Painting the country orange

  • To see where I've been (marked in orange), click here for:
    • The U.S.
    • Canada


  • Img_8918croppedsmaller

  • If wanderlust is a disease,
    then I'm happily afflicted.

    The line in the banner ("To know the universe...") is from "Song of the Open Road" by Walt Whitman, which I shall keep as the anthem for my travels.

    Quitting my job, departing from this home of five years, this small town I love but must leave...

    ...here I'll share my story.

    Come with me a little while.

    For more:
    • april.lirpa@gmail.com
    • The main site (on hold during my trip): quatro.typepad.com

Numbers as I go

  • Random facts all my readers must be dying to know:
    • Miles traveled: 15,753
    • States/provinces traversed: 37
    • Days of rain: I've stopped counting
    • Times I've played disc golf: 7 (see below)

    Nights spent in:
    • Friends' houses/apartments: 61
    • Hostels: 21
    • Hotels: 16
    • A tent: 4
    • My car: 3
    • On the beach under the moon: 1

Disc golf courses

  • Eagle's Nest: Butte, Montana
    This course requires a dissertation to describe it. See here. In short, it's hard to find, poorly marked and full of trees...but challenging! There were no locals.
  • Knoch Knolls Park: Naperville, Illinois
    A small course with a few open holes and several through the trees. Pretty short holes and not too difficult. The locals were helpful for directing us through the course.
  • Lohmann Park: Urbana, Illinois
    Well-marked course but very short holes. Not too bad for variety—through trees and around some corners—but overall very easy. The locals were helpful for answering my questions about the course layout.
  • St. John's: Santa Fe, New Mexico
    Laid out in a canyon and along a hilltop behind the college's soccer field and gym. Thanks to maps from the gym, we were able to navigate it with some confusion. Hole 3 has been removed. A challenging course that deserves a walk-through or play-through to orient oneself.
  • Ashbaugh Park: Santa Fe, New Mexico
    A lot of holes packed into a fairly small area. A map is essential, because the holes overlap and there are multiple holes for each tee. It's very flat, which was a relief after the St. John's course. We could have spent most of the day playing that course; it's a good one.
  • Brent Baca Memorial: Albuquerque, New Mexico
    Fairly flat, with plenty of challenging aspects: obstructions in front of tees, arroyos, holes, trees, fences. Lots of long holes. Very well marked and mapped. (Watch your step: the bushes have prickly things that like to invade socks.) A great course overall.
  • Deerfield Community Park: Irvine, California
    Compact course is very well marked. Get a map at the community center by the parking lot. A lot of out of bounds areas and some trees increase the challenge. Pars are generous.
  • Stanford University: Stanford, California
    Website outlines the course in great detail. Course is challenging in that you must avoid people, windows and other obstacles. I only made to hole 1 before throwing my disc on a 10-foot ledge. (No wonder all the photos were taken at night.) Great course. I'd love to try it again.
  • Fort Walla Walla Park: Walla Walla, Washington
    My personal favorite, only because it's where I learned to play. I love the wide expanses of grass and the annoyingly in-the-way trees. I've sent my discs into the creek and marshes a fair number of times. The locals are, I must say, helpful and friendly.

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« In the land of trolls, Ubi and wasabi mayonnaise | Main | One of my favorite things: Food »

Rainy day...back in Walla Walla

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Today is the first day of winter, the shortest day of the year and the end of my grand adventure.

I've been gone 107 days and 106 nights. While it feels like I haven't been gone nearly that long, plenty of things have changed—both in me and at home. I can't possibly begin to detail all those changes at this moment, but I'm sure I'll be writing about them in the days, weeks and months to come.

...

My last stop of the trip was Yakima, where I spent a few days with three (almost four—but that's another story) great friends from Walla Walla, from a college Bible study gropup five years ago. It was a great time of gabbing, singing, laughing and catching up. Yesterday we went skiing/snowboarding, which was fabulous. The weather was moderately crappy, but it was still a really fun day. And we're all sore now, but I think we all think it was worth it.

Key phrases from the past few days:
• Joel is lame.
• Back-rubs lead to....
• Tri-Ominoes rocks.

...

More photos to come. I'll be posting on my main blog now, with a possibility of some brief revisits to this page. Thanks for coming with me.

December 21, 2005 at 07:45 PM |

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Comments

Peter

Thanks for stopping by! And thanks for having me along via this blog.

Finally, welcome home and Merry Christmas!

Posted by: Peter | December 24, 2005 at 12:48 AM

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Part I: From Home...Through the Rocky Mountains

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Part II: Flatlands, Lakes and More (Heading East)

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Part III: East, North and Coasts

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Part IV: Carolina to California

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Part V: Up the West Coast...to Home

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Themes for
the road

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