"If you dropped a nuke on Wyoming would anyone notice?"

I mean seriously, we drove over 500 miles across Wyoming and saw nothing remotely interesting other than maybe the stupid "tree rock" above. The military should definitely do all their testing over Wyoming. The entire state looks like the picture to the right. Would anyone miss it? Who even knows where it is?

I'm going to take a moment and answer a question many of you may have: Are Dans and I at each others throats yet? I'll tell you this much, we planned on going to a shooting range today so we'd have targets to shoot at instead of shooting each other. Unfortunately though, the range wasn't open in the morning so we didn't get to go. But luck is on our side and we found a coupon for 1/2 price machine gun rentals at Doug's in Salt Lake. I wonder if they have AK's...

In all seriousness though, we are getting along great. Though I must say this has alot to do with me not making a big deal of things. Though Dans makes fun of my indecisiveness this is largely due to the fact that Dans often cringes at the decisions I do make. For example, we decide we are going to share an appetizer and meal at the Mexican place we went to this evening, Sandbar. Dans chooses the Mexican pizza as an appetizer. I choose tacos for the meal and am immediately met with a snarl. Given that I did not want to make a big deal of the situation I opted to just go with Dansbury's choice of fajitas.

As for Salt Lake, we made the perfect decision to go to Sandbar. This was definitely the place to be in Salt Lake on a Thursday night. The place was packed and music was good! My impression of Salt Lake was definitely wrong. Mormons are not as conservative as one might expect - although they do stop serving alcohol at 1am. Let's just say that it seems that as we go west the % of girls dressed scandalous (i.e. very short skirts, dresses, shorts) increases! However, they all seem to be very cliquey and stick around their group of friends.

As we move west I've also found interesting perceptions about people from the east coast. I've been alternating between saying I'm from Miami and New York. Lately people cringe if I say I'm from Miami. The thought of living in Miami now kinda makes me cringe also for my own reasons (sorry fam, still enjoying NYC) but I thoroughly enjoyed growing up there and could easily see myself returning there one day. I don't really see why others would cringe...

When I say I'm from New York, most people say they can tell. Not sure how I feel about this. I guess I have lived there for 9 years now but I've never really thought that people would perceive me as a New Yorker. I guess that is b/c people in NYC often ask if I'm from another country b/c to them I apparently have a Cuban accent.

I guess I will just stick to saying I'm from both. Thoughts?

"I think we're going to get pulled over"

Today mainly consisted of a 600 mile drive from Kansas City to Denver. Along the way we passed Dorothy's hometown, of Wizard of Oz fame. Seeing that there was an Oz museum and it was along the way, we decided to stop and check it out. Early on we decided that if we saw something random we might as well stop given that we will likely never do this again. It was pretty amusing and a novelty to say the least.

The next thing we saw were signs for the world's largest prairie dog. Again this seemed amusing. However, this seemed to be one of the shadiest "attractions" I've ever seen. Not only was there said prairie dog but as you can see in the picture in the left, they also had a 5-legged cow, a 6-legged cow and a miniature donkey named Roscoe.

Now for the most interesting part of the drive...Despite the detours, we were making great time. However, with Dans taking the wheel we decided to make another stop to have a chat with a Kansas state trooper. Needless to say the conversation did not go so well. Still, we decided to make a donation to the state of Kansas.

But what do you expect when we are the only ones on the road. I guess not too many people like to drive through Kansas. And I actually would've been surprised if we didn't get a ticket along the way.

This was not the last of our delays though. About 100 miles later we found ourselves int he biggest downpour I have ever been in a car during. How bad was it? We pretty much could not see 6 inches in front of us. Given this, we decided it would be prudent to pull off to the side of the road and wait out the storm. We were not the only ones. It was so bad just about every car was pulling over

Eventually, we made it to Denver. After checking into our hotel we went for a walk to check out some of the sights downtown, namely Coors field. Next up was Dans and I doing what we do best and checking out the night scene in LoDo (Lower Downtown). Following the advice of some locals we decided to check out a bar called The Front Porch. Upon arrival, to our amusement there is a flip-for-it special whereby if you call heads or tails correctly the round is free. Unfortunately though, we went 2 for 7. I hope we make out better in Reno.

