MY STORY

On January 20th 2010 I departed for my Colorado adventure. Final destination is Telluride, CO. My previous employer closed our Boston office on October 31, 2009 and this seemed to be the most opportune time to do something different. My inspirations are two things really. They are both movies. First is "Into the Wild", a movie about a person who leaves his life behind to pursue a life in the Alaskan wilderness and along the way he meets people that shape his life. The second movie is "The Bucket List", a movie about two terminally ill men who escape a cancer ward with a wish list of to-do's before they die. The #1 item on the wish list is "Witness something truly majestic". My adventures are not exactly similar to these movies, but underlying themes and life changing perspectives are. As far as the location, I thank my sister for that. She lived in the beautiful & remote town of Telluride for five years and met Paul there. Their 1997 wedding was in Telluride (Trout Lake). Telluride is nestled in the dramatic Rocky Mountains of Southwest Colorado.

BLOG 101

If you are new to blogs so am I. Here is an intro. The home page http://mycoloradoadventure.blogspot.com/ has all the posts (the write ups) in order and they work so that most recent is at top of the order. i.e. Day 1, my first post/write-up, is on the bottom page of all the posts/write-ups. On the left side of the blog site there is a "Blog Archive" section where you can navigate to pick and choose year, month and then specific daily posts/write-ups. I wanted to share this in the event you are new to blogs.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Day 1 - 1/20/10 - Videos

For each day I write I will try and add one to three videos for visual support of my Colorado adventure. The site itself has a video upload feature, but Youtube will be a better option. It's an extra step for you (clicking on a link) but the quality will be better. Hopefully it works. One thing to note, the sound is not great. I figured it out after a few days (new camera) but with some volume and/or headphones you should be able to make out what is going on. Here are the Day 1 video descriptions and links:

1) Jersey Driving. It's boring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9CTCHXxCVI

2) Air Drumming. Colm took this video of me. I did not know. What I do know is that air drumming is popular with many drivers. You've done it...just admit it. For me, it is an art. Not really, but it does keep me awake and energized. I even throw in air guitar at the end for affect. And the song....well it is one of my favorite of all time. Here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guxek9riXHc

3) Jersey Shore. Hmmm. What can I say about this one. Jersey Shore is a popular MTV reality show. I use the word popular lightly, but it does it's job with ratings. Well Jersey Shore also happens to be an exit/town in Pennsylvania (go figure) that we drove by when shooting this video. In the show, one of the more comical moments was when actor Mike introduced himself as "The Situation". Don't ask. Well Mike, you have competition. Watch through the end. Although the sound is quiet for some of the video, the ending surely is not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWAA1Vo3xVA

Hope everyone is well.
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Day 1 - 1/20/10 - Leaving Boston


“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

Hi there! I've set this blog up as a means for everyone to have a first view of my Colorado adventure. I know I am only away for two months, but anytime you leave for more than a week, it seems like a long time. This adventure will be my first (and maybe last) cross country trip. Final destination is Telluride, CO. Stops will be in Columbus, St Louis, Omaha, Denver and Steamboat Springs. A good friend, Colm Kennedy, was a late addition for the drive out there. I'm sure I will enjoy his company and he will soon understand why this trip will impact the rest of my life.

We left the Boston area at 9am today. Departure time was supposed to be 7am, but the Kennedy family has a history of being late. Or maybe that is the Richio family! I picked Colm up and we hit the road. Music was cued up and ready to go. Anything audio (especially music) is probably the most important item to take cross country with you. I had great play lists set up on my Ipod and the only thing Colm had to get used to was several hours of air drumming and the fact that I'm partially def (from years of drum playing) and therefore like the music loud.

We cruised through MA, CT, NY and into PA. PA is a wide state. The highlight here is the place where we stopped for food. It is called Denny's Beer Barrel Pub and they claim to have the worlds largest burger. I have not done the research, but the picture of these burgers surely puts them up for some award. Check out the 100 pound burger picture in the link (the upper left pic of the 8 pictured burgers)


Ridiculous. Anyway, Colm got a half pound and I got the one pound. You'll find a pic of our meal within this post and it should be noted that I wanted the two pounder (I could have had my picture on a wall of fame) but Colm talked me off that logic because driving 300 miles after that could have been troublesome. Colm and his half pounder to the left and my one pounder to the right! It was fun.

Leaving PA we had a decent drive to Columbus. We arrived at Vicky's (Colm's friend) home around 9:30pm and within about 5-10 minutes Colm was two shots deep and we we're in a bar. To be honest, this move was welcome after a 13 hour drive. I'll sum up Columbus and our next few days journey in my next post. Things are well and it already seems like I have been gone for a while. Hope everyone is well!






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