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I Can Hear Music

10/18/2014

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This is the 5th part of a five part travel blog, celebrating the ninth anniversary of the start of my new life.  If you want to read the other parts, and you really should, you can find them here --> Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

I was up, showered, checked out and back on the road by 3:30am, seven years ago today.  Once outside of Amarillo, getting up so early was an idea I immediately began to question.
Not only was there no traffic, but there was no anything.  For miles.  In every direction.  I barely even noticed passing into New Mexico, feeling a little like I was the last human on the planet.
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In those pre-dawn hours, this looked much more desolate.

This was the first day of this trip that I didn't have a particular plan.  I thought I would get to Phoenix in the afternoon, hopefully before rush hour.  If I still felt okay, I'd press on.  If I was dying, I'd find a hotel somewhere.  Phoenix is big, and I didn't think it would be a huge problem finding a place with a vacancy.

The sun finally came up, and I saw signs of civilization.  I admit that because of Bugs Bunny, I was planning to stop for breakfast in Albuquerque.  Just to be able to say I did.  And since I was headed west, I could even say I took that left turn at Albuquerque.

I'm sure people have stopped in places for worse, or sillier, reasons.

I randomly selected an exit and pulled into the parking lot of a small shopping center.  It was about 9:00am and I'd been on the road already for over five hours.  So I treated myself to an actual restaurant, instead of drive-thru.
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The Owl Cafe.  They were hopping that morning.  Even so, I didn't have to wait long for a table for one.  It was nice to think that the "table for one" days were coming to an end.

The other interesting thing about the Owl Cafe was that this was the first time I had been anywhere that had Chorizo and Eggs on the menu.  There's a movie called "Midnight Run" (Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin) that's one of those movies my family really latched onto.  It's a good movie, and really funny.  It also has a lot of bad language, so if you don't like that kind of thing, you shouldn't watch it.

Anyway, there's a scene where there's a discussion of Chorizo and Eggs.  That was the first time I'd ever heard of it, and I'd never seen it on a menu anywhere.  So I had to order it.

For those who don't know, Chorizo is a Mexican sausage.

It was good, and if you're ever in Albuquerque, I recommend the Owl Cafe.

After a leisurely breakfast, I left the restaurant and saw that there was a Target nearby.  It was a Tuesday.  That's typically when new music releases come out.
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Yes, that's the actual Target at that exit in Albuquerque.

I wandered over and not only did they have the one CD in particular that I was looking for, but they also had a second CD that I was sure wasn't coming out until the next Tuesday.
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You didn't think the Christmas music thing was something new, did you?

I popped these two into my CD-changer and headed back out on the road.  The new music reinvigorated me, and the miles flew by.
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The Grand Canyon!  I hadn't even considered that!  I thought long and hard about taking a side-trip.  After all, I could still get to Phoenix by that night.

But as much as I wanted to play tourist, I wanted to get to Lisa and California much more.  So I passed all the exits and signs for the Grand Canyon and kept going.

Gassed up again during a brief, cold rain in Flagstaff.  I had thought it was always hot in Arizona.  And a dry heat, at that.  But I was lucky that this was the first bad weather I'd encountered on the drive, and it was brief, anyway.

I was starting to think that maybe Phoenix would be it for the day.  While I really wanted to get to Lisa, I also wanted to get to her alive.  And I was dragging.  I even started to convince myself that, if I stopped in Phoenix, I could still get up early the next day and be in San Diego by lunch, if not earlier.

Then I talked to Lisa.  And she told me how her mom (my future mother-in-law) had remarked that if I was going to get all the way to Phoenix, I should just go the rest of the way, since it really wasn't that much further.

And there it was.  I had to go on, now.  

So I got to Phoenix, and kept on going.

I got around the city close to 4:00pm, so I was able to beat most of the traffic.  I figured once I got past the city, I'd find somewhere to grab a bite and some caffeine.  Unfortunately, once you get past Phoenix, there's not a lot.  In fact, there were a few times, during that first hour after Phoenix, that I seriously considered turning around and finding a hotel for the night.

