Quill Healy and I finally connected! I rode to his beautiful home this morning and we had a wonderful breakfast catching up and going down memory lane. He has a great family and has survived the real estate rollercoaster ride. Not patronizing but I’m really proud of him.

Emory was great! The campus is a perfect mix of quaint and modern, intimate and urban, impressive and cozy, I loved it! I had a very illuminating chat with Amy, the department coordinator, she is a professional, knowledgeable, caring and very nice person.

I checked my email at the Apple store in the Emory bookstore and ended up having a very interesting conversation with the manager.

Then it was Rocinante time all the way to Tuscaloosa. It was a sunny, not too hot a day, so it was a very enjoyable ride. Around lunch time I got off the highway expecting the usual roadside fare (bad Southern corporate cuisine) and instead found myself in a huge premium mall with top, top, brands. So lunch turned out better than expected at Sweet Bones Alabama. During lunch I found out I was on the Summit mall, serving suburban Birmingham AL.

When I arrived  in Tuscaloosa I found parts of the city still devastated by  April’s hurricane. In fact the T mobile store I went to pick up my phone is still in a trailer. Collin was phenomenal and had me set up in no time with my new phone, thanks.

I still had plenty of time to check out the town. The university is HUGE, by far the biggest I’ve ever seen. I’m excited for my meeting tomorrow!

As the doctor says in The Prince’s Bride my phone is mostly dead, but not all dead. It randomly turns itself on and off. I’m looking forward to getting a new one tomorrow.

At any rate. After a marvelous week end at the Moon’s, I left this morning after mass. I was racing against severe storms moving in. I travelled for miles along deserted, except for folks going to church, back roads, until it started raining. I found some shelter off the road, under tree canopy cover. It was a sweet, soft rain. I made myself comfortable, lying back on Rocinante and took a short nap!

The second time it trained was on the highway, but it was hot and the sun was shining, so I pressed on.

The third and last rain came when I was in the Georgia Welcome Center. Big shout out to the girls there who were professional, sweet, funny and helped me get set up with the Georgia leg of my trip.

I’m excited to be in a big city. I love the energy and different people that make a city.

Unfortunately there was some confusion on the date of my arrival with my dear friend Quill, so I did not get to stay with him. I did, however, have time to ride around the Emory campus. It is beautiful and I can’t wait for my visit tomorrow!

Woke up to an overcast sky as I said goodbye to Oak Island at the great Russell’s diner. Loved Larry’s jokes, Heather’s service and my conversation with Cyndi. Then as soon as I left the restaurant, the rain started. That was the trend for the day: rain – stop at a gas station, empty porch, VW dealership (big shout out to Eastern VW in Myrtle Beach for hosting me!) – dry out – get on the bike – rain – start all over again. The last time I did this exercise I did not make it to a shelter in time as the sky opened up and poured on me. Apparently there was enough water in my pocket to mess with my phone… so… NO PHONE. I have set up to get it replaced on Tuesday in Tuscaloosa AL when I go by there. I finally made it to Bailey Moon’s beautiful 1700s house. They are the sweetest, most wonderful family. They are hosting me for the weekend. We had a great dinner of fried flounder at Big Tuna, a great breakfast, lunch, etc. etc. But even better is the conversation, the bonding, the company. Thanks Moon family!! Georgetown SC is the third oldest city in South Carolina (after Charleston and Beaufort) and it is a typical Southern, charming town, with small cafes, tree lined avenues, old houses, and great people.

Since I will not be able to post tomorrow or monday. Tomorrow I will leave Georgetown after mass and go to Atlanta Georgia, staying at my old friend’s Quill Healey’s. Monday I will visit Emory U and tuesday I should be in Tuscaloosa Alabama, where I will visit University of Alabama and hopefully pick up my new phone.

Until next time

, cheerio!

Loved, loved, loved UNC! I was received by the phenomenal Juan Carlos Gonzalez-Espitia, who introduced me to everyone, showed me the campus, down to the very American neoclassic wood columns!, and gave me the low down on grad school applications, life in Chapel Hill (free public transportation!), and grad school life in general. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Great people, great campus, great bagels, great everything.

From there I rode to Raleigh to have Rocinante checked out. After a few hundred miles, she starts loosing oil from the air intake. Huge shout to Nick at Ray Price Harley-Davidson who answered all my questions. Ray Price was a Harley racer and he has the best dealership I’ve ever seen and a museum (with the meanest Sportster I’ve ever seen). I had a coffee outside waiting for the checkup, chatting with a bunch of Harley old timers. It was somewhat unsettling that these regular guys had guns, on their belts, like cowboys.

