West

on the road again! 

must have road trippin combination

Kansas. from mid-missouri to colorado, there's a whole lot of kansas to be seen. 

Just over the CO border, in a very small town called Limon, gerty the trusty golf, broke down. 

We pulled into a big rig mechanic shop because they were the only ones who would know what was up with her Diesel engine--several big and tough big rig mechanics stood around Gerty's engine and laughed, she's done for! Not the news we wanted to hear. I doodled while ben googled. 

We loaded up for Colorado Springs for the repair.

the 24 is one of the most beautiful stretches of road. Till ya hit the kind of sprawl that puts Phoenix to shame. There are some pretty mountains framing the sprawl. And...

it turns out they have over 100 miles of urban biking trails!  That can take you to places like Garden of the Gods!  And beacon in the night, thank the whole food gods, the only whole foods in the region was within walking distance of motel that was otherwise fast food heaven or hell, depending on your orientation. So we made the best of our time, got Gerty on the road, and met some good folks in the "Springs". Pete. Tina. Deborah. Ben even played a tune for the VW crew. One of the highlights of our stay. 

then off we were and the drive to durango was some of the most beautiful highway I've been on. rainbows, the Arkansas river--this photo was taken with an iphone...so you can only imagine. 

Made it to Durango in time for last call at Steamworks Brewery. Whew. 

links I'm loving lately

Charley Haden remembered on Fresh Air -- one of my favorite episodes of all time.

For road trippers and podcast addicts: the New Yorker Fiction podcast is a great new find for me. 

This I Wear -- fashion, the next sustainability frontier

And Zadie's Smiths 10 rules of writing found on Brain Pickings: (also check out Kurt Vonnegut's 8 rules for a great story)

1. When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.
2. When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.
3. Don’t romanticise your ‘vocation’. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no ‘writer’s lifestyle’. All that matters is what you leave on the page.
4. Avoid your weaknesses. But do this without telling yourself that the things you can’t do aren’t worth doing. Don’t mask self-doubt with contempt.
5. Leave a decent space of time between writing something and editing it.
6. Avoid cliques, gangs, groups. The presence of a crowd won’t make your writing any better than it is.
7. Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.
8. Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.
9. Don’t confuse honours with achievement.
10. Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand — but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied.