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dreaminginthedeepsouth · 4 years

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 6, 2020

Heather Cox Richardson

In the past three years, it has so often felt like things were reaching the breaking point. But the image of Trump on the balcony of the White House last night, defiantly taking off his mask as he gasped for breath, truly looked to me like the beginning of the final chapter.

Today coronavirus infections continued to mount in the vicinity of the White House. At least 34 people near Trump have contracted the virus in the past few days. The press corps near the White House is down to a skeleton crew as the White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, and four press aides have tested positive. So have top aide Stephen Miller and Admiral Charles Ray, the vice commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral.

Along with other military leaders, Ray attended an event celebrating Gold Star families last Sunday at the White House. That event included some of the same people who had been at the event the previous day in honor of Amy Coney Barrett, whom Trump nominated to take the seat of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. Those who attended both events included Trump and the First Lady.

Senior military leaders attended meetings with Ray last week in a secure room at the Pentagon, and now are self-quarantining. They include the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley; the Vice Chairman; the Army chief of staff; the Naval Operations Chief; the Air Force chief of staff; the CyberCom Commander; the SpaceForce operations chief; the director of the U.S. National Security Agency, Gen. Paul Nakasone; the Chief of the National Guard, Gen. Daniel Hokanson; and the deputy commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Gary Thomas.

The White House has apparently not done any contact tracing, and it declined the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to do it.

The administration appears to be committed to a strategy of community spread, rejecting the use of masks and of distancing. Deputy press secretary Brian Morganstern told NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly that the White House still does not require masks because “everyone needs to take personal responsibility.”

That the White House appears to be the center of a coronavirus hotspot has hurt Trump’s reelection campaign. The infections in the face of the fact that the administration refused to take the virus seriously, the ride around the hospital to wave at supporters while endangering Secret Service agents, the struggle to the balcony in a strongman scene, all appear to have demonstrated not Trump’s strength, but his weakness.

His behavior today has reinforced that sense. Trump left the hospital last night and returned to a locked-down White House. The few aides who met with him were dressed in PPE, while the West Wing is virtually abandoned as people have decamped to work from home. Trump has been on a Twitter spree today, tweeting and retweeting his old material, “the Russia Hoax” and Hillary Clinton’s emails, which now feel like ancient history, disconnected from today’s pressing crisis. Tonight, he tweeted: “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to the single greatest political CRIME in American History, the Russia Hoax. Likewise, the Hillary Clinton Email Scandal. No redactions!” He hit the same points again in another tweet: “All Russia Hoax Scandal information was Declassified by me long ago. Unfortunately for our Country, people have acted very slowly, especially since it is perhaps the biggest political crime in the history of our Country. Act!!!”

He sounds desperate. And on the heels of his tweets, Representative Ted Lieu (D-CA) tweeted to the Justice Department “Per the President’s orders, can you please provide the [House Judiciary] Committee the full unredacted Mueller Report immediately? Thank you.”

Other dropping stories make it look like the tide is running against Trump.

Patricia and Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis, Missouri, couple who held guns on protesters in June, were indicted today by a grand jury on charges of exhibiting guns and tampering with evidence. Trump invited the McCloskeys to speak at the Republican National Convention. “What you are witnessing here is just an opportunity for the government, the leftist, democrat government of the City of St. Louis to persecute us for doing no more than exercising our Second Amendment rights,” McCloskey said.

Two weeks ago, the administration blocked strict guidelines for a coronavirus vaccine, but today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released those guidelines over White House objections. This will make a vaccine before the election unlikely. Trump tweeted “New F.D.A. Rules make it more difficult for them to speed up vaccines for approval before Election Day. Just another political hit job!”

Today, the New York Times revealed the findings of an internal investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general Michael Horowitz into the policy of separating children from their parents at our southern border. The policy was engineered by Stephen Miller, but the Justice Department has tended to blame then-Department of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen for the policy. Horowitz’s investigation has established that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions and his deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein were far keener on the policy than she was. In a sign of changing times, a 32-page response to the Horowitz’s investigation, written by Miller’s ally Gene Hamilton, said that Justice Department officials had simply followed orders from the president.

Facebook, too, sees the writing on the wall, and has announced that it will ban all QAnon conspiracy theory accounts. These accounts spread disinformation, including the idea that a heroic Trump is secretly leading an effort to round up a ring of pedophiles and cannibals based in the nation’s entertainment and political elites. The ban is one of the broadest Facebook has ever enacted.

Today, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that a new coronavirus relief bill is imperative, but just hours later, Trump announced on Twitter that he was cancelling further talks between the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Stocks dropped 600 points, and vulnerable Republican senators panicked. Biden released a statement including a pithy condemnation: “Make no mistake: if you are out of work, if your business is closed, if your child’s school is shut down, if you are seeing layoffs in your community, Donald Trump decided today that none of that — none of it — matters to him. There will be no help from Washington for the foreseeable future. Instead, he wants the Senate to use its time to confirm his Supreme Court Justice nominee before the election, in a mad dash to make sure that the Court takes away your health care coverage as quickly as possible.” A few hours later, Trump changed his tune.

Today both the New York Times and the Boston Globe endorsed Biden, and General Michael Hayden, the retired four-star general who served as the Director of the CIA under President George W. Bush, released a video not just endorsing Biden, but also warning that "If there is another term for Trump, I don't know what happens to America." “Biden is a good man,” Hayden says. “Trump is not.”

Financial services company Goldman Sachs today forecast that the Democrats will take both the White House and the Senate, and said a Democratic sweep would mean a faster recovery and thus would be good for the economy. Moody’s Analytics, a subsidiary of another financial services company, recently found that Biden’s plans would add 7.4 million more jobs to the economy than Trump’s would.

Today in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a town hallowed by history, Biden gave a blockbuster speech calling for the nation to put aside division and come together. He talked about race: “Think about what it takes for a Black person to love America. That is a deep love for this country that for far too long we have never fully recognized.” He talked about disparities of wealth: “Working people and their kids deserve an opportunity.”

And he talked about Lincoln, and how, at Gettysburg, he called for Americans to dedicate themselves to a “new birth of freedom” so that the men who had died for that cause “shall not have died in vain.”

“Today we are engaged once again in a battle for the soul of the nation,” Biden said. “After all that America has accomplished, after all the years we have stood as a beacon of light to the world, it cannot be that here and now, in 2020, we will allow government of the people, by the people, and for the people to perish from this earth.

“You and I are part of a great covenant, a common story of divisions overcome and of hope renewed," he said. "If we do our part, if we stand together, if we keep faith with the past and with each other, then the divisions of our time can give way to the dreams of a brighter, better, future.”

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

Heather Cox Richardson

#quotes #election 2020 #Letters From An American #Heather Cox Richardson #corrupt Republicans #corrupt GOP

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lilulo-12fanfiction · 4 years

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In My Time of Dying- 3

Here is Part 3! Likes, comments and reblogs are always appreciated. Requests are always open as are tag lists.

I suck at summaries! This is an original character story- Alianna Winchester, twin sister of Sam. It starts off right around when John Winchester dies. Ali and Sam’s relationship has been fractured since he left for Stanford. She struggles to repair their relationship has they navigate the Apocalypse, her close relationship with Dean and beyond. Like Sam- She is special in a very different way. Truly the Ying to his Yang that causes a deep connection between Ali and Castiel.

Tag List: @deans-baby-momma @fandom-princess-forevermore @magssteenkamp @blancastans @jn-wolf

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Ali found herself standing on a west coast beach. She’d known it to be the Pacific Ocean. It was her favorite place. She’d spent hours by this very ocean the handful of times she had visited Sam. She never wanted to leave, but the hunt and the thrill of the chase had always dragged her away. She was barefoot at the edge of the ocean. Briney water washing over her feet. Her curly blonde hair was lose and blowing in the salty breeze. The warm air kissed her skin. She looked down at the navy blue polka dotted maxi dress she had worn before. Ruffled at the hem, buttons down the front and thin spaghetti straps donned her shoulders. Then it hit her. This was too real to be a dream. In fact she had been dreaming of this as she slept on the motel room couch she and her brothers had been sharing after another tiring hunt. But she hadn’t been alone in the dream and that’s when she heard his foot steps approaching.

“Hello Ali.” Cas was out of place on the beach. He had at least shed the trench coat, suit jacket and tie. His white shirt was open at the collar, sleeves rolled up and he was barefoot on the sand, suit pants cuffed so the salt water didn’t ruin them.

“Cas...is this really happening?” He gave her a curt nod. she pressed her palm to her forehead in confusion. “Did you get into my head? Into my dream?” She felt the heat burning her cheeks. Cas had been showing up in her dreams more and more. “Where are Sam and Dean? What’s going on?” Her frantic rambling was cut short when Cas took her hand.

“I apologize for invading your privacy. I needed to get you out and I figured the place of your dreams would be most calming. As for Sam and Dean, they’ll be fine. I suspect Zachariah is conducting his experiment as we speak. I just couldn’t let him include you. I had to be the one to tell you. I wanted to sooner but my superiors wouldn’t allow me. I wanted you to hear it from me.”

“Who the hell is Zachariah?” Ali’s brow furrowed with a mix of confusion and concern for her brothers. Cas’ sigh was full of frustration. Ali was easily distracted and they didn’t have a lot of time. Cas approached her and slid his hand up the side of her face into her hair, the way he did the first night they met. The intense stare of his blue eyes was disarming.

“Alianna. I need you to listen to me. Don’t interrupt. Can you do that?” She nodded her head.

“Uriel was working to bring about the apocalypse. I wish I had known before Dean and Alistair. Uriel is dead. I killed him.” Ali wanted to comment but Cas still held the side of her face. “Zachariah is much higher in the chain of Angel command. After Uriel, he decided to pay a visit. Your brother is important to the fight against The Apocalypse and Lucifer. We know Sam was imbued with demon blood. Azazel had plans to get you that night as well but was foiled by your mother.” Ali could feel the shock that donned her face.

”The angels stepped in. We were unsure at the time what Azazel’s plan was. But we knew we couldn't let him get to you. You were imbued as well. You were imbued with the grace of a Third Sphere Angel. They are heavenly guides. Protectors and messengers of human beings. This was to protect you from anything demonic. You are impervious to demonic possession. You are an empath. This is why no demon would trade your soul for Dean’s. They needed a Winchester to break the first seal. John escaped hell when the gate opened. Sam was meant to lead the army. Dean was their last option. Your empathic nature never would have allowed you to torture anyone in hell.” Ali pulled away from Cas’ grasp, turning her back to him.

”Wha...what?” she turned back to him, eyes filled with tears. ”I’m an angel?”

”No Ali. But you will be able to see angels in their true form and hear our voices. Only if we try to contact you. You can’t tap into our conversations like Anna could. You were made to be a warrior of God. Unable to be used against us. You and Dean are meant to save the world from Lucifer, one way or another. You see, you are not weak. You are the strongest of all of us. Lucifer and his army will never be able to will you to their side. There was only a small amount of grace used. Only enough to protect you. I've wanted to tell you since the day I figured it out. I wasn't allowed. But you make me want to break the rules and protect you. You make me want to turn on my very nature. You and your brothers. Anna says I'm starting to have doubts. And maybe that's true.” Ali wiped her eyes.

”You don't trust Zachariah? You wanted to protect me from him. You’re risking yourself by telling me this? Cas...why?”

”I wish I could explain it. I just knew I had to. I am concerned there are more Angels like Uriel. If Zachariah is one of them, I just couldn't take the chance of him using you to his ends or lying to you.”

Ali looked at the crashing waves. If anyone else but Cas had told her this she would have laughed in their faces. The truth was, she did feel things more deeply. She always had. ”You.thought bringing me here would calm me. Off of one dream?” Cas looked away.

”You dream of this place often. I...I check in on you. I know things have been hard on you. When you're at peace you dream of this place. Often times I'm here, but other times there is a girl.”

”Sarah. She was the first person I ever really loved. She was the only person I ever confessed what my life really was and it...it was too much for her. I dream of her when I dream about having a normal life. She was the person my father caught me with and I was forced into telling him I was bisexual.” Ali bitterly laughed. ”Back when I thought that was as complicated as my life was going to be.”

”Why was that complicated?” Cas tilted his head to the side as he often did when he didn’t understand the actions of humans.

“Being gay is hard. People don’t always accept it. It’s unbearable when it’s your family that doesn’t accept you. Being bisexual is often seen as an excuse for promiscuity. And many other hateful things that aren’t true. It took my father by surprise. He didn’t react well. He came around and apologized. I’m sure Dean was responsible for it. But I never thought anything would hurt more than that.”

“Bisexuality just means you love a person for who they are regardless of gender. How could that be bad?” Ali’s smile was barely there when she looked at Cas. For not understanding humans, he saw things so much more clearly than most. “Ali...why do you dream of me so often?” Cas was genuinely curious. Ali felt the heat rising to her cheeks.

“I dream about you when I’m scared. You...you make me feel safe. Protected. If I’m being honest, I’m scared most of the time. I’m scared about what Dean will have to do. What’s happening with Sam. What will happen to the three of us. I’m terrified. When you’re around, I guess I’m just a little less scared.” Cas knew this was stirring some kind of emotion in him. He didn’t know what. The more time he spent with the Winchesters, especially Ali, the more he felt stirrings within him.

“I’m glad I make you feel safe. But I regret to say it’s time to go back. Zachariah is about done with your brothers. They will have questions.” Ali grabbed Cas’ hand and he gave her a curious look.

“Thank you for telling me. It’s okay you didn’t sooner, I understand.” Before she could blink she was standing back in the motel room. Dean and Sam looked frantic and then both relaxed when they saw her. Dean’s face quickly bent in confusion.

“Why are your feet covered in sand? What the hell are you wearing?” Ali just smiled and threw her arms around her brothers and hugged them both at the same time.

“I’m glad you guys are okay. Cas pulled me out but couldn’t get to you guys in time.”

“Cas?” Sam raised his eyebrows.

“Uh yeah. I have some things to tell you. You should sit down.”

Ali took a deep breath and explained to them what Cas had told her. She skipped over their conversation about her dreaming about Cas and her fear for her brothers.

“Wait, wait, wait...Angel grace?” Dean was pacing.

“Not enough to give me any angel powers. But enough for me to be able to see and hear Angels and their true form. Only if they’re trying to contact me. I can’t be possessed.”

“I thought they didn’t know about the Demon blood until they made us go back in time?” Dean was rubbing his face.

“They didn’t. But they knew Azazel was up to something and they didn’t want him to be able to come back for me. They wanted me protected.” Sam had been quiet. Ali reached over and took Sam’s hand. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah...yeah. I’m just thankful that they were able to protect you from all of this. From everything that I am.”

“Sam...”

“I mean it Ali. You’re too good for this. I’ll always be thankful that the yellow eyed bastard didn’t get you too.”

“Wait...so tell me about where Zachariah took you.”

“Oh my God. You won’t believe this.” Ali watched her brothers fondly as they retold the strange reality they lived in.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Prophets. The Winchester Gospel. Chuck Shurley. Lilith. Sam. Ali sat in the back of the Impala dizzying anxiety pumping through her veins. The pit in her stomach seemed like it would swallow her whole. She felt herself smirk at the thought of the books. The covers depicting Dean and Sam were hilarious. She thanked God that Chuck focused on the brothers mostly for the books. While she had her role to play in them, Sam and Dean were front and center.

”I wanted to make sure your character was protected. I didn't want to make you as open and exposed.” Chuck had stared at her with an intensity that chilled her. There was something about him that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Maybe it was their connection to God. Maybe that was why Chuck felt protective over her. He didn't know he was a prophet until Cas told him. Thinking about Cas made her smirk turn into a smile. He had found a way to help them when she and Dean seemed hopeless in stopping Sam’s need to confront Lilith.

Ali had followed Dean outside, both at a loss with Sam and his stubbornness.

”Well, I feel stupid doing this. But... I am fresh out of options. So please. I need some help. I'm praying, okay? Come on. Please.” Ali was slightly shocked. Dean was a skeptical believer at best. Her ears perked at the sound of ruffling that always was followed by Castiel’s gritty voice.

”Prayer is a sign of faith. This is a good thing, Dean. Hello Ali.”

Dean was desperate so he bit back his normal snarky comments. ”So does that mean you'll help us?” Ali watched Castiel with curiosity, but was unsurprised the by his answer.

“I'm not sure what I can do.” Ali scoffed.

“Cas. Please.” Dean’s frustration was building.

“Drag Sam out of here, now. Before Lilith shows up.” Ali felt herself growing frantic. Sam was stronger. There was no doubt, not with how he took out Alistair. But Lilith was a different ball game.

Castiel shook his head. “It’s a prophecy. I can't interfere.”

“You have tested me and thrown me every which way. And I have never asked for anything. Not a damn thing. But now I'm asking. I need your help. Please.” The anger and desperation was dripping from Dean’s words. Ali didn’t have it in her to rage at Cas.

“What you're asking, it's... not within my power to do.”

Dean was growing increasingly irritated. “Why? 'Cause it's "divine prophecy”? So, what – We're just supposed to sit around and, and wait for it to happen?”

“I'm sorry.” Castiel couldn’t meet Ali’s eyes. He knew what would be staring back at him.

Dean lost it. “Screw you. You and your mission. Your God. If you don't help me now, then when the time comes and you need me... don't bother knocking.” Dean brushed past Castiel and beganto walk away. Ali grabbed Cas’ arm giving him a pleading look one last time. Dean stopped when Cas called him.

“Dean. Dean. You must understand why I can't intercede. Prophets are very special. They're protected.” Ali studied Cas’ face. He was trying to lead them to the answer. “If anything threatens a prophet, anything at all, an archangel will appear to destroy that threat. Archangels are fierce. They're absolute. They're heaven's most terrifying weapon.”

Dean’s eyes met his sister’s as realization set in. “So if a prophet was in the Same room as a demon –“ Castiel interrupted Dean’s train of thought.

“Then the most fearsome wrath of heaven would rain down on that demon. Just so you understand... why I can't help.” Dean and Ali’s faces both relaxed. Ali places her hand on Cas’ forearm again.

“Thanks, Cas.” His blue eyes bore into her grey eyes.

“Good luck.” And then he was gone.

It was a rare occasion that Ali drove, but she waited in the driver’s seat as Dean did whatever he had to so that Chuck would come with them. Dean would do whatever it took, they both knew if either of them would back down, it would be Ali. In the end, they stopped whatever was going on between Sam and Lilith. Chuck had been bullied into helping. It was Cas that had given them the answer. Ali worried that he would soon get himself into trouble. He was walking a slippery slope and she was certain she wouldn’t forgive herself if he got hurt for helping the 3 of them. She drifted off to the sound of Dean and Sam discussing the deal Lilith wanted to make. She knew, deep down, Sam would have made the deal to save that many innocent people, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Ali couldn’t get the image of Adam’s lifeless eyes out of her head. This had hit her...hard. She had another brother, a baby brother that John had kept from them. It seemed every time she found a way to forgive her father, some secret came out and sent her reeling back. She never even got to meet the real Adam. It had been that damn Ghoul from the get go.

She listened to the sound of Dean and Sam’s deep breathing as they slept. Light snores floating throughout the room. She couldn’t sleep. She was feeling too many things to shut her mind off. She had always hated this part of herself. How deeply she felt things. Apparently it had been God’s will. She grabbed Dean’s green canvas jacket and wrapped it around herself, slipped her ugg boots on over her black leggings and headed outside. She needed to move and she didn’t want to wake her brothers. At 2am, they would hopefully sleep for at least another 4 hours. She knew that she wouldn’t be sleeping anytime soon.

With her arms crossed, she made her way through the chilly night into town. It was peaceful. All of the shops and restaurants were closed save for the 24 hour diner. She didn’t want to be around strangers. Her puffy eyes would draw attention and she couldn’t stop the errant tears slipping from her eyes. She stopped walking when she heard the flutter.

“Ali.” Cas’ voice rang out into the night. Ali turned to face him. “You weren’t at the motel. I was worried. Are you alright?” Ali didn’t have it in her to pretend. She shook her head no and buried her face in her hands, feeling hot fresh tears pool in her palm. She felt Cas wrap his arms around her and pull her to his chest. “I...I hope this is alright. This is what humans seem to do when one is trying to comfort the other”. Cas took her wrapping her arms around his torso, deepening the hug. “I’m so sorry Ali. I can’t imagine how this is making you feel. You’ve known so much loss. And to lose a brother before you could know him. I imagine that is devastating for most, but especially for you.“

Ali pulled back so she could look up at Cas. For not understanding human emotion he was spot on with what she needed. She needed someone who understood her. Dean and Sam were wonderful but they didn’t always understand her excess emotion. Cas seemed to. He placed a hand on the side of her face while keeping the other arm wrapped around her back and wiped the tears from her cheek as he looked down at her.

“Wait...you came just for me. Not for a mission or something?”

“I could sense your distress. It was unsettling. I had assumed you were having nightmares, but when I got to where you were staying, you were gone.” Ali turned her face into Cas’ hand, whatever he was doing she felt her anxiety waning. It was being replaced by something else. Something she felt stirring for the Angel. Something she knew would end badly. “It’s not safe for you to be out here alone.” Ali cracked the smallest of smiles.

“Cas, I once wiped out a nest of 5 Vampires by myself. I’m not worried about some random douche bag walking the streets.”

“But still, in your state or distress, it would be easy for someone to take advantage.”

“But I have a guardian angel watching out for me.” She whispered. She was surprised to see the softened look that Cas had given her. Maybe he felt more than he knew.

“I suppose that’s true. Let me take you back to your motel.” She realized she was still in his arms and stepped back.

“Only if we walk. I don’t want you snapping me back and forth.” He nodded in agreement. She found herself slipped her arm around his, holding his elbow as they walked. It wasn’t long, much to her disappointment, that they were back at the strip of rooms and the black Impala in her eye line. She didn’t know what she was feeling for the angel next to her, but her brought her an immense amount of peace.

“You should go inside Ali. It’s cold. I’ll come check on you again as soon as I can. Once again, I am so sorry for your loss of Adam.” Ali stood in front of him, studying his face for a moment. Before she could stop herself, she stood on her toes and presses her lips to his cheek. When she pulled away, his eyes were wide. She took his hand.

“Thank you Cas, for everything.” She slipped her hand out of his and walked towards the door to the Winchester room. She could feel his eyes burning into the back of her head. She didn’t hear the flutter of his wings indicating that he was gone until the door was almost closed.

“Al, where the hell have you been?” Deans alarmed whisper made her jump.

“I needed some air, I took a quick walk.”

“You can’t just disappear like that.” His hair was standing on end, he must have just woken up.

“I’m sorry Dean. If it makes you feel better Cas already lectured me.” Dean’s face twisted in confusion.

“Cas?” Ali nodded.

“He said he knew how upset we would be. He must have found out about Adam. When he showed up, he saw I wasn’t here and went and found me and brought me back.” Ali didn’t know why she didn’t tell Dean the whole truth, they Cas had felt her turmoil. Maybe she wanted to keep her connection with the angel to herself for now. He was a great comfort to her, she didn’t want her over protective brother the compromise it.

“Well I’m glad he came. C’mon, you take the bed now and get some sleep. You look like crap. I’ll take the couch.” She nodded and let her big brother tuck her into bed like she had so many times when they were younger. He kissed her forehead before he went to lay down. Dean wasn’t great at showing his emotions, but every once in a while it snuck out, especially when only Ali was looking. She settled into the bed and fell into a dreamless sleep, which she assumed was courtesy of Cas.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

White hot rage was coursing through Ali's veins. Demon blood, Sam had been drinking demon's blood to get strong. How the hell he thought that drinking demon blood would lead them to stopping the Apocalypse was beyond her realm of understanding. The first thing she did was to call Bobby.

"Bobby...I....I don't." She stuttered. She couldn't string the rest of the sentence together. As soon as Bobby had answered the phone she had blurted out that Sam was drinking demon blood to strengthen his psychic abilities. Once that sentence was out, she lost it. The anger and the fear were overwhelming. She really needed to get a handle on her emotions. It seemed to be getting worse as time went on.

"Ali...Alianna. I know. We will figure this out...we always figure this out. Now...in a little while I'm going to call Sam and tell him I need you guys to come to Sioux Falls. And once you're here we'll figure this out. That will give me some time to think."

"Okay Bobby."

"What else?" Bobby knew her better than her own father had. He knew she was holding something else back.

"We....we lost Cas. Heaven put him in his place. Any hopes we had of him being with us on this...even if it goes against what the angels want is gone.

"I'm sorry Ali. I know you and he had gotten...um...close since he showed himself to us. But he's a soldier. Soldiers do what they're told. I know this is all a lot. Just get here."

"Thanks Bobby." She leaned against the outside of the building after she hung up trying to compose herself.

"I serve Heaven...I don't serve man and I certainly don't serve you." The humanity in Cas' eyes had been gone. The way he had looked at her a few nights prior was gone. She had been so naive to think that he could really care about her the way she thought he did, the way she cared about him. She knew better than to open herself up to anyone other than her brothers. She couldn't count on anyone else other than Bobby. Dean, Sam and Bobby...well Dean and Bobby had never let her down. Sam...Sam was lost. He had been for a long time. She had never been this scared for either of her brother's before. This was beyond even Dean selling his soul to save Sam.

She was kneeling in front of the Panic Room door. Her heart lay in what seemed to be a thousand pieces in front of her. Her best friend, her partner in crime, her other half that made her whole had gone so far off the deep end, she didn't know how to get him back. Sam was begging her to open the door, to let him out. She rested her head against the door.

"Ali...please...please let me out. You can't leave me in here. Please don't leave me alone."

"Sammy...I can't open the door. I can't let you out. This...the demon blood...it's not that answer. I KNOW you think it is and I KNOW you believe you're doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. We've all done that. Done something wrong because the outcome will be right. But this? We can't do this. You can't do this. I can't let you keep loosing this. You and I fell apart and this is me putting us back together. I won't lose you. And if you keep going the way that you're going and doing what you're doing, I will lose you. But I promise you that I wont leave you alone. Dean and Bobby...they can deal with the rest of the crap. But it's you and me now. And I promise you we will get through this. I will get you through this. But I can't open the door."

" You wouldn't leave Dean in a room locked up like this. If it were Dean...you'd follow him down the rabbit hole. But because it's me...you don't think I can do it. You don't think I'm strong enough."

"That's the difference Sam. Dean...he wouldn't ever do this. And I would lock him up if he did. And it's not because I think you're week or whatever convoluted idea you have."

"Ali...you leave me in here....we're done. You and I will be done."

"I'm sorry Sam, but I love you too much to open that door." She felt him slam his hand against it, but she wouldn't leave him. She turned and rested her back against the door as she sat down. She unconsciously found herself praying to Cas for help, once she realized what she was doing, she stopped. She knew he wasn't coming. Ali was all alone.

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dobseventeen · 6 years

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A New Beginning (Part 6)

A/N: I’m not sure why, but I really love this chapter? No specific reason, I just really enjoy it. Shoutout to the various anon’s who encouraged me to get this done tonight, you da real MVP’s. ALSO HUGE SHOUTOUT TO @veronicarapp because she is literally the inspiration for the reader’s friend “Sammy” that is introduced in this chapter. Like she is 100% Sammy. She’s also my tumblr bff, so it just makes sense, right? LOVE YOU BITCH. Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter and are overall liking the direction I’m taking the story. Feedback is always appreciated!

Word Count: 5,246

Warnings: None really? (Cussing, kissing, fluff)

Summary: Y/N finally tells someone about her time spent with Dylan before they spend yet another evening together in LA.

Previous Chapter: Part 5

Next Chapter: Part 7

You awoke to the sound of your phone ringing. You groggily lifted your head and looked around the room, trying to get your bearings. How long was I asleep? You were relieved when you saw that the sun was still shinning brightly through your hotel window. Your phone kept blaring its obnoxious ringtone, demanding that you answer it. You reached over to grab it from the bedside table, hoping you’d see Dylan’s name on the screen.

Incoming call from: Sammy 👯

You smiled at the phone when you saw your best friend’s name. You and Sammy met your freshman year of college, randomly, while walking to the same party. To make a long story short, by the end of the night you were both shoving shots down each others throats and claiming that you’d be in one another’s weddings, even though you had only known one another for four hours at that point. You couldn’t have been more right though. Sammy had been there for you through everything; the little fights you had with your ex, the nights you took down way too much tequila, your break up, and your decision to finally move out west. She was your rock through and through, and you were certain you wouldn’t be where you were today without her spunky-ass.

“Sammy! Hi!” you exclaimed into the phone.

“What’s up, bitch? You wanna tell me why I haven’t heard from you since you landed in Cali?!” she playfully barked at you.

Before you could give her an explanation, she continued, “Let me guess, you met some dreamy, LA guy who has been taking up all your time during the day, and then ramming you into his headboard at night?”

You couldn’t help but let your mouth fall agape at her almost perfect assumption. Leave it to her to be able to know what you were doing without sharing one word with her.

“Y/N/N? You there?” she asked.

“Yeah sorry, I, uhhh, I’m-” you stuttered.

“OH MY FUCKING GOSH YOU MET A GUY.” she practically yelled into the phone.

Your face grew red instantly, making you thankful that she was on the other side of the country and couldn’t call you out on it.

“Okay, yeah, I may have met a guy the first night I got here...” you spoke coolly, trying to play it off the best you could.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?! What the fuck?!” she was now more excited than anything, and you felt bad for your downstairs apartment neighbors back home who were inevitably hearing everything she was screaming into the phone.

“I’m sorry, Sam! I didn’t keep it quiet intentionally, I’ve just been with him... well, a lot.” you said hesitantly, knowing you were about to get the third degree.

“Oh my fuck, okay, okay. Before I start prying all of that out of you, how did your interview go? Did you bomb it so you can stay here on the East coast with me?” she joked.

You chuckled, “Nope, I landed it! I got the fucking job!” you were now the one screaming into the phone.

“That is so awesome, Y/N!!! I’m so happy for you, even though that means you’re leaving me.” she fake pouted.

“You know you’ll be able to come visit whenever you want, and I’ll be home all the time to see everyone.” you reassured her.

“I know, I know. Now, on to more important things; who the fuck have you been spending all your time with?!” she playfully shot at you.

“Okay, Sam, I’m going to need you to stay calm and not freak out, okay? Because if you freak out, then I’ll freak out, and I can’t afford to do that when I’m about to hangout with him again in a few hours.” you said in an authoritative tone.

“Oh my god, is it a celebrity? HAVE YOU BEEN WINED AND DINED BY A CELEBRITY? Holy fuck!” she exclaimed.

“SAM! Chill out, okay? I’m not going to tell you until you’re calm.” you laughed at her.

You heard her take a deep, audible breath, “Okay, okay, I’m calm.”

You were now the one taking in a huge breath, since you hadn’t told anyone about your time with Dylan yet. This was about to make it real.

“Sammy... It’s Dylan O’Brien.” you said blankly, trying to fight the smile that made its way onto your face at the mention of his name aloud.

The line was quiet.

“Sammy, are you ther-” you were interrupted.

“OH. MY. GOD. Are you fucking serious right now? You can’t be serious? Dylan fucking O’Brien? The Maze Runner? The American Assassin? STILES STILINSKI?” she yelled into the phone, her voice laced with shock.

“Yes, I am so serious. He’s fucking amazing, Sam. I’m not sure how I got so damn lucky, but I’ve been with him everyday since I got here.” you explained, failing to hide the giddiness in your voice.

“TELL ME EVERYTHING.” she deadpanned back to you.

At the same time, you heard a ding on the line, signalling a new text message. You removed the phone from your ear to look at the screen and saw Dylan’s name.

“Y/N? Don’t you dare leave me hanging like this.” she warned.

“Sorry, I got a text, Sam, look ca-” you were interrupted again.

“IS IT FROM HIM?” she shouted.

“Yes, it’s from Dylan. Look, Sammy, I promise to fill you in on all of the details later, but I have to start getting ready for tonight.” you said clearly, hoping she’d understand.

“Okay, okay, Y/N/N. I get it. You go be with an incredibly sexy movie star, while I sit here in our apartment watching Friends for the millionth time. But, Y/N, promise me you’ll be careful? The last thing you need is another prick to come in your life and mess it all up, I don’t care if he’s some big celebrity.” she said with an assertive tone.

“I promise, Sam. I’ll talk to you later, okay? Love ya bitch.” you said in a sweet voice.

“Love you too, homie!” she fired back.

Before you could take time to reflect on how much you appreciated your best friend for looking out for your well being, your phone dinged again with another text.

Dylan O’Brien: “Hi Y/N! 😘 Finally done with my meetings for the day.”

Dylan O’Brien: “Hope you’re prepared for the most basic date of your life tonight. I really pulled out all the stops for this one!!!”

You chucked at your phone. You weren’t sure what he meant, but you were excited to find out. He could literally take you on a walk through Burbank and you’d be in heaven. You felt a strong surge of confidence as you typed your reply.

Y/N: “Hey, Dyl. I can’t wait to see what you’ve got up your sleeves for tonight, you never fail to surprise me! How did your meetings go, babe?”

You instantly threw your phone onto the bed, cursing yourself for calling him “babe”. What the fuck is wrong with you? Before your anxiety could consume you, you phone dinged from under the comforter. You breathed a sigh of relief when you read his response, a warm feeling replacing the icy cold anxiousness that was previously coursing through you.

Dylan O’Brien: “You’ll like what I have planned. Well, at least I think you will. I’ve been paying close attention to you over the last few days, babe. My meetings actually went great for once, making me that much more excited to come pick your cute ass up 😉”

You were still slightly in disbelief that you were already at this level with someone you had met only three days prior, regardless if it was Dylan O’Brien. Pet names never really became a thing until at least a week after knowing the guy. Sex definitely didn’t come along until at least the third date. You knew Dylan wasn’t a bad guy, hell he seemed like a great guy so far, and all you wanted to do was stay in this state of bliss with him forever, but you knew you needed to be smart about this. You didn’t regret any of the things that had happened thus far, but you needed to remind yourself to not get too caught up in it all. The last thing you needed to deal with was another broken heart, especially in a city that you couldn’t even officially call home yet.

Y/N: “Well, what are you waiting for, O’Brien? Me and my cute ass are waiting on ya 😉”

Dylan O’Brien: “How about I come by around 6 to pick you up?”

Y/N: “Sounds good, Dyl. See you soon 😘”

You hadn’t even checked the time since you woke up from your nap. You figured it was still early afternoon, 3 pm at the latest. Wrong. You did a triple take when you looked down at your watch.

“5:11 PM?! WHAT THE FUCK!!” you said aloud.

You immediately went to the shower, completely pissed that you let yourself sleep that late. What the fuck Y/N? Now you’re going to look like shit for your date. Smooth. He’s never going to take you out again because you chose to sleep your life away! You continued ranting to yourself as you quickly showered and pulled yourself together. By the time the clock read 5:45 PM, you had already dried and styled your hair into a cute, low ponytail, lathered lotion across basically your whole body, and finished a majority of your makeup. All that was left was to pick your outfit and apply some lipstick. You were eternally grateful that he told you to dress comfy casual, because you were running out of going-out outfits that you packed for your week-long trip. You settled on a pair of denim shorts, clad with fashionable holes, a simple black tank top whose straps criss-crossed in the back, and your go-to pair of grey low-top converse. As you were applying a thin layer of pink lip gloss, you heard a knock at your door. A smile instantly spread across your face when you saw Dylan standing on the other side.

“Hey, Dyl.” you said bashfully, still getting used to his captivating presence.

“Hey, gorgeous. You ready to go?” he said with a wink as he extended his hand out to you.

“Yepp, let’s see what you have in store for me tonight, O’Brien.” you teased as you gave his hand a small squeeze, him leading you down the hallway.

You were driving down one of the main strips through LA, all the windows down in Dylan’s Range Rover, hand in hand with him, as you were both all but screaming the lyrics to “I Like Me Better” by Lauv. The sun was just beginning to set in the sky, casting a beautiful orange hue over the city. You began thinking to yourself about how sincerely happy you were in the moment. Not a care in the world, just you and Dylan, hand in hand under the sunset, singing so obnoxiously you could’ve laughed about it for hours. This must be what it feels like to be purely and genuinely happy.

You leaned up to turn down the radio, Dylan instantly jerking his head in your direction.

“What do you think you’re doing?! The best part was coming up!” he playfully barked at you.

“Sorry, Dyl! I promise we can listen to it again. But I need a hint as to where we are going, the excitement is killing me, dude!” you exclaimed, leaning your head sideways towards him, your Ray-Bans covering your curious eyes.

“Trust me, where we’re going isn’t that exciting at all, but I know you’ll like it. So, sit back and sing with me until we get there!” he said as he leaned forward and turned the radio back up. He flashed you a huge smile before he began his next Grammy-worthy performance for you. You threw your head back and laughed at his goofy personality, knowing you would’ve sat in his passenger seat forever just hearing him sing to you.

“Oh my god, are you serious?!” you shouted as he flicked on his right turn signal, preparing to pull into the drive-thru of the one and only, In-N-Out.

Dylan laughed before diving into his explanation, “Last night you said that you’d be more than happy if an In-N-Out was on top of that cliff and that you didn’t need a five course meal, so I’m taking you up on that.”

You picked up his hand that was interconnected with yours and brought it to your lips, giving it a delicate kiss.

“You’re something else, you know that?” you said, your gaze darting between his caramel eyes and his alluring lips. The second the SUV came to a stop, you leaned up and enveloped his lips into a quick but passionate kiss. You both smiled into the kiss as it broke, and looked deeply into one another’s eyes.

“I know it’s not a typical place to go for a second date, but I promise I have more planned than just fast food hamburgers.” he said sheepishly.

“Dylan, it’s perfect. I love it because you actually listen to me and what I have to say. Like, you actually pay attention to me.” you said in a reassuring tone.

No one had ever listened to you or paid attention to you to the extent that Dylan had. First, he noticed the thing you had for looking at views and landscapes the day he drove you home from lunch, which led to your first real date. You always had an earnest appreciation and curiosity for your surroundings, whether it was a beautiful sunset, or some side street in the middle of LA. Now, he had listened to something you had casually uttered while you were busy taking in the view of the LA skyline from that cliff for the first time.

“I don’t understand how anyone could not listen to absolutely everything that leaves your mouth.” he said simply, flashing you a small smile. He seemed that he wanted to say more, but stopped himself. You were both then interrupted by the waitress taking your order.

Dylan ordered your food and pulled up the drive-thru window. The waitress let out a small scream because she instantly noticed Dylan. Without hesitation, he reached over and reconnected his hand with yours that was resting on the center console, silently claiming you as his. The action made your heart flutter, even if it was only directed towards this random In-N-Out employee.

“OH MY GOD YOU’RE DYLAN O’BRIEN!!!” she shouted as he traced his thumb over your hand.

“Yeah, that’s me. It’s nice to meet you!” he spoke with such pure generosity. It warmed your heart to know that he genuinely cared about his fans.

“I seriously love you SO much! Could we please take a selfie really quick?” she asked in a gawking tone.

Dylan let out a small chuckle, “Of course we can!”

The waitress angled her phone in a way that caught the two of them in the picture, with Dylan slightly leaning out of his window, an adorable smirk plastered across his face. You leaned back in your seat, not wanting to ruin the picture for the young girl.

“Thank you so so so much, Dylan! I’ll have your food out in one sec!” she spoke nervously, obviously not expecting to meet a movie star at work today.

“Well aren’t you just so sweet to your fans?” you cooed, having a new admiration for the man next to you.

He let out a small laugh, “I owe everything to my fans, the least I can do is be nice and take a quick picture. I wish I could do more honestly.” he admitted.

Before you had a chance to reply, he spoke again, “She didn’t get you in the picture did she?”

A small pit in your stomach formed. Did he not want to be seen with me?

“Uhm, I don’t think so. I leaned back and tried to get out of the way.” you said lowly, averting your gaze from his face to the control panel of the Rover.

“Okay. I don’t want you to think I’m trying to keep you a secret or whatever, I just don’t want the paparazzi to get a hold of it and drag you into something you aren’t ready for.” he explained reassuringly, noticing your personality shift.

“I get what you’re saying. Make sense.” was all you could murmur. You weren’t sure how you felt about that aspect of this new “relationship” or fling or whatever you wanted to call it. You totally understood where he was coming from and you appreciated that he wanted to look out for you, but a part of the whole ordeal stung, and you weren’t exactly sure why. Your thoughts moved away from topic once the waitress handed Dylan your food and he began driving away.

“Now where?” you said, trying to break the awkwardness of the previous conversation.

“Haven’t you learned by now that I’m just never going to tell you? Everything is a surprise with me, gorgeous.” he said, turning to flash you a toothy smile.

“Ughhh, you kill me, babe.” you said before realizing the words that had left your mouth. Your eyes instantly got wide and your cheeks turned red. You were completely embarrassed at your lack of filter as you stared straight through the windshield, looking at the passing streetlights.

Dylan noticed your bashful reaction and placed his hand on the exposed skin of your thigh, “You’re so cute... babe.” ending it with a charming wink.

You exhaled a breath you didn’t realize you were holding, thankful that he wasn’t weirded out by your new nickname being said aloud for the first time. Your sense of relief was accompanied by the Rover turning into a small gravel driveway, located about ten minutes from the main road you were just cruising down. You couldn’t tell where the path was leading, which instantly reminded you of the woods from the night before.

“You sure you’re still not planning to kill me in the middle of the woods, O’Brien?” you said jokingly.

“I wouldn’t dream of it. At least not until I know the PIN to your bank account.” he said as he turned the SUV sharply.

“HAHAHA you’re so funny!” you said obnoxiously, finally taking notice of where you were headed.

About one hundred yards in front of you stood a ticket booth with a huge silver screen located some feet behind it. A drive-in movie, how much more romantic could this guy fucking get?

“You really are one of a kind, aren’t you?” you said, a delighted grin resting on your face.

“You make it easy, Y/N. You’re always so excited anytime I do something to surprise you, it makes me want to do cute shit like this for you everyday.” he said sweetly with an honest tone.

You turned to face him as you rested your head against the head rest, “I’m not worthy of you.” you spoke softly. You were only half serious. Maybe.

“You’re crazy if you really believe that.” he said, leaning over and giving your forehead a gentle kiss. You brought your hand up to cup his cheek, and as he began to pull away, you leaned up and connected your lips to his. He mirrored your actions and brought both hands up to hold your face as he fell deeper into the kiss, swiping his tongue over your bottom lip, seeking an entrance. You turned your head to the side, allowing his tongue to move rhythmically with yours. He tenderly bit on your lower lip, eliciting a breathy moan from you, that was lost in the depths of the kiss. As you both broke apart, you looked deeply into his whiskey eyes that were now gleaming from the moon and stars that covered the sky above you both. You silently thanked the guy who invented the sunroof.

“Let’s go get our tickets, babe.” he said, winking at you as he stepped out of the car.

You both walked hand in hand to the ticket booth, arms swinging like you were school children going to recess. You could get used to the feeling of his hand interconnected to yours, giving you a sense of comfort you hadn’t felt in ages.

“So what are we seeing, Dyl?” you asked, knowing damn well you’d sit through any movie as long as you were by his side.

“Well, there are two really good drive-in’s around here, each playing a different movie. The other one is uhm... well, it’s playing The Death Cure. And I didn’t want to spend our second date watching me.” he let out with a chuckle.

You giggled at his shyness, “I totally would’ve been okay watching you on the big screen, but I get why you didn’t want to. I’m seriously happy watching whatever.”

“I’m glad you understand, some people don’t get it. Not only is it kinda weird to watch my own movie on the second date, but it’s also still kinda... hard for me to watch.” he admitted, lowering his head.

“What do you mean?” you questioned, having no clue what he meant by that.

“You don’t know what happened?” he was genuinely shocked and relieved that you weren’t aware of his accident.

“Nope, I have no clue what you’re referring to... but I’ll understand if you don’t want to talk about.” you spoke lightly, not wanting to seem like you were prying.

“No, no, it’s okay, It honestly nice to know that you didn’t already know about it.” he admitted.

He continued, “Well, the reason it took The Death Cure three years to come out after The Scorch Trials is because I got banged up pretty bad while filming it.”

“How bad is pretty bad?” you said, looking at him with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

He pointed to the scar on the right side of his nose, “You see this right here? Long story short, I was doing a stunt on a moving vehicle and it all went wrong. I had to have facial reconstructive surgery. It was a huge mess and it’s taken me a long time to come to terms with it.” he seemed more solemn and withdrawn than you had ever seen him, and the sight broke your heart.

“Oh, Dylan, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like... You’re such a strong person, not only for being able to overcome that and continue on with the movie, but in general just being able to have a recovered and have such a good grip on it.” you said openly, hoping he’d understand just how serious you were in the moment. He gave your hand a gentle squeeze as you both continued towards the ticketing booth.

“Thanks, Y/N/N. I really appreciate that. It was tough, but I made it through and I’d like to think I’m doing better now.” he said, giving you a reassuring smile.

“You’re doing great, Dyl. I don’t know all the details, but you’ve already done so much since then, including American Assassin, finishing the Death Cure, and landing this new role that you’ve been negotiating. You’re amazing, please don’t ever think anything different.” you confessed, meaning every single word.

Dylan knew in that moment that he needed to keep you around as long as he could. Most people simply react to his accident as “yeah that really sucks, can I get an autograph?” or they will completely downplay the severity of it, making him seem like he’s overreacting. You were one of the few people who genuinely respected his healing process with it and recognized how difficult it was to come back, even if you barely knew any details.

“Now I’m pretty sure I’m not worthy of you.” he said, looking down at you through his sunglasses appreciatively.

You gave him a light nudge with your hip and a wink, “Whatever you say, O’Brien. By the way, you wanna tell me why you’re still wearing your sunglasses? It’s 100% nighttime now.”

“Unless you want to share me with any of my fans that might be here, I think it’s best that I leave them on until we get back to the car.” he explained.

“Ahh, makes sense. It’s going to take me awhile to get used to the fact that you’re a celebrity, or whatever.” you said nonchalantly, rolling your eyes jokingly.

“You’re fucking kidding me.” you exasperated as you read the marquee above the ticket window.

“TOP GUN?! This is one of my favorite movies!” you exclaimed, giving Dylan a bright smile.

“I had a feeling you were either into 80′s movies or Tom Cruise, so it was an easy choice compared to, well, my movie. ” he said while reaching for his wallet.

“You know me so well, babe.” you said giving him a wink. You were surprised how much easier the pet name rolled off your tongue this time around.

At the same time you reached up and gently grabbed his arm, “Dyl, please let me pay for the tickets. You’ve already done so much for me this week.”

He creased his eyebrows at you, but stepped aside and let you order the tickets. You leaned up on your elbows at the ticket booth window, slightly sticking your butt out and moving it back and fourth slightly, giving Dylan a show. You heard him mutter something behind you. You looked back with a devilish smirk across your lips, he rolled his eyes at you playfully and threw his head back while running his hand through his hair. Mission accomplished.

You both now sat, cuddled on a blanket beside his car. Your head rested on his chest and his hand traced up and down your back as you watched the classic Tom Cruise movie. You couldn’t help yourself from quoting every other scene. You were slightly worried you were being annoying, until Dylan starting doing it along with you. You both erupted into laughter anytime you’d both say the same phrase at the same time. Both of you were truly in a state of bliss that you never wanted to come out of.

“You know they’re making a Top Gun 2?” he asked.

“Uhm yes! I’m overly obsessed with this movie, so when I found out there was a sequel in the works, I basically died. They’re taking forever to get it figured it out though.” you said, feigning anger.

“If I tell you something do you swear not to tell anyone else?” he whispered, even though there weren’t any people within thirty feet of you.

You were instantly filled with curiosity, “Yes, I promise!”

You were now sitting up, looking down at his perfect face, the moon casting a beautiful glow over his features.

“Well, my manager may or may not have scheduled me an audition for one of the leads in it.” he said coolly, trying to play it off like he was sly.

“DYLAN. YOU’RE KIDDING. You better not be messing with me!” you deadpanned.

He laughed aloud at your intensity over the topic, “I promise I’m not messing with you! It’s still very much in pre-production, but I’m definitely interested. So we will see.” he revealed with a shrug of his shoulders.

“I’d literally KILL to see you in one of the flight uniforms they wear.” you teased as you returned your head to his chest.

“Well, some day you just might.” he said giving your shoulders a light squeeze, pulling you closer.

Before you had the chance to continue the conversation, Dylan’s phone began ringing in his pocket. He quickly reached down to grab it as you retreated from his embrace. He sighed when he read the contact.

“I’m so sorry but I have to take this, I’ll be right back, okay?” he apologized as he started walking away from you, his hand running through his hair nervously. You waved him off, giving him an understanding nod. Your mind began to wander, coming up with different scenarios that could be playing out in the phone call.

From the distance you could hear Dylan whisper-shouting into his phone. “No, I’m not okay with that. That is not what we discussed earlier.”

You didn’t want to eavesdrop, but he was making it hard with the volume he was using, “We agreed to wait two months, I don’t understand what the issue is.”

The conversation continued for about a minute longer, and the only other thing you heard before he returned was “Okay, well I guess I’ll just have to deal with it and figure something out. Thanks, talk to you tomorrow.”

He seemed visibly more tense when he returned to the blanket, his hand still avidly running through his hair. Your heart sank a little at the sight. You hated seeing him anything less than happy.

“Is everything okay, Dyl?” you questioned, a hint of nervousness in your voice.

“Yeah I’m okay, just some work stuff. No big deal, I’ll deal with it tomorrow.” he said, giving you a half-hearted smile. You could tell there was more to the story, but it wasn’t your place to pry, so you let it go. When he sat back down, he put both legs on either side of your body and wrapped his arms around your shoulders and chest, pulling you into him, your head resting in the crook of his neck. You were relieved that he was still wanting to be in the moment with you, regardless of whatever news he just received. He pressed a soft kiss into your hair and you fell further into him, loving the feeling of being wrapped up in his strong arms once again.

As much worry and annoyance was running through Dylan’s veins from his phone call, all of it seemed to drift away the second you were in his grasp. He was so thankful for you in that moment, even though you had no idea what was happening. You would know soon enough though.

The ending credits began to play and everyone in the drive-in lot began to pack up. You began to pull away, but your movements were restricted by Dylan’s grip on you.

He leaned in towards you, “Can we just lay here for a few more minutes?” he whispered.

“I’d love that.” you said sweetly as you turned and pressed a small kiss into his bicep that was just to the left of you. You weren’t lying either. It felt like everything you had ever wanted or dreamed of existed in this moment with him. Every wish upon a star or birthday candle was for this moment to simply come to fruition. Every stupid boy you’d ever had to deal with before this meant nothing compared to bliss that you were currently enveloped in. All you wanted was to lay there with him all night, feeling his chest rising and falling behind you as he breathed in the smell of your floral shampoo.

After a few minutes Dylan spoke up, “You ready to get out of here, gorgeous? I want to show you something.” he hummed into you ear.

“I’d go anywhere with you, Dyl.” you cooed as you pressed a kissed onto his hand.

He sure hoped you meant that.

Next Chapter: Part 7

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tree-services-anaheim-california · 3 years

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The Best Attraction in Anaheim

A Disneyland Vacation is an affordable adventure with the best Attraction in Anaheim CA. The town is one of the most visited by vacationers. It is a beautiful place with lots of outdoor activities like boat tours, surfing, hot air ballooning, rock climbing, hiking and thrilling bungee jumping. There are numerous dining options as well. The cuisine ranges from traditional American foods to international cuisine.

Anaheim is a beautiful city outside Los Angeles, in Southern California, just west of San Diego. It is home to the Disneyland Resort, an enormous complex of theme park-related, restaurant-related, hotel-related attractions, shops and parks. The city's also home to professional sports teams for the major leagues.

The Honda Center is the largest indoor arena where the Anaheim Ducks basketball team plays. The arena is divided into three sections - the America section featuring Ticketmaster outlets, an interactive stage, and suites located in the lower bowl. One attraction worth checking out is Thunder Mountain, the tallest Ferris wheel in North America. Another must-visit is the Sea Life Park, where a diver encounters all types of sea life. Another is Knotts Bottoms which features two roller coasters and is located at the corner of Westlake Avenue and Second Street.

Knotts Bottoms is also located at that corner. There are also the Anaheim Aquarium and Marine Science Center with over 150 different species of marine life. This attraction offers hands-on experiences such as swimming with the dolphins, watching the fish display, or learning about the food chain from a marine biologist. There is no charge for the aquarium shows and demonstrations.

Another must-visit for those in search of the best attraction in Anaheim would be the Hollywood Studios Tour. It's located in the heart of downtown and offers three hours of unlimited access to the legendary Filmmaker's playground. There are more than three hundred rides and attractions to explore.

Of course, not all visitors are interested in rides and attractions. They'd rather soak up some sun on the beach while sipping on some lemonade. This is where the famous Disneyland is located. Located on a seven-mile strip of Southern California's Pacific Coast Highway, Disneyland is one of America's most celebrated theme parks. It's here that you can visit Cars Land, meet your favorite Disney character, and indulge in countless food and drink deals. The Magic Kingdom is another must-visit tourist attraction where you can go on spectacular roller coasters and stroll through the Disney-designed nighttime area.

The most exciting part about visiting Disneyland is the fact that the entrance is free for all visitors. So what are you waiting for? Book your tickets now! But before you do, why not stop by Sea World for a swim or a lazy day at the beach? Both these destinations are less than an hour away from Disneyland, making them perfect day trips for families and individuals alike.

There are even more fun things to do when you're in Anaheim. Known as the hub of California's entertainment industry, the city hosts numerous free live shows and festivals that happen virtually every week. One of the best attractions in the area is Balboa Park, which is known for its giant wild and exciting animals like the Bulee, California Poppy, or the Ticking Lamb. There are also numerous museums that can't be missed like the Hall of Fame and the Natural History Museum.

