ROADTRIP 2011: Day 8-10 Laguna Beach, San Diego
I surfed for the first time with Jason and Matt.
Hung out with Marissa, TomG, and ChrisF at Teefury Headquarters.
Saw my asian brothas Philip and Alvin.
I feel like moving back to California.
I haven't been using my camera much so this is all I have of the last couple days.
(I have a shiny forehead. Dang this oily skin.)
ROADTRIP 2011: Day 4-5 UTAH
Beautiful Utah.
I stopped at the gas station right before the border in Page, Arizona where I used to drive from the ranch to get beer and cigarettes. I was curious if the cute hazel eyed clerk I used to have a crush on over 3 years ago was still there. Of course, she wasn't. Although, the middle aged woman who used to be there at the same time was still there. Her hair previously all brown had become peppered with gray.
That's when I started to feel a little odd. They say you can never go back [home]. I suppose in a way, I desired to visit the carefree life in Utah of 3 years ago, before I seemed to have entered true adulthood... The responsible kind of adulthood that compels you to spend your money on preventative dental care instead of toys and things, the kind of responsible adulthood that gives you irritable bowel syndrome from work related stress.
Just like me, everything had gotten older evloved and changed, that past didn't exist anymore.
I arrived on the ranch, and Gail greeted me. At first she didn't recognize me so she had the "how can I help you?" face, then after a moment, once she realized who I was, she greeted me with a great big hug. That was a great moment. All my doubt about visiting dissipated. I was delighted to see Dave as well. "You're the neatest person to have stayed on the ranch," they said. They've always been a very flattering, kind couple.
Easton wasn't there. He had left to go see his daughter in Alaska.
So many things happen in three years. Moments in life are like road signs you pass at 70 mph, disappearing quickly into the distance.
All the horses I knew when I lived there were either dead or traded elsewhere. That was surprising. The party barn was refurbished and finished with new walls, ceilings, and couches. The bathrooms were also fancied up with terra cotta paint and western style molding.
Some things didn't change though. I checked the staff storage room in the community bathroom before I took a shower, and as always, on the water heater was an assorted of body washes and shampoos inadvertently left by the campers. It pays to know the little secrets.
It was a great visit. I wish I coulda seen Easton, maybe I can see him on my way back to the South.
ROADTRIP 2011: Day 3 – Lubbock to Gallup, NM
ROADTRIP 2011: Day 3. Lubbock to Roswell to Gallup, New Mexico.
I think the road changes me.
Maybe it's because I'm alone for most of the day driving, so in my interactions with gas station clerks, waiters, and strangers at random locations, I'm inclined to be more social than my usual self. I smile, I make small talk, and I find others responding as positively as the energy I project.
I am happy when I'm on the road.
Today was mostly a bum rush towards the West. The landscape finally opened up to swallow me whole, a tiny speck, a marble in a gigantic valley rolling along with a 360 degree view of endless fields with the slightest hint of the mountains and red rock on the horizon.
Driving on 380, I was delighted to find the Smokey Bear Museum. I scored a great Smokey shirt and lapel pin.
Pretty Cool! It had a really nice drop shadow effect so it was actually more impressive than the photo shows. Huge. I think it was on I-25? Not sure.
I had the notion to heads towards Flagstaff, but I started feeling somewhat ill so I decided to stop in Gallup. It's either the 3 sticks of cheese from the Roswell farmer's market or the hard boiled egg that I had from the Lubbock American Best Value inn complimentary continental breakfast. The breakfast was pretty good though. They have a waffle machine. They always have a waffle machine.
Roswell had nothing, except a Thai restaurant.
ROADTRIP 2011: Day 2 – Henderson, Lubbock, TX
Mark: I'm excited you're going to be able to visit.
Jimi: For real, cause you know you won't be seeing me in Heaven.
On the second day of my roadtrip, I visited my Baptist pastor friend in Henderson, Texas.
Mark and I worked together designing Nascar t-shirts at a little screen printing shop in Gallatin, Tennessee. The last time I saw him was around 2007, excluding the virtual versions of ourselves available on Facebook.
He moved to Texas to shepard a small church as their pastor, and just in case you don't know who I am, I continued on my path as an artist and art director.
Have you ever met someone with whom you've had such great rapport that it seems you've known them for your whole life? Even though Mark is a Christian (Baptist) pastor, and I'm a rebellious drop-out of the Christian faith, we've always shared a great and playful kinship.
I was art director at the time we worked at the Nascar shop. On one occasion, I held Mark accountable for a design and asked:
Jimi: Have you worked on that design yet?
Mark: No. The design isn't due til the end of the week.
Jimi: That doesn't matter. It's not like it'd be cool for me to be like... hey Mark, I'm going to wait til I'm on my death bed to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Is that alright?
That's the kind of dynamic that's always existed between us, the dueling bangos, punctuating our conversations with zingers and Cha Chas!
BUT
I've never felt that during our discussions that he was trying to judge me and win an argument of about who was right about life and G-d. If Mark's message was that G-d loved me and that I needed to get "saved", that was irrelevant to me, because what was more important was that Mark listened to my point of view, and I knew that Mark loved me. No homo.
It was good to see him.
I forgot to add, this is us 4 years ago re-enacting Deer Hunter at the screenprinting shop with Nerf Guns.
My name is Jimiyo. I'm an artist. I also work as the art director/jack of many trades at Teefury.com.
