RADIATOR HEAT.

When winter tries to steal your soul.

You become cold,

you will try anything to keep warm..

To keep sane.

Radiator heat.

LAKE OF FIRE.

Azores, Sao Miguel, Portugal

the queens and I soaked our pale bodies for hours in hot sulfur springs at the base of three active volcanoes.

--

 The archaic village of Furnas, possesed a history of algerian pirate attacks, notorious for stealing rams before returning to the Barbary coast they came from..

Identifying as a Ram myself,

I felt oddly at peace surrounded by fire & the idea of past mutiny. 

As dusk drew near, 

we took the only road leading home along Lagoa Das Furnas 

"LAKE OF FIRE" 

The five of us attempted to scale the wall to the chapel, My own personal attempt leading to bleeding palms n' broken nails. 

The structure was built on a promise to God. A wealthy man that lived on the island oathed that if God would heal his ill wife, he would build a treasure to thank him by the name of "Nossa Senhora dos Victorias" ...meaning Lady of Victories. 

However, death without regret will soon take us.

leaving the corpse of the man & his wife asleep forever inside the gothic walls.

GLAMPING.

We got lost in the The Smokies, 

she passenger fed me

 asparagus, pickled asparagus, we picked up from the amish on the side of the hwy 441;

--

I fought the unrelenting urge to throw a credit card down for a hotel, motel, or anything other than another night of slumber next to black widows and bears. 

The idea of sleeping in the wild intrigued me, but so did a stack of noodles & a poolside lined with middle-aged neighbors.  

Shameless & Learning,

I'll keep you updated on how to exist in temperate Tennessee rainforests...

Shortly after I wash the chlorine out of my hair in a newly grouted, dream pressure stand up. 

Gatlinburg, TN

TRAVELING WITH GIRLS.

-Traveling With 4 Girls-

The most common question before we left America "Are you Nervous?"

Of course I was nervous, we all were. Honestly though,  I don't think any one of us had an idea of what the next three months would consist of. In fact, We avidly thank the passer-bys who vocally express how well they think we travel together, we greatly appreciate the compliments handed to us.

Here is the truth;

Just because we are on a different Continent does not mean we are always confident, In fact it is quite the opposite. We have been thrown out of our small town comfort zones, into different time zones, foreign languages, new cultures, currencies, sides of the car...Each day we are retaining an excessive amount of information, while standing out like four sore thumbs in a crowd. Whether it be skin color, whiney midwestern accents or oversized cowboy hats we place on our heads?  

=

When traveling, the roads are never smooth for longer than a few hours at a time...if so you might as well check in to the nearest over-priced double decker bus, empty your wallets at the nearest kiosk, and post up with your canon rebel behind a chain linked fence with a group of hungry tourists.  

NO THANKS

On the road less traveled, the 3 D's happen often 

(Dirt,Dead-Ends, and Development)

Traveling together has been similar to jumping into a long-term relationship.

You have to trust, compromise, choose your battles, 

Set aside selfish habits, practice patience, and become aware of the needs of not just three as a whole but each individual. 

Feelings get hurt, and even if you "swear to god" you did not intention to hurt one another. Well sucks, you did. At this moment, you can either apologize and accept that your words or actions affected another person poorly OR you can deal with a bone shuttering silence from the inside of a car, bus, train, plane, hostel, hotel, restaurant, club by not one but 3 woman because we all know better than to get involved into a two man stand.

"Sorry"

I mean lets be honest, We would all rather have a stellar time together than let our stubborn behavior get in the way of a beautiful city we've never been in, existing in a country we once wished slept to dream of.

-smirks-

I can not even begin to recall the instances we forgot our phones or wallets on top of cars, in fields of sheep, in nun convents, on busses, in taxis, restaurants, shops, parks etc. 

PANIC ATTACK:

At this moment of alarm we all drop what we are doing and pull together, take deep breaths and become a search team that quite certain could recover an Amber Alert child within 30 minutes.