If you don't want to head out to Anaheim then there are still plenty of fun things to do at Disneyland. Of course, it would be impossible to visit the theme parks without paying a bit. Plus, you need to have a good time with all the rides and other attractions. So if you're looking for a good way to spend your day, consider checking out the magic train. You'll get to see what it's like to operate a train while at Disneyland. Plus, it's one of the best attractions in the park.

But if you really want to enjoy the magic of Disneyland then you might want to check out the Mission Space. Here you'll get to take a tour of the space and spend some time looking through some amazing photos. As you can imagine, this is a very intense attraction that many people find intense, so be ready for a bit of a ride. While you're here, you may also want to visit Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and check out the video screens where many of the biggest rock bands have played. This attraction is something that everyone should try and enjoy at least once.

Overall, visiting Disneyland can be an incredible adventure. And no matter what you choose to do on your trip, it's sure to be an experience that you will never forget. So when you're planning your next trip to Disneyland, take a look at the above list of the best attractions. You're sure to have an incredible vacation!

#The Best Attraction in Disneyland

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travelwithmeslh-blog · 6 years

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Traveling in the United States

I love traveling internationally and would do it every year if I could, but I also enjoy traveling in the United States just as much! Not only does this usually save money, but each state offers its own unique culture and scenery! The varying cultures from state to state can be so drastic which is exciting for someone like me who loves to learn about different cultures. There are of course the popular spots to travel in the United States like New York City, Florida, Texas, and Chicago, as much fun as these places are I encourage people to find places that are a little less well known. This way it will be less crowded and usually cheaper than the typical vacation spots. Click here to learn more about some lesser-known spots in the US that would be perfect for an upcoming trip!

I have been to 38 states so far and am hoping to visit the rest within the next couple of years. Traveling in the United States can be relatively inexpensive if you plan ahead and use the right resources to save money. Keep reading to learn about three of my favorite places to visit in the United States and some additional resources so you can visit them as well!

Montana

One of my favorite places to visit in the United States is Montana. Most people just think of Montana as a state with not much to do besides hiking. While hiking is a huge part of Montana, there is a ton of other things to do as well! Half of my family lives out in Montana so I have been visiting there my entire life. I have grown to appreciate the state and all it has to offer. I love Colorado but Montana has just as good scenery and mountains and with way fewer people. My favorite town in Montana is Bozeman which is located in the middle of Southern Montana right off of I-90. The population is about 45,600 which isn’t huge but it still has a bigger city vibe to it. Bozeman has 42 parks and 52 miles of trails just within the city limits alone.

Bozeman, MT

There are numerous places to hike or bike in near Bozeman. Drinking Horse Mountain is a newer hiking venue with two trails (one easier and the other harder) that both lead to the 5,522 summit. At the top, you’ll have amazing views of the Absaroka and Gallatin ranges. Click here to read about some other great hiking spots in the Bozeman area! In the winter, check out Bridger Bowl or Big Sky Resort for some downhill skiing and snowboarding. Both of these places are great and have some amazing ski trails and views. Big Sky is a little more popular but is also more crowded and expensive. I personally enjoy Bridger Bowl since it is less crowded, which allows you more time on the mountain and less time waiting to get up the mountain. Big Sky does offer summer activities like golfing, mountain biking, and zip line tours.

Glacier National Park is located in the Rocky Mountains in the northwestern part of Montana. This park has some of the most amazing views in the United States and should be added to an avid hiker’s list. The park has over 700 miles of trails all ranging in difficulty so everyone will find the right trail for them. Glacier has multiple lakes for swimming, boating, and fishing as well. I would highly recommend checking out this park! Montana of course also is home to part of Yellowstone. Yellowstone is a great trip that everyone should try to do at least once. Yellowstone has fantastic hiking trails and areas to boat and fish. If hiking really isn’t your thing then it is just as fun to drive around the park and view the scenery and animals. You can either go camping or stay in a lodge in the park.

Glacier National Park

Outer Banks, North Carolina

Another favorite state of mine is North Carolina and more specifically the Outer Banks. The Out Banks is a group of barrier islands right off the mainland of North Carolina. If a relaxing vacation is more of your thing then this is the spot for you. I personally think that the Outer Banks is a better vacation spot than popular spots like Florida or New Jersey. The beaches are cleaner and less crowded. The island also offers golf courses and cute coastal shops. Many people ride ATV’s in the sand dunes to go sightseeing and view the wild horses that can be found farther down the island. If you are still looking to get some activity in during this trip, the Outer Banks has three Coastal Maritime forests that are perfect for hiking and sightseeing. The Outer Banks is also home to the Jockey’s Ridge State Park, which is a 426-acre park that features the largest living sand dune on the East Coast. I love the Outer Banks and am looking forward to planning a future trip there!

Outer Banks, NC

San Diego, California

One last place in the United States that I love is San Diego. This is obviously a well-known place to visit but I feel that it is worth mentioning. My family and I went there on my brother’s Make-A-Wish and it was one of the best trips I have been on. Just like the Outer Banks, San Diego has some of the best beaches I have been to in the United States. It surprisingly was never that busy at the beaches and the beaches were kept relatively clean. The San Diego Zoo was the highlight of the trip. The zoo is so large that most people opt to take a bus tour. This was a great way to see the entire zoo in just one day. It made stops at the large attractions which allowed people the opportunity to hop off and actually explore the exhibit. There are multiple different communities in San Diego each with a completely different feel from one another; it is really fun to shop and explore each community. I have not personally been here, but the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a large feature of the area. This park is the largest state park in California with 600,000 acres. Visitors can hike the 110 miles of trails or explore the 12 wilderness areas.

San Diego, CA

Amtrak

One thing about traveling the United States is that flying can often time be very expensive. This often causes people to shorten their trip or not even consider flying somewhere. I have just recently started looking into the Amtrak for my future trips in the United States. This summer I was hoping to go back to Montana with a friend but the airfare was too expensive for me. So I instead looked into taking a train ride out west instead. The Amtrak offers vacation deals and is relatively inexpensive if you plan it the right way. For my trip, I will either take the train from Chicago all the way to San Diego or I will take the train from Chicago to Seattle. Both of these trips take about 2 ½ days and is about $250 round-trip.

This is a great way to see a large part of the country for a pretty cheap price. The Chicago to San Diego train makes stops in Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and ends in California. The other option travels from Chicago to Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and ends in Oregon. The Amtrak also offers great trips out east or down south all starting in Chicago. If you are looking for a fun road-trip vacation without having to worry about gas or driving long hours, I would highly recommend looking into taking the Amtrak! Not only is it cheap, but you are able to see large parts of the country in just a short couple of days.

I love traveling in the United States just as much as I do internationally! The US has so much to offer and has many hidden spots, like the Outer Banks, that are just waiting for more people to discover! I talked about just three of my favorite spots in the US that I like to visit but each state has its own unique attractions to visit! Check below for some links to resources! Happy traveling!

Montana links:

Bozeman

Glacier National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Bridger Bowl

Big Sky Resort

Outer Banks, North Carolina links:

Outer Banks

Jockey's Ridge State Park

San Diego links:

San Diego

San Diego Zoo

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Amtrak links:

Amtrak

Vacation & Rail Tours

California Zephyr is the train ride from Chicago to San Francisco

Empire Builder is the train ride from Chicago to Portland/Seattle

#MKT400UWL

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minimotives · 6 years

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First and foremost:

I am absolutely sorry for the last blog post that you may or may not have seen if you subscribe to this blog (It’s gone now). I was not hacked but apparently James was. Also, apparently he was set as a contributor to this blog. So someone hacked into his account and published some sub-par English (like I have any room to complain!) post about something or another… I am sorry to be a cruddy email in your inbox though and thank you so much for those of you who let me know so I could handle it! It has been fixed and I’ll do my very best to not let it happen again!

Quick Recap!

So, 13 months, to the day, is how long we were on the road. And 39,998 miles (I’d like to just round that up bat I can’t do it). In that time we were able to hit 45 national parks (all of them in the lower 48 excluding 4 island parks accessible only by boat or plane). We can all, including Denver, say we’ve been to 48 of the 50 states.

I did technically take a computer but it was not easy to hook it up to the internet (I attached via phone). Then, every time I did my computer wanted to update. So any time I wanted to write a blog post I had to basically wait 2-4 hours and hope I remembered enough to scribble it down. As you can see, I think I wrote about 6 blog posts the whole time we were out and that was from my phone (its not easy to blog via touch pad!). I’m sorry for that but it was a lot more fun exploring the country!! Hopefully, if you wanted you were able to find us on Instagram where I still updated.

We left in the middle of some hot and heavy tiny house discussions and it’s pretty much been tabled the whole time we were away. We are very happy to be back thought to finish working through the nuances and hopefully make it easier to live tiny in Idaho at least!

Before That Happens Though:

We have to find a home base. The thought of mooching off any family while we figure it out is not appealing. We have great tenants in our ‘real’ house and have no ambition to kick them out just so we could live there a little while. We can’t occupy the tiny house. Short term (or long term) rentals are astronomical in Boise right now. (Click here for a special link to Yahoo about our hometown)

This left us with one logical answer. When James moved in to the tiny he never fully downsized. He just kind of put his things in boxes and then built a basic, detached garage for his ‘real house’, then stored all of his stuff in there. So we’re converting that garage into some temporary housing for our family of four!

Our Anniversary

We didn’t just end our trip 13 months to the day after take off, we also ended it one our anniversary. Every year we take a family photo in front of our home as a snapshot of the year. I am glad to get another picture with ‘Lil Beastie! (our camper). Here are our anniversary photos to date, I wonder what next year’s will look like! ha!

We lead a pretty cool life, I am so glad I, on a whim, started taking these pictures!

Year six, can you believe we were on the same vacation as the picture taken one year earlier! 🙂

Year Five, new home on wheels for a while

Year four, no new family members!, yea!

Year three, Miles is just about done cooking!

Year two, surprise baby Hazel!

Year one, the day Denver came to live with us!

First date – who even gets this picture??

Now The Downsizing Begins Again!

James has been hardcore into the real downsizing efforts. A year on the road has been pretty eye opening for both of us on what we really need (spoiler: less than what we currently own!). Honestly, I have cleared the tiny house of several truck loads of stuff! Our kids have grown up in a year and they really don’t need all the baby stuff we had. James has gone through box upon box. We’ve taken two truck loads to the dump, were planning a yard sale for anything else. Whatever doesn’t sell will be donated to start a new life elsewhere. Hazel and Miles have been going through all their stuff, they are excited to earn money from their toys AND plan on hosting a lemonade stand for cool refreshments. I absolutely cannot believe the amount of STUFF we have accumulated in our tiny little places!

Building Anew!

After this weekend we really get going! We will be adding a kitchen, a custom playhouse/fort for the kids, and doing all those little projects that take a garage to a home for a family of four and their dog! I will try to do updates because its totally relevant to ‘tiny homes’ and living in small spaces. Sometimes Instagram is just easier for me because it’s quicker (and can be done from my phone). I will definitely update on the legalities once that conversation gets going too. I am happy to be back and ready to rock this world again! In the mean time here are some of my favorite pictures of our adventures!

Also, this is not the end of our travels, we absolutely plan to make it to those four parks we skipped and are already planning our trip to Alaska (my last state) for next summer followed by celebrating James’s 40th birthday next fall in Hawaii! We should be able to see all these amazing National Parks before too long!

Oh, P.S.

Our cat is mad we are back. Did you know we had a cat? It’s probably because I am a dog person ;-).

He misses his bachelors pad and all the fancy parties he used to throw! While we were away we had an RFID cat door programmed to his microchip so that he could enter and exit the house at will (but nothing else could). We set up a camera pointed at his food so we could make sure he was alive and eating. Any time the food got low we would order another bag from Amazon and have James’s sister or mom run over and fill his dish. Pretty sure he enjoyed that set up a whole lot more than he enjoys our company!

The Pictures

Tetons NP

Washingtons Peninsula

Cascade NP

Mt. Rainier NP

The Oregon Coast

Crater Lake NP

Redwoods NP

Patricks Point, CA

Everglades NP

Bug watching, She is the best at finding lizards, frogs and catipilars

Bryce Canyon NP

Death Valley NP

Suguaro NP

Florida dog beach

Grand Canyon NP

Yosemite NP

California Free Camping

Zion NP

Zion Hike

Utah Farm

Mesa Verde NP

Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP

The dop of the highest sand dune in North America, Great Sand dune NP

Petrified Forest/Painted Dessert NP

Painted Desert NP

Spring in Death Valley NP

Death Valley

Death Valley Dunes

Joshua Tree NP

Saguaro NP

White Sands NM

Big Bend NP

One of MANY awesome aquariums (this one is in Mississippi)

Mardi Gras Parade in New Orleans!

Cocoa Beach with Poppy

Furthest South Point in the US

Disney’s Animal Kingdom

Disneys Magic Kingdom

Florida

North Carolina

Playgrounds across America!

Mammoth Cave NP

Smokey Mountain NP

Random Virginia picture (such a pretty state!!)

Shanendoah NP

Shanandoah NP

West Virginia

Washington DC

Wild ponies!!

Birthday Boy in Maine

Furthest east point in the US

Denver could not contain himself around that much water!

thousand Island area in New York

Hot springs

Sibling bonding

Denver got a lot of this!

He learned to fake his first smile and I caught it on camera!

Sand dunes in Michigan

Teddy Roosevelt NP

National Grasslands

Idaho is kinda pretty too 🙂

Learning new tricks

Glacier NP

Teton NP

Mt. Rushmore

Badlands NP

Rocky Mountain NP

Happy Campers!

Colorado bonding

Great Salt Lake

Spiral Jetty, UT

Great Salt Lake

AND… We’re Back! First and foremost: I am absolutely sorry for the last blog post that you may or may not have seen if you subscribe to this blog (It's gone now).

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anarchistnewsdaily · 6 years

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News Highlights: January 22 2018 - January 28 2018

In case you didn’t see, hear, or do it yourself these are some events that took place or were reported during the last week.

Smashy

Santiago, Chile: Incendiary Attack Against the Mother of Divine Providence Parish During the Visit of the Pope

“Anonymous attackers managed to break the padlock of the perimeter fence of the religious temple, then set the Vatican and Chilean flags on fire at the the feet of a sculpture of the Virgin, as well as throwing incendiary devices at the doors of the Parish. The fire began to spread both at the door and inside the Parish before being discovered by priests and security guards who extinguished it. At the scene they would have found anarchist leaflets which were not mentioned by the media, but would have contained slogans against religion and the Pope’s visit to Chile.“

Report Back from the Eagles Riots: A Chance for Solidarity, but More Importantly, a Chance for Joy | anarchistnews.org

“On January 21st, we took the opportunity to take part in the temporary autonomous spaces created by the post victory fervor of thousands of football fans. Realizing that the soon to be victory of the Eagles was an ample time for us to strike back against the domination of civilization, the police, and the prison walls built by our own deteriorating mental, we met up with friends outside of Lincoln Financial field with the intention of freeing ourselves, albeit temporarily. We joined up with fellow members of the continuous class war in their celebration, singing, chanting, lighting fires, and using this opportunity to attack ATMs and throw a little bit of art on the dismal walls of south Philadelphia. We moved down broad street with a roving party that the Philly PD just couldn’t seem to shut down.“

Earth Liberation

FERC Grants Request to Begin Tree Cutting for Atlantic Coast Pipeline | Earth First! Newswire

“The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted a request by the Dominion Energy-led Atlantic Coast Pipeline to begin cutting down trees along parts of the 600-mile pipeline route in West Virginia and Virginia, despite the fact that the project still lacks some regulatory approvals.“

Menominee Tribe Files Lawsuit Over Back Forty Mine Clean Water Act Wetlands Permit | Earth First! Newswire

“Today the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Tribe asserts that the agencies have failed to take primary responsibility for a wetland permit that is key to the future of the controversial Back Forty Mine proposal.“

Protesters March Against Snowbowl, Snowmaking

“Just the day before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a vehement group against the expansion of Arizona Snowbowl and snowmaking on Dook’o’ooslííd, marched across downtown Flagstaff, urging the city council to end the city’s contract with the ski resort.“

Estonia: Logging Threatens Endangered Species, Sacred Sites | Earth First! Newswire

“Thousands of ancient sites are at risk of logging because the government will not pay to have them mapped, according to Tiit Kaasik, board member of the country’s Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Estonia’s FSC is prepared to recommend to international headquarters that auditor Nepcon be stripped of its certification rights, he told Climate Home News, if pagan traditions are not respected.“

Hambacher Forest, Germany: Barricade-eviction, and the ‘Hambi 9’ « Contra Info

“9 activists in pre-trial detention, after being arrested during a barricade-eviction in the occupied Hambach Forest, Germany. The activists are accused of ‘obstructing the work of police officers’, during the barricade eviction on Monday the 22. of January. Arriving early in the morning, the cops were met with activists occupying blockading-infrastructure, including 2 tripods, 3 monopods, a skypod, and a 3 meter deep tunnel. The cutting of the Hambacher Forest was officially stopped early this season, on a court-decision, postponing cutting until October 1st 2018, however the risk of eviction of the occupation is as great as ever.

Canada: Kwakwaka'wakw Leaders Hand Eviction Notice to B.C. Fish Farm | Earth First! Newswire

“Setting out from Port Hardy on Vancouver Island, members of at least six B.C. First Nations took to the sea Monday to deliver an eviction notice to a fish farm operated by Marine Harvest: one of Canada’s largest producers of farmed Atlantic salmon.”

South Dakota: Oglala Lakota People Denounce State's Approval of Gold Mining | Earth First! Newswire

“At a hearing on Jan. 18, Oglala Lakota tribal members and others took issue with state officials for approving a permit transfer that moves Canadian prospectors one step closer to their goal of large-scale Black Hills gold mining.”

