ROAD TRIP

Please...
Don't pop my beautiful and colorful baloon with your icy needles...

I have a friend who encourages me to dream... and the other she and I spent an entire afternoon dreaming about the road trip we know we will never take together... but still we promised each other that some day we will... and that put a smile in our faces... we promised to visit all kinds of charming little towns, sleep in roadside motels with personality and sample the best small town cooking these united states have to offer...

Every great journey must start with our backs to the sea...

We'll start in Galveston, Texas (just 50 miles south of Houston, TX) with a delicious red lobster dinner at Gaidos, one of my personal favorites, to kick off the new adventure with style followed by a leisure seaside walk under the star spangled early fall sky...

then we're off on the road... 8 hours later we'll be in New Orleans eating shrimp po boys, downing Hurricanes, jazzing it up and experiencing a real voodoo ritual... after that, and for the next 10 hours, we'll be cruising through the Mississippi Gold Coast on our way to Tampla, FL where we'll pay a quick refreshing visit to Cypress Gardens... Then, it's a 6 hour drive to Key West, FL for some key lime pie and a visit to the US's southernmost point and Hemingway's house... Next, it's just 4 hours back to Miami Beach, FL... After a night out dining and dancing at South Beach, we take the Florida Turnpike for 4 hours to Orlando, FL where we'll spend a couple of days giving Mickey a hug, visiting Universal Studios and dining at theme restaurants such as Medieval Times... On the road again for 7 hours to Atlanta, Georgia to visit the Coca-Cola Museum and the CNN studios... Then, we'll drive north for 5 hours to catch a show and some BBQ at the Grand Ole Opry in Music City USA:Nashville, TN... The next day, and after just 4 hours on the road, we'll be looking for the ghost of Elvis walking in Memphis with our feet ten feet off of Beale...

Following, it's just 4 hours to the gateway to the west: St. Louis where we'll get some Budweisers right off the barrel and have a big mac on a riverboat... In 3 hours, we'll stop in Champaign-Urbana for a trip down memory lane and a visit to my alma mater... go Orange and Blue!... then, in 3 more hours we'll be driving around the Indy 500 racetrack in Indianapolis, Indiana... After that, in 2 hours we'll be having chilly on spaghetti Cincinnati style... Later, it'll take us 4 hours to get to the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio to find out if it really rocks... Now, it's 4 hours off to Pittsburgh, PA and another 4 hours to DC... After an enriching visit to the the nation's capital and the Smithsonian, we're on the road again on our way past Maryland and Delaware to Philadelphia, where we'll stop for a Philly Steak under the Liberty Bell before headin' out to the Big Apple.

Ah.. if you can make it there, you'll make it every where...

After a couple of days giving our regards to Broadway, visiting Lady Liberty and catching the sunset at the Empire State, we'll leave New York and in 5 hours, after passing through the beautiful Connecticut country side, we'll be in Bean Town - Boston, Massachussets. Then, we take an unexpected turn and take the I-90 towards Albany, NY and Niagara Falls crossing the border into Canada in about 8 hours... then, it's only 4 more hours to Toronto. After we have dined at the World's highest rotating restaurant atop the Canadian National Tower, it'll take us 5 hours to get back in the US via Detroit, Michigan... We'll border Lake Michigan to Chicago, my kinda town... Chicago is... where we'll visit Navy Pier, the Sears Tower and the Starkel Planetarium...

Now, we take the I-94 for 2 hours to Milwaukee, Wisconsin... Hello Wisconsin!... Then it's off to the Mall of America in Minneapolis/St. Paul... Another 8 hours put us in at the bottom of Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota... From there, another 9 hours and we'll be visiting the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming... Next, and after a leisure mountain drive of 6 hours, we'll be in Salt Lake City, Utah for some scrumptions Huckleberry pie.

Then, it's southward 10 hours towards Flagstaff Arizona to visit the Grand Canyon on our way to Las Vegas, Nevada where we'll try not to lose our shirts. If we got any money left after that, we'll probably lose it after we make it all the way to Reno, Nevada anyway... From there it's 4 hours down to the city by the bay (San Francisco) to visit old friends and the catch of the day at Fisherman's Wharf... if we don't leave our heart there, we'll see if after 6 hours on I-6 we love LA, where we'll say goodbye to Hollywood.

Finally, we're eastbound 2 short hours to San Diego for a quick visit to the Zoo. After that, it's 13 hours to Santa Fe, New Mexico via Phoenix, Arizona. From Santa Fe, we'll turn left on Albuquerque and follow I-25 on down for 6 hours to El Paso, Texas on our way to San Antonio. where we'll remember the Alamo. And finally, we'll head off to Houston to come full circle.


STUPID LITTLE DREAMER

I'm a dreamer... a stupid little dreamer... I need to keep my dreams and illusions, however fantastic, alive because they feed off my soul. I need to have high hopes, apple-pie-in-the-sky hopes... I believe in the ways of magic...I believe in miracles... I believe that the power of love, when it's real, can make the impossible possible... I believe that given the right circumstances a door could open for me... I believe that someday we'll make that road trip... I believe that this fat pathetic loser can eventually get the girl and win the jackpot... even if it's a minus 1 million probability of actually happening... All I needed was a promise of hope... All I wanted was a piece of the night... I never got an equal share... All I wanted was a spot in the light... It didn't need to get so dark...

Aw... what's the point?
Life's not fair.
I'm the jerk.
She loves me not.

DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE EGO AND THE ALTER EGO

Today, I'm sick and tired of everything. I'm sick and tired of unsuccesfully making ends meet. I'm sick and tired of wondering each month where I am going to get the money to survive. I'm sick and tired of surviving. I'm sick and tired of this country. I'm sick and tired of not having time to myself. I'm sick and tired of not being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I'm sick and tired of not being selfish. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Take heed, my boy, 'cause a new hope is being born. Many people have experienced bankruptcy, lost their homes and material possessions only to change tactics and create great wealth and success. The clearing away of the old often makes way for the new. Divorce or being fired from a job could be devastating, yet for many people such experiences led to them achieving more than they ever dreamed of because they pursued a different path as a result.

This is a travesty. You stand at the gate (and there you wait) hoping to gain admission.. How long are you willing to wait (and wait and wait)? She won't give permission tonight... again. The trouble is you're knocking on all the wrong doors.

Once again, my boy, you're wrong. Don't you know that life is interesting?... everything is possible... you should know better... even angels fall in love with people like you... don't be cruel to yourself... let her reformulate your world again... let her colorize your gray life like she once did... dream again... live again... believe again... take out the camera again... play again... have fun again... get seduced again... take it to the limit again... trust her when she says she loves you... she really means it... and trust that the game is not over until it's over... and that circumstances can eventually change... doors can open when least expected... there are still many miles to go on the road... sit back and enjoy the trip.