I am writing to you from a laundry/arcade just five minutes from downtown Charlottesville, VA.  I am sitting next to a coin machine that was given a human name, Bill Changer.  I have a string of shows coming up next week in North Carolina so I figured it would be a good idea to rest up at a KOA campsite for a couple of days before I continued further south.  I don’t normally like staying at KOA’s because they are often times crowded, expensive, and over modernized.  However, it is a nice reliable park that you can sleep and feel safe in, so I figured what the hell.

As soon as I checked in on Thursday I met a kid that seemed to be my age or younger so I walked over to his site and introduced myself.  He was traveling solo. Him and I were the only tent campers so we instantly had a bond and a sense of pride.  His name was Quinn and he was from Minnesota.  After trading only a few sentences I could tell that him and I were on the same wavelength, eye to eye in terms of our views and our purpose.  I asked him why he was passing through Charlottesville and he said that he was seeking a special kind of consciousness.  I wasn’t quite sure what he was referring to, but it immediately struck me as a cool thing to be after.

Quinn looked like every kid I went to high school with, just a normal looking guy in my opinion.  That is not an insult, think about how happy the Elephant Man would feel if someone described him as looking “normal”.  Quinn was an intelligent communicator that spoke with a semi Canadian tongue.  Our conversation was never dull, and it even evolved into a four hour Frisbee fest.  I finally had to ask him what this “consciousness” search was all about.  This is not verbatim but it is very close to what he described.

In the words of my neighbor Quinn… “I am here to see Dr. Stephen Greer.  When Dr. Greer was 17 years old he suffered a deep wound that eventually lead to a severe infection.  The infection spread throughout his entire body and he died later that same year.  Just as he died, Dr. Greer slipped into a certain state of consciousness that allowed him to decide his own fate.  He came back from the dead and his cut had healed.  It was an unbelievable experience that has forced him to start a crusade across the world conducting classes and workshops that deal with his story.  Dr. Greer believes that we (humans) are not alone, in fact we are just a small piece of this universe.  Through a special kind of meditation one can make contact with perhaps a more sophisticated race…Extra Terrestrials or E.T.’s.  So long story short, I am here to meet a guy, meditate, and then see some aliens. haha”

After his description I could tell that he was expecting me to be skeptical or judgmental of his quest.  But my mind is wide open and I just replied, “sounds cool.”  I pulled my guitar from its case and I played him a few new songs that I had been working on. I gave him a couple CD’s. We sat and talked around the fire for a couple of hours until we shook hands and said goodnight to one another.  I returned to my tent and slept easy.

I will never forget my encounter with Quinn, the Minnesota man on a quest for meditation.  Good luck Quinn.  It was great to meet you brother.  I have realized that everyone is searching for something, whether it be aliens or eternal happiness, it is still a constant pursuit.  Enjoy the journey.

I checked into Asbury Park, NJ today.  The weather was warm and humid, but it was the wind that stole the show.  The gusting breeze bent the maple trees into catapult ready position and loose trash ran across the street like tumble weed in a old western movie.  However, it wasn’t to the point of threatening.  Beach goers continued on their way down the wooden planked board walk on long boards, beach cruising bicycles, and roller blades.  Asbury Park isn’t much to look at, but I assuming it used to be.  Just one block from the beach sits old warehouses and run-down apartment complexes mixed in with nice hotels and some new storefronts.  There is a stunning building that rests directly on the beach, just across from the legendary Stone Pony music venue, with a majestic appeareance that suggests royalty, a convention center, or a casino.  Its enormous size and weathered green tin roofing allows the building to be seen from miles away, you can’t miss it.  As you roll closer and closer to the beach you immediately assume that this elegant building is the epicenter of the town, the pulse.  I was surprised, and quite saddened, to find find out that the building is vacant.  The only tenants are a flock of seagulls and empty space.  After seeing this distressed property I noticed that the “vacant bulding” theme carries on throughout the area.  I have an amazing view of the emptied fortress from my hotel balcony, what a beauty and what a shame.  It is like seeing a vintage Cadillac with nothing under the hood.  Overall, it is a nice beach, with a great break, and some one of a kind eateries along the shore.  Although it seems to be financially depressed, it certainly isn’t lacking in the character department.  Less than a hundred yards from the water you can play a game of putt-putt, have your fortune read, get a tattoo, and eat a hot dog.

