternoon. I hardly slept. I finally crawled, yes crawled out of bed at about 8:30 this morning. I then shut off my alarm that was to go off at 9. I heard voices outside, so I opened my window and listened to my parents converse in the garden where my mother was laying down straw around the plants, and my dad was wondering if she needed help. He then left to go tell my neighbor, whom my mother had received the straw from that there was indeed 20 bales there, like there was supposed to be, instead of the 15 that she had believed were there. I then called to her that I was up, I would finish packing and then proceed to make strawberry muffins.

I came downstairs and ate a sausage my mother had left for me, then proceeded to cut up strawberries for muffins. I started to make the muffin batter, only to discover we had no eggs! I grabbed the keys from my mom's purse, and some cash, yes she had given me permission to take some cash after I told her I needed eggs, then went into the small local grocery store. I came back and made my muffins, which came out very tasty by the way.

We had lunch, me having some salad and tuna salad so it wouldn't go to waste while my mom and I are away for the week. My grandma and Frank came when I was finishing my salad. I then had to run around looking for my hoodie, which I never found, nor do I think I will actually need, but we shall see. We hit the road at about 11:30 or so. We stopped for a late lunch at Cracker Barrel where we met with Frank's sister, son and his wife and her daughter. Then we hit the road again, arriving at our motel at around 8:00 our time, but only 7:00 their time. I had to reset the clock on my laptop. I searched the room until I found the ethernet jack, which thankfully I thought to pack my ethernet cord into my new messenger/laptop bag that I bought.

My bag is this cute dark brown messenger bag that I bought about two days ago I think for 1/4 the price I thought that I would. I like it very much so, and am looking to use it as my backpack at college this coming year. Is it September yet, I ask you. I shall arrive in Louisiana on Friday and be there until Monday morning. Arriving home some time on Wednesday night. Then Thursday I leave to see my lovely Sarah, then see Laura on Friday, then go to another wedding Friday evening, crash at my ex-roomie's place, then hopefully hang with her next Saturday!

Now, for some interesting tidbits from my journey today. For one, my stomach can't handle plain V-8 juice, at least not from a can....when it isn't ice cold. I know I can handle it ice cold from a plastic bottle because I've had it before. When I took one drink I immediately felt sick to my stomach. I had the taste of it in my mouth for about a half hour until I had the common sense to eat another Strawberry muffin. I did a couple crossword puzzles, asked my grandma a little bit about her family, and began to read The Old Man and The Sea. I bought the book at a Goodwill a few months ago I do believe, maybe longer ago. It has been among the many books I currently own but have not read. I do hope to change that this summer, but with how much I've been working outside I do not know how much reading I shall do.

Trying to sit in a car, or anywhere for that matter when you have sunburn on your very low back is very hard. You can't sit with your lower back against anything. It becomes irritating very quickly. I had a truck driver wave at me at one point, it was a younger driver too, not one of those older ones. I have just noticed that my bag is the largest one that has come on this trip. I also think I brought more clothes than normal. I could have put it all in a duffel bag, but I wanted to make sure I was ready for anything. Which is very strange for me, normally I am the lightest packer compared to most people I travel with. Anyway, I do suppose this has become long enough and I have to find something for them to watch on the television. I can't wait to get back on the road tomorrow. I find I really like to travel.

The Climb

I've always felt that music is a big part of life. It can help you express yourself in ways that are sometimes better than the ways in which you yourself can express yourself. You can use music to show someone how much you care, or that you are there, how you feel. Music can affect your mood mere moments. I use it to keep myself calm when I feel like breaking down, or to keep myself happy, or make myself happy when I'm feeling down.

Sometimes when I would find a song that seemed to fit my life perfectly (or almost perfectly) I would put the lyrics to it in my diary. That's how it is currently with The Climb by Miley Cyrus. I always turn it up and sing along whenever it comes on. I know I'm not alone in doing so. I decided that if people weren't familiar with this song that currently describes my life, I should post the lyrics. You'll find them below.

On Friday night, Miguel sent me an invitation to our mutual friend Isaac's wedding. I was happy to discover upon reading it that the wedding was happening only an hour from my house. As well as to find two of my better guy friends from college would be in attendance. On Sunday I arrived to the wedding a half hour before it was scheduled to begin. Matt and Thad seemed happy to see me. We hung around each other the entire time, I dubbed us "The Cornerstone Trio." The ceremony was awesome, Cali looked amazing. She and Isaac are so sweet and awesome together.

The reception consisted of swing dancing and strawberry shortcake. Matt and Thad took turns dancing with me, I apparently do well at following as I've never swing danced before. Matt even dipped me twice, it was slightly awkward as I was confused as to what was going on the first time he dipped me. It was a lot of fun though. Matt says Thad and I have to go downtown Swing Dancing next year. I think it'll be cool.








I can almost see it

That dream I am dreaming

But there's a voice inside my head

saying"You'll never reach it"



Every step I'm taking

Every move I make feels

Lost with no direction

My faith is shaking



But I gotta keep trying

Gotta keep my head held high



There's always gonna be another mountain

I'm always gonna wanna make it move

Always gonna be a uphill battle

Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose



Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb



The struggles I'm facing

The chances I'm taking

Sometimes might knock me down

But no, I'm not breaking



I may not know it

But these are the moments

thatI'm gonna remember most, yeah

Just gotta keep going



And I, I got to be strong

Just keep pushing on



'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain

I'm always gonna wanna make it move

Always gonna be a uphill battle

Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose



Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb, yeah!



There's always gonna be another mountain

I'm always gonna wanna make it move

Always gonna be an uphill battle

Somebody's gonna have to lose



Ain't about how fast I get there

Ain't about what's waiting on the other side

It's the climb, yeah!



Keep on moving,

keep climbing

Keep the faith, baby



It's all about,

it's all about the climb

Keep the faith,

keep your faith, whoa