also.

i am going to miss this trip when it's gone.


lumos.

new orleans is where you go to live out the rest of your life.

i'm drunk
you're drunk
we're allllll drunk in NEW ORLEANS!

this town is wild.
WILD, i tell you.

we've been hit on up and down for hours now.
this place is a mess.
i love it.

live blues and jazz everwhere you turn.
crazies and incredibles on every corner.
lizzie and i did cherry bombs.
we'll tell you what that means in the morning.
wait i'll tell you now: cherries soaked in everclear.
gross. GROSS!

the other three lumoses are still out.
i am all kinds of tired.
listen.
i've been drunk since 5pm.

I LOVE IT HEREEEEEEEE!

Stev, your dreams are soon reality.

Hello Readers!

Well, last night we stayed in the sketchiest (and cheapest at $42) hotel to date. The boys checked us in. They talked to the receptionist through a double sided mirror and slid the money through a slot. The room had one working light and as I sit here writing to you, still warming up from the frigid shower I just took, I am noticing some sort of unidentifiable staining on the box spring where dear Kimberly rests her head. On the flip side, we found a pair of lumos-lovely calvin klein jeans circa 1992 in the dresser and a little package of sample items (asprin, tampons, deodorant) on the counter.

I'm going to just give you bullet points, okay?

- We're in Roswell, New Mexico and are about to go investigate this cities UFO claims. There's a free museum and hopefully some locals willing to give us their insight. Real Blair Witch style stuff here, except aliens.

-Saturday we left San Diego and spent one last day at the beach in Encenitas with Allie, Shaunna and Katie, Allie's roomie. It was a lovely day. Sean had his best surfing day AND he and I had the best swim with the warmest water to date.

-Saturday night was VEGAS! We found free parking, which in itself was like winning big, we felt. We wandered around the strip and were surprised by just how, what's the word I'm looking for, trashy vegas was. I mean, most of the people there that were our age were hoochie mamas and papas. We stayed for about 4 hours just wandering aroud casinos, playing nickel slots and enjoying the absurdity of things like old woman with full ashtrays and a pile of change perched for the night in front of a machine. I lost about $7 and had a rip roaring good time all night. Mikey lost about the same, Seany won $5 on a slot machine, but also spent $11 on a hero from Subway. Kimberly was a big player and played some black jack and a neat dice game (zonked-friends, obviously she played all 1s and 5s). She was up, she was down, she was allowing makin' friends and learning the rules. It was lovely. Guys, if you ever want a naked girl to your house in twenty minutes, there's no place to go like Vegas. When walking down the street, we couldn't go more than a few steps without being given a flyer.

-So, we left Vegas at around 2am. Mike and I, having slept all afternoon, geared up for the overnight drive to the Grand Canyon. About fourty minutes into the trip we realized we would be driving right across the Hoover Dam! What an unexpected surprise that was! It was so dark, so we didn't see much. However, their were some ginormous spot lights on this bridge that they are building and that was a-mazingly cool. Just this HUGE bridge not connected through most of the center. There are pictures. It was neat.

TO BE CONTINUED...

You stay classy, San Diego.

Here are all the reasons you have not heard from the Road Trippers since arriving in San Diego:

1. We have two Kayaks as part of our rental with the house here
2. We have three beach cruisers
3. We live 15 steps to the bay
4. We live 1 block from the ocean
5. We have 2 boogie boards
6. It's been 70 degrees plus every day
7. San Diego has a poppin' night life
8. We live down the street from a big coney island type of carnival (think wooden roller coaster)

That's just a brief run down of how wonderful San Diego has been. We've been waking up at about 9am and going to bed before midnight. It's great to have a full morning! Get ready for some Bronzed Babes on Thanksgiving. Bronzed like ya' turkey, I say.

Last Saturday we drove from San Fran to Santa Monica (approx. a 12 hour drive) to spend the night with Allie. BOY OH BOY. I fell in love with Santa Monica (and Allie). She took us to the Main Street where we made friends at a pub and another bar. The next Rauch on our list of Rauch's to see on this road trip me up with us, Mel Rauch. She lives fairly close to Allie and entertained us with a wonderful rendition of a song from Joseph and the Technicolor Dream coat with Mike Rauch. For those Familiar with Friday Night Lights, here is a snippet of my conversation with her:

Me: So, what were you for Halloween?
Mel: Oh, I had a Tim Riggins jersey, so I was him. I wore the jersey and carried a football and a bottle of beer.
Me: THAT'S great. But, why in the world do you have a Tim Riggins jersey?
Mel: I think the question is why don't you have a Riggins jersey.

True, right?

Though it was the day after Halloween, many a character was still in costume. We met Ghostbusters! They quickly became friends and entertained us for a good thirty minutes. The next morning we woke-up and went to an AMAZING farmer's market where I had the best omelet known to man. No kidding. The people at the market were beachy and obama-pride and full of free samples. Next was Venice Beach. Why did no one tell me how much I was going to love Venice Beach? There were performers along the boardwalk and other such boardwalk entertainment. Allie then brought us to her favorite frozen yogurt places (marshmallow yogurt with half gummy bears and half jelly beans was a good choice).

Yesterday morning we woke-up and headed to LA/West Hollywood to see the one and only Shaunna Murphy, three days into her living in LA. Her apartment is a barbie dream house. Everything is Pink -- her roommate has a thing for pink. Pink walls, framed photos of barbies, fuzzy pink rugs, pink curtains, and fake cupcakes all over. all over. We drove to the Elliott Smith Memorial Wall which was great. I've been excited to see that wall for years and years now. It was cool. I didn't realize till afterwards that we should have stayed longer. Anywhoooo, we walked to The Grove which was absurd! Do you know about The Grove? I can't explain it. It's pretty much a blend of Disney World (think main street in magic kingdom) and a mall. It was huge and outdoor and comprised of expensive stores and music playing from somewhere I have yet to figure out. We found a farmer's market, had some lunch (and later dinner) then headed to a live band/club/bar that was having 80's night where we were met again by the lovely Allie.

We woke-up this morning and drove back to San Diego with Allie and Shaunna. They spent the afternoon at the beach with us and kayaks and surf boards. Now we are getting ready to be treated to a dinner made by Allie and then a new area of San Diego to explore and make some friends in.

I've been sick for the past week and a half. Kitty was here and sick, so I may have contracted this illness from her. It's just a cough, but the kind that keeps me up at night (and the other three people who sleep within ten feet of me) and makes me sound like a bear or a dying bird. something. It's not right to have a cold/cough at the beach!

20 days till we are home. Last night we were trying to plan out or last 12 days, days when we will be driving and exploring, and realized it is going to be a long and adventure packed time. Grand Canyon, Dollywood, Vegas, Grace Land and some other possibly less Fabulous places. Stories to come friends.

We are ready to go to Castro.

(I'm really tired and would be perfectly content to stay home and not go to a party)

(Is this really going to be anything compared to the halloweens of past with all of our friends out there on the east coast. I'm thinking no.)

We're gonna go meet this dude we've met, Thomas, and then have fun.

Phillies won!

HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEEN!

Hey y'all!

Sorry, Paula Dean is on the television and I can't resist.

So it's our last day in San Francisco and I'm packing to leave! Awesome. But tonight is Halloween and we're going out out out! Actually, I don't think we know what exactly we're doing or being so that's a big question mark. I think we're going to just wear silly outfits and walk around and revel in the general craziness. We went out last Saturday and it wasn't even Halloween and people were out and about, many in costumes so I'm expecting the crazy.

Anyway, then we get to wake up early and leave! No, it won't be fun, but it does mean I'm that much closer to a good old fashioned Allie Gevarter dinner, which, for those of you in the know, is a big deal. That last sentence had five commas. I am King of the Clauses.

Now for the real reason I posted this: a new video! Once again I am amazing and clicked here and clicked there and have another mini-retrospective of our adventures. This one is heavy on the Chicago since we filmed everything there because it was Day 1. Which was two months ago. Again, crazy.

Finally, I suggest clicking on the video to get over to the video's youtube page because now you can click "watch in high quality" directly underneath the video. So if you're computer can handle that, it's a much better watch.

I'll post the info later because I have more stuff to do. KHAN!

because my childhood friend carolyn's opinion is important.

sometimes i get excited and don't want to use periods. or commas. or sentence structure.
i redid that section, for reading ease.

lumos.