Kenya memories.

It was a nurturing way to grow up in Nairobi, Kenya. I remember carefree days of endless summer like weather. The temperature was always mild. Daytime would be warm and cool evenings. We had two seasons, dry and rainy. We had pomegranate trees in our yard, along with guava and mango trees. I used to spend time sitting in the pomegranate trees, or under the house. During the harvest season of pomegranates, my brothers, sisters and I would spend Sunday afternoons with our parents in our yard eating the seeds mixed with salt, ground red cayenne pepper. Yum! It sounds strange, but it's all so delicious.

Once a year my parents would pack all eight of us into our tiny little Fiat and make a trek to Mombasa, a beach town on the east coast of Africa. The journey was always memorable. We would start at seven in the morning and be in Mombasa by teatime-- 4p.m. I think Mombasa is about three hundred miles from Nairobi. I don't remember the road being paved, it was a dirt road with gravel. My father always drove fast.  I wonder where I get my need for speed when I am driving?! I remember a time when we had to come to a complete stop because, there in the middle of the road, an elephant sat. You don't honk at an elephant. You wait until the elephant decides to move. Kind of like the buffalo who sat in the middle of the Al-Can hi-way.

This was all before the elephants were being hunted close to extinction. It was towards the end of the golden era of the wildlife of Africa. Before the animals all had to be herded into preserves. Before the time of wildlife safaris. You took your chances while you were on this road from Nairobi to Mombasa. It was beyond awesome!

I remember the white sand beaches of Mombasa, I didn't know how to swim, so all I did was put my toe in the ocean. I could not believe how large the ocean was. It was terrifying and awe inspiring at the same time. Since I came from a modest Indian family, I didn't own a swim suit. I wanted to have one of course. I got that swim suit as an adult and I also learnt how to swim. I am the only child of my parents who can swim. I took lessons after being married, living in Shawnee, Oklahoma. I was determined to swim in as many oceans as I could. So far I have managed to put my toe in many a different body of water. It's interesting the paths our lives take. Born in Africa, raised on three different continents and then finally making my home here in America. I feel blessed to have led such a life.

   

Future destinations...

I thought I would comprise a list of trips I want to take over the rest of my life. I have to raft the Amazon River before I leave the planet. And I have always wanted to go to Japan. When I was a little tyke, I discovered 'origami' the art of folding paper and making different objects with folded paper. I started by making an airplane and then graduated to more complex objects such as birds. I think my hesitation for hopping on a plane and going to Japan is my inability to speak the language. Though, really anymore we can go anywhere and find someone who can speak English. I would also like to go to outer space and be weightless for a few moments. To see the world from outer space has been my quest since I was about six years old I wanted to be an astronaut. I told both my children I intend to spend their inheritance, I don't think they liked the idea!

The idea for rafting the Amazon came from having rafted the mighty Colorado River back in 1995. That was an amazing trip. My daughter Reina and I did that together. It was her high school graduation present. We were on the river for six days and I was transformed forever. The rugged beauty of the Grand Canyon is beyond compare. The route the river has taken, carving out the canyon is spectacular. Every vista is more engrossing than the one before. And, besides the sound of the river, we were surrounded by silence. I think silence is a running theme in my life. I remember when I lived in Nairobi Kenya, I would go under our house to get away from the hustle bustle of our busy household. I am one of six children. The house in Nairobi was built atop big blocks so that when the rainy season came your house didn't run off without you! I think growing up in Nairobi, I came to appreciate the gentle beauty of our planet. I do love nature and I do love this planet. So, at some point I will make a point to take the trips I have talked about. Until then I will just revisit the ones I have already taken.

  

More Alaska memories.

My journey northwards started in my mind in 2004. At that time I owned a gallery called "Starry Starry Arts"... cute name eh?! I had made several angels for a customer of mine, she was going to give them to her coworkers. When I asked her what the special occasion was, she answered, she and her husband were taking an extended leave and were going to ride their motorcycle to Alaska. My mouth dropped open. Drive to Alaska?! I gasped. Yes, she calmly replied, this was not the first time they had driven either. This would be their third trek. I have to admit, I didn't know you could drive to Alaska from here. For some reason I thought there was a large body of water between us and Alaska, like there is between us and Hawaii! She assured me there was a road which was called the Al-Can hi way. I was hooked. I needed more information, I thought if she and her husband can ride the motorcycle to Alaska, surely I too can drive there. My love of driving is only superseded by my love for Coca Cola. 

My customer, Linda came back from her summer sojourn to Alaska and stopped in to see me. I was ready with a multitude of questions. I knew one day I will make that trek northwards, I had already made up my mind. At that time in my life taking off for six weeks was not a possibility. My gallery took up all of my time and it is true, good full time help is really hard to find. I bated my time and finally, summer of 2008 afforded me the opportunity to make the fabled trek. My mission was to get there, I really didn't know what I would do once I got there. For me it was the actual act of driving over five thousand miles to get there. It was all about the journey, not the destination. And, what a journey it was! I was amazed by the pristine conditions I found myself in. Brooks bubbling along on the side of the road with crystal clear water. Buffalo sitting in the middle of the road. I just waited until they decided to move. I didn't want to interrupt their afternoon siesta! Baby black bears on the side of the road horse playing, too cute!

