Going with the flow

Well, Hello, My name is Nathan and I work for the circus
Ok, I felt I had to introduce myself since it's been a virtual epoc since I've last posted. Yes, I'm still ok, it's just been a pretty intense past 4 or 5 months. Basically, so often it feels like I'm living life at a million miles an hour and eventually the rest of me will catch up. I've been trying to experience every oportunity that is possible or comes my way. Now, I know this sounds like I'm burning the candle at both ends, but the way i see it, you only live once on this earth and very few are blessed with the chance I've been given to see and experience so many things. Often I feel so overly stimulated that it pretty much overloads my ability to process and fully comprehend what I'm part of. I feel that some day when things slow down in my life (perhaps less adventurous? nah, I doubt I'll ever lose my zest for adventure) I'll fully be able to process and make sense of everything I've done and seen. So where, what, and when over the past months?
create your own visited states map
Well, I'm sure I could fill a sizable tome with that info, but in short; since my blog entry in April I've completly circled the entire US east of the mississippi river, flown in a plane to play a weekend wedding in Wasington DC, I've eaten some of the best cajun and creole food on earth, I've seen so many places on the bike (put a good 7000 miles on since that April posting), I've visited old friends, made so many new ones, visited family, and even expanded my coffee repertoire (almost at 160 reviews now, the podcast is coming soon.....as soon as I can figure how to post with RSS), I've crossed all the major rivers in the eastern US (sometimes more than once), I've learned a lot more about myself (as scary as that sounds) and what my body can and can't handle, I've seen marriages, celebrated anniverseries and birthdays, partied with the Bulgarians, finally had a real Geno's cheesesteak again, gravity always wins, replaced ANOTHER rear tire on the house, installed a new shower door and water faucet assembly, finally invested in a new convection microwave, driven through 19 states, partied with the bulgarians, bought a new trumpet, got new glasses (finally), fought an ant war (so far I'm still winning), ate lunch at the highest point east of the Mississippi river (i.e.Mt. Mitchell), been frightened by a clown posing as the easter bunny, had 3 haircuts (one barber who was 88 years old even came to see the show!), slept at a youth hostel in New Orleans, finally nailed a high F#, gave 6 people their first mototcycle ride (one of which bought a bike of his own soon afterwards :-) ), visited an aquarium in the middle of the smoky mountains with a girl from Ireland, did the historic triangle in a day, visited my great great great great grandfather's cabin in Indiana, learned the CORRECT way to pronounce Mobile, AL (i.e. phonetically moh-BEEL.....thanks anna), visited the Kosciusko house in Philly and the town of Kosciusko, MS, visited glow-in-the-dark gnomes, attended the international tarpon rodeo, finally got a pump-driven espresso machine to start experimenting, realized that most people don't do what they say they'll do or say what they mean, learned not to drive motorcycles through flooded roads, seen first hand how poor a lot of this country is, saw a tree fall on a car, and had lunch on an army base..........yeah, I guess I keep myself busy. So, today finds me typing to you all from a little place called Columbia Cafe here in Shereveport, LA. It's a little place on the corner of Creswell and Kings Hwy that has an upscale cafe feel. I'm sitting here in the more "cafe" part of the place where in front of me there is a giant mosaic of coffee beans growing in Columbia (I presume).....interesting, a few pieces of mirrors in the mosaic and it would be Philly style. Anyhow, we're here this week and it's toasty, but at least we're not in a farm field in a middle of a swamp like last week. Yup, that's right, last week there wasn't enough room by the venue for all of our rigs so we were all parked a few miles away at a "horse park" campground. Well, after turning into the main course for the local bug population the night I got in and unpacked, I knew it was going to be an icky week. Long week short.....I didn't like Baton Rouge, among many other reasons, the coffee scene was lame, it rained more than Seattle (and flooded each time it rained as well, hence my chain coming off the rear sprocket when I tried riding through 2 feet of water). So, like I always say, every city has a vibe, and Baton Rouge was less than stellar. I think the highlight of the week for me was getting to spend some quality time in New Orleans. I went down for a day and a half and stayed in the India House youth hostel. Hostelling in the states always has a unique feel for because 1)natives of this country don't usually stay there and 2)from past experience I inately associate hostelling with travelling in Europe somewhere. But this was a really great place; it was clean, laid back, cool people, and best of all it was budget priced (which always tickles my thrifty gene) All in all in was a good time in the "big easy", I got to try some seafood, saw most of the historic landmarks, had some decent coffee (I tried about 4 places), got to hear the Rebirth Brass Band, and met some new friends (we'll call them stacy and lucy to protect their identity). Anyhow, it was a good time all around. Turns out Lucy works for the city real estate records office and was telling me a lot of first hand accounts from Katrina. You see and hear a lot of stuff on the TV, but in chatting with her it reminded me how much of a spin is put on everything we're fed. Whenever you have the chance to talk with someone one was actually there, do it. Same thing with a good friend of mine who served in Iraq. You get a certain doctored picture of actual events in the media, but to hear the inside scoop, the unedited version from a first hand account, well, you start to get the picture. Anyhow, visiting the city was a definate highlight of the week and I look forward to getting back there soon to check out a whole lot more of the coffee that's happening there. When I was doing some of the research for the cafes down there I began to realize that New Orleans is really the Seattle of the South and South East US. Anyhow, I'll save my coffee musings for my other blog. This week we're in Shreverport, LA. So far it doesn't seem like too much is happening in this city, but at least the lot is level and not full of ants. So, till next blog, keep your stick on the ice.