Adventures Ahead!

Brutus Capone (CrowCarII)

A long overdue introduction to our new car, Brutus Capone.  I also call him Crow Car, because he is the same shifting black color as crow feathers- sometimes blueish, greenish, changing constantly with the light and the sky.  We bought him back in October- he is a Chevy HHR, which has the same designer as the PC Crusier, but is a larger car.  I love the retro look of him, echoing up images of gangsters (thus his name).  He is mighty, mighty hip and equipped with all sorts of modern bells and whistles.  Can't wait to take him on a really long road trip- we intend to visit Texas this summer, and if the lottery comes in, who knows where we will go?

I love adventures.  I absolutely love getting in the car and driving and finding something new- even if it is just my daily trip to school and back, there is always something new to see.  But my real love is for long road trips, hours and hours of driving and discovering everything all around.  I'm sure this is a result of endless travelling when I was young, and carsick though I was (terribly so. Still get car sick easily- I can manage if Charles or Melissa is driving and the road is straight, but in the mountains I get sick even when *I* drive. No fun).  Anyway, that is beside the point- the point being that the will to go is what is important to me, and the discovery.

At the end of this month Melissa and I are going to the National Art Ed Conference in New York City- we are presenting (on Saturday morning, in a prime-time spot! Yay!) and will do the expected conference stuff  (presentations, the main speakers, hit up the vendors for our yearly supply of totebags, hobnob with others) but the best part about it is the trip and the chance to explore.  We are leaving a day early so we can visit Philadelphia and see the Liberty Bell, thus satisfying Melissa's crush on Ben Franklin.  Melissa is doing the driving- she has a new amazing momvan that has everything including room for all of our treasures.  (Remember, our treasures are different from other peoples- don't expect bags of clothing from Bloomingdales or Sax Fifth Avenue, but rather odd found things~ hubcaps and branches, plant clippings, books~ who knows?  We were obsessed with collecting bags of dirt when we did the New Orleans trip).  And that is the key to my kind of adventuring.

I'm not one for mainstream tourist sights- fortunately I have seen most of them when I was a kid (with heavy emphasis on Natural Wonders and Battlefields)- but rather for the curious odd things.  Things not on the basic agenda of most people- I respect the worth of the established, but I'm always looking for something new, which results in trips to strange places.  What I want to see on the trip:  Willowbrook Asylum on Long Island, Harts Island, Randyland at Coney Isle, The store featured on the TV show Curiosities.  The Morbid Anatomy museum (which is not 'morbid' but a collection of antique anatomical and medical illustrations, models, tools...one of the things I collect).  But I'll be happy seeing anything, anywhere- taking lots of photos, trying new foods.  (I know there will be new foods *somewhere*- I'll try anything once, almost.  With the exception of Balut. ew.)  

These adventures are so important to me.  On one hand, there is the practical-sensible aspect that speaking at a national conference is good for the career, which I like to keep 'healthy and well groomed'.  On the other hand is the infusion of experience- thoughts, sights, sounds, tastes- difference.  I love my home and my life very much, but I need those infusions of adventure in order to keep my brain catalyzed, to feed it something new that cannot be gained by just reading or watching, but only by doing.  And it is never quite what is expected, and I never know how the experience will translate into knowledge, art, teaching, writing, creating- but it does- and it is always worth it.  Always.