After the first round Dans proposes we drink hard tonight given that we did not have to drive to the bar. What ensues is Dans ordering a round of Patron. After taking the shot, I tell Dans this was a bad idea. While I was able to steer myself out of the dangerous path the shot took me, I could not avoid all danger. From this point on I moved away from beers to Cuba Libres. Naturally this led to random conversations with crazy girls including some crazy sisters and a pair of cougars. For once though it was good Dans and I bumped heads, as we both ended up uttering something along the lines of "I thought I was winging you"

All in we had a pretty good evening in Denver. Still not sure we will be tomorrow. Stay tuned to find out...

"Allow me to Re-Introduce Ourselves!"

Finally, a Dansbury entry…The past few days have been eventful to say the least. First off I need to give props to a Mr. Alejandro “I don’t like to commit to anything” Rivera. Anyone who knows Alex can agree on his indecisiveness. This kid won’t give a firm commitment to anything until he’s danced around the issue at least 5 or 6 times. He’s worse than Brett Favre, I kid you not! It took him 10 minutes this morning to decide whether or not he wanted to eat breakfast. But he manned up and is joining me on my schlep to Berkeley, CA(I am moving to Cali to get my MBA at UC Berkeley for those who may not know).

But anyways, back to the trip. As you may have read from the earlier posts, Cleveland was uneventful (Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Browns..Blah..Blah). And then there’s that King James guy Alex dunked on twice in a pickup game. Quicken Loans Arena for a name? Come on Cleveland, you can do better than that!(or maybe not cause it is Cleveland). But enough with the Cleveland bashing, we were actually on the brink of joining a mini marathon while we were there. A group (300+ participants) called “Shot in the Dark” organized a DrinkFest/Short Distance run. They were pre-gaming in the bar we grabbed drinks at. Needless to say we both were good, and said lets make our way to Chi-Town.

Chicago showed us madd love. I checked it briefly on a school visit but really haven’t been to the city since the Bulls Three-Peat in the early 90s (I was a youngin). Cubs game early on, partying after the win at the bars, hitting “A Taste of Lincoln Park” w/ several live bands on multiple stages(which I did listen too, I did not just stick to the hip-hop spot as Alex mentioned. I just decided not to be a Marc McGrath groupie as Mr. Rivera was. And still is.., his eyes have been lighting up every time a Sugar Ray song is on the radio). And how could I forget Ms. Nafesa(the bi-polar half Egyptian and half Mexican girl that somehow wound up with us at the end of the night, thanks Alex)..See picture, this girl is train wreck…Needless to say the party didn’t stop as we hitup a spot called Spoon in Old Town (which blessed us with good beats, a nice ambiance, and served 40’s at the bar), and then we grabbed some late night eats in Wicker Park.


St. Louis is definitely through. That Arch is crazy high, we took some pretty good shots. The Cards game was dope, St. Louie peeps are def sports die-hards but are too nice. At Wrigley Field vendors dawned shirts such as “Pujols mows my lawn”, at Busch Stadium Cards fans just seemed too happy go lucky. Then that skinny bird of a mascot tried to step to me because I had my Phils gear on. He’s got nothing on the Phillie Fanatic, no mascots do. And the statue mounting of Stan “The Man” Musial, ..no comment(you had to be there for the story to do any justice). Cards fans leaving the stadium gawked as if those girls just committed sacrilege. We had our choice of partying in “The Landing” after the Cardinal’s win but hit this young hip area called The Loop with some friends instead. The Anheuser-Busch Tour & visit to Saint Louis University (my Madrid study aboard “Alma Mater”) were cool. All and all good, Thanks again Rheagan is you ever read this..

The trek to Kansas City sucked. Bad weather mixed with unpaved/half finished roads does not make for smooth travels. Kansas City has a lot to do before it catches up to St. Louis in terms of appeal. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art Kansas City Sculpture Park was a decent spot for a few pics, then we shot by the Jazz and waterfront district(both a little shut/run down).

