between the lands

jessica here with the update:

we’re gearing up to go. NYC is the launching pad. not sure if i’m gonna accomplish everything that’s on the agenda before we have to just drop everything and get on that plane, but i’m doing my best!

i sold my car. only got $2000 for it but it was cash money. woo hoo! it was not without incident, but then again, how much fun would it be if everything just happened the way we expect? to celebrate, tonight we’re taking some time for entertainment. we’re going to see a romanian gypsy band. i’m pretty excited!

i got myself a nice warm coat and hat. iceland might still kick my ass, but at least i feel ready for it. what i haven’t even started is taking my giant pile of clothes and toiletries, and whittling it down to just the stuff i can actually carry on my own back. that’s probably the hardest part for me of the whole trip so far.

and andrew & i got ourselves some train passes so we can run around western europe wherever our whim takes us for the month of october. we know we’re starting in amsterdam, and we’re ending up in florence, but that 2 weeks in the middle is all TBA. it’s all very exciting!

a couple days after i got here, i found out one NYC friend had tragically died in the days right before my trip began. you never know what’s around the corner. friends are people you squeeze out a few minutes for and connect with once in a while. if you can’t manage that, or even just make the phone call, you’re not a friend. cherish the time you get to spend with one another, and don’t waste your opportunities to spend it.

andrew has made contact with several old friends while we’ve been here, and it’s been really cute meeting them and hearing some of their stories about him.

well, i hope you will read this and keep checking on our blog. we’re slowly getting a little bit better at this html-css coded language crap. or at least we’re getting better at faking it. please email us or leave comments on this blog so we don’t think everyone has forgotten about us!

sincerely,
jessica

pic at left–thats the moon, not the sun—i promise. Its dark out there….

For those who dont know, from utah to wyoming to south dakota, this nation is more or less one big stone. some photographic highlights:

-Arches had probably the coolest hike the devils playground or some name like that.

-bryce canyon—ill:

-capital reef, some petroglyphs(ancient grafitti, lets lock those cavemen up!:

-zion, where we hiked through a river for a while with walking sticks:

-the grand tetons–much love to sheel and coleen who are about to get married:

-a way too short visit to yellowstone–videos of really hot spring mud geyser type things:

click here to see jessicas take on the geysers

devils tower(prarie dogs represent!)

-badlands..indeed:

were in philly now, all the way east…. much more backlog of thousands of photos to come, including the Navajo market in New Mexico where we discovered divine intervention, balance, and got to eat some frybread.
staytuned…

oh yeah, and heres an article I wrote about tampa bay people at burning man:

On a side note–some of you may have read articles i wrote for the New Standard news over the past couple of years. They are a great, non-profit, un censored, hard news publication, but they are having a lot of financial trouble right now. If you are rich or close or if you like to donate to good causes, you should check out their website and maybe choose to support them in this time of need. They pay me for my work, so in some ways you are putting food in my mouth(ignore that if the image doesnt work for you)

www.newstandardnews.net

ps. nyc heads–holla!!! Well be in town by saturday…

as jessica said, there was way too much to see in Black Rock city to write about. Suffice it to say, the spirit of the community is alive, and its inspiring to know that so many people are down to chill, share and be creative for extended periods of time.

Here are some video clips. As per the media agreement, If anyone is in them and does not want these up on line, contact me and ill take them down.

click here to watch wednesdays latke madness

and click here to watch collage of several clips, including a robotic giraffe, the Serpent Mother fire dragon, some capoeria, and a mushroom cloud created with more than 250 gallons of gasoline.

It barely even scratches the surface of the thousands of amazing art pieces and people we saw and didnt see. i dont really like taking pictures at burning man, but im working on an article so i brought my camera along. maybe it will help convince somone that its not a drug fueled hippie rave.

meanwhile, we are in Pocatello, Idaho now. well be headed out tomorrow to the grand tetons, yellowstone, the badlands and a whole lot of corn fields before we emerge east of the mississippi some time next week…

also, for all you fans of this young journal–we just put up a belated post about our time in oklahoma city in mid-august. get used to it people..we do not live in linear times…

wow. we just got back to civilization, and i finally understand why they call it Burning Man. i am FRIED.

there is just so much to KICK YOUR ASS out on the playa. from the 100+ daytime temps, to the nighttime chillies between 40-60 degrees. the 24-hour party you hear thumping in all directions around you. the freakin DUST from the earth that coats every surface of you body (in your hair, in yur mouth, in your food, in your tent, all over your clothes and bed…). hope you didn’t plan on ever getting clean for 7-10 days! it broke me down like a little girl, several times.

but the rewards, of course, are great. there’s amazing art everywhere you turn. some of it is on wheels and rolling passengers all over the open playa, or rolling down your “street” in front of your camp. have you ever seen 500 geodesic domes in one city before? there were workshops on everything from making your own clothes and hula hoops, to fire dancing, pole dancing, better sex with your partner, understanding the geology of the black rock desert, 12-step meetings at least 3 times a day, you name it!

i had no time for workshops though, i was overwhelmed just by walking around the villages. we rode a pedal-powered ferris wheel at dawn and were handed pancakes as we swung by the lowest spot. and of course, i saw the biggest FIRES i’ve ever seen. i’m sure it was visible from space when they burned down the 50′hx150′w dance club made of strewn 2×4’s. on wednesday afternoon we fed latkes to approximately 300 people. folks LOVE latkes.

much more to tell about burning man, but for now i just wanted to announce that we are back and we survived with not even a sunburn. it’s tough though, peoples.