i just spend the last month travelling all around the country. here are some highlights:

KENTUCKY has got to be the most beautiful state i've been to (no, i haven't been to hawaii). wow. so green, green, green. so many horses grazing on the beautiful green lawns. it was amazingly gorgeous. add a car mechanic who spoke some form of english i honestly couldn't understand (mama-bob had to translate, and i even lived in the south for four years!) and kentucky was a majestic place with endearing foreigners. i can't wait to get back there; maybe i'll ride my bike across kentucky and west virginia.

in TEXAS, i saw my first tarantulla. my family is so cool--we all were excited to see such a huge spider!

GILA NATIONAL FOREST, NEW MEXICO wow, wow, wow, a huge double rainbow after the storm that almost took down our tent (with us inside it!) camping with no one else in sight, and we could see 20-50 miles in every direction. peace. quiet.
i very much enjoyed the work we were doing while living in the the forest: collecting water, cooking, building fires, collecting firewood, babysitting my amazing 3-year-old nephew. it just felt so real and so healthy to be living like this. so spiritual. you can't help but know god when you live so close to the earth.

DEMING, NEW MEXICO GREYHOUND STATION this place was directly out of a scary movie, it was such a dump: a hole-in-the-wall station with paint peeling off the walls, surrounded by mexicans who were eyeing my every move, and to top it off, there were blood stains on the window. and my sister dropped me off there when it was closed, five hours before my bus was going to leave!

CALIFORNIA has the most friendly people in the country. one day, as i was driving my 30 mile, 2-1/2 hour trip from one part of LA to another, i decided to give the peace sign to anyone who had a bumper sticker i liked. one girl with a bob marley sticker waved and smiled like i was her long-lost best friend. yeah, everyone in california has something to say; they are so friendly!
it's too bad that california is so brown.
it was great staying with sara ((e:iriesara)) in san diego. i love you, girl! thanks for trying to fatten me up!

LAS VEGAS was fantastic (i got bumped from my plane, so i spend an evening there). i met a super nice canadian outside of the bellagio hotel who saw the irony of me coming to las vegas from spending most of my time camping in new mexico. las vegas is a place like no other: everyone is in a great mood (because of the oxygen being pumped in the casinos) and the hotels are actual museums. nice way to spend my last day of travelling, and very, very different from the rest of my trip.