But I kept going.  And as the sun started to sink behind the mountains, I made it to Yuma, which is a small town right on the border of Arizona and California.
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I was so relieved to finally be in California!  I wasn't sure what there was between Yuma and my final destination, so I exited and pulled into a Jack In The Box.  How very Californian!  There were even Palm Trees!
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With my body and my car refueled, I got back on the highway.  I tried to pick up one of the radio stations Lisa listened to, but I was still too far away, so it was back to Brian Wilson and Brian Setzer.

As I drove, I had that stereotypical idea of California that I should soon be able to see the ocean on the horizon.  Crossing mountain after mountain, all I saw was more mountains.

Then the sun sank and fog rolled in.  Maybe it was a cloud.  The elevation was pretty high.  Exhaustion really started to take it's toll, and I found myself gripping the steering wheel tighter and tighter.  It was almost like some movie, with the fog coming right up to the edge of the highway.  I started to worry it would cover the road, and I'd wind up driving off the side of the mountain, never to be heard from again.

That last maddening stretch took the better part of three hours.  With visibility reduced, I couldn't drive nearly as fast as I wanted.  But soon, the fog started to dissipate, and I saw signs for my exit.  I almost couldn't believe that just four days before, I had been in Washington DC, and now I was pulling into the driveway of my new life.

And now I find it hard to believe that it's already been nine years.

I've lived in a lot of places.  In part, because that's the nature of radio; you're hired to be fired.  But I did the math recently and realized that, not only is today the ninth anniversary of the start of my new life with Lisa, but it also marks the longest I've ever lived at one particular address!
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San Diego.  Where it's almost always sunny, except when we have a slight chance of a cloud. 

Nine years.  I am so glad I finally got here.  I've been fortunate enough to have gotten lots of hugs over my life, especially during the last nine years, but the one that I got that night, nine years ago tonight, was my favorite.

Anyway, I hope you have something to celebrate today, and I really hope you have someone to celebrate with.

And Lisa, thanks for welcoming me in nine years ago.  And thanks in advance for the next nine.  And the nine after that.  Infinity.
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Cheap Sunglasses

10/17/2014

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This is Part 4 of my move west to start a new life.  You can find the previous posts here --> Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

I left St. Louis around sunrise.  I was hoping once again to have a lot of miles under my belt before I talked to Lisa that morning.

I also really wanted a breakfast biscuit from Hardee's.  BoJangle's would have been even better, but I was pretty sure I was out of their geographic range.  I didn't have Yelp or any other apps.  Or even a smartphone.  And I passed a few exits, hoping what I wanted would be just a little further on up the road.
I was also a little distracted, again, as the sun came up in my rearview mirror, over the Ozarks.  Another rare time I wish I had my camera. 
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This picture really doesn't do it justice, but that's a little of what I was seeing roll away behind me as I headed west.  Add in some brighter colors, a bluer sky and the sun just up over the horizon, and you'd have a better idea of what I was seeing.
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I was also a little distracted because I was really close to Hannibal, Mark Twain's home town.  Twain has always been one of my favorites, and if it wasn't out of my way, I probably would have stopped for an hour or three.

But I was a traveler, and not a tourist, and I was much more anxious to get to Lisa than to see Tom Sawyer's fence.
So I drove on.

As the sun went higher and the miles went by, I gave up hope of Hardee's, drove through a McDonalds and found a gas station.  Refueled and caffeinated, I got back on the road.

Eventually, I crossed out of Missouri, skirting the corner of Kansas and went into Oklahoma.
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I had gone through so many states the day before, it was somewhat of a relief to finally get to a new one on this Monday nine years ago.  Since I was going diagonally across Oklahoma, I was going to be there for a while.  But at least I was out of Missouri, so it seemed like progress.

