Lewis and Clarke in Indiana.. No wait it is Steve and Erin on a beach in Indiana

Getting lost is a good thing… Well if you have time to kill…

Erin and I got lost in Indiana on our way to a job just outside Yellowstone National Park. We decided to take the longest route possible to my assignment in Livingston, Montana… The best route was route 20 West; we left New York after zig zagging up and down and over crossing into Canada under Niagara Falls and then heading back down through route 20 West and we drove at sunrise, at sunset, at night with no cares in the world, we had 6 days to just.. just beeeeee free…. When we left we knew it was going to be a cool ride and slowly we drove stopping every three minutes or so to take a picture or just go down a road because the name rolled off our tongues as we passed it. One of these days we were in Indiana just being….. passing farms, cool old antique stores, mom n' pop food stands, lemonade stands, peanuts, corn, strawberries, eggs, bread, cheese, cars, tractors, gas stations….everything on this route was for sale; everything but the children…(We have seen a sign at a car dealership that read: “”We will take anything in trade except your kids”” That is another story for another day)

Today, we are in Indiana passing some of America's greenest pastures and towns that could be nominated as the town with the most churches or chemical plants in it. Then there is something that seems lost in Indiana or misplaced like something that was created by some affluent billionaire and like a child that got bored with his toy, just left it for whom ever.. On that day we found an amazing oasis right smack in the middle of where ever we were in Indiana. We find the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Beach… Say what…. sand dunes in Indiana…. A beach in Indiana…Sand….. Beach… Indiana?…No F***ing way! We pull over and Preeta the dog starts to climb out the window and we all exit the car leaving our flip flops in the car as we hustle down a rocky path through someone’s back yard and then over the rock piles or" wishing spots" as I have come to know them. I have noticed them in Costa Rica, Aruba, San Fran and a few other exotic destinations but umm... this is Indiana. As I approach the wishing spots the sand is some of the smoothest, finest, coolest to the touch, lightest, extra fine sand that ever rolled off my toes... and my fingers when I went to feel it. Indiana… I am in Indiana…Yes I am … As I look off into the distance along the lake there is another site…. Either a chemical plant or a water treatment plant or some other industrial plant that takes this oasis like dream away and brings me back to reality and why we are the only ones on the beach. Why it feels like someone just left this place…

The memories of Philipsburg show there faces in Miami...

Weeks after Leaving Montana... .The memories of Philipsburg

It has been almost a month since I have returned to Miami Beach and as I walk my dog and my girlfriend holds onto my arm and then slides down to my hand, we joss around thinking how we used to have to wear a sweatshirt or sneakers as we walked through the chill of the night air. We had stopped many times while walking around in Philipsburg to say hello to the townspeople, to look at the brilliant stars, or just to run into a bar to grab a shot to cut the cold. On the many occasions of the late night walks or early morning walks that we went on there seemed to be a voice that would come out of no where with a hello, a good morning, a good evening or do you have time for a joke, a smoke, a drink.



Tonight on Miami Beach it is 87 degrees, there are no stars, no chill of the cold breeze, no sound of the leaves rustling in the background. But as we are walking under the droplets of rain some of our recent acquaintances words or accents or jokes arise in our talking and bring back the ever welcoming community of P-Burg… Where some of the coolest nights Erin and I spent just happened on these long walks at night in the mountains of Montana in the belly of the summer during the month of August: