Oh hey!

I’ve been so busy living my life that I’ve neglected my blog but here I am! I travelled for about two and a half months earlier this year and now I’m planted down waiting to get my car fixed up and I figured I could put together a roundup.

What’s going on with my car: who the heck knows. I’m at about 218k without a damn issue thus far and it’s doing a bit of a shudder. It’s so slight that the dealer didn’t believe me while we test drove it for like twenty minutes but I swear it’s there. I got the doom-and-gloom of a transmission failure diagnosis (and a repair quote for $6k) but I’m having the EGR system and intake manifold serviced (replaced the water cooler earlier this year) since this is a known issue to cause a rattle at low RPMs on this generation Prius and I’m praying this solves the issue. I also don’t want to deal with a blown head gasket since that happened on my last model so have my precious car in your thoughts.

Despite all this drama, would I recommend a Prius? Heck yes! I made it so far in this great car and I would invest anything to keep my memory machine going. Catch me crying on the steering wheel currently with its terminal diagnosis but I’m going to do what I can and bad luck be damned.

My trip this year was a wonderful reminder of the beauty of the country, the friendships I’ve made while living this zany life of traveling over the past five years, and the gratitude I feel at the freedom my work affords me. I visited a ton of familiar haunts and tried a few new things, too.

After my trip out, I landed in Moab and hermitted for a month, seeing some old friends and making some new ones. I also grabbed a gym membership and became a regular at water aerobics, which was bomb.

I’d like to say I took it easy and it certainly looks like it in the photos but the reality is I’m married to my job and spend way too much time working. But, everything in Moab is majestic even the view from the grocery store parking lot. So it’s easy to look eventful in photos.

One of my favorite days in Moab was when I hiked to delicate arch for the hundredth time (probably the third time in a week) and met this awesome Boomer couple. I usually get to yapping with folks while on delicate (where I meet some of fave homies) and I was telling this couple the things they should check out while in Arches and in town in general. We spent the rest of the day touring Arches together and were yapping about the park, its history, and our work — in the same field! They were super cool and invited me to dinner, and then we spent the entire next day touring Canyonlands together. I’m so grateful for such nice company — it’s so rewarding to see these grand places through others’ eyes.

This was good preparation for my parents to visit, finally, after I’ve been hounding them to come out for years. We did much the same and saw a lot of sights over a long weekend.

I also did a new (to me!) hike, at Fisher Towers off 128. It was moderate, but I almost fainted at the end of the trail for whatever reason. I was hiking near a nurse who was awesome and encouraging, and then we had lunch together! I recommend this hike despite my physical non-prowess, and it has a ladder on the trail that’s massively more horrifying than the one on Corona.

Here’s a few more pics of Moab before I departed.

Everything past Moab was a hot skip. I zipped down through Monument Valley to Phoenix just to grab a Sonoran hot dog (my love) before hitting Joshua tree to see a hot babe.

Then I crept up California and drove through the most miraculous Microsoft Windows background you’ve ever fucking seen. This is the place I am MOST excited to revisit next year when I’m not in a huge hurry.

I hitched up with my Fresno friends who I met at a hot spring in 2021! It was their annual porchfest and I finally got to see it. Basically everyone plays music all day on their porches and people wander around and get trashed. I had a great time.

Some fuckin yokel oversprayed all over my car so I had to plant down and get the entire thing scrubbed. But once I was more mobile, I checked out Yosemite again, which never disappoints.

While in Fresno I received a phone call that I had to return home, thereby shortening my trip by a matter of months. So the rest accelerated from there.

I stopped in to check out Glass Beach but the weather was gloomy so I just made it a quick pass-by.

I zipped up the coast and checked out a rockhounding spot at Agate Beach which turned out to be a total win. A few hour-long phone calls later to ask “What is an agate, anyways?” and I finally found ONE agate. I tromped up to my car in my completely soaked-through slippers in victory.

Me rn.

Of course I stopped at a bunch of redwoods on the way. The best stop out there is a long, sometimes single-lane drive through of old grove redwoods. Stout Grove.

I did the whole Seattle thing, staying with a friend who actually just visited me out here, too! It was nice and I made a new stop to Deception Pass. I was also so glad to visit my beloved Langley on Whidbey Island. I had marinated tofu for the first time and I immediately made it the moment I returned home.

Then began the arduous drive home. I drove from the West coast to the East coast in about 3.5 days, which was crazy-making spending 16hrs in my car driving daily. But I wanted to just get home and hit my couch so hard, so I had at it. I made a few stops.

I drove up Michigan from the encouragement of friends as that day it had been predicted to have an incredible view of the aurora.

Of course, with my luck, it rained the entire day.

You can BARELY. See it through the rainclouds.

I had stopped that night at an overlook of Lake Superior intent on sleeping overnight. But upon exiting my car to look out at the lake (and the nonexistant aurora), the most horrifying and uncomfortable feeling overcame me. Like a feeling of complete dread and terror. I’ve never experienced that while traveling. The hair on the back of my neck was standing up. I tried to tough it out and thought I was going to panic. No one was around and there were no sounds other than the water of lake superior regularly sloshing, but I couldn’t shake the feeling and retreated to my car. I tried to sleep but couldn’t, and eerily my car, which should have been cycling the battery, never shut its engine off, not even for a minute, and ran continuously for over an hour. I believed whatever my body was trying to tell me, and the strange things my beloved prius was doing, and left that spot like a bat out of hell and drove until 4am till I made it to the Mackinac bridge, where I finally grabbed a few Zs.

From there on out it was a nothingburger. I made it back OK and did my summertime things.

I’ve been spending all my time working and trying to have a monogamous relationship with my couch (it’s just so supportive of me, ok??). There’s not too much to report other than the ongoing car repairs. Soon enough I’ll hopefully be back at it again, and maybe one of these days can slow down and actually relax and soak in some scenery rather than on to the next thing.