Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Hoofin' it, Day 1: Miami to Orlando

As you can see, my road trip has a name, Hoofin' it, and it has a logo, above. If this were a new website that was trip specific, I'd probably have called it hoofinitbro.com. This fantastic logo was created by the talented musician and visionary (clearly) Daniel Laburu. It's got a little bit of what this trip's about: Route 66, robotic half-face Elvis, barbeque, time travel, wigwams and, what else but Americaaaaah the beautiful. That massive, beautiful beast up there is the life of my party, and what I'm coming home to, but for now, he's a determined mind traveler, with me in spirit.

My first destination has been met! I'm in Winter Park, which is right by Orlando. I met up with my travel companion who has one of the best names of the post 90s era: Chris Cornell. Chris was having a little Cinco de Mayo party with tacos, friends and beer. It was great to see my brother's friends and enjoy some down time with welcoming, unpretentious, nice people. I also saw the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and it was really brilliant. 

I haven't seen much but road. I got lost coming in and the area here looks pretty cute. Nice houses, a Chipotle (yum) and neat bars. I'm doing a morning tour before heading through Georgia today.

I drove up on the Turnpike - what a terribly boring strip of road. I did see three does on the side of the road gracefully munching exhaust flavored grass. I have to say, though it is uncool, I really like service stations with their predictable Starbucks and Sbarros. Today at one of them, I heard the faint voice of David Byrne! Progressive, right? 

As I headed out of town, I started to feel a deluge of emotions, not intense ones, but emotional emotions, if you know what I mean. I had some trepidation and separation anxiety, both feelings which I sometimes hold on to for too long. So, I suppose I'll just have to take it "day by day" and see how I feel along the way. My travels have just begun, so I'll have to see how I adjust. My friend at work had the best advice. In the words of Tim Gunn, she said, "you'll just 'make it work.'" That I will try to do. 

6 comments:

farrahflave said...

BON VOYAGE! I love that Tito road kills. I knew he had the tiger in him... and remember, when you get "lost," you are actually just EXPLORING!

Oh and when westward-bound, you MUST , and I repeat, you MUST EAT BUFFALO JERKY (teriyaki flavor is the best).

Emily Sue said...

I'm so excited! Glad you made it off.
"I started to feel a deluge of emotions, not intense ones, but emotional emotions" - Ditto. The first night of my big road trip years ago I felt the same way. It's a good thing! I hope you are keeping a personal journal in addition to the blog. I feel bad I didn't send you any bon voyage gifts now. A brand new journal and copy of "Blue Highways" is what I would have sent, so just pretend that I did, ok?

monsieurcharlesbovary said...

I <3 U

Anonymous said...

i'm with emily sue, except i woulda sent u a gray, plush, furry, handsome, majestic, snaggle-toothed kitty cat doll for you to snuggle on your lonely nights

in lieu of a little plushy panther here's my pathetic attempt at a poem:

~~~
That Chris Cornell is Lucky as Hell
It ain't hard to tell
that i'll be just a lil jeal'
except of course when your car farts start to smell
(then of course i'll be SUPERjealous)
~~~

Liz, i hope enjoy every moment on the road, i pray you come back safe, sound and supercharged

above all, my hope is that you be well my belle

farrahflave said...

... also, who wrote that lovely poem, ANON, you are so profound!

Stephanie Hutin said...

Nice logo, bro. Flo and I are watching Predator right now, in preparation for your visit. There are lots of governors in this flick.

Here is the url for the radio show you will be guest-hosting on Sunday:

http://callwithquestions.com