A train rolls by here every few minutes

Not fake commuter trains either-- trains of commerce. Long trains that rumble by for minutes.

Made it in to Tucson yesterday afternoon. All is good. Went out on the town last night, drank too much, met lots of friendly locals, heard some good local music in the form of Bob Log III, The Voodoo Organist (Tucson seems to have a thing for alternative one-man bands...), and Peachcake- all of whom were quality and energetic.

Tonight are the big Halloween parties and concerts. Arriving in town without a costume, I stopped by the local quirk shop and picked up sufficient goodies so that I can prowl the streets of Tucson as a lounge act vampire.

The numbness of the old routine is still wearing off, but I haven't really settled into my traveling groove yet either. I need to be patient for inspiration.

Otherwise, it's been a good day. Ate a yummy creamcheese and lox omlette for breakfast, got a haircut, hit the climbing gym. I'm chilling out now at the hostel before I go cook dinner (seasoned pan seared chicken and yellow rice). Maybe I'll also get a nap in before I head out tonight.

That's it for now. Tomorrow, I'll either go climbing locally or start driving north. I may stop in Jerome. I hear it's nice. Oh, I've also probably posted some pics of my trip down by now. They're on my smugmug account.

Last post from 689 Roble Ave #3B

Sleeping on the couch tonight, everything else is gone or packed. Tomorrow, I think I'm heading down to San Diego. I'll call Steve in the morning to see if he's up for company. Friday morning, it's off to Tucson, AZ and I'm excited about staying at the Hotel Congress, it seems like just the quirky kind of place to begin my adventures. It's funny, I wasn't really excited about my trip until I found the Hotel. I think all of the packing these past weeks has really kept me isolated from the emotions of leaving. The odd "this is my last time to xyz" moments have been there, but I haven't been feeling particularly mushy. I'm guessing it will be like my trip to Burning Man-- a few hours out of the Bay Area and all the possibilities will be opening up in front of me, along with the emotional spigots.

Once in Tucson, the plan is to stop by the local independent record shop, maybe one of these places. Some of my favorite music (Gelb, Calexico, Reubens) has come out of Tucson and this first stop is sort of a pilgrimage. I'm hoping that the fellows at the record shops might recommend some good local bands to check out while I'm in town. Sadly, I missed Calexico here by a few weeks. Not sure if I'll actually find good music, but it seems like a worthy quest to begin my journey-- I've never used music as a traveling motivation before.

Wow. 1am already. Time to shut down, read for a bit and get some sleep. Tomorrow I return Dave's truck, put the last things in my car, and drive away.

I bid you goodnight.

PS: One last thing-- the pics from the Karaoke and Wrestling Leisure Club are up on my smugmug account. Sorry about the lack of order and captions. Maybe I'll get around to sorting them out one day. Thanks to dpd, Damien, Jill, Bryan and Liz for providing their pics.

Last post from Cube G1-7

Almost done packing. This is fucking surreal. To all my Cisco compadres who are visiting for the first time, I leave you with this one last nugget of our great fun together.