BBQ was a must. Alex has been on a mission for some good rub, and although his review of Arthur Bryant’s wasn’t the best, the kid was well pleased as was I. There are two hoppin areas we were ale to hit up before we left, The Power & Light District and The Plaza. Both have potential but a Tuesday night in Kansas City isn’t exactly party central. The crowd at the Rod Stewart concert at the neighboring Sprint Center wasn’t exactly “Tearin tha club up”, but we made due. Right down the block from The Power & Light District sat these fine establishments (Thai Paradise, BArely Legal, Totally Nude) but we opted for “The Plaza” restaurant/bar scene instead and eventually turned it in early(1am) for the 600 mile drive to Denver the next day. Stay posted, its my turn to take tha wheel!


Random Quotes:

“Look, I can't even reach the petals dude” – Alex refereeing to him taking over driving

“Prohibition, yea that was a good idea” – Dans on the Anheuser-Busch visit

“Abortion kills what GOD created” – Random signs on 70 West

“Guns protect people” - Random signs on 70 West

Most MidWest Drivers...

"That's why you just do what you do when you do it"

I want to start off by saying I finally had some BBQ in Kansas City. This BBQ in St. Louis thing continues to be a myth. Asked various locals and no one could really suggest a place or confirm that the city is known for BBQ. KC is a different story however. Many suggestions and opinions on where to go for BBQ. We ended up going to Arthur Bryant's which according to various sources is the most well known and "best BBQ." Is it the best I've ever had? No (I've been to Big Apple BBQ too many times and had some great food from around the country) But they definitely had some good ribs. The brisket was a little dry however. All in, it was a very satisfying meal. Not too mention they serve you a mountain of food for pretty cheap! (Note that today is the first day I actually had three meals.)

It is only a short ride from St. Louis to KC do Dans and I decided to spend a little extra time in St. Louis before hitting the road. First up was visiting our "alma mater" For those of you who don't know, Dans and I attended St. Louis University's Madrid campus the Spring 2003 semester. As such we figured we'd visit the main campus. We were amazed by how nice it was and how many fountains and sculptures it had. All we could think of was that if they had the fountains at Fordham, drunk students would be in them at all hours of the day and night.

Next we decided to take a trip to the Anheuser Busch brewery. It was an honor to visit and

learn about how one of my most often consumed beverages is produced. Best of all, there are "free samples" at the conclusion of the tour. What was even better is I didn't have to drink Bud light, but rather had the option of drinking Stella. I may drink a lot of Bud Light but I am definitely more of an import fan.

Between one thing and another I was rather impressed by St. Louis.

Finally, as for KC, it's ok. Certainly not as boring as Cleveland but nothing too exciting. We even asked several people if there are any must do/see things and noone could think of anything. We drove around the city a little then grabbed some BBQ for dinner. After that we went out in a few neighborhoods to grab some beers. We were impressed by Kansas City Live in the Power & Light District. This is basically a plaza with about 8 different bars and a stage in the center where there are random live performances several times a week. Unfortunately, there were no such concerts when we were there. After that we checked out a few bars close to our hotel but there was mostly a younger college crowd. Given that we have about 9 hours of driving tomorrow (our longest stretch) I decided to call it a night kinda early. On that note, I am off to bed.

"Check out that drunk girl"

Once again this refers to inappropriate actions by a drunk gringa. What is inappropriate? Try straddling a Stan "The Man" Musial statue outside of Busch Stadium. While in the picture to the left it may appear the blond girl is holding me back, this is not the case. In fact, Dans just happened to take the picture a little too early. What is actually going on, is the girl is grabbing my hand and shifting it "al norte" if you get what I mean...

To rewind a little, we walk out of the stadium and see said drunk girl climbing on top of said statue. I decide to take a picture of her drunkenness. She sees me and invites me to join her in the picture. Had I not been there to hold her up she surely would have fallen on her face. More and more I am reminded of the stupid things people do when drunk. (Note: today I am not one of them tonight). And Midwest girls seem to do even odder things.

