California on fire

In case you haven't heard, we have about 1000 wildfires in California. The air is terrible. The sky is a constant brownish gray. However, it has reduced the heat a bit. I thought this picture found online was pretty crazy.

the delicious rolls of goodness

It's not hate, it's heritage...

(For all of you Yankees, this is what many southerners say about the Confederate flag.)

This is a prom dress in the South, apparently.

I find it ironic that such a conservative Southern city has a street named Fortification. I mean, it sounds so much like fornication. (OK, I guess one does not need to even mention "conservative" when speaking about the South, as it is a given.)

I never really thought I would find myself visiting Jackson, MS, let alone twice in a matter of months. Alas, this is my life. For being the capital, Jackson is pretty boring. I still have hope, though, that as we continue to go here we will discover it's greatness. I'm certain it's there amongst the empty streets and strip malls.

I have the pleasure of visiting here because in the program for which I work, we have 60% of our service projects in the Gulf. For us, that's 22 teams working in the Gulf each project round. After each round of projects, the AmeriCorps Members have to report on their last projects and get ready for their next one. It's called "debriefing" and "briefing" and this is part of their service learning activities for the program.

If you have not been to the South, it's worth a visit. People are super nice. There's lots of fried stuff. It's pretty. However, it's also very hot and worse yet, humid. People in the south love their food. Not doubt it's why I gained weight when I lived there while in NCCC, even though I was very physically active. Vegetarianism just doesn't fit in there. So, you end up eating a lot of desserts, fried veggies, iceberg lettuce (known as "salad" in the South), and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (often provided as their "vegetarian option").

During visit to Jackson I was able to experience southerner's love of bread. We went to dinner at this random steak and fish joint ("joint" really describes it best). The waitresses looked like they had been working there since the Civil War (some of which took place in Jackson coincidentally), as did most of the customers. The accent was thick and most of the time I just nodded to whatever the waitress said due to my lack of understanding.

She brought out a giant basket of dinner rolls. Delicious dinner rolls. Then, when dinner came, she brought out TWO MORE baskets. There was about six of us, but really, who can eat that much bread while at the same time eating giants plates of fish, potatoes, greens, etc.? Probably a good ol' Southern boy, but we didn't have none of 'eam. So, I took them back to the hotel and ate about one a day. Even hard, they were delicious. I really do love the South, and hell, I love Jackson, MS.

Back in Black

Please, don't molest the animals people.

So, I've been back for, gosh, a couple of weeks now. I had a snowy, yet enjoyable drive around Montana and Wyoming. Beautiful. Following my time in Billings, MT and Sheridan, WY, I set off for Virginia City, MT. This tinnie-tiny mountain town is an old ghost town about 1.5 hours northwest of the west entrance of Yellowstone. I drove to the north entrance of Yellowstone because I heard it would be the easiest route, and being that it was still winter (yes, in April) in those parts, I didn't want to take my chances.

I decided about 20 minutes in that I would not take the long route around the park. It was snowing, like really snowing. I was driving a Sentra. It was sketchy. However, I had to see Old Faithful. I didn't come all this way just to see a few bison and a lot of trees. So I drove and drove in the snow. I parked. I walked up, and just as I did I heard, "oooooh" and "aaaahhhhhh." I arrived just in time to see everyone walking away. Annoyed kinda describes how I was feeling. It would be another 40 minutes before she blew again. So I waited. I had some terrible coffee and an even worse blueberry muffin that may have ruined my penchant for blueberry muffins for life.

Old Faithful was pretty cool, but I think the baby bison I saw may have tied for 1st. I just wish that I would have seen the warning about bison charging people - and hurting them very badly - before I took the file footage and photos at very close range. Oops.

I drove on to Virginia City. The drive was amazing and would have been even better if I wasn't terrified for my life and griping the steering wheel with white knuckles. The snow was coming down pretty good and the Sentra was, well, a Sentra. "Oh for a gas-guzzling 4X4, " I thought.

If you have a chance to go to Virginia City, please do. It feels like an olde-tyme movie set, but it's all straight from the way-back-whens.














I finally made my way, in the rain this time, past Helena to Great Falls. Here, I stayed in another 5 star hotel with complementary spa treatments and delicious free drinks. Nothing but the best for us Feds. OK, it was a Comfort Inn, but man did it have a great view...picture provided below.

Great Falls looks and feels like a Midwestern city...but not really a good one. It needs some work, but hopefully our teams will "get things done" while there and make their world a better place.

If you are in Sheridan, WY; Virginia City, MT; Great Falls, MT; Salt Lake City, UT; Portland, OR; Seattle, WA, or anywhere in the Gulf, go see our teams! Bring them cookies! They work hard and would love to get a "thanks" from the communities they are serving from mid-June to mid-July.

This Sunday, I head to Jackson, MS, which, if you've never gone, you sure are missing out.