arrive oakland california: 1am, jan 7, 2003

times stopped for gas: 6 or 7 (i love you, flying j)

times to sit down for a meal: 1 (25 minutes, perkins in north platte nebraska, 3am jan 6)

bottles of water consumed: 2

fast food joints driven through: 2

packs of cigarettes smoked: 2

times nearly driven off the road by psychotic truck drivers: i can't count that high

honorable mentions:

most beautiful state: wyoming. the sunrise against the snow was breathtaking

easiest highway stretch: nebraska. i think we just put the car on cruise control and each took a nap in the middle of the night while we went through ne, before we got to the perkins.

best lake: the great salt lake in utah. amazing!

most soul sucking state: nevada. i'm pretty sure we are still driving through as i type this. by the time we hit milemarkers in the double digits we were both crying and whimpering, begging for home.

most fantastic relief: seeing the ocean while we drove through alameda

best music: otis redding, postal service, noriko tujiko, the innocence mission (once the sun started to rise in wyoming), the beatles, listening to nebraska by the boss as we suffered through nevada

most comforting hug: niki.

most comfortable sleep: niki's couch, oakland's sun rising before my eyes as i drifted into rest.

good afternoon!

i am here! we didn't stop! i hate nevada! i have decided to love wyoming!

i will stop with the caps now.

the trip was pretty great. we listened to awesome music, had two days surrounded by each other, etc etc etc.

the movers? nightmare! but i am leaving all that drama and hardship in iowa, a place i will never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever go to again.

ah, just knowing i will never have to be in iowa again makes me immeasurably happy.

when we got to niki's apt, she and ken had just finished cooking a beautiful mexican food dinner with fresh everything and warm delicious tortillas and complete with a beer.

we sat and talked and laughed and then we watched "revelations", the second documentary about the west memphis 3, then freaked out about that for a while, had some drinks and just sat around and talked.

i fell asleep with the sun coming up and i haven't stopped smiling since this morning.

niki woke me up with a cup of coffee, a bagel and a smile. i thought i might have died and gone to heaven.

now i am sitting in niki's beautiful apt, on the floor, keyboard in my lap, niki behind me on the couch (!!!!), jon and simon playing RBI Baseball on an old school genesis game system, the beatles playing and a beautiful sunny day in oakland outisde.

oakland smells so good. i know that you probably think i amn shitting you on this, but it really does. cedar rapids was the most foul smelling arm pit i have ever been. comparatively, oakland smells like roses on a bed of vanilla wafers sprinkled with gum drops from heaven.

for the first time since i left california, i don't feel nervous or uncomfortable or shy or weird. niki and jon are trying to convince me to stay, and i really really wish i could. i think i could make an amazing life here.

the art work they are both doing is incredible. when my brother showed me his new canvases my jaw dropped to the floor. i think my jaw is still on the floor. the progress his work has made in the last 7 months in depth of concept and just sheer skill is fantastic. i can't wait to see what he does in the coming months.

maybe in a year or so i can save up enough money to move back here and get myself into this nice little art community they have going here.

i think that really would be heaven.

i think we are going to walk around today and then tonight we are going to dinner with about a million people and then who knows. a bar probably.

and then tomorrow morning we drive out for seattle.

i know this entry's not very good but give me a break, i've had about 7 hrs sleep since early sunday morning.