Animal Liberation

First Wolf in a Hundred Years Recorded in Belgium | Earth First! Newswire

“The first recorded wolf on Belgian soil for at least 100 years has made her bloody mark. Farmers in north-east Flanders have been put on high alert after evidence emerged that Naya, a female originally from eastern Germany that has been making a pioneering trek across Europe, had killed two sheep and injured a third near the Belgian town of Meerhout.“

Mutual Aid

San Diego, CA: Report on Autonomous Activity Over Last Week - It's Going Down

“Food Not Bombs of San Diego/Drop the Ban held one of several actions defying El Cajon’s new law against feeding houseless people in public on MLK Day. Earlier in the day, reportedly a blue lives matter flag was captured from a local business in an increasingly gentrified, hip part of town, and the words “I CAN’T BREATHE,” were seen painted onto the side of the building.“

“Meanwhile, signs have been put up in all of the popular panhandling spots with the words “DON’T SUPPORT PAN HANDLING. CONTRIBUTE TO THE SOLUTION…” Suggesting people donate to other services online instead. These signs are promptly being vandalized. Lastly, on January 20th, in solidarity with the J20 defendants and increasing border struggles a very large banner was dropped over the busy I-15. The banner read: “WE ARE STILL HERE DROP J20 SMASH THE WALL!” A bold three arrows on one side and a circle A on the other.“

Banner Drop

Minneapolis, MN: Banner Drop in Solidarity with #J20 - It's Going Down

“Solidarity from comrades in the Twin Cities IWW/GDC! The banner reads: Drop The Charges #Defendj20!“

Chicago: Solidarity with #J20 Defendees Coordinated Banner Drop - It's Going Down

“On the one year anniversary of the J20, partisans in Chicago coordinated a series of banner drops in support of the 59 remaining arrestees. We will continue to organize and fight with our comrades until each and every one of them is free from the state’s repression.“

Narrm / Melbourne, So-Called Australia: Banner Action for Invasion Day 2018

“Banner drop. West Gate freeway. Melbourne. Solidarity with our Indigenous brothers and sisters.”

Narrm / Melbourne, So-Called Australia: Banner & Poster Action for #7DaysOfResistance

“Anti-colonial poster & banner action for #7DaysOfResistance on occupied territory of the Boon Wurrung, Kulin Nations. South Eastern suburbs of so-called-Melbourne, ‘Australia‘.

Banners (L-R): Australia Is A Crime Scene, Stop The Genocide, Abolish Aus Day

Posters: Sovereignty Never Ceded! No Pride In Genocide, Queers Against Colonialism

Abolish Australia Day, Solidarity with the Aboriginal Resistance, Burn the Butcher’s Rag.”

Armidale, NSW, So-Called Australia: Banner Drops for Invasion Day 2018

“In the early hours of January 26th, 2018, banners were hung around so-called Armidale, NSW, with one facing out onto the parklands where Australia Day Festivities would be held later that day, reading “NO PRIDE IN GENOCIDE – JAN 26 = INVASION DAY”. This action was taken by non-Indigenous people as a minimal act of solidarity with the ongoing struggles of First Nations peoples.”

Infiltration

An Anarchist Survey of Amazon: Day Two | anarchistnews.org

“Security was very lose and we entered without issue or incident. This laxness was due in large part to the fact that Jeff Bezos was not going to be there. Our first observation was that the majority of Amazon employees in Seattle are between the ages of 25 and 35, many of whom wore Romanesque laurels around their heads. The only major exceptions were immigrant tech employees on H1B visas who were mostly in their 40s and early 50s. Our first stop was the silent dancing area where two hundred employees danced to music over specialty headphones provided for the occasion. It was eerily reminiscent of the celibate loner cult depicted in the film The Lobster who danced silently to their headphones in the middle of a forest. “

Union Activity

Portland, OR: Burgerville Workers Union Pickets and Expands Into More Stores - It's Going Down

“Our first picket of the year kicked off 2018 right: faced with yet another strong picket, Burgerville CLOSED THE STORE for the duration of the action for a suspicious “maintenance inspection.” This is the power of workers and the community coming together to show that we can and will continue to shut union-busters down!“

Antifa

Neo-Nazi Virginia Tech Employee Mark Neuhoff Continues Online Rants Against African-Americans and Jews - It's Going Down

“This following report from New River Against Fascism, details the ongoing exploits of Graduate Assistant Mark Neuhoff, a current employee of Virginia Tech University.”

We Don't Forget J20: Action Report Back from the Greater Seattle IWW General Defense Committee - It's Going Down

“local musicians performed and the DJ blasted songs throughout the square. Not much later began a rousing march through the campus and down the University Avenue main thoroughfare.“

J20 Solidarity Demonstration in Grand Rapids, MI - It's Going Down

“On January 20, about 30 people held an event in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan in solidarity with the remaining J20 defendants. There was a short rally with speakers about the J20 case, ongoing struggles, and the importance of fighting back. Following the speakers, the crowd burned an American flag and a Trump banner before setting off on a march through the center of the city. There were numerous people masked up, anarchist flags were flying, and anti-fascist chants were plentiful.“

Berkeley, CA: Antifa Patrol Turns Up Zero Alt-Right Posters - It's Going Down

“Along the way, we were able to put several anti-fascist stickers up on campus and the surrounding area. So in the end, what was to be a 4chan propaganda night ended up becoming yet another opportunity to make it known that Berkeley is an antifa zone!“

Albany, NY: Anarchists & Radicals Stand in Solidarity with J20 Defendants at Benefit - It's Going Down

“The Albany anarchist and radical community came out en mass to celebrate and support J20 defendants at a benefit show thrown at community education space The Albany Free School in the city’s Mansion District. The event put on by “friendly neighborhood anarchists,” featured over a dozen bands from around the capital region, vegan pizza sourced and catered by Albany Food Not Bombs, and a raffle with anarchist themed prizes donated by groups such as It’s Going Down and AK Press.”

Phoenix, AZ: #MyBordersMyChoice Neo-Nazi Propaganda Efforts Foiled by Antifascists - It's Going Down

“Around 50 fliers were found in total, a large increase in prior instances, and it was determined that at least two people were involved, with the comparison of fliers, and techniques used to post them. After we were confident that we had rounded up the significant majority of fascist materials, we moved to a nearby park and disposed of them by fire.“

Stand With Tariq Khan As Alt-Right Outrage Machine Inspires Death Threats - It's Going Down

“It is questionable whether Khan and his partner will be able to continue their studies uninterrupted, putting their dreams on hold until racists can stop making harassment their pet cause. This is disgusting, and it is not something we are going to stand by and just let happen. Khan is a respected academic and scholar, a celebrated educator, a committed student, and an amazing father and husband. We will not allow college campuses to be the killing fields for Alt Right terror, and we stand with Khan and anyone else who has been victimized by this kind of threat.”

Knoxville, TN: Neo-Nazis outnumbered 700 to 1 at Knoxville Women’s March - It's Going Down

“Less than two hours after they arrived at their barricaded protest area, the Traditionalist Worker Party members were escorted back to their vehicles in a nearby parking garage by several police officers in riot gear. A crowd of antifa and anti-racist activists followed them, shouting, “Go home Nazi.”

Outreach

Kolkata, India: International Anarchist Solidarity Action with Villawood Hunger Strikers

“Our solidarity action involved displaying a banner, reading; “Solidarity with Villawood Hunger Strikers! Burn down the concentration camps! Boycott Australian Tourism, End Exploitation of South Asian Students!”. We also distributed 200 plus flyers to passers-by and students attending the Indian State sponsored Australian Education Fair,”

Repression

#NoDAPL Water Protector 'Rattler' Takes Non-Cooperating Plea - UNICORN RIOT

“The Water Protector Legal Collectiveannounced that attorneys for water protector Michael Markus, known as Rattler, had reached a non-cooperating plea agreement with federal prosecutors. In the deal, Rattler agreed to plead guilty to one charge of Civil Disorder in exchange for a recommended prison sentence of three years. He had been scheduled to go to trial on two charges of Civil Disorder and Use of Fire to Commit a Federal Felony Offense, which carried a minimum sentence of ten years in prison and a possible sentence of up to fifteen years.“

Chile: Prison Officer Michelle Barahona, Responsible for the Harassment & Mistreatment of Anarchist Comrade Tamara Sol (Eng/Esp)

“Tamara Sol has been punished in a severe and inhuman manner. The last incident was provoked when two common prisoners, instructed by the gendarmarie, threatened Tamara and she defended herself. Tamara and two comrades who came to her aid, were brutally beaten, locked in ‘La Jaula’ (punishment cell) and shackled, with their hands and feet bound.“

Third Black Cville Resident Arrested in Wake of 'Unite the Right' - It's Going Down

“Mr. Blakney is the third counter-protester to be arrested and charged arising out of the events in Charlottesville on August 12, 2017. Corey Long and DeAndre Harris are both also facing criminal charges. All three are Black men and local residents who were attacked that day.“

Italy – The Italian government’s politics in Libya |

“With the shameless pretext of the ‘struggle against human traffickers’, the Italian State is lavishly financing war lords, guards and militias (those clumsily defined as the ‘Libyan government’) for the control and mass internment of the poor in flight. Patrols and refusal of entry along the Mediterranean coast, the detention of about six hundred thousand people in the Libyan concentration camps, the erection of a wall in the desert along theborders with Niger, Chad and Mali.“

The Heat is On: Update on Week 1 of #OperationPUSH - It's Going Down

“Prison organizers who correspond with these groups are being targeted for having their “security threat level” increased–a practice that translates into greater isolation and harsher conditions of confinement. One prisoner was told point blank, “As long as you communicate with these people you’re always going to be labelled a security threat and you’re always going to be put under investigation. ”Communication has been curtailed so severely that it’s hard to know how much of an economic impact the strike has had so far; we do know that in some cases scab labor has been brought in to keep facilities running.“

BREAKING: Rashid Johnson Tortured by Florida DOC - It's Going Down

“Kevin “Rashid” Johnson is being tortured at the Florida State Prison according to an “emergency note” Rashid’s lawyers received from him yesterday dated 1/19. It is suspected the torture began sometime between 1/12 and 1/19 since there was no mention of it in his 1/12 communication. No other details are available at this time but we will post updates here once we have them. This comes immediately after news that Rashid faces an “inciting a riot” charge for merely reporting on #OperationPUSH. You can read Rashid’s original reporting on Operation PUSH and the conditions in Florida prisons on IWOC’s site here. Rashid is the Minister of Defense of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party (Prison Chapter) and a prolific organizer, author, and artist.

Albany, NY: Support for Dawedo from Capital Region Anti-Repression Committee - It's Going Down

“Here in Albany, a community member is being targeted by ICE. Dawedo Sanon was taken and is being held in an immigration facility in Buffalo, NY. She is facing court dates, and her family is navigating how to keep her home. They’re raising funds to get her out of the facility. Her family has set up a fundraiser, which you can donate to here.“

Kurdish Fighters Defend Afrin From Turkish Military Invasion in Northern Syria - UNICORN RIOT

“Turkish Armed Forces launched “Operation Olive Branch” which amounted to a full-scale military invasion of northwestern Kurdish-controlled Syria. The Turkish Armed Forces rank second to the United States, as the largest military force within the NATO alliance. In the last few days, the Turkish military along with an estimated 25,000 Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels, have fired extensive artillery barrages into multiple villages near Afrin, dropped hundreds of bombs with F-16’s, and driven ground forces into Syria that include armored tank brigades and heavy infantry.”

“On January 17th, 2018, our compañera and community member of Cherán, Guadalupe Companur, was found dead in the area known as Irapio, in the Municipality of Chilchota, Michoacán. We want to clarify that her assassination did not occur inside the community, nor in the territory of Cherán. In spite of the measures of community security we have developed in our community, the region continues suffering from problems of insecurity and violence.“

Arrests and Injuries as Mexicali Resiste Defends Blockade Against Police Attack - It's Going Down

“For more than one year, residents of Mexicali have been organizing against the construction of a brewery and aqueduct by the U.S. company Constellation Brands. If completed, the facility would produce beer for export to the U.S. and consume seven to thirty million cubic meters of water annually. (A city of one million uses around 20 million cubic meters.) Earlier this month, members of Mexicali Resiste began blockading aqueduct construction. On January 16, state and local police forces attacked the blockade and an hours-long confrontation ensued. While the blockade was successfully defended, at least five were arrested and ten injured. Below is a translation of the statement released later that day by Mexicali Resiste.“

Italy – Updates on the deported Sardinian anarchist prisoner Davide Delogu |

“From a telegram we received on 15/01/2018 we learn that the censorship office has been accumulating books sent in over 8 months, which they are not giving him. He has only received two bulletins. He sends hugs to all comrades who unconditionally struggle with dignity on both sides of the walls.“

Senate Approves Extended Surveillance Powers For Trump - UNICORN RIOT

“The US Senate voted to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA – the legal underpinning for global mass surveillance carried out by the National Security Agency (NSA). The Senate passed the bill last Thursday after the US House of Representatives approved the same legislation a week earlier on January 11. President Trump signed the bill into law on Friday, January 19. The bill would extend unaccountable surveillance authorities for another seven years, at which point FISA will again be up for congressional reauthorization.“

Humanitarian Arrested After Group Releases Report Implicating US Border Patrol - UNICORN RIOT

“Hours after the release of a report titled ‘Interference with Humanitarian Aid: Death and Disappearance on the US-Mexico Border‘, which exposes the US Border Patrol’s efforts to destroy water, food, and blankets left by humanitarian aid workers, agents arrested an aid provider and two others receiving aid near Ajo, Arizona on January 17, 2018.

The aid provider arrested by Border Patrol was Scott Warren, who since 2013 has been working with the organization No More Deaths to provide “direct humanitarian aid in an effort to end death and suffering along the US-Mexico border.”

Judge Accepts Red Fawn Fallis Plea Agreement - UNICORN RIOT

“Red Fawn Fallis’s plea agreement was accepted by North Dakota Chief Judge Hovland. The agreement, made between her defense team and federal prosecutors, dropped the most serious charge of “discharge of a firearm in relation to a felony crime of violence.” Fallis pled guilty to the remaining charges of ‘Civil Disorder and ‘Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition by a Convicted Felon.’ Red Fawn Fallis is expected to have a sentencing hearing sometime in May.”

Social Center Burned Down by Nazis & Nationalists in Thessaloniki, Greece - UNICORN RIOT

“Using the cover of a large nationalist rally over Macedonia naming rights, Nazis and nationalists attacked two social centers (burning one to the ground), vandalized a Holocaust Memorial and tore down a sign promoting religious tolerance. Although dozens of police were present, no arrests were reported in either of the attacks on the social centers, ‘The School’ and ‘Libertatia Squat’.“

Water Supply at the Ramsey Unit, Texas, May be Contaminated Like the Rest of the State - It's Going Down

“Jason Renard Walker is Deputy Minister of Labor for the New Afrikan Black Panther Party and one of the contributors to the Fire Inside zine. He writes here about possible water contamination in Texas prisons, as it has been revealed that across Texas, many people are drinking water polluted with radium.“

Cops, Cameras, and Condos: Bloomington Is Getting Worse - It's Going Down

“Bloomington is not an unaffordable, tightly-packed, constantly-surveilled dystopia yet. There are more condos, cameras, and cops now than in the recent past, and there will be even more of all three in the future. This piece is not meant to produce a feeling of hopelessness, but rather point out to those who are threatened by these new developments how the situation here is changing, so we can adapt. The forces of order are still not omnipotent, not even close.”

Cambodia: Environmental Activists Jailed For Photographing Boat | Earth First! Newswire

“Dem and Hun were arrested on September 12, 2017 while at sea after filming boats suspected of being involved in the transportation of illegally dredged silica sand. The two environmental activists have been held in pre-trial detention since their arrest.”

Class War Scotland member on trial for displaying a poster on his window | anarchistnews.org

”Eventually David was arrested for ’threatening or abusive behaviour’ under Section 38, The Criminal Justice and Licencing (Scotland) Act 2012 and for ‘failure to give details as a witness’ under the Court Section 13–14, The Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995. However, initially David wasn’t even charged: instead, he was taken to the police station, where he was made to wait for 9 hours, and was subjected to anal cavity search. David is a member of Class War Scotland. He says that ‘It was done to humiliate me, because they were obviously aware of my political standing which is anarchist’. David’s trial took place mid- January at Glasgow Sheriff Court and the case has been adjourned till June. “

Rest In Power

Ursula K. Le Guin, Acclaimed for Her Fantasy Fiction, Is Dead at 88

“Ursula K. Le Guin, the immensely popular author who brought literary depth and a tough-minded feminine sensibility to science fiction and fantasy with books like “The Left Hand of Darkness” and the Earthsea series, died on Monday at her home in Portland, Ore. She was 88.“

For further news check out: Anarchist News Daily

For anarchist podcasts, lectures, and audiobooks check out: F Yeah Anarchist Audio

For anarchist videos check out: F Yeah Anarchist Video

Current news sites include: itsgoingdown.org insurrectionnewsworldwide.com earthfirstjournal.org unicornriot.ninja anarchistnews.org contrainfo.espiv.net actforfree.nostate.net

#anarchism #news #january 2018 #highlights #h

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boozedancing · 5 years

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G-LO: Well, you did it again! A red-eye flight from LAX to JFK on Tuesday evening, an afternoon of eating and drinking in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon followed by a 4 hour Kosher BBQ and whisky event in Battery Park at a little thing called Kiddushfest – World of Whisky, Brews, and Que, post-event whisky and cocktails at The Dead Rabbit, a MASSIVE slice of artichoke pizza in the West Village at 1AM, 2.5 hours of sleep, and then a 9AM flight from JFK to LAX on Thursday morning. What’s your secret???

AK: We can sleep when we’re dead. Or at work. The thrill of the whisky festival chase gets the adrenaline flowing. So we chase. And chase. And chase. Oh, and the thought of seeing you was a huge thrill. Zzzzzzzz…

G-LO: WAKE UP! No sleeping on the job!

AK: I’m awake now! Jeez! That was my good ear you were yelling into.

G-LO: And yes yes, whisky festivals always get the blood pumping. Though as we’ve said before, it’s less about the actual whisky, and more about the opportunity to see friends. Whisky is THE excuse for all of us to get together. It’s a catalyst for chrissakes!

AK: Oh, indeed, we’re surely at the point these days in our whisky journey to admittedly care more about the people we see, the sights and sounds, and the food. Cask Strength GlenOak 12 “The Overly Ryed Series”, Single Barrel Old Whipper Snapper 18, and similar mean less now after realizing that all are overpriced, pretty horrible, and unnecessary. Whereas the friends we see at these events are none of those things.

