I ♥ NY

[Written by Elizabeth Leonardis for our old blog, So Civilized]

It’s official…..Alex & I no longer live in New York! I can’t speak for Alex, but I miss the city already! Our fabulous apartment, Central Park, our wonderful NYC friends, city life suited me well. Strange words to hear coming from me, I know, but what can I say I have become a city girl. So I’ll fill you in on everything we have been up to since leaving the city.

Summer 2008

Alex defended his thesis August 1, 2008 at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ. The official title is Phytoplankton Physiology and Export Flux. For anyone out there who would be interested in actually reading it, I’m sure he could provide you with a copy. I can attest it is not the most stimulating reading, but it is an accumulation of the past 6 years of his life, and quite a feat at that. I am so proud of him. Let me introduce you all to the scientist himself, Dr. Leonard Alexander Kahl.

This is Alex at the conclusion of his defense presentation. Following the public presentation, his advisers took him to a private room and grilled him for another hour or so before awarding him his degree. Technically, he still has to turn the paper in with all the corrections, but he is as good as a doctor in my mind.

Immediately following the defense, Alex & I jumped in the loaded down truck with trailer in tow, and headed west. Our first stop was Pittsburgh, PA where we stayed with a lovely couchsurfing couple, Bill & Kelly and their adorable dog Sue-Baby. Pittsburgh has an incredible urban revitilization movement happening and we got a locals tour from our wonderful hosts.

Next stop was Louisville, KY where our friends Tim and Erica live with their 2 beautiful boys, Jackson (1.5 yrs) and Beckett (0.5 yrs). We met them in NYC before they moved to Louisville last summer which is Erica’s hometown. They have a gorgeous home in a great neighborhood that they have fixed up beautifully. Our visit was going to be a quick one as we had a schedule to keep to get to California for a wedding, so the next morning we woke up early, had a quick run with Tim and then headed out of town. We only made it about 30 mins outside of town when the truck started producing a horrible rattling noise that even I knew was big trouble. We turned around and headed back to Tim & Erica’s to come up with a plan. It was apparent to both of us that the truck was not going to be leaving Louisville with us. After confirmation from a friend of Tim’s that the engine was shot, we traded in our UHaul trailer for a UHaul truck and unloaded and loaded our stuff for what felt like the 100th time. Miraculously, we were back on the road by 4 that afternoon. A huge thank you to Tim & Erica for all their help that day and allowing us to leave our truck parked outside their house. The update on the truck is that Dan the mechanic (Tim’s friends) sold the truck for a few hundred dollars (likely for parts) and we split the riches. This is the last time we saw the truck before continuing our drive west.

After Louisville we had to change our plans slightly and called up our trusty travel agent Leonard (Alex’s dad) who booked hotels for us across the country. Here are some photos from our day through Missouri. We ended up at hotel, courtesy of Leonard in Colombia, MO that evening.

St. Louis, Missori

somewhere in Missouri

windpower in Missouri

rainstorm

Leonard saved the day yet again as our plans changed once again, following our second disaster of the trip. Quick recap. I was driving the UHaul truck just as we were approaching the mountain passes of Western Colorado. Just as I crested the top of the pass, I lost the accelerater and then on the downhill 6% grade, I lost the brakes. To say I was completely freaking out would be an understatement. Unfortunatley, we were in the fast lane and blocked by a big rig, unable to slow or speed up to get around to the shoulder. Alex remained calm for both of us, I put the emergency brake on and eventually we made it to the shoulder. Long story short, we had run out of gas. But how did we run out of gas when the gas gauge was at 1/4 tank? The gas gauge doesn’t work. We learned that the hard way. Apart from that scary moment of the day, the scenery was quite beautiful and we alternated taking photos out the windows.

sunflowers

colorado

After a night in Vail, CO and a ridiculous steep run up to a ski resort we were back on the road. The next days travels included the rest of Colorado, Utah, and ended in Reno, NV. Hotel courtesy of Leonard once again. Surprisingly, no major crisis occurred this day or the next for that matter. We were able to enjoy the views, the AC in our truck kept us comfortable and the limited radio choices made us crazy! The only options being conservative talk radio or god radio. Not exactly our top choices, but it did give us some interesting insight.

utah

more utah

The home stretch to my dad’s farm in northern California was hot but uneventful. We stopped just outside Truckee for a run and a cool dip in Donner Lake. Of course, we couldn’t leave Reno without a quick stop at the Patagonia Outlet. We are such patagonia junkies. I think we were both quite happy when the golden hills of California were insight. We were home.

northern California

more California

I think that neither of us were very thrilled when it came time to unload all our stuff yet again. Thankfully, this was the last time. We filled a small room in my dads house and our 5 bikes found a new home in the garage. Between the 2 of us our lifes accumulation of belongings didn’t amount to much.

our life

dad & alex

After a day with my dad, we borrowed his car and headed for LA, to attend Josef’s wedding. This was just the beginning of a month long marathon journey up and down the West Coast. I’ll save some of that for the next post.

I ♥ NY Forever