FLARF

McDonalds again

Food.. Egg biscuit with a side of hash brown, and for j-man a small mocha coffee

Shelter.. Tornado warning and rain, so the car is muggy. This we are inside, hence the purchase of food

Wifi.. All day every day, and all night every night

Stepping back to New Orleans for a moment I want to share our last day adventures.. We stayed on a residential street around the corner from a Starbucks in a pretty new-age neighbourhood populated with some millennials and hipsters and New Orleans folk alike. The morning was rough, not going to lie, we almost parted ways. At one point J-man was on the sidewalk, sitting among his bags and clothes, while I sat on the curb, sobbing and ready to quit, by the open-doored car. He didn't leave. I didn't either. In exasperation we somehow ended up in the car with all of his stuff with an understanding that we weren't giving up, and then I asked him to drive. Things have been different since. 

We went to City Park and explored, talked things out, hiked around some trails, snuck into the showers at the tennis club, and then picked up dinner at Whole Foods. We found a spot on a hill in the park and watched the sunset. During our hike we found a post carved with words of peace and we made a cheesy vow and took a pic by it. 

As we were about to leave the park by nightfall a large group had gathered in the distance and upon investigation we were told it was a lantern parade. We re-parked the car and grabbed our lantern (you never know when you'll need one). For the next 2 hours we traipsed through swampy abandoned park paths and woods and over narrow bridges with a hundred other folks dressed in garb with a live band of horns, trumpets, drums and candlelight galore in New Orleans musical fashion, sight, and sound. 

At the end of it all, the tickle fights, real fights, and fights for what we know we have, we left for Alabama. To see whatever we might find together on our adventures.

Signing off from Fort Lauderdale McDonalds

Quickie through Alabama

Whopper wifi at Burger King

Food.. Veggie burger, yeah I got it. Chewy, but veggie and good and warm and thank BK

Shelter.. You know they got a roof, but not 24/7, just a late drive through

Wifi.. Yeah they should have wifi at all locations provided by AT&T! Works for me

Yesterday evening we left New Orleans with a bang, a good one (more details when I've got time), and we drove through Mississippi to Alabama and crashed at a 24hr Walmart. Too far for wifi access. And now we are in FL and on our way to Jacksonville for a quick stop off there. 

Signing off from Bonifay

2 wifi 1 day

Starbucks Food.. Not buying here, looks good, but I've got protein bars from The grocery store!

Shelter.. Not only a roof and temp control, but good tunes and people watching too

Wifi.. Check, and up to speed too

From Walmart J-man and I meandered around the streets in the car while I sufficiently turned us in circles and added stress to our overflowing temper bouquets. The shower at the college was a no-go and my controlling nature mixed with his already grouchy self led us to an immediate fight before we arrived at our destination of Lafayette cemetery #1. The discussion took a turn for the rude, then it got plain mean and tearful (I'm pretty sure they were all on my side as usual) with bouts of silence. Afterward we walked, disgruntled, through the remaining graves as two individuals having decided to leave the relationship behind with the tombs.

Then there was a bit with the bumper hitting the pavement, leaking coolant, a non-nap, a walk to Starbucks, a sit in silence, and an argument about coffee (which I don't even drink). After more silence and tears (the tears are always mine unless otherwise noted) I gazed at the faces and outfits and what I thought were the lives of the people around us, and I sat up, slightly smiling. I would never be the same from this point forward. I would never look at a closet the same, a trunk of a car, a mall.. How much I had changed, even while avidly resisting!

Now the discussion began, at first tensely, about change, about people. I thought I had changed to be unlike the people surrounding us in Starbucks,assuming they all belong as a crowd, but J-man asked if they were really all the same.. Or did they just think that. And if they think they are all the same and I think I am different then what is the difference between thinking we belong here or we all don't, or each of us fits in one moment or stands out the next. "Welcome to duality" says J-man. And all feels calm, and I want him to dj our road trips and navigate and then I lie my head on his shoulder and webboth agree that all is not settled, yet.

Signing off from the Garden District Starbucks

New Orleans: Day 3

Walmart

Food.. Of course

Shelter.. Parking lot for the car aka Bellatrix Lestrange and 24 hour operation

Wifi.. Surprising twist here folks, Walmart has wifi for your shopping convenience!

maybe we'll find a college wellness center to shower in today, for now we are planning our cruise around New Orleans. Then it will be off to Florida I suppose. Signing off from Chalmette Walmart.

Number One

McDonalds. The trifecta.

Food.. and free water (thanks!)

Shelter.. indoor seating during open hours and a parking lot for my car, my boyfriend, and myself to brave the nights.

Wifi.. every location, so many locations, and my data is precariously low.

This is the story of a girl who cried a river and drown the whole world, and while she.. cries her boyfriend questions her, challenges her, entices her to face her own face, and he also sometimes exudes frustration at this almost daily ritual at this point (I haven't cried yet today - have I?) Traveling is tough, living together is tough, traveling together and living together in a car is tough.

Leaving the comforts of home on the evening of 18 January 2016 with J man (my thus far travel partner/lover/boyfriend), the two of us have slept in the Sam Houston National Forest twice, my brother's girlfriend's apartment bed once, and the parking lot of a drive thru McDonalds in New Orleans once. The break from home was not a clean one, nor have all the trailing tendrils and veins been completely severed. So far the weight of the mental, physical, emotional, metaphysical, imagined, and unconscious attachments I left behind (tried to leave behind?) are practically still in my backpack. But this journey is a desire, a want, which makes it a need because if it were to be passed up then it would be regretted in its absence. signing off from Chalmette McDonalds