but a banana in your ear

Our new song for the trip: Put a Banana in your Ear. Don't ask.

We said a sad farewell to Eric and Kate, and we were on the road again for Albany!

We had a fun stop at an historical landmark for my church. It was pretty sweet. Kirtland, OH baby! I know, for most of you, that doesn't mean much, but for members of my church it's pretty freakin' sweet. That's kinda the birthplace and there were some cool things that happened there. Feel free to check it out. We did.

We went and had a tour given by the sister missionaries. One from Hawaii (who could easily take Grant on in a teasing war. I was impressed) and one from Orem, so like neighbors.

I took some pics, but they are on the camera... in the car...

Elektra (the receptionist at the hotel) recommended a restaurant for us in Albany, but we got lost a little bit. So we walked down this street and found this AWESOME Chinese place called Awesome Wok Chinese. Yeah. That's how you know it's good.

rain, rain, go away

(Cincinnati, OH) Day two may have started a little rainier than we had expected... Oh well. I guess you can't win them all.

Although I think we are running into this storm a lot on the trip. And when I say run into a lot, I really mean, get in the middle and follow it all the way to Boston. It rained at the hotel last night while we were sleeping and then we drove right into the heart of it.

I'm a little worried about the baseball game in Boston though. We have tickets for the Sox Vs. Yankees game in Boston (Fenway Park) on Saturday. As you can see, with the whole "driving with the storm" party we are having, I'm scared the extremely expensive tickets are going to go up in smoke... or rainy haze as the case may be.

I'm pretty amazed at how much rain there is here. And it comes with NO WARNING. About ten times today alone, we have been hit with sudden POURING rain. It's so bad that we can't really see out the car. It's amazing. I was Google Talking with Sallee while in the smooshed (Spell check is really angry with that, but offers no real help or suggestions) back seat of Grant's car and she too reminisced on the awe of how quickly they come and how mysteriously they seem to appear AND vanish.

Notable Landmarks passed today? Well let's see...

Iowa: None, although there was quoting of Field of Dreams ('Is this Heaven?' 'No, It's Iowa.')

Okay I lie. There was that exciting part where I-80 turned slightly to the right, but it was fleeting and we were back to going in a strait line.

Although we did pass one awesome place of note on our trip today...

Yes, the exit for Knox College. Ah, the memories... *Sallee's Memories plus the one time I came out to visit*

We're staying with Eric and Kate whose picture I stole from their blog. They are totally awesome for letting us stay with them. We even got a tour ("tu-er" NOT "tore". "Uuuu" sound, like in pOO). This is the first time we've seen them since the move to Cincinnati: A city whose name I learned how to spell today while trying to find it in the GPS... after about 30 incorrect spellings. They have a great place and live in a very lively city. It seems like a huge place (with 2 Million people, it should) but the area they live in is quaint enough to still be labeled as comfortably rural-urban.

seop #4: road to boston

Well readers, the time has come for the final Summer Of Epic Proportions trips (number 4): The final and big shebang. Road trip to Boston!

For those of you who don’t know why Boston, I’m headed to help my friend Grant move in to the housing at MIT. He’s there to do his PhD. I know. Smarty pants.

We’re driving across country in a little car packed to the brim with stuff. It’s a pretty funny sight to see. There is barely room for the three of us driving out there. The back seat is pretty cramped, but all withstanding, it’s pretty fun.

Awesome.

We have some pretty big plans for the trip, including New York, Niagra Falls, DC and a tour of the White House. Oh yeah baby!

So my friend Frances is living in DC and I sent a text to let her know that we were going to be in town. I was hoping to meet up with her one of the days and go to lunch or just chill. We are going to be in DC on the weekend so I thought that would work out pretty well. It worked out better that well. After a few texts talking about plans, Frances told us that we could crash with her. That’s going to be way better than the plans we had. Sa-weet!

leavin on a jet plane

Boston here I come!

Grant is heading off to school and I'm road tripping with him to Boston. It's going to be freakin' sweet!

There is one little problem though. I seemed to have bought my ticket online, and the moment after I placed my order... I looked at my calendar. Yay!

So I'll be returning from Boston the Monday AFTER school starts. Yes, you heard right. I'll be missing the first week of school. I was nothing but thrilled to find that I had forgotten to make considerations for, well, you know, the whole GOING BACK TO SCHOOL THING!

Although I'm not too worried. I have already emailed my professors to explain my idiocy. I've heard back from two of them and they said not to worry at all about it. In fact, one just said I could meet him the week before and we could go over the stuff that I would be missing. Here is the really nice thing about being in the Computer Science department. I wrote an email to all four of the professors that I'll be taking classes from this upcoming semester. Within 10 minutes of sending, I had already gotten a response from BOTH the CS teachers, and in once instance, had already emailed her with one more question and gotten a second response.

Awesome.

I'm still waiting to hear from the Art and Writing teachers. Seems that in other departments, professors seem to not check their email compulsively. Sad really. Think of all the fun internet playing they are missing out on while they do their "interacting-with-other-people-in-real-life" thing. Virtual communication seems so much easier...

soep hiking... the drive there

Summer of Epic Proportions trip #2 - Hiking Green River

It's been a while readers. Guess what though? I am freakin amazing!... and somehow still alive...

I was helping my friend Dennis the other day make some calls on Monday, and it soon got too late to make any more. I don't know about you, but I think around 10:00 pm, I have to call it quits because I feel bad calling people who are not expecting calls from a random person...

Well, as luck would have it, we started to chat. He asked if I could make the final few calls on Tuesday. I had Tuesday and Wednesday off of work, so I was delighted to put in a helping hand. Lo and Behold, it was just my luck that I told him that because after a few moments of thinking, he said, "Well, do you want to go on a hike with us tomorrow?"

Woot!

Of course I want to go on a hike! What kind of silly question is that? So he had to make sure there was room in the car, so he called our friend Sarah to see if that was cool.

IT SURE WAS!

Sarah called me instantly and in more or less these words said, "We're leaving in about 20 minutes... [(thinking)... what? It's 11:00 PM] and it's going to be a 7 hour hike with repelling. Do you have any gear?"

"No," Morgan replies

"That's okay, we can send it up and down the ropes. [(thinking)... Let's see, the last time I went repelling... 12 years ago...] Do you have any good clothes that are quick drying?"

"No."

"That's okay. I think it's not going to be too bad if you just bring some shorts."

"... shorts eh?..."

"Do you have a camel back for carrying water?"

"... No."

"No worries. I might have one. Make sure to bring some good food for hiking because it's going to be a long one. Online it said 7 hours, but we're thinking about 5 or 6."

"hmmm... I'll have to stop by the store..."

At this point Morgan started to doubt his ability and preparation for said trip. Although somehow Sarah convinced me and I found myself at Albertsons packing my cart with granola bars. As I was packing, I wasn't exactly sure what to bring so I grabbed some plasticy pants that I use for sleeping every once and a while. They're kinda like warm-up pants, but totally cheap and crappy. My guess? 50 cent sale at Old Navy kind of quality. Although my dollar flip flops are still holding together. "Thanks Old Navy!" [Cheesy smile and thumbs up as seen in photo]

Sarah and Nathan quickly show up and I load my very improvised-last-minute gear (bag with granola bars) in the car. I had forgotten by this point to think about where we were going to go hiking. One of those last-minute details that seemed to slip my mind as I scrounged the isles of Albertsons. I asked where we were headed.

Sarah replies, "Well, to tell you the truth, we need to go pick up Dennis in P-town (~45 minutes away) because he's still doing a job out there."

??

"He's doing some carpet cleaning of a house, and might need some help."

Here's the lucky thing. I worked as a carpet cleaner for a long time with my dad's company, so it was pretty easy for me to get back into the swing of things. Although here is the major problem with it. Boy is it hard on the body! It uses a lot of arm strength which I sadly have lost from my carpet cleaning days. I got right on a machine and started the hardest part of professional carpet cleaning... stairs.

Clean stairs, clean second floor and 4 hours later, we were done. I know what you're thinking...
Phonecall: 11:00 pm
Picked up: 11:30 pm
P-Town: 12:30 am
Carpet Cleaning: 4:30 am

You are correct, and give yourself a gold star for aweome math skills... base 60, carry the 2... We loaded up Dennis's car and returned the equipment thus leaving P-town by about 5:00am. I proceeded to ask the question again of where exactly the hike was thinking mostly about how much sleep I was going to get after working my arms for quite a while and then going on the 7 hour hike.