I am really excited to play the legendary Stone Pony.  I played there two years ago with my old band, the Villains, and I clearly remember enjoying the experience.  Built by Bruce “The Boss”, the Stone Pony now plays host  to music from all genres but, because of its size, stages mainly band performances.  This will be my first time playing solo at this venue so I am a bit nervous (excited) about how the patrons will embrace the idea of a solo folk music storyteller.  One thing, out of a million, I have learned over the past two months of travel is that I can’t worry about the venue or the other bands on the bill.  All I can do is get up there and present what I do in the most natural way possible.  So that is what I am going to do.  I am going to sing my songs like they are coming straight from my chest, after all that’s where they came from in the first place, so why not present it accordingly? I’m to honest to fake it.

I will be sure to post some pics from tomorrow nights show and give you a full update on how it went.  I had a taco, a conversation, and a beer on the boardwalk tonight. Now I am off to sleep to save up some energy for the show.  I hope everyone is enjoying the summertime…the living is easy.

By the way, there is a full moon hung above the ocean…eyes wide open, wide awake, and alert.

My Mother’s name is Susan.  I was born in 1982.  As I was travelling through Oklahoma I noticed this sign that nearly made me crash my vehicle.  Apparently my Mom won the Miss America Pagent while she was carrying me…does that make me a partial winner?

Mom…I have proof now…you can’t deny it…I want my half of the tierra!

I woke up on America’s birthday huddled under cheap motel sheets with a thread count no higher than ten.  They were the type of sheets that you could drape over your face and it wouldn’t hinder your ability to watch television at all.  In a nutshell, it was like wrapping myself in tracing paper.  My eyes wandered around the small room searching for any clues that could help me figure out where I was.  I shivered my way out from underneath the, “amateur florist meets Jackson Pollock”, bedspread and made my way to a small desk that sat in the corner.  I lifted up a guest services catalog, a Chinese food menu, and a phone book.  I finally found a stationary that listed the address of the Inn, which allowed me to place myself on the map.  I was in Tulsa.

So now that I had located myself, I jumped in the shower and got ready for yet another long day of travel.  One thing I have learned in my twenty-six years is that it is important to ignore where people are and instead focus on where they are going.  On this particular day I was planning on making it to Indianapolis before sundown so I could catch a good fireworks show.  It has been quite a while since I have “oooooed and ahhhhed” over some explosives, so I figured this July 4th would be a great opportunity to do just that.

I climbed into the familiar driver seat of my truck that seems like it now contours to my body’s dimensions.  The driver seat of my truck now feels like an old pair of broken in cowboy boots.   As I traveled North East across the corner of Oklahoma I couldn’t help but think back to all of beautiful sights my eyes have seen in the past two months of travel.  I looked down at my trip odometer that read 13,000 miles and my mind seemed to retrace each one.  My mind wandered back through; Boston, NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Charlottesville, Asheville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Nashville, Memphis, Dallas, Kansas City, Denver, Boulder, Salt Lake City, Boise, Cheyenne, Portland, Eugene, San Francisco, Malibu, LA, Phoenix, Tucumcari, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, etc…  I thought back to all of the life lessons I have learned and where the importance of life lives.  It has been a spiritual journey to say the least.  Some would call it a crusade or an awakening. I can’t explain in words what this trip has done for me.  I know I am a stronger person mentally. Spiritually, and emotionally now.  I am financially weaker for sure, but that means nothing to me.

After several hours of travel, and three emptied gas tanks, I had finally reached Indianapolis.  Unfortunately, it was pouring down raindrops and I figured that the fireworks show would be postponed until calmer skies.   But oh no, not in this country.  I started to notice a few run of the mill bottle rockets off in the distance.  They were certainly being sent out of a backyard barbeque by a few drunk buddies, however, they set the tone and let everyone know that fireworks, and patriotism, could fly in any weather.  Within what seemed like minutes there were multiple displays exploding all around me, lighting up the sky in multiple shades of greens, blues, and reds.  The sounds rattled my brain as if I were inside a jiffy pop bag that had been rotating in a microwave for close to a minute.  It was beautiful.

I am writing to you now from the Logan Inn, which is a 300 year old structure that rests in the center of one of my favorite towns in all of America…New Hope, PA.  I played at John and Peter’s last night and really enjoyed conversing with the people of New Hope, they are down to earth, super friendly, and major music lovers.  If you have never been to New Hope please go check it out at some point, it is beautiful.  I have been coming to New Hope for the past six years and it gives me the same feeling each time I arrive.  I leave today bound for Asbury Park, NJ to play a show at the legendary Stone Pony.  I can’t wait to play.