G-LO: Whipper Snapper 18? I must have missed that one. I really should pack my reading glasses when I go to these things. I’m really glad you mentioned the food by the way! The NYC Jewbilee always took the food really seriously, so even though they’ve been mothballed for an undetermined length of time, I was very VERY pleased when we broke the news that their caterer, Ari White of The Wandering Que, was launching Kiddushfest to take its place. Mmmmmm….. BRISKET!

AK: Did someone say Brisket? Mmmmmm…I so gloriously recall Jewbilee II that we attended at the West Side Jewish Center in Midtown Manhattan. The Center was packed with people. It was packed, hot, and sweaty. I didn’t know anyone except from this thing called the internet. For all I knew, you were were a 5’ 8” blonde bombshell in 8” stilettos and fishnet stockings. Boy, was I wrong! I was scared beyond the capacity for rational thought. But I was also overwhelmed by the smell of whisky and cholent. I felt like I was in my grandmother’s house in Inglewood, CA. All the fear left my body as I waited in line for Ari’s delectable offerings. My head basically exploded. Then my stomach. I might have the order wrong.

G-LO: Explosion is an ugly (and messy) word. How about if we describe your experience at the outstanding Jewbilee II as a food and whisky-gasm? Much more appealing, and a little naughty too. In a nice way. The tagline for Jewbilee II should have been, “Leaves you satisfied and yearning for more…”.

While Kiddushfest was built around the same framework as the Jewbilees of Yore (that sounds like the name of a new BBC mini-series, no?), going from the West Side Jewish Center and Studio 450 (home of NYC Jewbilees III through VII) was quite a big change. We went from the hustle and bustle of Midtown Manhattan and the monolith that is Penn Station and Madison Square Garden to the just slightly less hustley and bustley area of Battery Park. In a way, we went back to the beginning, i.e. back to where the first settlements of what was once called New Amsterdam took place.

AK: Found this in my research (i.e. Wikipedia) on the origins of Battery Park as a public space in the 1840s:

Proponents said that the park would serve three purposes: abetting good health, improving the behavior of the “disorderly classes”, and showcasing the refinement of the city’s elite.

Well, my brand of public policy and civic benefit clearly believe that Kiddushfest is a great example of all three of those. Ok, maybe not the second one and the third one is kind of iffy but I’m sure we’re in way better health after the event. Who doesn’t feel better after a night of whisky and BRISKET?!

G-LO: While I can’t speak for you and your delicate constitution, I can speak for my very robust, Sicilian constitution, and let me tell YOU, I felt fan-freaking-tastic after Kiddushfest! I am quite confident in saying that the heady mix of yummy vittles, bottomless pours of The Water of Life, and delightful company in a picturesque waterfront location left me feeling refreshed and ready to take on The Town. Ok, so maybe not the WHOLE town, but I was definitely ready for a couple cocktails and some late-night snacks. And speaking of yummy vittles, you spent quite a bit of time speaking with the orchestrator of said yumminess, i.e. Sir Ari White! What was that all about?

AK: First off, my constitution is as robust as anyone!

Narrator: It wasn’t.

G-LO: Who was that???

Narrator: This was true. He was clueless.

G-LO: OK, that’s just freaky. I’m feeling like the Priest in Season 2 of Fleabag right now whenever that 4th wall was broken!

Narrator: But not as freaky as this blog.

AK: I’m forging ahead, pretending it’s one of the many voices in my head. Where were we?

G-LO: Ari White and The Wandering Que.

AK: Sounds like a band I’d like to be in. Talking to Chef White about smoky heaven. He can get all bbq nerdy or meaty egalitarian with ease. I’ve been nerding out on The Gospels of Aaron (Franklin) and Steven (Raichlen) as of late, trying to change my life, and make the perfect brisket on my Weber Kettle. Talking to Ari is another step in the process. And from a whole different angle since he cooks Kosher meat. But let’s not get too deep in the coals.

G-LO: You and your goddamn Brisket! I’m still holding out for an invite to the next West Coast Office Brisket & Whisky Fest. Bastard.

AK: First, it’s G-d damn Brisket. Let’s be respectful, you heathen. And second, my table always has a place for Elijah the Prophet, Scarlett Johansson, and you.

Madame Skiver-Barton enjoying a smoke and a whisky.

G-LO: I only heard bits and pieces of your Q-chat with Ari. While you two were talking, I was also listening to the Whisky Advocate peeps (Susannah and her Minions) discuss some stories that they were working on. I may be an eavesdropper, but I ain’t no multitasker! Especially when it comes to listening to two conversations at the same time. Tell me more about this Que-chat with Ari.

AK: Oh, we chatted about pink butcher paper, Aaron Franklin, wood, smoke, bark, cooking for a large group. You know, regular stuff. Probably the same stuff Ms. Skiver-Barton was going on about. You know how she is. She gets rolling on a topic and before you know it, you’re in the North Carolina weeds lost amongst the sycamores and fist-sized bugs wondering where the nearest fillin’ station is.

G-LO: Please, don’t even get me started on that Skiver-Barton woman. You know how it goes with those hyphenated last name people. Trouble with a capital “T”! Yes, I know that rhymes with “P”, and that that “P” rhymes with pool. But this ain’t River City, Pal! And we’re not talking about starting a marching band for wayward youth. We’re talking whisky and BBQ! And Madame of The Hyphenated Last Name most definitely knows her way around a North Carolina BBQ pit and a whisky distillery, so yes, we were most definitely in the weeds that night, but thankfully, the bugs weren’t so bad, and they were nowhere near fist-sized. What the hell were we talking about again???

AK: There may be nothing scarier than a hungry Susannah Skiver-Barton (aka SSB or Super Sonic Barton for short) waiting in line for brisket. The stomping of sensible shoes was surprising, I must say. I expected the drooling since I was too and, to be factually correct, we were standing by the door to the kitchen with the wafting of barbecue coming our way. Who wouldn’t drool? C’mon!

G-LO: Drool is such an ugly word. It’s right up there (or right down there depending upon your perspective) with moist. I prefer to say that our mouths were watering, and that the brisket was juicy and delicious. You know, cause it really was!

All this talk about brisket is making me hungry. Again! Let’s talk a bit about the whisky. Thoughts on the selections? Was there anything that really tickled your fancy? I mean, I certainly wasn’t gonna tickle your fancy! There’s a Mrs. West Coast Office for that bit of funny business.

AK: You’re such a tease. Well, we knew that Ari’s food would be A+ and it was! I might have had a couple of helpings of brisket. Only my tailor knows for sure. But we had no idea (at least I didn’t) what the whisky offerings might be. Seeing Señor Joshua (née Jose) Hatton downstairs manning the IMPEX-JVS booth made us muy happy. Kilchoman, Port Askaig, Penderyn, and Single Cask Nation offerings! Woohoo! There was one table that was confusing. Port Ellen, Laphroaig, old Macallan and more!!! Butttttt….that was for some kind of raffle that I didn’t quite understand. There was also an odd table of some spirits from Gardena, CA(!). Now this intrigued me if only because Gardena is where this chap started out in life. Who knew the little bedroom community has a distillery? Or does it? We need to research.

G-LO: I am most definitely a tease. I’m the teasiest tease that ever teased. You know who isn’t a tease? Señor Hatton! He’s no tease. He aims to please. He brings the whisky AND delivers one hell of a hug! While he and IMPEX-JVS definitely delivered The Goods, I gotta say, there were some significant holes in the whisky selections when compared to the last Jewbilee we attended. Wassup with that, Bro?

Joshua “Yo Yo Yossi!” Hatton of Single Cask Nation, IMPEX-JVS, and The One Nation Under Whisky Podcast

AK: Upstairs at Battery Gardens… did we mention where we were for this shindig?… there were plenty of spirit tables. Well, about 20, I’d guess. Mostly names we knew but definitely some unfamiliar ones like the tequila table whose name escapes me. It was great to see Laws Whiskey House from Denver. I love their Rye. Señor Hatton turned me onto them at Jewbilee in Chicago-bang bang. And who doesn’t love Compass Box? Corsair had a table too. But I was hoping for more Scotch names. My guess is that it’s hard starting up a new festival and getting commitments from brands to attend.

G-LO: You’re right! We did NOT mention the venue. Battery Gardens was the name. Battery Park is where it’s at. While I definitely enjoyed what was on offer, I can’t help but be a bit chagrined by what wasn’t there, i.e. Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Glenmorangie, The Balvenie, Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Lagavulin, Talisker, The Glenrothes, and many many more. I’m sure you’re right about the difficulty in getting brands to sign up for a new event, especially in a hyper competitive markets like New York where they’re constantly doing promotional work. I also think that part of the problem stems from the fact that whisky is HOTT (that’s right, HOTT with two Ts!) right now, so well known brands probably get less impact from events like this. On the flipside, there’s no shortage of new brands out there, so if you can’t get the established brands, why not go for the up and comers? Speaking of up and comers, it was neat to see the Heaven’s Door whiskies at the event. While what I tasted from them was pretty good, it’s the artwork on the bottles that really blew me away. Me likey the pretty shiney packaging!

AK: I’m no Bob Dylan fan, but the artwork on his Heaven’s Door bottles was pretty cool. And yes, H-O-T-T, Baby! That’s what whisky is these days. And I’ve seen the lack of brands at shows here in LA too. It’s depressing. I was at show and there was a winery with a booth. They were pouring a wine that had rested in a bourbon barrel. That might be stretching the product definition a wee bit. I think for Ari & Co. it will be an ongoing effort to bring in bigger names, and if anyone can do it, he can. I can’t imagine the logistics of putting on this type of event and all the tentacles that need slaying.

G-LO: I’m sure it’s a royal pain in the ass to get brands to sign up, and if anyone knows from royal pains in the ass, it’s me. Mostly cause I am one. Kudos to Ari & Co. for fighting the good fight and making our NYC Whisky event in June dreams come true! There’s definitely room for improvement with regards to the whisky selections, but I’d say he nailed it with the venue, venue location, and food. And with regards to the food, I know we talked up the brisket quite a bit (and deservedly so!), but I gotta admit, the Kosher fish dishes on the ground floor were nothing to sneeze at! Love the Salmon Pastrami, and a few of those herring dishes were quite delicious, especially the one with the Israeli spices. Molto molto buono!

AK: OMG!, as the kids say. The smoked salmon and herring from The Rebbe’s Choice. Can I just roll around in that stuff for 7-10 days with crackers nearby? May G-d bless us all with this on our plates. Baruch HaShem. I believe you speak of the za’atar spices which are a must for the home or office. Ask for it by name. Accept no substitutes.

G-LO: You know what would be awesome? Getting Ari’s perspective on this whole Kiddushfest thing which he is definitely turning into #AThing. Do you think two can-do guys such as ourselves can make that happen?

AK: Let me wave my magical barbecue tongs…POOF!

G-LO: Wait… Magic??? I thought magic died when Claudia Schiffer and David Copperfield broke up. Tell us more about these magical barbecue tongs of yours. Can they make a perfectly cooked smoked brisket appear at any time? You know, the kind with the perfectly burnt, burnt ends, bark, smoke ring, and juicy center. Can they also make pitchers of sweet tea and bottles of vintage Port Ellen appear? If so, work your magic, Mr. Blaine, and make that Wandering Que interview magically appear before our eyes! Are you an “Abracadabra” or a “Hocus Pocus” kinda conjurer? Or do you just let your hands and those tongs do the talking? You know, like a Marcel Marceau type. Friggin mimes.

AK: Jeez, I wanted Teller, and I get Penn. Chill, Houdini! Wait for it…

Fade to wavy visual with eerie piano music…

youtube

We spoke to organizer and master barbecuer, Ari White, via e-mail on various topics including Kiddushfest, event planning, the Jewish side of whisky festivals, and barbecue!

AK: Ari, great event! We were excited to be there for the first one! How did Kiddushfest come about and what made you decide to jump into the whisky festival world?

Ari White (aka The Wandering Que or TWQ): Going back 11 years, my wife Gemma and I threw our first Kosher whisky festival which grew into a series of catered paired Whisky Dinners, Burns Suppers and the like around NYC. I first met Mark Gillespie at our first one (click the following link and listen to one of Mark’s early podcasts: http://whiskycast.libsyn.com/whisky-cast-episode-134-march-2-2008) where a young newly married me gushes while my blushing bride talks about her grandfather rubbing her teeth with whisky (swirling a Straithisla ’64 in her glass). The events were high end, pour lists epic, and locations varied. It was within the midst of those early whisky dinners that [Whisky Advocate magazine’s] WhiskyFest made their fatal move, and we were connected to Joshua Hatton in Single Cask Nations’ infancy. It was love at first dram, the rest is history.

Editor’s Note: Whiskyfest was held on a Friday night in New York City back in 2012. Since this is the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, many of the local Jewish community could not attend. Single Cask Nation saw this as an opportunity to bring a high-quality whisky festival to the New York while not excluding the Jewish community by having their new event – Whisky Jewbilee – on a Thursday night initially.

AK: For sake of conversation, let’s assume you’re a whisky drinker (HA!), when did you start your whisky journey?

TWQ: I grew up down in the West Texas town of El Paso. Cheap Mexican beer and tequila were the wet nurses of my youth. In college, my horizons expanded to include bourbon, based more on price point then pomposity, I reckon. At 23, passing through the World of Whiskies in London’s Heathrow Airport as newlyweds, we were tasked with spending a £100 note on our first bottle. The statesmanlike salesman named Michelle spent an hour (at 8:00 am) sampling with us before we settled on a 25-year-old Glenmorangie for 75 quid (he called it a “lady’s dram”) [and] leaving room for a Glenfarclas 17 to boot. He gifted us a leather-encased flask that I still carry for kiddush on Shabbat today.

We called East 109th Street our home back then, across the cultural divide left behind at 96th Street. South of that border, Shabbat and Hashkama [morning prayers] Kiddushes at Congregations Orach Chaim and Kehilath Jeshurun [on New York’s Upper East Side] never ever disappointed with pours the likes of Springbank 33’s, Port Ellens, and countless single barrels of all ages every single week after services, maybe a few times in between, who’s to say?!

AK: What’s your go-to dram?

TWQ: Asking for a go-to dram is like saying what song do I like on the radio. Punk rock of young Kilchomans do me pretty right. With that said I’ve got a finger of Tamdu 001 left as I finish this second question.

AK: Putting together any large event like a wedding, bar mitzvah, or whisky festival takes a lot of planning. After three b’nai mitzvahs in my house, I know! Tell us about your plan of attack for Kiddushfest.

TWQ: Large scale events is what we do, day in and day out, year-round at the Wandering Que and for the last 13 years under Gemstone Catering. The logistics of this beautiful Hudson River waterfront beat the crap out of what we had to go through the last half-decade pulling off Whisky Jewbilee at Studio 450’s penthouse and its one service elevator.

AK: How did you assemble your team and the roles that they played?

TWQ: The team assembled itself when friends and industry colleagues alike stepped up to the plate offering their help in everything from vendor hunting and social media marketing, to day of ticket check-in, and swag bag assembly. It takes a village. With way too many to name, I’d be remiss to not mention Ari and Leah Cohen who just went way above and beyond any level of normalcy to make the evening a success.

AK: Whisky Jewbilee became iconic as a hardcore whisky-centric show. Your amazing food only added to the festival’s high regard in the community. We’ve been to many expensive festivals with pretty sad food offerings that leave us…hungry! But the boys of SCN (Jason and Joshua) have “moved on” from it, leaving a sad void in the festival world. Why do you think Whisky Jewbilee succeeded and how do you see Kiddushfest filling that void to the whisky community?

TWQ: The Jewbilee made everybody happy. The vendors loved the exposure to a knowledgable purchasing market segment that based a year’s purchases on to what they would be informed of that night. The kosher crowd loved access to events of that caliber where they could drink AND eat everything making a $100++ ticket price easier to wash down. #BrisketChaser. The food was always just the hook; it was the bonus of putting on our own festivals. Bless Joshua. The guy is a vegetarian and still enabled my brisket and sausage debauchery every year.

What really set the Jewbilee aside in my book was the accessibility to the brands and their ambassadors in comparison to all the larger or more established festivals already on the circuit. Our crowd was always engaged and curious rather then just on the road to drunken dipshittery. The venue was iconically NYC with 360° rooftop views and cigars to boot. It became the best bang-for-the-buck kosher event in NYC hands down and even when everyone laughed at the Jewbilee for moving to the middle of the summer, nothing could stop us from selling out year after year. I knew we were doing something right when over a third of our tickets were being sold to non-Jewish Kosher keeping guests. It put us nose to nose with the biggest festivals NYC has ever hosted. [With Kiddushfest] even with a space expandable to over 1,000 guests, we are totally set on keeping the size approachable and mob mentalities at bay.

AK: Jewbilee was created as a whisky festival “by and for whisky geeks”. It was an event that whisky brands wanted to be at. What’s the strategy for Kiddushfest to get those names to attend in the future?

TWQ: This was by far and large our biggest challenge this year. With a glut of new festivals popping up every year in both the non-kosher and kosher food scenes, I totally appreciate many brands’ main challenge is choosing which ones bring back the best ROI. Any hope that my involvement in the Jewbilee from its inception would guarantee the same excitement was quickly dashed. With a new location and new name we were on our own and starting from scratch. There were enough vendors excited to not lose this summer event that we had some great momentum from the get-go. With 12 months to plan next year’s Kiddushfest rather then the 12 weeks we pulled the last one off in, I’m excited to say we’ll fill all 40 brand tables with 15 more breweries and ciders outside.

AK: I’ve yet to use the words “Kosher” and “Jewish” (but YOU have!). They are important in the discussion, especially for an event called Kiddushfest. Tell me how you see the cultural and religious aspects to the festival, and your thoughts on bringing in a wider audience.

