The Antithesis of Travel

I watered my first lawn for the first time last night.

This wasn't something I thought about when buying a house. Watering a lawn sounds wasteful. But Ernest told me the grass would choke back the weeds with a little moisture. The hose was already there, a little Vigoro 5-setting hecho en china spray gun already attached. It felt good in my hand. I watered it all, the peach, pear, and crabapple trees, the two garden boxes, even the little nopal down by the curb.

Today, I battled the leaky toilet tank. It took some trial and error, but no more water in the drippy cup. I am the owner of a water-tight toilet.

This doesn't feel like travel.

American Nomenclature, Roadtrip Notes

I just published some roadtrip highlights over at Matador Trips: 2,600 Miles through the Eastern Half.

Such a familiar drive, but long enough to mix it up fresh each time. And tomorrow we start heading back the other way.

But I haven't finished digesting the last leg yet. Below are some notes Carey and I took on the road. Lots of back roads, some interstate, all America:

• central texas driving into the sun. elgin, hearne, franklin, jewett, oakwood, palestine, jacksonville. tail pipe rusted off. duct tape. highway 79 is long and it keeps going.
• over the ar border to ashdown. cool name. camp at millwood state park. big dam, big lake, cold night.
• tollette, saratoga, hot springs, pine bluff, back on 79. stuttgart, clarendon, marianna, onto the interstate in memphis.
• lakeland, bolivar. coffee. pantry in an old bank vault. route 64. selmer, savannah, clifton, waynesboro, natchez trace parkway. i'd like to drive that.
• lawrenceburg, davy crockett state park, pulaski, fayetteville, jack daniels. finally some mountains, sewanee, college town, chattanooga, beer.
• scenic byway, ocoee river, been here before. into the curving and drooping mountains. long dusk. bryson city, smoky mountains, campsite, bears.
• asheville, coffee shop, rosetta's kitchen, vegan restaurant. blue ridge parkway, sweet windy mountain views, slowing down, kinda lost.
• linville, boone, independence. virginia border, galax. interstate surrender. claytor lake state park, camping, fire, no dew.
• interstate driving, so fast. christiansburg, roanoke, harrisonburg, harper's ferry. civil war is heavy. frederick maryland, gettysburg pa. 30, past 83, lancaster, 222, reading, allentown. times square, nissan pathfinder, holiday inn fire alarm.
• interstate morning, jersey, no toll (sweet), staten island, $8 toll (shit), verrazano narrows, atlantic ave, flatbush, park slope. big city, bsas, family, matador.
• queens, kennedy bridge, bronx, 95. old hat from here.