Prior to this, I took the wheel on the way from Chicago to our destination of the day St. Louis. It was a nice straight drive during which we stopped to take pictures in the corn fields honoring the 20yr anniversary of Field of Dreams. Once we got to St. Louis we headed to the biggest site we could see from the distance, the big arch. While we had no idea the symbolism of the arch (turns out it is a monument highlighting westward expansion) it is one of the only things we knew about St. Louis so headed straight there. Nice to see and got some great pictures (to be uploaded at a later date).

My mission for St. Louis is to get some ribs but so far this has seemed like a difficult task. This is mostly due to the fact we have not had much time. However, I asked random people at the cards game for food suggestions and I received responses such as Hooters and Outback. Sorry, not exactly what I'm looking for. Dans and I have barely ate on this trip so far. Between one thing and another we keep on just having beer and hot dogs. Since we don't really have anymore baseball games we plan on getting to hopefully this will change. I WILL get some BBQ before I leave St. Louis and also in KC!!!

A special shout out to Rheagan for showing us some hospitality in St. Louis. Although she claims to be too busy to read this blog I want to take this opportunity to say thank you again.

Stay tuned for a post from Dans in the coming days...

"Cus we're f@*#ing warriors that's why!"

Today may be hard to beat. Why? "Cus we're f@*#ing warriors that's why!" Maybe that's not the only reason why. Here are a few others.

The day started off with some "beaters in the bleachers" of Wrigley. Yea I'm not too proud of the chusmeria (for you non-Cubans that kinda means ghetoness) of it but it was real hot outside and Dans convinced me to join him in it. Bleacher seats at Wrigley are definitely the place to be. Dans really came through on securing these tickets. Though who would've thought bleacher seats are not the cheapest seats out there...

We got there early to ensure we got good seats since they are first come first serve. As a result we were there for the Reds batting practice during which plenty of balls were hit our way. Unfortunately none were hit close enough, so we did not catch any. I'm happy to say Cubs won. This made for a more memorable game. At the conclusion the stadium sang some random some song in unison that though while kinda cheesy was enjoyable. There's not much to complain about when you get to sit out and watch a ball game on a sunny day with some cold beers.

After the game we decided to stick around the neighborhood and go to the bar across the street. Although I went to this bar 2 years ago to watch a Cubs game, this was quite a different experience. Besides this place being a complete and utter sh*t show, I must say that many white kids do not know how to dance. I kid you not I saw a girl doing the chicken dance, another doing some sort of leg kick and I still am not really sure what was going on in the picture to the right. Nonetheless Dans and I had a great time.

After we left the bar, we decided to go grab some deep dish pizza. However, we had difficulties getting to the place we wanted to eat at b/c there was some sort of a street fair on the block. Although we had no real idea what was going on we decided to check out this street fair, which ended up being "Taste of Lincoln Park."
To our surprise we get there and discover that Sugar Ray is performing.

Yes that Sugar Ray. They were awesome. Besides playing high school favorites such as Fly they also covered fan favorites of the likes of Journey, Guns N Roses, Kid Cuti and the Ramones. All in, probably one of the top 5 live performances I've seen. Not surprisingly, Dans wanted to hang out by the bar that was playing hip-hop music.

This probably should have been the end of the night but here I am at 4 in the morning typing this.

So after Sugar Ray performs I meet back up with Dans and we do some bar hopping in the neighborhood. As many of you know, I tend to have a thing for crazy girls. I may have found one of the crazier ones I've ever met. Sure she seemed nice at the beginning but it was all down hill from there. (Note this prob could've all been avoided if Dans, who met her first, would've told me she was a baby momma). Why is she so crazy? Now that is kinda hard to describe but this is actually something Dans and I agree on. Her name is Nafesa and she is half Egyptian and half Mexican. Nafesa asked if we could drive her to where her car was parked after the bar closed. Naturally we obliged.

She made it seem like her car was only a few blocks away but it was literally on the other side of town and she really had no idea how to get there. To quote Dans, "We're in a different part of town. I see black people." When we finally get there she suggested we grab a bite to eat together b/c she felt bad about the journey. While at this little Mexican taco place she spills a container of rice on the floor literally not five minutes after the guy had finished sweeping. Although this is not necessarily a sign of her craziness it is a sign of her idiocracy. I wish I could describe her craziness better but I am pretty drunk/tired.

