On the Road with Bryan

Farewell to Bryan

Mike Leco — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:33:00 GMT

Some of you may be wondering what happened to Bryan. He started out in California, drove north to Oregon and Washington, then wound his way across the USA, passing through Texas and Louisiana on his way to the East Coast. He was last heard from in Asheville...(read more)

Day 102: Asheville, North Carolina

bryan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:12:00 GMT

I liked Asheville so much I stayed an extra day. In the morning I went for a jog through the neighborhoods on the west side of town. It was beautiful out, warm and sunny but not too hot. Everything was lush green - the trees were full of leaves and the...(read more)

Day 101: Smoky Mountains --> Asheville, North Carolina

bryan — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:04:00 GMT

In the morning I hiked up to lookout rock - a tower built on the tallest point of the rim as a forest fire lookout. It gave pretty good views of the long flat valley to the southeast, northeast, and the industrialization and development creeping in from...(read more)

Day 100: Smoky Mountains, Tennessee & North Carolina

bryan — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:30:00 GMT

I left Memphis the next morning and drove east along highway 40 through Nashville. Memphis calls itself 'the home of the blues,' while Nashville calls itself 'the home of country.' I drove through the main strip and it looked about how...(read more)

Day 99: Memphis, Tennessee

bryan — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:07:00 GMT

I made the long drive up Interstate 55 to Memphis. A friend of mine, Katherine, was in town for business, and offered me a place to stay on the couch of her hotel suite. I got there pretty late and we had dinner and went to bed early. The next night we...(read more)

Day 97: New Orleans, Louisiana

bryan — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:16:00 GMT

I met up with my friend Rick, who, since I'd seen him in Sacramento a couple months ago, had set out on his own USA travel adventure. He was staying in New Orleans at a hostel, and we met up for an authentic New Orleans tradition - muffuletta sandwiches...(read more)

Day 96: New Orleans, Louisiana

bryan — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:40:00 GMT

In the morning I drove south along the St. Bernard Highway snaking along the Mississippi River to St. Bernard's Parish. St. Bernard's Parish had been decimated by Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005, and I had spent the summer of 2006 gutting...(read more)

Ode to Cheese

bryan — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:17:00 GMT

A couple months ago - way back in the northwest Idaho mountains - I mentioned that a friend and I had composed and performed a song. Well, here it is (sorry, but you'll have to click the link - can't embed youtube videos here). Ode to Cheese Oh...(read more)

Day 95: Galveston --> New Orleans

bryan — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:13:00 GMT

Casey and I finally split paths - she had to get to a medical rotation in Corpus Cristi, 5 1/2 hours west, and I was heading to New Orleans, 5 1/2 hours east. We said some small things and drove off. I took the fairy from Galveston to Port Bolivar. There...(read more)

Day 94: Houston

bryan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:31:00 GMT

Casey and I returned to Houston Saturday morning. She took me to what appeared to be a very normal-looking neighborhood. And then I saw the rocket ship trailer: After that I was pretty sure it wouldn't be a normal neighborhood. I was right, because...(read more)

Day 93: Houston, Texas

bryan — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:05:00 GMT

I hung around Galveston during the day. It's a long, thin island with tons of beachfront. I wandered around to the pier and saw the beautiful old oil tankers and barges and cruise ships at the dock, and the fishing trawlers dragging nets back and...(read more)

Day 91: Galveston, Texas

bryan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:01:00 GMT

Steve went to work at 6:00 a.m., so I got an early start towards Galveston, Texas. I drove through Houston along the way, and decided to stop. Houston has an interesting and unique skyline that reminds me of Legos. I stopped and found a cafe and got some...(read more)

Day 90: San Antonio, Texas

bryan — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:15:00 GMT

I finally left Austin and headed towards San Antonio, where I had found a place to stay through couchsurfing.org. I arrived pretty late and had a low-key night hanging out with Chris (my cs host) and his friend Russell. San Antonio was hot. I went downtown...(read more)

Day 87: Austin, TX

bryan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:36:00 GMT

I got up pretty early when smelled food cooking in the adjacent kitchen. I'd slept on Catherine's couch and everyone was up very early making breakfast. They're all doctors and med students, so it's programmed into their circuitry to wake...(read more)

Day 86: Austin, Texas

bryan — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:58:00 GMT

I stayed in Austin, writing and wandering around for much of the day. On 6th street I ran into this old hotel. I went to the Whole Foods store again to get some food and ran into Sy. Sy was born in India, but has lived in Texas for years working as an...(read more)