Day 7 - CO Springs to Durango, CO

Went back to Garden Of the Gods.  I stopped in Pueblo to go to the CO state fair, but i got there about 2 hours too early so nothing was going on and it was really lame because i had already paid for admission.  I got off to eat at Wendy's in Alamosa, where I was supposed to get on Rt. 25, but i forgot and kept goin the way i was going and went to denver, which wasnt too bad but it did cost me another 2 hours or so.  drove througha few insane mountain passes, up like 10,000+ feet.  it was so cool, they had no guardrails, and my car barely chugged up, and flew down, not paying much repect to my pedal work either way. there were alot ofplaces i had wanted to stop this day, but i really had to book it to durango.  i got there late evening, met my dad, ate some mexican, made my bed in my dorm room, and passed the fuck out.

Day 6 - Oakley,KS - Colorado Springs, CO

Went to Prairie Dog Town in Oakley.  There were signs for about 100 miles before it advertising freak animals.  I paid two bucks and the only freak animal i saw was a sheep with 4 horns. they had a bunch cool animals though, tons of prarie dogs (i tripped in one of their burroughs), coyotes, and well.. stuff. i hate memory. i actually hate lack of memory.  i got pictures though.  Finally got into Colorado which was so relieving.  In Burlington, I went to the Kit Carson 1905 Carousel Fairgrounds, the animals were all hand carved and painted and absolutely gorgeous, dahling.  it went pretty fast too, i felt like i was going to get flung off, and the music was on one of those old scroll bumby things, and it played huge real brass horns and stuff.  Stayed in Colorado Springs, checked out the Garden of The Gods real quick but it was getting dark and i had to find a place to stay, i ended up staying at this like grimy hunting lodge place and it took like 2 hours for them to get me a room, but it was damn cheap. and im a tight ass, so it was worth it. 

Day 5 - Marshall,MO - somewhere right before Oakley,KS

Before i left marshall, i checked out the Van Meter State Park & Indian Burial Ground, which was completely not worth the drive through the prairies and cornfields. In Kansas City, MO/ KS (yes its a city that is in two states) i was gonna check out union station, and it just so happened that there was a biker festival goin on.  there were a good million or so bikers, its was intense.  in union station, they had a display of historical motorcycles, some realllll beautiful ancient machines.  i wasnt allowed to take pictures but i did anyways and ended up getting kicked out, but i had already gotten to the end.  then i went to the CRAZY science museum inside union station, i mean, this place was nuts.  they had a giant eyeball that you can walk inside to see how the lenses in our eyes work, and i tried to look through and i guess my depth perception is off cuz i smashed my face right into the glass lens, my nose bled a little. just shows why they call me "emmo." <sigh>. grace has elluded me. i was gonna stop in topeka but decided against it - it took about an hour to find the fuckin highway in kansas city.  drove on through salina too, where i had planned to stop for the night.  oh yeah. kansas killed my cacti. how rude is that? i mean, they're cacti . they like the heat. the heat literally cooked them. im trying to revive 2 of them but my venus fly trap and the pea tree(?) plant that Ana gave me just turned to black mush within a few hours.  kansas was 110 degrees, and my air conditioner couldnt even handle it.  everyone has their own reason for hating kansas.  theres mine. it was shitty. if new jersey is the armpit of america, then kansas is america's pubic hair. seriously.

day 4 - Indianapolis - Marshall, MO

ok stuff gets more interesting from here on.  i stopped in st. louis, mo - got some pictures up of the arch and stuff. i went in to the museum at the bottom of the arch but wasnt gonna pay $15 bucks to take an elevator to the top.  i walked around the area, takin it in, talking to strangers, ate huckleberry candy, etc.  when i was ready to take off, i couldnt find my parking ticket thing for the garage, so i had to pay the max of $18 instead of what i would have paid -around $2.00. that was shitty but oh well. i was feelin too good to let it bug me.  in wright city, mo, i went to find the Elvis is Alive 50s Cafe, but all i found was a rundown shack with faded paint, barely making out the words "Elvis". i went inside anyways, it was a little store with elvis paraphenalia and a rediculous amount of slightly aged but rediculously cheap food. i got to talking to the lady who was there, she and her husband owned the place, said they had shut down the cafe about 4 years ago.  she ended up giving me a package of 10 brownies and a frozen meatloaf dinner for free.  in kingdom city, i went to this store called Ozarkland. lots of cheap crap. i stole a bunch of fireworks and some inscence and a shotglass. actually i bought the incense, it was 15 cents.  i still dont know exactly who the Ozarks are. but they sure love cheap stuff. i decided to push my schedual a bit and drive a little further than i planned, so i could get to durango a day earlier and meet up with my dad, who was on a pretty tight schedual and was driving up from santa fe after helping my brother get settled cuz this is his first year of college.

Day 3 - Athens, OH - Indianapolis, IN

yo i cant even remember if i even ended up staying in indianapolis, or if i drove further to stay somewhere that wasnt inflated with tourist prices.  but. yeah. In dayton, OH i went to the US Air Force museum, where i felt very out of place and like i was being very closely watched the whole time, but whatever. i took a bunch of pictures with my stupid shitty digital camera, which of course never came out. it was a good way to kill some time and stretch though, and it was free. and pretty cool. i made some pennys in those souvineer grinder thingies...i hope you know what im talking about. not too much of an exciting day. 

Day 2 - Brookeville,PA to Athens, OH

My first stop of the day was in Akron, where I went to the National Inventors Hall of Fame, which sounds cheesy but it totally kicked ass.  The first like 5 floors are all blah blah information and biographyies of thousands of inventors.  I looked for relatives of mine, like my grandfather who designed the B-52 bomber, and my other grandfather who invented a bunch of stuff but i dont remember what.  But no luck.  The bottom floor is pretty much for kids, which was great! I love being a kid! They had a harp without strings - where the strings should be were lasers.  when you intercepted the lasers, it played the notes. it was so sweet.  They also had pipe organs that you play with flip flops, and make your own animated movie clip, and tons of shit. it rocked.

For lunch i went to Quaker Square, about a block away from the museum, and ate "Hobo Fries" in an old boxcar. 

UPDATE: or rather a continuation of the day that i cut off short.  So after getting lost a bunch, I met up with my friends Jonah and Jesse, and some cats that were over at their apartment that I met the last time i was in OH.  Good times, good times.  We went over to this chicks house for her birthday and had one of the best barbeques ever, and drank a bunch of coronas (YES! the ONLY beer i actually enjoy). dammit i should have wrote this a while ago, im already forgetting a whole bunch of stuff.  i slept on the couch and in the morning went to breakfast with jonah and his girlfriend emma.