Hopefully the posts so far have been entertaining. Maybe one day I will try to write these when I am not dead tired and/or drunk. Please stay tuned and sign up as a follower. I also would love to hear some feedback.

Off to St. Louis tomorrow. Stay thirsty my friends

"Only thing I know is I'm going to be in Cleveland tonight"

Umm, not so much! Where are we? That would be Chicago after 6 states (NY, NJ, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois) and 875 miles of driving.

While today's quote may not have been the best of the day it seems the most appropriate. But I don't want to disappoint so here are a few good ones:

• "We may not even be going the right way"
• "That girl's too good for this hick"
• "This isn't even the first time this has happened to me" - after trying to check into the wrong hotel
• "I don't know. I don't know where Iowa is" - this was one was actually me but Dans followed it up later in the day with "I always thought Indianapolis was near Texas"
  
  

Why are we in Chicago? Basically cus Cleveland sucked. Actually all of Ohio and Pennsylvania was uneventful. So we decided we'd just trek the additional 5 hours to Chicago today and not have to worry about rushing to get to the 1pm Cubs game tomorrow. Getting bleacher tix to Wrigley was pretty tough but looks like we have some locked up.

As I mentioned driving through Pennsylvania and Ohio was pretty boring. Pennsylvania pretty much all looks like the picture to the right. Ohio was about the same but without cows. Driving through Indiana wasn't much better but when we realized passing through South Bend we just had get off the highway and visit Notre Dame.

As for actual Cleveland...we had a pretty good lunch with some local beer. (Drinking as many local brewed beers will clearly be a goal for me along this trip) We walked around and saw some sights, took some pictures. Too quiet for me. Glad we made the stop but, I'll leave Cleveland for King James and Drew Carey.

Almost thought I was going to make it through the day with out a true Dansbury story but he did not let me down. Dans is driving and pulls into the self pay lane at the Indiana Turnpike toll booth. This is basically an ATM style machine in which you insert your turnpike ticket and can then pay with credit card. This would seem a simple task for most people but Dans manages to drop the ticket on the floor. He is then forced to open the door and look for the ticket on the floor. He can't find it so gets out of the car to look. Still can't find it. Dans next decides he will reverse out a little so he can see if it is under the car. At this point there are several cars lined up behind us in the lane and seeing Dans begin to reverse with no regard for who is behind him they also all try to reverse out and get as far away from our car as possible. Situation ends with me having to get out of the car to find the ticket and operate the machine. While I pondered asking Dans how he managed to drop the ticket in the first place and what was going through his mind when he wanted to back up with a line of cars behind him, I decided to heed my own advice and not ask any questions.

So that's the gist of Day 1. Would love to share more but it's been a VERY long day. Stay tuned for more tales from the road and t-shirt inspiring quotes

"Lets take a shot"

Dans and I at our best

Put it on a t-shirt

Tomorrow I embark on a cross country road trip with Dans ending in the Bay area. For those of you who know Dans, you should know that it is often best to just not ask questions. If you do, you will either get no response, an answer about something completely irrelevant or the truthful answer that you didn't really want to know. As such, that will be the mantra of this blog.

While I lived with Dans in Spain and more recently he spent 3 weeks living on the couch in my tiny studio, this will be a new challenge. One thing is reminding him how to say chicken in Spanish every week for 6 months, another is spending over 40 hours in an Accord talking about "shorties." I'm sure we will revisit familiar topics such as "where do u plan on meeting your wife?" and "where would you take a girl on a date?" But Dans is one of my best friends and I look forward to the experience.

I'll use this as a forum to keep everyone updated on the trip and share amusing stories that are bound to come up being in a car with Dans for 8 days driving through middle America. Or maybe I won't and this will be the only entry. Planned stops include Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, KC, Denver, Salt Lake, Reno and ultimately Berkeley.

So stay tuned if your interested. I will try to lead off each entry with random Dans quotes that would go great on a t-shirt