"Is he stoned? I don't know, but his underwear might be."

We woke up very early to go to the local coffee shop to interview some locals about myspace. Got up at 7am to get ready in time. Got there at 8am and found out that the owners were on vacation. Errm. We got a hold of the motel worker and ended up just interviewing her and her friends in the motel lobby. It was some good stuff and since they were younger, it was nice to get a new perspective. We weren’t really having any luck finding anyone to stay with and we were getting antsy. TRC was quirky and cool, but we had already spent a night there and were ready to find our next stop. The Dan guy from Albuquerque was supposed to call us early in the morning, but I certainly wasn’t surprised when he didn’t. He did end up calling later in the day, but it sounded like it was only to tell Melissa that he couldn’t hang out. Ate some more Mexican food. Green chile kicks a**. Melissa stole the pen from the very nice waitress at the restaurant. Don’t believe a word she says in her journal, because she stole it on purpose. We didn’t know where we were going to stay for the night so Jasmine put out an SOS on couchsurfing for anyone that would take us in Albuquerque or Santa Fe. We decided to just start driving toward Santa Fe. Right when we were just leaving TRC, we got a phone call from one of the people we sent the message to. According to their profile they were a couple in their 60s who were anthropology professors. YEAH! So we were very eager to get there ASAP. Everything out here is flat and tan. It’s spectacular to see for miles and miles into the distance, often times the only thing hindering your view being a giant mountain. It seems as though every horizon we go over reveals another new and beautiful sight. All of the houses are adobe which is really cool and nice to see. Arrived in Santa Fe and it was very cool and artsy. Found the couples’ house and promptly met Charles. He was an older fellow with a great silver ponytail and warm demeanor. He showed us around the house which was nothing short of awesome. Their property was encased with a red wall and had great bright blue doors. Inside was what seemed like a perfect little paradise. Wild plants and art flooded the courtyard which led to our own personal building to stay in. It was ridiculous. The more we learned the better it got. Jenny, the better half, was gone to get us some bread and butter. All I could do was laugh. The little side house we stayed in had a futon and they had little padded beds for Jasmine and I. He also informed us that there was some wine in the fridge if we wanted any. HA HA HA HA HA. This was unreal. Jenny showed up and she was equally charming and welcoming. We explained the documentary and told them we had to interview them. We never thought we would get anyone near their age and not only that, but ones that were as intelligent and experienced as they were. Charles was a retired Anthropology professor and Jenny was still teaching. I wanted to get the equipment set up as fast as possible to not miss any of the conversation. We sat outside under the trees and sat and drank some freshly brewed stout ass beer. Great stuff. It was way too surreal. The talk that took place was very broad and ranged anywhere from politics, to religion, to myspace. They hadn’t heard of myspace, so we had a lot to explain. We talked for hours and even though I was very tired I didn’t want it to end. It was so nice to talk to people that were highly educated and had so much to teach us. I can tell that their students were lucky people. It was cool because they had random things laying around their living room and I remembering focusing on a Norman Rockwell art book. I liked that. Once again this trip has taken us on so many different twists and turns. We keep meeting people we never expected to and I hope that it keeps going up. What is this, day 8? This whole trip is crazy. How can I go back to work after 20 more days of this?! The sleep was great and but we had to get up early to make to the 4 Corners and then the Grand Canyon in one day. It sucked to say goodbye to Charles and Jenny and I hope to hear again from them. We were their first couchsurfers and I hope we did a good job. After saying goodbye we stopped to eat. I of coarse got a breakfast burrito with green chile and got to drink some milk for the first time since I left. It was great. So right now we are traveling towards the corner of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Then off to find a hotel/motel before we get up at the butt-a** crack of dawn to head off on our hike towards wherever the hell we’re going to camp in the Grand Canyon.

-Jonny