temporary relocation project

It's been a blurry few days, as I readjust to the world of Portland. I got back Saturday night, and now I start the process of rebuilding my life in town. I need to find a new job and eventually a permanent place to stay, all things I don't relish. But after two months of being away, I relish the stability. Overall, I thought my trip was good. There were definitely bad times as recounted on this blog, and I always stress out about my money situation, but there's always enough good. If there wasn't, I wouldn't be going on crazy two-month trips all the time, would I? And as said earlier, I don't know how much I will update this thing. But I will be writing more, don't worry. There will be a zine eventually, don't you worry! I will let you know on this blog when it's available. But this means...the Urban Adventure League is back! Check out that blog now! Woohoo! Thanks for reading, Shawn

Urgh, not writing as much as I should! Sorry, sorry. To be truthful, as this trip is winding down so is my energy levels in general. I just haven't been that motivated to write lately. And there are still plenty of holes in this travelogue that need to be filled. I'll be plugging in a little more here and there, but I'm doubtful that I'll do it all...for the web-version at least. Yes, since I am a zinester it means I will be making a zine of this trip. I'll be using some of the posts found on this blog, though I'll definitely be doing some rewriting and editing. And plenty of extras will be filled in, including the holes I've been talking about. Keep posted for more details. So where am I now? I'm currently in Vancouver, BC where it's being nice and rainy. I left Massachusetts on Sunday October 9 and traveled three days to get here. It was long. And I had a crap experience crossing into Canada. But Vancouver has been good, though I haven't been d...

Northampton marks the point furthest east on this trip. Originally (if you read back far enough) I had intended to also stop in Boston, and then head north through Eastern Canada--Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Moncton NB, and finally Halifax. But that's not happening, and now I will head back west from here. Why am I shortening this over-ambitious trip? Well, I half-answered the question in the question. This trip was over-ambitious. I knew in the back of my head that I didn't have enough money to pull it all off, but I figured I would try as best as I could. I knew I would be making some dough on the road, so I aimed high. Fortunately, I got all the way to New England, and I have enough dough to get back home. Just enough. And the trip is starting to grow long. I've been on the road for six weeks now, and when it's all done, it will be a full two months of trippin'. If I did my whole Eastern Canada segment, I wouldn't get back to Portland until the se...

I'm now in Northampton, Massachussets (or to be more technical, Florence, the town to the west) where I'll be through Sunday. I got up Tuesday night, and boy what an adventure that was, but more on that later. I'm chilling with longtime friend Anne at her nice house. I haven't been doing much yet. I've been riding around town a bit, drinking coffee, and drawing--all pretty standard at this point of the trip. Last night I went with Anne to her etching class, and watched students futz with sharp implements and acid (nice!) Tonight I will be "instructing" a workshop at Flywheel in Easthampton, hopefully that will go well. The rest of the weekend is wide open, and then I start heading west...

New Haven, Connecticut is where I now find myself. When most people ask where I'm from, I usually say New Haven. I honestly have never lived within the city limits, but Ansonia (where I'm really from) is 10 miles northwest of the Elm City. Besides, how many people are going to know where Ansonia is? Hell, people who have lived within spitting distance of Ansonia still don't know where it is! I have always liked New Haven, and though it might be cool to say the place sucks, I still like New Haven. For a city of only 125,000 it has culture, no doubt helped by its most prominent landmark Yale University (where I am now typing this--don't tell anyone!) The joke in these parts goes: New Haven would be just like Bridgeport if not for Yale. (Bridgeport, 20 miles west, is Connecticut's largest city (yet mostly unknown by those outside of the state) and a textbook case of post-Industrial burnout.) New Haven was the place that my dad brought me to when we wanted to go to ...

I just finished a four-day stint staying at my mom's place in Ansonia, CT. I will say that I love my mom, but I'm glad it's over. My mom still lives in the tiny apartment that I grew up in, and now it's cramped since my aunt and her boyfriend currently occupy the bedroom that was once mine. Guess where I had to sleep? As the years go by, I realize how much I have grown apart from my family--both my mom's side and my dad's side. It doesn't help that I don't tell them everything that goes on in my life. That's mainly because I don't really know how to relate the life I live to them. Any time that I try to it's met with confusion and amazement. ("You rode your bike between Minneapolis and Milwaukee? Why? ") After all I live in Portland, the vegan-hippie mecca where everyone rides bikes and hates Wal-Mart. (Well, maybe not everyone, but at least amongst my people .) While I'm from blue-collar roots (and did work in a factory for awh...

I've traveled thousands of miles over the span of a month to reach "home", or to be more accurate, where I'm from. Ansonia, Connecticut 06401. A small decaying factory town located in the Lower Naugatuck Valley, in southwestern New Haven County, population 18,554. "The city, settled in 1840 and named in honor of the merchant and philanthropist, Anson Green Phelps ( 1781 - 1853 ), was originally a part of the township of Derby; it was chartered as a borough in 1864 and as a city in 1893 , when the township of Ansonia, which had been incorporated in 1889, and the city were consolidated." (from Wikipedia) It's about 3,000 miles from what is currently my home, Portland, Oregon, and feels like a world apart. I've been in town since Sunday, staying at mom's, and will be around through the weekend. It's been the longest stay that I've had in the state since 2000, and on one hand it feels good to be back in native territory, on the other hand, ...