I consulted the AAA triptych and decided I'd go past Tulsa and keep going to Oklahoma City before I stopped for lunch.  It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I was really dragging by the time I realized that maybe it wasn't the best idea.

I decided I needed to get off the road for a bit when I finally did get to Oklahoma City, and exited at a busy looking area where I thought I could sit down to a real meal, where someone would bring me lots of iced tea.

I found a Lonestar Steakhouse, and could see a Best Buy on the street behind it.  So I stopped for a mid-afternoon steak, and then planned to add a couple new CDs to my player.

The first part of the plan went fine.  Great food and service.  I even fired up my laptop and checked my email.  It took a little longer than I really wanted it to, but I needed the break.

Road construction kept me from being able to get to the Best Buy, so I started my CDs over again and got back on the highway.
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This was not the sign that greeted me as I crossed into Texas.  I kind of like it, though.  And for many who've never been to Texas, this is probably what you'd expect.

It was about another hundred miles before I was done for the day, and I got to Amarillo just as the sun was going down.  Exhausted (and possibly a little cranky), I weaved through traffic, driving directly into the white hot rays of the setting sun.
I checked in and called Lisa.  My plan was to get on my laptop, find my next stop and get some sleep.  I'd had a steak for a late lunch and really didn't feel like going back out to forage for food.  Lisa made me promise I'd eat something, so I got some peanut butter and cheese crackers from the vending machine and called it a night.

My plan was to make it to Phoenix the next day.  If I left early enough, I could get there around dinner time.  And then there would be just one more trip to go.

I looked at my triptych again.  It only looked like another four or five hours to San Diego.  After all I'd already done, that didn't seem to be out of the question.  I didn't want to say anything to Lisa about it, just in case I was too tired by the time I got to Phoenix.  Sorry if I just put that song in your head.

So I asked for a wake-up call at a ridiculous time of the morning.  And for the only night I've ever spent in Texas, I didn't see any sites or get any barbecue.  Instead, I fell asleep just as "Two And A Half Men" was coming on.

I didn't have any ZZ Top in my road collection of CDs, but for some reason, I couldn't help but think of that little ol' band from Texas as I started to write this. And as I drove into Amarillo on that evening, I can't help but think a pair of cheap sunglasses would have come in really handy!
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Telegraph Road

10/16/2014

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Welcome to part 3, as I celebrate the 9th anniversary of the beginning of my new life.  If you missed the earlier parts, you can find the first HERE and the second HERE.

I don't remember just how early I woke up nine years ago this morning, but I quickly checked out, gassed up and got on the road.
For those who aren't familiar with the geography, there's spike or panhandle at the top of West Virginia that sticks up between Pennsylvania and Ohio.  That was some of the most beautiful country I've ever driven through.
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It's almost distracting, the breath-taking explosions of color as the leaves were all changing.  This is one of the few instances when I really wished I'd had a camera.  Of course, if I had, I would have been even more distracted, and might not have ever finished the trip.
I was able to do what I wanted, and crossed over into Ohio before I talked to Lisa that morning.  Moving off the eastern seaboard and into the Midwest made me feel like I was really on my way!

I lived in Cincinnati for a few years in the 1990's, and briefly thought about taking a slight detour, but as much as I would've liked to have gotten some Skyline chili and Graeters ice cream, I mostly wanted to get to California already.
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So I continued heading west.

I'm pretty sure this happens to everyone, but it seemed like I spent the longest part of my journey that day driving across Indiana.  I'm sure that was just in my head, and I certainly don't mean any disrespect to Indianans.  Maybe I was just spoiled by waking up in Pennsylvania, and quickly going in and out of West Virginia, then talking to Lisa as I made my way across Ohio.
Next was Illinois, and I semi-pondered another detour.  I really love Chicago, and would love to have stopped to see the sites.  But Chicago was WAY off in the other direction.  It would easily have added an extra day to my trip.  And I was much too anxious to get to my new life.

I didn't really have that long to think about it, as I wasn't traveling across that much of Illinois.
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And then I was finally in Missouri!  This was my last state for the day.  All I had to do was drive around St. Louis and I'd be done.  Since it was Sunday night, I thought it would be best to stay at a hotel on the other side, so I wouldn't have to fight St. Louis traffic on Monday morning.
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By the way, you can see the famous St. Louis Arch from pretty far away.  For a while, it almost seemed like a mirage, and that even if I sped up, I still wasn't getting any closer to it.  I was also fortunate in that the National League Championship Series was going on, and even though the Cardinals were home, playing the Astros in game 4 of the series, I got in, around and out of St. Louis without dealing with Championship traffic.

Found my hotel, just west of the city, and then took some time for a treat.  I didn't want to stay out late, going to one of St. Louis' famous blues clubs.  Well, I did, but I knew it would be tough to get going early the next morning if I did.

But I certainly wasn't going to stop in St. Louis and not have ribs!

The night before, in Pennsylvania, when I had gotten online to find a hotel, I also looked up ribs.  The internet informed me that one of the best places in St. Louis was a barbecue joint called Charlotte's Rib (named for a local TV celebrity).  I was glad I did the research, as I heard someone asking the guy at the front desk for suggestions, and he told them he didn't know as he wasn't from the area, so there wouldn't have been any help there.
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I admit I had misgivings when I drove into the strip mall parking lot.  It seemed out of the way, and a little too ordinary.  I mean, I kind of expected more from one of the best rib places in St. Louis.  Something more ostentatious.  Maybe with a giant pig out front.

I needn't have worried.

The ribs were truly outstanding, and the seasoned fries were delicious, yet unlike any I'd ever had (and almost anyone can tell that I've had plenty). 
Not to turn this into a restaurant review (nine years later), but if you're ever in St. Louis, you should put Charlotte's Rib high on your list of things to do.

I found my way back to the hotel, booked my next stop and said goodnight to Lisa.  I was now half a country closer!

Seems like I should have been listening to the blues on the way to St. Louis, but one of my most vivid memories of this leg of the trip is crossing a bridge in West Virginia, marveling at the spectacular display nature was providing me, and hearing "Telegraph Road" coming out of my car's speakers.  I may very well be the only person who connects Dire Straits to West Virginia.
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Best Thing

10/15/2014

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This is part 2 of 5. You can catch Part 1 right here!  In case you want to know what's going on.  There won't be a test.

When I left off, the night of 10/14 was turning into the morning of 10/15. 


That last night at work dragged by.  My car was packed, down in the parking garage, and when 10:00am finally came I was ready to roll!

Then I started remember half a million things I needed to do at work.  I wasn't exactly leaving; I was transitioning.  A better job, with better pay, but with the same organization.

I was lucky. 

I worked for a radio network, writing and producing for their morning show.  When I went in to give notice, the show didn't want to lose me, so they made a deal to hire me directly (with help, actually, from my soon-to-be former boss).

This almost never happens in radio.  I really was very lucky.

So I needed a ton of things off of my work computer, which in my haste to get everything else done, I'd completely forgotten about.  If you've moved from one city to another even once, I'm sure you can relate.

I spent more time than I wanted to, loading up an external hard drive with all my stuff.  In my over-excited state, I made dumb mistakes and this took much longer than I wanted it to.  Or than it needed to.

Finally, I was able to toss it, my laptop and my headphones into my car, and finally hit the road.

I had tried to plan as best I could, knowing I'd get a late start.  And that I'd be tired.  So that first day, nine years ago, I had a short goal.  I just wanted to get out of the states where I'd been living, so I could really feel like my new life was beginning.
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I had worked in DC, first living in Maryland and then in Virginia.

I was exhausted, forced to stop at a Hardee's to load up on Dr. Pepper.  The jolt of sugar and caffeine helped me keep going.  And then I passed the sign that instantly reinvigorated me.
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It's hard to describe how good that felt.  Suddenly, it all seemed real.  The old life was back there in my rearview mirror, and I was really on my way.