Because when one person loses their shit, so do the other 3 and none of us 

want to deal with tears or histeria of a missing child wallet.

Did I mention the lack of privacy...because there is ((NONE))

We shower together, sleep together, eat together, cry together, share sickness, tear, fears, beers, laughs, anxiety, happiness, nerves, tinder dates, shirts, shoes, underwear, makeup, money, decisions, periods, conversations, concerns, music, memories, ideas, irritation.

(The lists goes on)

We have our similarities but we are very much opposites in many ways; within the first week of traveling together we came to the realization that even though "Four" we are all now "One" traveling seemelessly throughout the world, learning to fall in love with one another the way we are falling in love with the places we encounter; 

Regardless, we have  one undeniable common denominator...A profound yearn to travel.  

  

--

Rediscovering patience, selflessness, and how to properly communicate along the way. 

while I sit and write down these thoughts in the other room, even though I hate to admit it, I actually kind of miss you guys...

(Happy One month on the road Ladies)

November 11, 2015

PENNSYLVANIA.

-784 miles in, 352 to go-

Indiana gas stations are a drag, 

but the cigarettes are cheap...

so is the meth apparently.

(Ohio turn pikes are rude & expensive) 

But Pennsylvania...

is covered in moss, 

more comfortable than my queen back home. 

We ditched our car for a bit, 

like the leaves decided to ditch the trees into the river.

-See you at 4am Iceland-

WHITE SANDS.

WHITE SANDS, NEW MEXICO

--

we raced the sunset to the Southern Border,

2000 miles and some change, 

just to sit on a pile of Gypsum Crystals. 

She jumped out of the car before I could even stop.

I watched her run up the dunes & into the sunset;

scattering every piece of clothing she had, 

while stuffing my two back pockets with tecaté.

besides beer; 

the only other form of liquid 

was the water that filled her eyes.

[I had never seen freedom quite like this]

"whoever said diamonds are girls best friend, 

must have never experienced the crystals of White Sands" 

THE ROAD.

THE ROAD;

 TRAVELING AMERICA (by car)

WITH JUST A MAP OF INDIANA.

..

dirt, dust, & 100 bags of beef jerky.

SOUL SISTERS.

FINGER MOUNTAIN, CO

We married ourselves on the mountain that day.. 

with no witnesses but ourselves & the road. 

the rocks our pew & the sky our canopy, 

hand in hand we vowed ourselves a love, 

greater than any other.

I, Lexis take you Tessa, to be my Soul Sister. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness & in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

I, Tessa take you Lexis, to be my Soul Sister. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness & in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

--

I, Lexis , take you Tessa, to be my Soul Sister, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.

I,Tessa, take you Lexis, to be my Soul Sister, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love, cherish, and to obey, till death us do part.

 There were trails of bones leading up to the mountain,

it had ours for a moment...

but instead we left our souls.

UFO'S & GATORADE

SOUTHERN COLORADO IS WEIRD & FULL OF GRAM CRACKERS.

Gram Crackers [N.]- meaning: Grandmas on Crack

It wouldn't make sense if we ignored the "UFO GAZING" signs.

So we kicked up our feet in old worn hospital chairs, 

and waited for a scene from "Independence day" to unfold before our eyes.

 Needless to say, nada happened. 

so we migrated past the 20 year old german shepherd guarding the entrance, and made our way to the vortex. 

"The Alien Vortex" a place where your I-Phone compass spins like tea cups at disney, and you meditate on an unknown energy. 

--and not to bash gram cracker, but I'm pretty sure she's the only one that has ever "known" the energy.--

We were told to leave something in the Vortex, so of course Tessa and I pissed in a bottle and placed in on the feminist quarter of the vortex; because everyone knows nothing tops DNA.

 hands covered in pee and minds covered in disbelief, 

a few more dirt roads, and a couple hundred gators later we were in search of the "land of enchantment"

 We left the state of Colorado Making sure to sign it's guest book as Thelma & Louise, because words of Thelma "I don't ever remember feeling this awake"

Colorado, USA