TWQ: There is a rogue element within the observant world that get together for a quick dram on the Sabbath. They get together between and sometimes just maybe during the prayer services. On the one hand, they often catch flack for the time and place chosen for these rendezvous. On the other hand. they are for many of us, the one short chance to catch up with old and new friends with or without a Highland Park and piece of herring. No different then the Kiddush Club #safespace we built at the Whiskey Jewbilee, Kiddushfest was very [much] modeled around the same Sabbath-like setting complete with Smokehouse cholent, potato kugels and yapchik (mind-blowing, look that one up) [We did… https://www.kosher.com/recipe/potato-flanken-kugel-yapchik-6966]. We aimed to create an environment where friends could get together, without ditching the family or Rabbi’s sermon.

I wouldn’t call the festival a religious one. I do hope that the values that we have tried to embrace show with this [festival] bear fruit. I am proud that we were able to raise $4,000 that evening for our two charity partners. I can’t imagine too many other whisky festivals where a group of 50 guys would go outside at 9pm past the cigar bar and riverside cabana facing east to pray Ma’Ariv – the evening service – before diving right back in for the last 30 minutes of the show. Cholent [Jewish comfort food] is the original melting pot, [and] it fits the NYC scene just fine. I love that we have had such large numbers of women attendees and was thrilled with the large groups of non-Jewish guests as well. I hope it means we are doing a few things right.

AK: Let’s talk barbecue. It’s obvious that this is your happy place being from Texas. Barbecue and Kosher are generally not words you hear together too often! How did you get into it? How did The Wandering Que start? How many events do you do in a year?

TWQ: Shit, Hoss, that’s a horse of another color! Wood smoked BBQ is like home for me, and moving up to NYC all those years ago I got homesick. There wasn’t so much as a lick of smoke in anything they were calling BBQ up here 10 years ago in the kosher world. I’m glad to say those days are done with the fires of southern cooking burning low and slow everywhere. Having grown up in a town without any kosher food (way before the days of Food Network), I am fortunate to play Johnny Appleseed traveling around the Tri-State, smoking up one community at a time before hitting the road to do it all over again. We cater well over 100 events a year with our BBQ and Charcuterie products now going into supermarket and gourmet food stores all over the country. Throw in five kids under the age of 11. Sleep is highly overrated.

AK: You were in Philly the weekend after Kiddushfest. The Wandering Que travels! How do you take your show on the road?! Do you have a food truck type of set-up?

TWQ: I do have two offsite BBQ Setups and teams. One is based around a 7,000 lb. 18′ offset stick burner BBQ pit by Gator Pit in Houston Texas. The other is our new 28′ BBQ Concession Trailer which is a little more closely related to a food truck, just minus the truck part and 3 times the size with an 8′ porch sporting a two ton Hog Cooker from Bubba Grills. And we have spent the last two years installing and building out my new kitchen to operate an Oyler 1300 by J&R Manufacturing in Mesquite Texas. It has an 1,800 lb capacity and runs entirely on burning wood. It’s a game-changer for me and by the Grace of God, I get to turn it on for the first time in 10 days after our final inspections by our local Departments of Building, Fire, and Health.

We travel far and wide hitting street fairs, music festivals, [as well as] private, corporate, and charity events. I run out of china at 700 people and we have served as many as 1,500 over a six-hour service. My pit crew and team are hardcore and I would be remiss (again) to not mention Samba, Joe, One-Stop, Lala, Mario and the STAR-K for being the real superheroes that make really make the magic happen.

AK: Last question for the barbecue nerds: What type of wood is your wood of choice?

TWQ: My favorite wood to smoke with is Pecan leaving me plum outta luck up here. We generally burn oak, cherry, and maple. I love any fruit wood I can get my hands on.

AK: So Kiddushfest #1 (or Echad) is in the books. The gates are closed! How do you think it went? What are the areas you’d like to work on for Kiddushfest #2 (or Steim)?

TWQ: The night’s early piss poor weather forced us to abandon the outdoor space and reset everything upstairs to include the dozen booths and our entire Wandering Que food station. [A] logistical nightmare I’d love to circumvent next year with blue skies, please. With that said, the venue was stunning and [we’ve been] invited back next year already where we are shifting back to the Thursday night model. The vendors seemed thrilled with both the turnout and the level of engagement. An interesting observation one pointed out to me was that at no point in the night did they have an empty table. I look forward to expanding the beer garden next year as well to really take advantage of that outdoor space. With room for another 200 people next year, I also look forward to doubling the numbers of [whisky] on the pour. Small things come to mind: digitized check-in, printed pour lists in advance, much more water on the floor, spit buckets, beef ribs, and world peace. All pretty doable after smokin’ them Beef Ribs.

AK: Amen! Ari, mazel tov on Kiddusfest I and thanks for taking some time to chat. We hope to be there for next year’s and all of the future ones.

TWQ: It’s 2:00 am and my Tamdu is long since turned over, so I’ll wish y’all a hearty l’Chaim and my thanks for all the love along the way, not just this year but for the many past as well. It’s been a great trip so far, I’m excited to see what we get to share together along the long road to come.

_____________________________________________________________________

Many thanks to Ari White for taking the time answer our questions and for the media pass hook-up to this Que-tastic event!

It's #Kiddushfest Chat-time w/ @AaronMKrouse and Ari White of #TheWanderingQue! #BBQ #Whisky G-LO: Well, you did it again! A red-eye flight from LAX to JFK on Tuesday evening, an afternoon of eating and drinking in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon followed by a 4 hour Kosher BBQ and whisky event in Battery Park at a little thing called…

#Ari White #Battery Gardens #BBQ #Drinkwire #Interview #Kiddushfest #Kosher BBQ #Photography #Photos #Review #Reviews #The Wandering Que #Whiskey #Whisky

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bikingb1tches · 5 years

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DAY 32

Midway City, CA to San Diego, CA

Hours: 10 hrs

Miles: 95 mi

Elevation gain: 2,490 ft

Elevation loss: 2,451 ft

Clip-in falls: 3

Flat tires: 1

Well, the trip is finished. It’s surreal. It was really hard. It was really amazing. But it’s finished.

I woke up this morning at the Sains’ place, suited up for the day, and packed up my bike one last time. I said my goodbyes to all four of them at around 8:30am and then hopped on my bike for my very last morning. It was a sort of bittersweet moment--I was really excited to get on the road and have my last day because I couldn’t wait to be home, but it also was my last day on the tour; today was my 32nd day on my bike and I can’t imagine being back in San Diego and life just settling into the same old routines again. I’ve been in the saddle pedaling, eating, sleeping, site-seeing, experiencing new places, and pushing for the last month and all of a sudden I will just back in my house, going to work, working out, meeting up with friends, and doing simple things like cleaning my house or feeding Mr. P. It really was a 50/50 split of happy and sad.

It was NOT a 50/50 split of happy and sad to leave RJ, Taryn, Brooklyn, and Moose--it was just sad. While I’ve lived away from California in North Carolina, Indiana, and Chicago, I missed out on about three years of seeing them. Now that I’m back on the west coast, I feel so privileged and motivated to see those from college that I love hanging out with and taking advantage of the fact that we are now only a few hours from each other, rather than a long flight and time off. They were such great hosts and I am so happy I was able to meet Brooklyn when she is so fresh out the womb.

The first quarter of the day contained most of the elevation, which I was happy to get out of the way in the morning. The only other elevation I would have is the big hill coming out of Torrey Pines, which was pretty close to home and I was not looking forward to it. The first half of the day wasn’t too bad in general, though it really started getting warmer in the afternoon.

About 5 miles north of Camp Pendleton, a military base, I stopped in San Onofre State Beach to sit on a picnic table in the shade to eat lunch. The bike route took me straight through the state beach, which was great because there was no traffic and it eventually turned into a bike path; I saw almost no bikes on the path as well.

Unfortunately, you have to have a military ID to go through Camp Pendleton; I thought I read online that you just needed to have an ID of any kind. So I rode up to the entrance and was kindly turned away......which meant that I was going to have to ride on the 5. Riding your bike on the 5 is illegal, except for this 8-mile stretch around Camp Pendleton.

It wasn’t scary riding on the shoulder of the 5, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable; the shoulder is the same size of a lane, so cars weren’t an issue, but I was constantly on-edge as I looked ahead to see if there was any broken glass, shredded tires, nails, etc. It was also extremely loud, as there were about four lanes of traffic on each side, so I was altogether very happy when I finally exited for Oceanside.

Getting to Oceanside felt incredible but also somewhat daunting. I still had about 35 miles to go and I knew this last section would feel a bit torturous--so close yet so far. It’s like when you’re on a road trip and you’re 45 minutes away from your destination--it’s the longest 45 minutes of your life. This felt that way, too, though I was really trying to take myself out of that mindset and enjoy the views and ride. Oceanside to Mission Beach is a really pretty and easy-going ride, and it was the last section of my bike trip, so I did my best to look around, experience how it feels to sit in the saddle, and just be on the bike trip, one last time. I stopped in Oceanside for my last awkward late lunch/early dinner meal because there was no way I could make it the last leg without fueling up. I, of course, ate a sandwich, and then I was on my way.

The anticipation certainly started building as I went through Carlsbad, Leucadia, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, and then arrived at Torrey Pines--I’d completed this entire bike ride from Carlsbad to Torrey Pines before with my roommate, Jenny, so it was both frustrating and exciting to be doing it again. I was dreading arriving at Torrey Pines, however, because I had to complete my last climb of the trip, and it wasn’t going to necessarily be easy.

The Torrey Pines hill is steep but just manageable without needing to stop, but it takes about 15 minutes to ascend. I was definitely running low on energy, both from biking and the heat; it was becoming much like the 90-mile day I did north of San Francisco, where things were starting to feel defeated. If I didn’t have the adrenaline of almost being home and arriving at the welcome party Kate organized, it would have been much harder.

Luckily, as I started the climb, another bike rode up next to me and started asking me about my trip. At first, I was annoyed because it’s very obvious I am huffing and puffing up this hill, and he kept asking me questions, but soon I was 10 minutes up the hill and I hadn’t stopped (mostly because I would feel rude leaving Nathan on the road, who had so kindly taken an interest in the tour). I tried to ask him a lot of question so he would have to talk instead, but soon, we were nearly at the top of the hill! I was very thankful for the support and conversation because ultimately, it distracted me and got me past my last major obstacle!

Soon, I was cruising through La Jolla as quickly as I could (La Jolla felt massive--it seemed that no matter how close I felt I was getting to Pacific Beach and Mission Beach, I was still somehow in La Jolla).

Once I was on the Ocean Walk in southern PB, it started feeling super surreal--here I was, riding down a path that I had run dozens of times, seeing restaurants I had eaten at and streets I recognized. Even though I had been biking towards it all for 32 days, I felt like I was suddenly transported from far away, like I had apparated from somewhere on the California coast to just north of my house.

I started seeing streets I knew were in Mission Beach--San Jose, Nantucket, Santa Barbara--and then I was at the roller coaster a mile from my house. There were tourists everywhere because it was the 4th of July week, and I tried not to run anyone down as I maneuvered as quickly as possible around them. I saw Capistrano, Balboa, and then, finally, my sweet, sweet Avalon Court.

I rode down the sidewalk to my house, looked up at the balcony, and saw the wonderful smiling faces of Kate, Josh, Trey, Andera, Amanda, and Danny. I can’t describe the feeling of seeing my house, seeing friends’ faces and cheering, the big hug from Danny after he ran down the stairs, the relief and surrealness of walking up the steps. I have thought for a while that I might cry when I got home and saw everyone, but I was honestly so overwhelmed and happy that I couldn’t even form sentences.

It was so good to see friends, but it was something special to see Kate. She had only left me for a week (lol) but it felt like forever, and it was so good to hug her and be reunited. We rode around 1,100 miles together and I wouldn’t even be on the trip if it wasn’t for her--this whole thing was her idea. I literally could not have done it without her; our experiences together are what made the last part of the trip alone possible.

We popped champagne, we drank beer, we snacked, I couldn’t think straight and was so happy--I know I keep saying things were surreal, but they truly were. Home felt like a far away and intangible place for so long and now I was sitting on my front porch with my friends like I was never gone, and suddenly the bike trip felt like a dream instead. Did I really just bike 1,664 miles? Was I really gone for over a month? Did I actually just do a 95-mile day? I was in a happy, dreamy state and couldn’t quite wrap my mind around anything.

I will say that I WAS able to experience how loved and supported I am--everyone was so happy for me and so happy to see me; there is nothing really like feeling like you were missed, that people are proud of you, happy for you, inspired by you, excited for you.

Maybe most importantly, at least for me, is that I was really proud of myself. I don’t toot my own horn really at all, and I generally feel too narcissistic if I like or am proud of something I did. But finishing this bike trip is something that I am purely and humbly am proud of. It’s something I actually feel like I deserve to be proud but I don’t feel self-centered about it. I am ALSO surprised by what I did.

I can’t describe how I feel about doing this bike trip. There were so many times I felt like it was impossible, especially in the beginning. On day two, I very much felt like there was absolutely no way I could do this; I felt so completely defeated and the scale of the trip was so overwhelming. 30 more days of this? 1,500 more miles of this? Hills? Weather? It was one of only a few times in my life where I felt like I was in over my head.

This trip taught me a lot but an important thing it taught me is to take life day-by-day, challenge-by-challenge. It may be a day with a lot of elevation gain and loss; it may be a day where there are a few big climbs to complete; it may be raining; it may be balls hot; I may want a bed when I only have my sleeping bag; I may not have any motivation; I might be so tired that I don’t think I can pedal one more time; I might have a flat tire while I’m alone and cycling my longest day and almost to my destination; I might have run over my water bottle and have no water left; it may be a combination of any one of these situations. But I learned (better) how to just focus on the task at hand, celebrate the small victories, and to push through when I don’t think I can do something. As someone who deals with a lot of anxiety, it’s really easy for me to obsess over how big and impossible something seems and to feel very overwhelmed. It’s really important for me to better learn how to take a deep breath and take something piece by piece rather than crumble under the weight of how big something seems.

I’ve never been so physically challenged and I’ve certainly never been so challenged by something that requires both physical and mental strength. I was shown in a very tangible way that I am capable of more than I think I am and that I can do things even when it seems impossible or unbearable. It’s made me a lot more appreciative of and inspired by myself; it’s given me the confidence and inspiration to get myself outside of my comfort zone in my normal life, whether that by physically, mentally, artistically, or at work.

It’s such a cliche thing but I’ve really experienced ‘you don’t know until you try.’ I’ve tried to live this way but I’ve been hesitant in so many realms of my life because I don’t want to fail or be embarrassed. This trip has really inspired me to keep trying.

Plus, on top of all that, I am now fit as fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck🦵🏼💪🏼and love cycling🚴🏼‍♀️

This won’t be my last tour💜

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fargolan · 7 years

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So it Ends

Last Morning, July 21, Humbug Campground, Southern Oregon Coast. Well here we are. Three weeks to the day that we set out from Sonoma, we will set out to return, and despite a long day ahead it looks likely we'll make it. So Portland.... Not sure I ever connected the dots as to why we we went there, or why we are here on the Southern Oregon coast. That last morning in Calgary, as we contemplated our options, our first focus was choosing between two routes home- Northwest, back through BC through Vancouver, WA and OR, and NorCal, and Southeast through Glacier to Whitefish, then Missoula, down through Winnemucca and home through Reno. We had some bleary eyed realizations around the coffee table- First was the duh that hurt to realize- We were really far from home, no matter what route we went home. Like many many hours riding no matter. And we wanted get there in a week, we didn't want return the same way we came up, and crucially, we didn't want our last leg of the trip to be heading west on 80 from the Sierras. We've come to consider that the devil's highway, for traffic, ugliness and heat. So basically, we had to get South and West, and do it in a way that got us to places we've never seen, and avoided Highway 80. So we hatched the figure 8 plan. Go south west, crossing our original path north and go west to Portland- an awesome last big city (and Gary had never been)-and then ride the Oregon coast south, which none of us had seen. The final leg would be the cooler temperatures, beauty and less congestion of CA 101 south vs 80 west. Written the next day... The only problem was Portland. Of course we had fun there and stayed out late. Late enough that the next day we seriously considered bailing on the coast. It would be 10 hours home straight from Portland down highway 5, which split in half is back to back 5 hour days, which would be plenty hard even on normal sleep. But we got up, loaded the bikes, had a banana on a sidewalk table, and, and is typical with our group, and so crucial to our dynamic, decided to stick to the route with the most adventurous upside, even if it came with more discomfort. In this case, the route home added another 4 hours at least, and meant that much more time driving, and that much longer until we got home. So we left for the coast, and it was the nearly the last in a long list of great decisions made on this journey. Not only was the weather great, but the scenery was just a whole different world than where we'd been. It was so green and lush that even the brown was green, and the rivers we crossed enroute to the coast looked more like overgrown African rainforest streams than the wide open western streams of Idaho and Montana. And then the coast- We popped out at Lincoln City, which was so much more of a town than I'd have thought, and in fact the whole route south to Newport from there was very populated. Way more like the Jersey shore than the Marin/Sonoma coast line. That was surprising. Not surprising were the kinds of people and things we saw during our lunch stop in Newport. Very Oregonian. At one point in Montana, after driving through lush and vast hayfields punctuated by large well appointed farm houses and barns, Robert commented that 'this is what I expected Montana to be like'. For me, the town of Newport did that for me re: the Oregon coast. 'This is what I imagined it'd be like.' South from there it really got to what I expected though- desolation. It made sense that once we dropped south of the Eugene crossroad (whatever that was), which is basically the population line for western Oregon, minus a few other cities closer to the CA border, towns on the coast would thin out and the wildness would increase. Sure enough it did, and things started to feel similar to the far Nor Cal coast. There was Bandon, which is famous for Golf, but we didn't stop. And there were a few other logging towns, but all remote, and along a foreboding and dramatic coastline. We aimed for Port Orford, because that got us within 8 hours of Sonoma, and it took about 7 hours to get there. We found a campground with space, and like magic, a great restaurant with an even better wine list just down the road. It was a perfect last night. That 21 days in we could still laugh ourselves silly over the loud toilet flushes, hacking cougher, and crying babies surrounding our campsite, or find interest in the life story of our server at the restaurant is testament to our suitability for this kind of thing, together. The next morning we set out for home, supposedly 8 hours by car. It was to be the longest single day in the seat of any so far, but we were determined to get home. That didn't stop the adventure. We got word of an incredible alt route through some old growth Redwoods that was supposedly jaw-dropping but would cost us 30-45 minutes and hell yes we took it. Stopped and guffawed at these 1000+ year old trees and marveled that between these giants and the giant glaciers, we'd seen two of our continent's most dramatic and drastically different iconic natural wonders on the same trip. We stopped for lunch in Trinidad, at a clam chowder spot down by the little port, and all marveled at what had to be an 80+year old man, doing his little daily swim in the frigid water of the beautiful little cove, in nothing but his skivvies. We relished all the things to notice wherever we looked, even this late in the game, but home was the goal, and we still had lots of hours, so onward. Next stop was Garberville, Humbolt county, for gas and coffee, and we left there anticipating one last stop before home, and aimed for somewhere near Healdsburg. Somewhere, still way up there, Gary came up with the best idea-We had enough gas, so let's just make the last stop Ernie's Tin Bar, in Petaluma, where they had both bathrooms and the means for us to have one last toast before reengagement. It meant a record 3.5+ hours of unbroken driving, but it was just the kind of goal we go for- always. We made it, and toast we did. We toasted the fact that the unspoken reality of noting a 50th birthday is that it is an acknowledgement that, though hopefully there are thousands more days and adventures to come, there will be fewer ahead than there are behind. So every one counts. And right now, at this moment, between this trip and those before, we've already shared a life-time's worth, so the rest will just be icing. Here's to a lot more icing to come. With that we parted ways. And went home.