"It's just outside of Green River."

"Green River? How far is that?"

The next part of the story is a little painful in memory and may have been permanantly blocked in my memory... Let me just show you the picture...

Point A: P-town
Point B: Green River
Distance: 140 miles
Time (with construction): ~3 hours

Now here's a little reference for you. You might be thinking, "Where is Green River exactly? What landmarks or big cities are near it?"



As you can see... Nothing. Unless you count Crecent Junction, which litteraly is just two highways converging with nothing there. Salina is 70 miles away...

Back to the good stuff. Let's see here:
Carpet cleaning: 4:30 + 3 hours... carry the 12... oh yeah. 7:30 am

I don't sleep in a car too well either...

We arrived and luckly the group that had slept [there] the night before was just leaving. They were about 10 minutes ahead of us, but they could hear Sarah's poor car being demolished my the dirt and motly tire-eating rocks which seemed to find delight in slamming themselves against the undercarrage of the car. Fun!

We didn't want to keep them waiting any longer than they already had waited for us, so we packed up our stuff and started to head out. Sadly, due to lack of sleep and food, Sarah was feeling pretty sick to her stomach. She said that if she went with us, she would be good for the first 2 hours or so, but she knows her body well enough that she would get REALLY sick. After much deliberation and trying to convince her to "tough it out," Sarah made her decision to stay with the car and sleep. She gave us her equipment and food and mothery concern, and Dennis, Nathan and I started down the first hill (and back up the second)

And thus the Hike begins...

[Next time on IisMojo... can he survive the towering cliffs and shear cliff wall drops? Stay tuned for the next installment of IisMojo]

rocky mountain high, colorado...

"I thought that Rocky Mountains would be a little rockier..."
"That John Denver is full of shit."

Ha! Now that I've offended my readers with a little Dumb and Dumber quote, I thought that I might indulge those of you that remain with my fun times thus far on the road trip to the BolderBoulder...

Friday (Day 1)

Left the comfortable abode and made our way up the canyon.

A few hours in, Mojo thinks that he sees something in the road in the lanes going the opposite direction although the little wooden peg reflector thingies are in the way so he can't quite tell what is going on... Suddenly is forced into a life-or-death (of a coyote) situation where he has to lay on the brakes... doesn't swerve too into the other lane, but slightly, only nearly missing the confused and terrified animal. His brush with death averted.

Laramie, WY...
hotel 1 : no vacancy
hotel 2: no vacancy
hotel 3 : no vacancy
hotel 4: no vacancy
hotel 5 : no vacancy
hotel 6: no vacancy

some would be discouaged, BUT NO! Not us. Hotel 7 had abundant rooms available and we were lucky enough to have it be the cheapest one too! The sketchy people outside pacing made us bring in all our belongings from the car into the room...

Saturday (Day 2)

Woke up. Car NOT sitting on cinderblocks. Rejoicing ensued.

Mojo and Nathan head over for the "complimentary breakfast" at the resturant across from the front desk while Sallee goes over to the Walmart to buy some socks... (She might need those for running the BolderBoulder) M & N quickly find out that they had missed the "complimentary" portion of the breakfast by 25 minutes.

Nathan (to waitress): "I think I'll have the same thing that the complimentary breakfast was... but looks like I'll pay for it."

Fill up with gas (petrol for Nathan) and head out.

Mile 25 of the newly filled gas tank: Mojo realizes that his glasses are in the resturant.
Mile 50: Mojo gets his glasses from the front desk
Mile 75: "I feel like I've seen this before..."

Trip to the National Park is beautiful. But after a quick hike to Bear Lake (not the one in Utah, the small one that is more similar to a big pond). GPS coordinates entered and we're on our way to Boulder.

1 hour later in a city called Ward, CO: "2 houses and a country store... so... one person stalks the shelves and the other person buys?"

Short time later: GPS reading: Turn Right... 2 minutes away. Actual sighting: If we turn right we go up a REALLY steep road that would be of the DIRT variety....

15 seconds later: GPS reading: Recalculating route (because you jerks didn't turn)... 1 hour remains.

2 seconds later: GPS powered off.

Safely arrive in Boulder, eat dinner and head off to the lodging. YAY!

I'll keep you updated on how the race goes on Monday, but I might not write until Tuesday...