I chased the last rays of sunlight west, and briefly considered dumping my plan and going further that first day.  The lack of sleep started to take its toll, though, and once I started seeing signs for Pittsburgh I was ready to call it a day.

When I was three-going-on-four, we lived in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, which is just outside of Pittsburgh.  I don't remember much about it.  In fact, I only remember two things clearly.
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I remember that one night in the winter, there was a deer standing in the snow on our front lawn.  This is not that deer.  Or our lawn.  But he (or she) did look right at us, while we watched from behind the curtains inside.  Then the deer took off into the nearby woods.  Which looks like what this deer is about to do.

The other thing I remember is that my favorite show was Sid and Marty Kroft's H.R. Pufnstuf.  If I remember right, in the episode pictured above, Jimmy was trying to get off the island and go home, and the witch was after Freddie.

Obviously, with images of snowy deer and talking flutes in my head, it was time to get off the road.
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So I did.

I had a reservation at a Hampton Inn just off the highway, checked in and got on my laptop to book my next night's stay.  My plan was to get up at the crack of dawn and get to St. Louis in time for dinner.

I was also talking to Lisa often on my cell as I traveled, and wanted to at least be in Ohio by the time she woke up the next morning.

I listened to a lot of Maroon 5, Dashboard Confessional and Styx on that first day.  The Styx was actually Dennis DeYoung, performing the Music of Styx with an orchestra.  Amazingly, I didn't get sick of any of the music on this trip.  In part, because I had so many CDs with me, but also, I think it was due to how excited I was to be on this journey.

I've liked Styx for a long time.  Their music used to remind me of good times in high school (when Paradise Theater and Kilroy Was Here came out).  Now, a lot of what I hear from them reminds me of an October evening in Pennsylvania, when I was driving toward the sunset, toward Lisa and toward my new life in California.

"Best Thing" was their very first single, released back in 1972.  It barely dented the charts, peaking at #82.  Styx released it again in a couple years on their fourth album, Man Of Miracles.

So quite literally, it meant that there's more than one "Best Thing".  And if the first one doesn't turn out the way you'd hoped, there's always opportunity for another.
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Musta Got Lost

10/14/2014

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This week, and this week only, I'm going to do something a little different.  

My life dramatically changed nine years ago.  For the better.  I didn't have a smartphone then.  Or a blog, Twitter or Facebook.  Or even a MySpace page.

Even so, many of the details are still very vivid.  It's not exactly live-blogging.  It's more like live-reflective-blogging.  Then again, that's kind of what a lot of blogging is, so maybe it's just blogging.
At the time, I was living in Northern Virginia, looking forward to shedding my old life.  Especially since I had a new life waiting for me in California.

Here's where I stayed that last night, nine years ago tonight.
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It was nice, but it didn't really matter.  I had a deal and they had a vacancy.  It was very pretty, and at this time of year there were beautiful autumn colors and falling leaves.  I had a nice dinner in the bar, and the room was great.

I was too excited to sleep much, though.  And I had to get up at night to go into work.  My job was from 2:00am to 10:00am.  I was training someone new, though my mind was on the road, very far away.

I was exhausted but also really exhilarated, constantly thinking about my stuffed Saturn in the parking garage, and my AAA triptych on the passenger seat.
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For some reason, as I think back on this, the J. Geils Band song "Musta Got Lost" is stuck in my head.  While I didn't get lost, at any point on this journey, I did feel like I had been lost before this, and had been for a very long time.

I had a ten-disc CD changer in my car at the time, but didn't take any J. Geils Band with me.  
But I did have that player filled, and a box of CDs in the trunk, to keep me entertained.

Leg 1 of the trip starts tomorrow!
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Calling All Angels

10/12/2014

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I'll get to the song shorty.

First, I am very excited to announce that Doreen Virtue has graciously agreed to share her daily Angel Messages with Psychic Tapestry!