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trippingonroads-blog1 · 5 years

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1-Year Down

Today, we’re flying back to San Diego from Mexico City. (Technically, we’re flying to Tijuana and then walking to San Diego but details tire people.) Today also happens to be the one year anniversary of when Lindsay and I departed Chula Vista on our two-week drive to Massachusetts. On August 6, 2018, we drove to Williams, AZ where we would stay before going to the Grand Canyon the next day. It was an arduous, boring day highlighted by lunch at Panera in Victorville, CA — a very sad highlight indeed. Rather than reflect on this day 365 days ago, let’s reflect on the other 364 that have happened between that day and this one because years are a metric of time to which we tend to apply arbitrary meaning and use to assess change.

Lindsay:

Lindsay has worked hard at keeping multiple plates spinning in the air at the same time. She has juggled being a full-time graduate student, teaching daily as a Building Substitute Teacher at a local elementary school, and also working remotely (just like Nick!) for an education non-profit. She’s been anxious and overwhelmed, but very grateful to find a solid support system in her handsome new roommate. She feels confident in her decision to pursue teaching and enjoys the ridiculous stories she brings home from work each day.

As for Boston at large, Lindsay has been challenged acclimating herself to new weather. She enjoyed the crisp air and apple picking in the fall, as well as sporting her “New Englander look” of a big, blue, marshmallow coat and LL Bean boots in the winter. She is frequently uncomfortable because weather apps are liars and terrible predictors, but at least the new scenery is attractive to look at!

While she’s made a few (one, really) new friends (her name is Gwyneth, she’s great), Lindsay has enjoyed blending her west coast life with her newfound east coast one. She and Nick have had many visitors, including Lindsay’s family and friends from different circles. She’s also traveled back to San Diego to surprise one of her best friends and tattoo-twin at her baby shower, as well as for holidays and a wedding. Lindsay misses many things about her homeland of California, such as carne asada burritos and Mexican food in general, but she is happy and excited to continue this Boston adventure.

Nick:

Nick has discovered he is tremendously productive while working remotely. Turns out, when nobody else is online for the first three hours of your workday, you can get a ton done. Still, he feels pretty isolated from his office and doesn’t love how the time change affects meetings and sometimes makes it difficult to stay on the same page with people. He’s had a good time reconnecting with old friends and making some new ones while exploring a Boston that is completely different from the one he knew growing up. It’s more relaxed, more vibrant, more exciting, and there’s so much good food.

Speaking of, he’s been cooking more thanks to Lindsay’s encouragement and finding that he really enjoys it. And doesn’t completely suck at it, either. After this taco dynamo of a vacation, he’s resolved to work with Lindsay to commit to healthier eating for the foreseeable future. And, like, maybe a dry September after his friend Curtis’s wedding. He had lost 25 pounds since moving before putting 15 back on because he is an undisciplined glob of consumption.

He’s been playing soccer, which is how he met virtually everyone he knows in Los Angeles and is hoping to find a similar community. So far, it’s more competitive but he doesn’t have the energy or the will to go out for drinks after games when food and Lindsay are waiting at home.

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worldfootprints · 5 years

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The route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas may be a heavily traveled highway, but it’s still a long strip of road through the desert of the American Southwest. As such, it offers plenty of the weird and wacky roadside stops that characterize this part of the world. Whether you’re going to Las Vegas for fun or to Los Angeles for business, be sure to make the most of this drive. If you keep both your eyes and your itinerary open, you can make memories and get awesome photos before you ever arrive at your destination. Here are a few of my favorite stops between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Breakfast and Archery

The first thing you should do as you head out of Los Angeles is to eat breakfast at Riley’s Farm. This stop is a small detour from the main route, especially if you are leaving from northern LA. If you have time to spare, this working u-pick farm that offers guests a Colonial-era experience is definitely worth it. The fact that it is on the West Coast makes it a delightfully unexpected excursion. When I visited, I enjoyed the world’s best omelets at the Hog’s Head Tavern, tried some archery, and made my own hand-dipped candle.

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Unless you plan to hike in Angeles National Forest, your next interesting stop will be Barstow. This is one of those little towns that appears bland at first glance, but actually offers fun and unique experiences. On my trip, I didn’t make it two of Barstow’s well-known sites, the original Del Taco restaurant or the Route 66 Museum, which is only open on weekends, but I did eat at the train station McDonald’s. Even if you hate McDonald’s on principle, you should at least grab a salad here. You order inside a historic train station and enjoy your meal in a refurbished train car.

Photo of author’s family with Ronald McDonald

A Giant Ice Cream Sundae

After staring at Joshua trees and barren hills for a while, you can stop for gas at Eddie World. You will know you’ve found Eddie World when you see a gigantic ice cream sundae on the side of the road. Although you can’t go inside the sundae, you can go inside the massive convenience store and check out the ice cream, coffee, and mounds of brightly-colored candy. I spent way too much time here.

If you have kids, be sure to take a break at Calico Ghost Town. History buffs will have fun at this 1880s silver mining town. I was disappointed to find out that they charge admission to walk through the old community, but it was cool to see the rickety buildings and abandoned mine shaft.

Spooky Sites

Don’t miss the chance to explore Zzyzx Road. This bizarre stop was my favorite part of the Los Angeles to Las Vegas road trip. I first heard about Zzyzx Road in Michael Connelly’s murder mystery The Narrows. In the novel, Zzyzx Road led to the place where Connelly’s villain killed and buried his victims. My curiosity was piqued when I drove past the infamous road. Perhaps it was a bit morbid to take the exit and see where it led, but I wasn’t disappointed. At the end of Zzyzx Road, I found Soda Springs, a ghostly 1940s health spa that was built by a quack doctor who claimed to have found the Fountain of Youth. The whole sordid story is quite fascinating… almost as fascinating as the lonely buildings that overlook a moon-like lakebed devoid of vegetation.

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Once you’re back on the highway, you’ll see a lot of small communities trying to grab your attention (and your business.) Every little town seems to have a “World’s Biggest” claim, but the World’s Tallest Thermometer in Baker, CA is worth a stop. This is especially true if you visit in summer, and you can get a selfie with the temperature to wow your friends with the heat you’re currently enduring. Stop by the attached gift shop to visit Buzz the Vulture and buy a postcard. If you want to send the card from the store, they’ll mail it for free. Tag Buzz Therm in your social media posts, and maybe you’ll get your shots featured on their Instagram or Facebook page.

Take a short break from the highway to drive along the dusty frontage road to Seven Magic Mountains. Rumor has it that this roadside art installation is disappearing soon, so hurry if you want to see the seven, three-story towers, made of brightly painted boulders. This stop offers the perfect opportunity to get artsy travel photos or trendy selfies.

Seven Magic Mountains. Photo of author Breana Johnson

World’s Tallest Thermometer. Photo: Breana Johnson

Internet and Roller Coasters

Once you cross the California-Nevada border, you’ll find yourself in Primm. While this is not the place to take a break for dinner or get gas if you’re on a budget, this charmingly garish town was put on the map thanks to bootlegger Whiskey Pete, and now offers gambling, entertainment, and free internet to travelers. The castles and music might not be as impressive as the Strip’s shimmering neon, but does the Strip have a gigantic roller coaster? I don’t think so.

Just outside of Las Vegas, you can get in touch with nature at Red Rock Canyon National Park. If you get to Vegas before Freemont Street’s canopy lights up for the night, Red Rock offers the perfect opportunity to stretch your legs and catch the last rays of sunshine before your night out (or your night snuggled up in bed, if you’re like me.) You can hike deep into the wilderness, or just enjoy a stroll in the shadow of the breathtaking amber hills. Here’s a tip: if you’re planning to hit Lake Mead, Mojave National Park, Death Valley, or the Grand Canyon, it is probably worth it to purchase a National Parks Pass before your trip. This can save you a lot of money if you’ll be visiting more than a couple of national parks in the next 12 months. Just be sure to order early, because they take a while to arrive.

Whew! You’ve finally made it! If you stopped at all these places, you probably turned a four-hour drive into an all-day road trip. But it was more than worth it for the adventure. Now it’s time to unwind and enjoy the glitz and glamour of Sin City.

Roadside Stops between Los Angeles and Las Vegas The route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas may be a heavily traveled highway, but it’s still a long strip of road through the desert of the American Southwest.

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kansascityhappenings · 5 years

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Joe’s Weather Blog: We’re going to need a bigger shovel-maybe (WED-2/13)

Happy Wednesday! The good news is that we’ve got a breezy and milder day heading this way with highs into the 50s. Get out…enjoy it…do whatever…but get out of the house because regardless of how much snow we get from these systems that are coming through over the next week…it’s going to get cold. Thursday will be the transition day…and we’re into the cold on Friday with alternating snow chances and sticking snow likely. As I mentioned yesterday we won’t get blasted by the full-on effects of each potential storm but at least one get us…and the one that I’m most concerned about at this point is the one for Friday afternoon>evening.

Forecast:

Today: Lots of high clouds around…turning windy in the afternoon with highs 50-55° or so. Winds possibly gusting to near 30 MPH

Tonight: Milder with fair skies and lows well into the 30s

Thursday: A cold front will move through with variable clouds. The timing of the front appears to be near or after lunch. Highs may reach about 50° (colder north>warmer south) before dropping into the 20s in the evening with teens as wind chills.

Friday: Snow developing with accumulations likely. Highs 20-25°

Discussion:

First of all…as usual thanks for reading the weather blog. Yesterday it was the #1 item on our web page which is always humbling. It still amazes me the comments on FB I get about this “outlet” for me. So many mention that they learn about the weather and like the whys and whatfors about these storms…set-ups…whatever. A darn weather blog. Still amazes me.

Onwards.

Won’t bother with today or tomorrow as that is pretty straight-forward. The issue for Thursday is when the cold air is injected into KC from the north. My thought is sometime around or after lunch with the 50° weather turning into 30° weather by the time evening rush is done with…and colder with the wind chills. There could be a few sprinkles with this but not much is expected rain-wise.

OK now the elephant in the room. I think by now everybody knows about the snow potential over the next week. 3 storms through next Wednesday. As I mentioned yesterday I’m not in the mindset that ALL three give us crazy amounts of snow. Last night there was a rather significant change, in at least one model, for the weekend system and the one next TUE>WED.

So to try and simplify things…let’s refer to Friday’s system as storm #1…Saturday night’s system as storm #2 and then the TUE>WED AM system as storm #3. I still worry that we may be vulnerable to other “things” beyond that but IF I start talking about that possibility I’ll need security guards in the grocery store (kidding not kidding)

So my confidence level about the 3 storms is “somewhat” strongest for what’s ahead of us…storm #1. Storm #2 and #2 I have less confidence about…especially #3 at this point because…well it’s about a week away. Storm #2 is somewhat problematic as well…I think we’ll get something from that…but I’m not sure if we get the “big one” from that.

Then there is storm #1 (the one due in Friday).

I want to show you some of the data from the newest weather satellite that became “operational” just yesterday. It’s the GOES 17 satellite that is more focused on the western part of the country and the central and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Pretty shots…but there are issues with the satellite. There are some problems with the equipment up there and in particular with a cooling fan. Remember this satellite is way up there…some 22,000 miles up…the Space Station is 254 miles up…so it’s not as if we can send maintenance up there. They’ve come up with some workarounds, which is still amazing to me for something that is orbiting the Earth and so far away…but for several hours each day during certain times of the year when the sun heats up the satellite too much…pictures won’t be usable. Regardless there is still a LOT of good data coming down the pipeline towards us.

So with that said…Storm #1 is still off the western US…off the coast of CA.

It’s that mass of clouds on the far right hand side…hopefully when daylight comes the US borders will become more evident.

That storm right now at least is in a few pieces (yellow flag in my mind) and when it comes ashore in CA tomorrow afternoon and crosses into the Rockies Friday morning…we’ll see what kind of shape it’s in.

That yellow flag is one of the problems I have with this set-up right now. The storm is going to be a fast mover it appears when it gets into the Plains and I’m still not sure how well put together it’s going to be when it flies through KS on Friday afternoon. Let’s go up to about 18,000 feet and show you the 3 storms. The one is KS is storm #1. The map shows areas of “vorticity”. These areas are where the atmosphere shows cyclonic tendencies and ahead of these features you get “lift” (good for precipitation) and behind the features you get sinking air (good for clearing). These areas have varying intensity…big storms generate lots of lift…weaker ones…less lift.

Here is wayyyy more information than you want to know about the above map.

So the rough idea of a “transition zone” between rising air…lift…and sinking air…is the axis location of the “U” dips in the above map. With me so far? Notice as well the size of the “U” dip. For storm #1 it’s not overly “dippy” compared to storm #2…do you see that.

Less “dippy” storms tend to move fast. So the time that we’re in the “favorable” zone of lift is shorter than when the dips are deeper in size. Still with me?

Now that is up there at around 18,000 feet. We have to look at the entire atmosphere though as well. That smaller dip will be bringing some decent moisture with it and tapping into some sub-tropical moisture coming up from western TX…and that moisture will be one of the keys for us to get significant snow. IF that moisture isn’t as impressive or it gets pushed a bit farther east or south of here…we may NOT have a big snowstorm in KC on Friday. Nuisance snows yes…I think that’s unavoidable at this point (nuisance meaning 1-4″ or so) …it could be a sign that the wave is moving too fast or isn’t strong enough and this has to be at least looked at right now and NOT discounted at this point.

Then there is the matter of a building southwards area of high pressure…this is the cold air maker for us…BUT it’s also a dry air maker too. So the feed in the lower part of the atmosphere is of drier air…and that too can chew on what falls for awhile. Too much dry air and decent snowmakers can turn into blah snow makers. I may be making too much of a deal on this BUT it’s in the back of my mind as well.

Right now I think the odds of all this happening and ALL of this just turning into a “nuisance event” is around 55% and 55% should NOT be discounted at this point.

If you want something more significant (meaning in my weather head��4″ or more) you would like to see that moisture source be 1) real and 2) have that wave a bit more focused and “sharper”. That helps maximize the lift a bit more…that lift then works in concert with the moisture coming northbound…and as a result you get more impressive swaths of snow moving through the area.

There are some so-so favorable jet stream dynamics at play with this as well…for conciseness I won’t get into that right now. Not the greatest set-up and I’ve seen better over the years.

The new data slows the onset of sticking snow to the afternoon Friday. That makes sense and I can see how the dry air flow from the north is sort of working against the snow as it tries to come eastbound. However I also see how the snow out west is coming together better later in the morning and that snow would then come along the I-70 corridor in the afternoon…the issue remains how well it holds together as it comes eastbound along I-70.

You can see the conundrum. Dry air…sort of a disjointed broken up wave moving through the Plains…lift in the atmosphere that isn’t exactly super focused and a snow window that may be only around 6-8 hours or so…and some of that may be chewed on by the dry air.

This is the reason why we want to hold off on how much snow will fall from this. I know many are seeing all sorts of numbers on their various apps and with other sources…last night I mentioned that there was potential of over 4″ on Friday. That is still there certainly BUT I’m not sure how much over 4″ we will get at this point and that’s why I don’t want to do any snow maps yet with more precise information.

Trust me I know you want all the answers but for those who DON”T want a ton of snow…consider the early data today a better trend for your side. I don’t want to throw a 4-8″ amount out there at this point because my confidence isn’t there for something like that right now. The dry air scenario chewing at the snow because the wave coming in is sort of a mess needs to be factored into the equation. IF that dry air is “less” dry and IF the wave is better put together then yes over 4″ is VERY doable…again though lets try as we can to keep the horses in the barn for a bit longer.

There is still all sorts of potential with these 3 storms…and I won’t be surprised by some significant snow on the ground in a weeks time but let’s try and deal with them one at a time.

Takeaways from this…

Snow arrives after lunch Friday and sticks right away

The evening rush hour may be a mess

A LOT of schools are NOT in session anyway because of in-service conference days ahead of the 3 day weekend anyway

The dry air seeping southwards may “chew” on the snow as it comes eastbound

The wave needs to be better organized with more focus to tap into the moisture trying to come northwards and also to act as a better “tug” on that moisture

The weekend system bears some watching as well as does the one next week. Still WAYYYY to early to worry about forecast accumulations with that one.

OK that’s it for now. I’ll get an afternoon update out on FB by 3PM or so.

Our feature photo comes from ‎Sharon Griff Holloway‎ outside of Trenton, MO

Michelle and Karli will have more information as the day moves long on FOX 4.

Joe

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/02/13/joes-weather-blog-were-going-to-need-a-bigger-shovel-maybe-wed-2-13/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/02/13/joes-weather-blog-were-going-to-need-a-bigger-shovel-maybe-wed-2-13/

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