Caught in Columbia

Well, the trip has taken a brief pause. Ryan Hurtgen, a friend in Nashville and lead singer of Telepress hooked me up with his friend Nick in Columbia, the heart of Missouri. I arrived this morning around 1am. We hung for a while and Nick invited to me to stay another day. Cross Canadian Ragweed is playing a free show tonight downtown. I'm excited to get to California and especially to drive through the Rockies. But we went to a house party last night and I realized that meeting people and learning about new places is the reason I'm on this trip. It's the reason I'm documenting the trip. I want to find the heartbeat of America and tell you about it. I'm looking for the common threads of humanity - the simple stories that collectively make up our history. It was interesting in the days leading up to my departure, to watch people's responses when I told them of my journey. They would often get a far off look in their eyes, a reflective gaze. As if a yearning, perhaps a memory, or perhaps a dream was awakened. I've waited all my life for these moments.

So here's a little video of the first day of driving. Still figuring out the video editing, so bear with me. Also still working on getting the design of the blog worked out. Do you like the new background image? Ok, gotta run. Maybe going caving for a minute before the show. Talk to you soon.