For those who don’t know, Doreen has been receiving and delivering Angel Messages for almost twenty years, and she has written over fifty books on Angels and Angel Messages!
Here’s a little more about Doreen and how she began sharing messages from Angels, courtesy of her website (which you can find RIGHT HERE)…

As a child, Doreen was a natural clairvoyant, seeing and conversing with what many people call “invisible friends.” But this natural gift and ability was little understood by the young Doreen and her family, and was the cause of teasing by her friends. Consequently, Doreen learned to deny her abilities, effectively shutting them down before she was mature enough to fully appreciate them. But on July 15, 1995, Doreen's personal life and her career, marked by exemplary but conventional success, would be irrevocably altered by an incident that is nothing short of miraculous.

Doreen had been ignoring her angels' guidance to become a teacher of mind-body-spirit issues, so when an angel warned Doreen that her car was going to be stolen on that fateful July afternoon, Doreen ignored him. After all, her habit of arguing with and ignoring the angels was deeply ingrained by then. Despite this, the angel did not abandon Doreen in her most dire moment—as she was parking, two armed men, intent on a carjacking, brandished weapons and physically accosted the unsuspecting Doreen. The voice spoke to her again—it was loud, distinctly male, and it instructed her to scream with all her might. This time she listened, and her life was saved by passers-by who became alarmed and sent her attackers running.


Doreen also does her own radio show on Hay House Radio every Wednesday, which you can find HERE!

Starting on Monday, October 13, Psychic Tapestry will begin sharing Doreen’s daily Angel Messages, which you’ll be able to find on the Angel Messages tab above.  These will also be on our Facebook page (HERE), so if that’s easier, you can pop by there once a day and find Doreen’s latest Angel Message.

Doreen’s messages are also on her Instagram page, which you can find RIGHT HERE!

The song “Calling All Angels” was the second gold record for the band Train, and it’s obviously appropriate here.  It’s appeared in many TV shows, and was even used by the Anaheim Angels baseball team a few seasons back.

If you aren’t familiar with the song, it’s about never giving up, asking for signs and calling on Angels for help.

And to bring it full circle, it’s also a song Doreen often uses in her Angel workshops!

Plus, Doreen actually ran into Patrick Monahan (singer for Train) at a health food store in Maui over the weekend!
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So a big THANK YOU to Doreen Virtue for letting us share her Angel Messages!  And to the Angels that have stepped in and helped Psychic Tapestry connect with Doreen, and with everyone reading this!

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!
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We Are The Champions

10/2/2014

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This card came up this week and I thought I should write a little about it.

For those who don’t know, Psychic Tapestry now has a YouTube channel, and each Monday I post a new video where I pull some cards from my Psychic Jukebox deck.  That’s the Tarot deck I created when I couldn’t find a traditional one with which I really resonated.  It’s based on music, and each card is an artist and a song, and they sort of correspond to cards in a traditional 78-card deck.

If you’d like to check out the latest video, you can find it HERE on our YouTube channel.

Anyway, this week, I did a three-card spread, and the third card, the outcome for the week, was the Three of Pentacles. In my deck, that’s Queen and “We Are The Champions”.
At first glance, it would seem this means victory.  Whatever you were facing this week, you beat it.  You got through it.  You accomplished what you needed to accomplish.

But I think there’s more to it than that.

And I think it has to do with that first word.  We.

I’ve written about this before, but I think it bears repeating, especially since this card came up this week.

It isn’t a sign of weakness, or of failure, to ask for help.  Or to accept help that is offered to you.  Every task, every project and every problem don’t have to be things you tackle on your own.  

You don’t have to be an island.  And it doesn’t make you some kind of loser if you work with someone to achieve a goal.

Sometimes, you’ll find that we’re all at our strongest when we work together.
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    Ken Kessler has always been interested in psychic phenomena, and like Mulder on the X-Files, wants to believe. But like most, he tends to look for, and accept, rational explanations. (More)

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