Saturday, October 15, 2011

Piecing together the peace to the corps

I usually remember my dreams when I'm first waking up in the morning. Lately though, for some strange reason, I haven't been able to remember any of them. Perhaps it's because of the constant travel? I know that I'm dreaming, because I'll acknowledge it a tiny bit before I'm fully awake. Then, the other night during a show, after telling the story of our music and art journey, a man said something that confirmed my theory. He said, "Man! We'll you're just living the dream, aren't you?!"

We've been in AAAlbany for a couple of days. (That one's for you Aaron and Andrew Adams). It's beautiful, even in the rain. Last night we played for free ice cream at a gourmet ice cream and candy shop, I mean, uh, heaven. This morning I went on a run and in the afternoon the three of us explored the capital city of New York state. On the way to a tea shop, I mean, uh, Joey's version of heaven, we strolled through a rolling park, along a modest river. Words and the melody to a new song followed me like a little puppy, all the way through the park, but once we emerged to traffic lights and juice bars, it left my mind and this particular tiny pup song may be lost forever, only to follow and inspire another...

New York is beautiful in the autumn. The images of the colors of trees are stained glass, into my mind like a daguerreotype. But unfortunately that's what they'll remain, since the card in my camera decided not to cooperate recently. In Buffalo, the show was canceled unexpectedly just hours prior to playing. Unfortunate news at first, but we learned a valuable lesson after discovering an open mic night AND booking a last minute show at Nietzsche's Bar. Our initial misfortune became my very first appearance as Hazle Lee Dove, poet, singer/song writer and glockenspiel dinger, at the legendary Elmwood Lounge. Okie Opie's Night Club fans and "Cuckoo's Nest" enthusiasts would have felt right at home at the Elmwood Lounge. It felt like the three of us were extras the missing open mic night scene in Milos Forman's 1975 film. By the end of the night, the guys had sold a bunch of CDs and we made nearly 2 tanks of gas worth in tips and art sales, which put a new spin on the DIY aspect of our travels. After Buffalo, we stayed the night in Rochester with a wonderful couple of PhD candidates and couch surfing hosts whose personal library collection was so expansive that Joey and Cody wanted to cancel the rest of the tour and bury their noses in books.

Peace Corps will continue to bring treasures in the form of returned volunteers, along this tour. The Gambia RPCV hospitality is gold. I'm certain it has to do with knowing how amazing and refreshing a shower and a vertical resting position is at the end of a long journey. I'm am enjoying seeing friends I haven't even had contact with in years and introducing the guys to them and catching up, even if only for an afternoon. I'm about to discover an entire mine in the NYC/Washington DC area. Thanks to everyone with whom we've stayed and all those with whom we may stay. You are helping make our travels rested, clean and safe.

Next we're off to Vermont, where I'm certain to go into a glucose or sucrose coma with all that maple syrup. I'll write some letters for the novel and begin selecting images for new light switch covers. I've sold all but 5 of the original 16.

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