My daughter, Reina joined me in Alaska, this was our mother daughter trip. We went to see the glaciers. Again, words fail me here. The absolute beauty we witnessed is beyond description. Pristine, clean, clear are some of the words that come to mind when describing all things Alaskan. The days were long and the nights felt more like dusk. It never really gets pitch dark. That was hard to get used to.

Reina and I had countless hours in the car. We reminisced about the trips of days gone by. My two children and I have been going on road trips since she was three and my son was five. They have touched fresh ash from Mt. Saint Helens, to seeing the devastation caused by the gigantic fire which consumed a major portion of Yellowstone, to driving the hi-way to the sun in Glacier National Park, to name a few places. Now it's fun to have them accompany me because they can be my lowly navigator. Since I don't like navigating--just driving.

Leaving Alaska was akin to leaving India. A part of my soul stayed behind. I will return to both those places and I hope to do so... soon.

Contemplating where I have been.

I am grateful to have a blog where I can write down my trip memories. For years I wrote three pages in a note book daily. It was my morning ritual, so I called it my morning pages. I stopped writing about two years ago. I felt I had written enough. But, now that tradition has transformed itself  into my travelogue. After my trip to India, I didn't write in my blog, I felt I had nothing to say. Now that I have had time to process the trip partially, I feel my observations of the trip can be deeper. Also, I want to write about the epic journey I took last summer to Alaska. Yes, I drove from Oklahoma to Anchorage Alaska. I did this while gasoline was five dollars a gallon in some towns! 

It is a bit weird to write and have total strangers read my thought... welcome total strangers! I guess at some level I am comfortable with this new medium. It's no different than people buying books that an author has written, after all they too are read by total strangers. I have always wanted to write stories, this way I get to fulfill my wish. I have had positive feedback for the blog, thanks to all those who have shared their thoughts with me.

The summer of 2008, in June I started off for Alaska. People always ask me how long it took to get there. I went to Alaska by way of Minnesota, Portland and Vancouver, British Columbia. Family and friends live in those three cities. From Vancouver, it took five days of driving ten hours a day to get to Anchorage. It was an amazing journey. For hours my car was the only car on the road. No one in front of me, no one behind me. No one coming towards me, it was surreal. I enjoyed the solitude, alone with my thoughts. Sometimes I drove in silence and other times I had the music cranked up so high, even the bears came out of hibernation!

The Alaska hi-way is a challenging road, most of it is in good repair, but then there are portions of it that are in dire need of repair. There are frost heaves and the only way they are marked-- tiny red flags by the road side to warn you of a buckle in the road that would damage the underside of your car with tremendous force! So, I learnt to drive slowly anytime I saw the flags. With the sun high up in the sky until eleven at night, there was no danger of missing the red flags. There are no towns that far north, just a few motels on the side of the road along with a gas station. True frontier land! I enjoyed my trip and will make that trek again.

Back home.

So, yesterday I woke up early, yes I can do it every once in a while! I had breakfast at the hotel and, was on the road by 9 a.m. I drove through Tennessee, Arkansas and then home to Oklahoma. For part of the way, I was able to have the top down, but then rain clouds appeared and for the rest of the journey the top was up. 

Every time I pull into a gas station, men tell me they really like my car. That car is a man magnet! I enjoy listening to their questions about the car. Most often, you can't get a man to talk about anything, but when it comes to talking about cars, you can't get them to shut up. At a gas station in Tennessee, a man came up to me told me he liked my car.  His name was Jerry, he proceeded to tell me that he gambled for a living. Fascinated, I asked how something like that is at all possible? He explained, he signs up for all the free stuff they give away at the casinos and since he is a regular customer, they give him free rooms and often free meals. He had done this for a living for the past ten years. I asked him does he make enough money to live on from this? And, his answer was-- yeah! I do love to hear people stories.

As I was driving through this amazing country, my mind wandered back to the very first cross country trip I had taken with my two young children, my nephew and sister. We set off across the country to Canada from Oklahoma. We were terrified and excited at the same time. The country has changed a lot since that time. Now the homogenization of America has happened. Every town looks like any other town. It used to be that you could go to a relatively small town and find a home town restaurant with unique flavors. Now the hi-ways are littered with Taco Bell, McDonalds, Wendys, my personal favorite Chic-A-Filet (not really, though I do find the name amusing!). The amount of trash generated by these fast food, convenience based "restaurants" is monumental. Every fast food place you go into, everything you buy to eat comes prepackaged in wrappers, or boxes with drinks served in either styrofoam, plastic or paper cups. Add to that, plastic spoons, knives and forks. Top that off with a handful of napkins. One person just added to the landfill at least ten items. Multiply that with millions of people everyday feeding themselves at these fast food places.

