The age of aquarius

...Got to the Catskills, which was very pretty, with the intention of doing some hiking and checking out some of the small towns. Drove around for a while, and ended up camping at some state park. Having worked out how to get the pop top up by myself the previous week, thought I would try it out for real for the first time. Here is the result:

Actually, this whole trip has been a scam. I am not taking a leave from corporate life to travel and have fun, I am an integral part of the defense of this country. My van is a very sophisticated vehicle, crammed with the latest radar and tracking equipment, with anti-ballistic missiles stored and launched from the "cargo box" on the roof (the "mountain bike" is actually a tracking radar). This vehicle represents the best in interception technology deployed on a mobile launching platform designed for maximum mobility and deception. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming....

Couldn't resist, had to go. Actually, if I remember correctly, the music festival was quite a ways down the road from Woodstock, which was a sleepy artists community at the time. One interesting note, I didn't see one other Volkswagen bus the whole time I was there. Was a pretty cool town, very pretty drive on the way in, as you get closer to town there are a lot of artists galleries and workshops in old houses. The main street of the town is maybe a half mile long, and is full of cool little shops. Stopped in one place that was half gift shop, half coffee shop, with a sign in the window that proclaimed "world's best cappuccino". Went in for a coffee, but decided to give the cappuccino a try. Damned if it wasn't the best cappuccino I have ever had. Of course it cost $3.50, but if you are ever there, get a cup. I don't think I'll ever be able to drink a regular cappuccino again. So in a three day span, I enjoyed the best ribs and cappuccino I have ever had. Still working on Pizza and Beer. Probably will have to be a lifelong pursuit. But if you are interested in the leaders to date, they are Legend Brown Ale in Richmond Virginia, and Mineo's Pizza in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Of course there was that Shakey's pizza in Manila back in 1978....

So I am walking down the street, enjoying my fabulous cup of cappuccino, when I pass this woman waiting outside of a small shop who tells me that she likes my t-shirt (a rocking new Tintin shirt I got in Ann Arbor). So I stop to talk to her for a while, it was a somewhat bizarre, but cool conversation. She was waiting for the shop to open up so she could buy something she needed to burn some frankincense at her house, 'cause, see her mom was coming today, and she (the mom) was a little worked up because she had just found out that her daughter (the woman I was talking to) had come out of the closet. See, she was at this store, with her two younger children from her second marriage (her daughter from her first marriage is grown and works for the IRS) which had ended about two years ago. Anyhow, she was trying to keep things quiet and manage the news, but it got out, and her ex is trying to get the kids, and her mom is pissed. I told her about my trip, and we talked about all the cool places to live out West (she is planning on moving to Colorado because the woman she loves is in Texas. She wants to be near mountains, and Colorado is a lot closer to Texas than the Catskills). While all of this is kinda crazy, we had a very nice conversation and she was very nice and genuine.

I wandered around for a while, had an awesome sandwich at this bread store on some 87 grain bread. Sat in the van looking at a map strategizing (am I allowed to call it strategizing if I am trying to figure out where to go that afternoon and where to sleep that night?) my next move. This guy (who looked every bit the yuppie as myself) stopped and was asking me questions about the van and whether they still sell them etc. and was totally into it, until his wife, who had no interest whatsoever in camping or vans, came up and took him away, giving me the kind of look usually reserved for the kids who skateboard outside of her local Macy's.

So I get to New Paltz, and NOTHING is going on. My plan was to find something fun to do that night (Friday) and then head over to New London Connecticut Saturday morning to meet up with Mike and Terri from Richmond who were in town visiting Mike's Dad. So I headed over to Poughkeepsie, and used the satellite uplink to query the database for musical goings on in Poughkeepsie, but again, NOTHING. Looking at the map I decided to head into Connecticut, get close to New London and crash for the night. Stopped along the way and caught a movie. Sadly, the best thing showing was Tomb Raider, which appears to have fully realized its vision of Angelina Jolie, but not much else. Found a convenient Wal-Mart about an hour from New London and parked the van for the night.....