I came to a decision, I was not going to frequent the fast food outlets, not that I do very often. I opted to stop for a sit down break where I was served food in a ceramic plate along with silverware not made from plastic. I drank my Coke from a glass made from glass without the aid of a straw. Straws don't biodegrade! I know I am just one person making this choice, at least there will be ten less items going into a landfill somewhere.

As my journey was nearing it's end, I felt sad that it had come to an end so quickly. I was glad to be going home, to sleep in my own bed and to get to see my daughter and son in law. The sorrow over missing my son had abated somewhat and I will see him again during my summer trip... yes, another road trip is coming up. This time I will be in familiar territory-- the west coast. I made myself a promise, I will go back to the east coast and visit the coastline of both the Carolinas and perhaps make it to Monticello too.

The end is in sight.

Well, tonight I am writing from Murfreesboro TN. I may actually make it to OKC tomorrow night. I think I'll keep driving until I get home. The trip back didn't turn out the way I had envisioned it. I was going to travel the eastern seaboard. But, after saying goodbye to Mahesh, my heart was just too heavy and all the rain didn't help me any. I usually don't mind driving through rain, these past couple of days it's been tough. The rain has been heavy and blinding. So, I drove cautiously with the top up :-(. I did try to drive with the top down, the clouds looked ominous and I had to pull over and put the top up. It's no fun driving a convertible without the top down. It looks like tomorrow it will be a sunny day and I will be able to have the wind blowing through my hair.

I did go to the Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta. Quite a place. I was hoping to see the actual bottling plant, instead we took a tour of 'World of Coke'. It was still a lot of fun. I did taste the different types of products Coke has worldwide. The soft drink they sell in Japan tasted like it had ginger in it. The one sold in Costa Rica tasted fruity. I liked them both. At the end of the tour we were given a free bottle of Coke as a memento of our visit. I am not sure if I will drink that bottle, or just save it as a souvenir. At the end of the tour, of course you are herded towards the Coke shop. Every imaginable Coke product is available in that store. I bought some red drinking glasses. 

What I did like about the World of Coke was the employees were all very happy. They were truly happy to be working there. Unlike the workers at Graceland. All the employees were eager to help and were forthcoming with information. They all said working for the Coca Cola company was a good thing. One young man said he had been working there for the past five years. He started in high school and continued to work there through college. I think I would enjoy working at the Coke place too. When I was a child, one of my dream jobs was to work at a Coke factory along with being an astronaut and an artist. Well, one out of three ain't bad! 

The World of Coke is touted as a happy place and it really was. Everyone there had a smile on their face. It was as if they were visiting a good friend. I read about the 79 days we did without the original formula Coke. I remember those days well, I was very upset about new Coke. And was so grateful when Coke Classic became available again.

After my sojourn to the World of Coke, I started out of Atlanta during rush hour! Atlanta has to be the LA of the midwest. Six lanes of crazy rush hour traffic, what was I thinking? I think every so often I like to remind myself why I don't live in a bigger city than OKC. I drove through Georgia onto Tennessee. I am going to have to come back to this part of the country again. In the past I have always gone west, since my family lives in Vancouver British Columbia. I know the western half of the country well. I have not explored the eastern half of the country.

As I was driving the sun was setting, it was behind clouds the rays were bright and the clouds had a silver lining. It looked almost exactly like the sunset I had witnessed in Goa India, over the Arabian Sea. In a moment I was transported half a world across. If only we could be transported anywhere (like in Star Trek) in the blink of an eye, where would I want to go? Hmmm......

Leaving D.C.

It was hard to say goodbye to my son this morning. We had enjoyed our time together, so we came to a conclusion that we will have to have an annual trip together. I think the next time I will want to go to a beach resort and just relax. D.C. was very interesting, and we packed in too much. After my trip to India which was loaded down with so much sightseeing  I don't think I was ready for another information packed tour-a-thon!

I decided not to go to Monticello. As I was leaving D.C. it had begun to rain and the drive to see Thomas Jefferson's home was three hours away. With rain in the forecast for the entire day, I decided to drive south towards Atlanta. That is the beauty of driving, I have the freedom to do as I please. And since I veered away from my AAA triptik, I had to fend for myself. Every so often I pulled over to check my map and kept on going. I was glad to be out of Virginia. I am still mad about getting a ticket for not speeding.

I am tired tonight, I drove through heavy rains all day long. At one point traffic on  I-85 south was crawling at snail's pace. With rain coming down fast and furiously, I decided to call it a night and pulled into Kings Mountain a small town in North Carolina. It's been a somber day. The rain matched my melancholy mood, my heart was crying about at the same pace the rain was falling. I will write more tomorrow, no doubt going to the Coke plant will lift my spirits!