After the great experience at Ray Price’s it was back roads all the way for five hours. It was one of the most beautiful rides ever. Horse farms, crops, the sweet smell of cow manure, rolling hills, flat tobacco crops, beautiful churches. I finally got to the seashore by taking a random turn ending up on Oak Island, a beautiful strip of beach with a sea turtle repoblation program. I’m staying in the most kitch hotel ever, The Blue Water Point Motel, straight out of an Almodovar movie. Before a great fresh fish dinner at the Fish House Restaurant I managed a great run on the beach!

A few things impress you about Duke, even before you get to Duke. First, it’s massive. Then the architecture is very cohesive (except all the new research buildings and hospitals). Unfortunately I could not get an appointment, but I had a wonderful chat with Denise Wilborn, the department coordinator. She gave me all sorts of great advice and maps, definitely the extra mile!

On my ride out of Duke I saw the Ronald McDonald House, so big shout out to my sister Rocky for working at Ronald McDonald House in Spain.

Brunch was at Elmo’s Diner downtown. Big shout out to Katie Gaddis for the awesome recommendation – scary how my students know exactly the food I like!

For the hottest part of the day I managed to stay cool catching up on the hotel’s computer, doing laundry, and enjoying the pool.

I managed to move up a day my appointment at UNC, so I am running a day fast which gives me extra time to enjoy my riding and I can take more back roads!

In the afternoon I rode to Chapel Hill twenty minutes away. It is beautiful. I can’t wait for my meeting tomorrow.

Not a bad view

After a traditional Georgetown student breakfast at Booeymonger, I ventured to the office of the Spanish and Portuguese Department. I was inconceivably lucky and Prof. Alfonso Morales-Front, the Head of the Department happened to be in his office and received me. Now, I’ve been to a lot of important meetings and I’ve met very important people (which my modesty does not allow to mention here), but probably because I was not expecting to meet anyone I was really nervous, I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest. At any rate we had a very nice chat and he was very positive and encouraging.

Then it was on Rocinante for the next eight hours! With breaks for water, bathroom, fuel, lunch, and navigation. Through Virginia and into North Carolina.

Having finally cleared the Northeast corridor, I took Historic route 1 and it was gorgeous: farms, forests, rolling hills, and many, many rivers. I also rode by two American institutions: Marine HQ in Quantico and the Philip Morris HQ in Richmond VA.

I am excited about Duke tomorrow, although again I do not have an appointment…

The first time I read Don Quixote was in the mid nineties, after much procrastination. It was a beautiful Akal edition which had been given to me by my dear friend Isabel years earlier.

It took me two years to finish it. There were two main feelings: the process of reading it. Seeing yourself learn, grow, laugh, cry, hold your breadth, and be totally inspired as you read it. And when you finish it: A phenomenal sense of accomplishment,  joy, sadness, some sort of post partum depression (not that I would know what that feels like, but it must be a little like that), and finally knowing that no book you will ever read again will come within miles of it.

After reading El Quijote, I couldn’t wait to read it again. So when the chance came up to take the Quijote class at Simmons I jumped at the opportunity.

The experience was everything I expected and then some. Prof. Louise Cohen drew the best out of the class, guiding us, suggesting paths to explore, encouraging us. Undeniably one of the best learning experiences of my life.

The only problem with all this, is that I am now addicted, hooked, and there is only one way of feeding this craving. A PhD.

For those technologically inclined, here is how the blog works: everything runs off my phone, a Samsung Galaxy S. The software is WordPress for Android, and that brings everything together: camera, text, hyperlinks, etc. The thing I wish I could figure out would be to have a map I could put “pins” on as I go along. There you have it.

Oh, I am having a coffee break somewhere in Virginia.

After a great NYC breakfast with Mark Miller, and blessed with a sunny day, I hit the road. Advice to claustrophobes: Do not take the Lincoln Tunnel in August in a traffic jam. I planned to blast through NJ, so I took 95 South, only to realize that once you clear the metro area it is beautiful. Since it was early I decided to press on to University of Maryland, my first visit.

Five boring hours later (sorry Delaware and Baltimore). I got to the hallowed Jimenez Hall at U. Maryland. This is were the great Spanish writer and 1956 Nobel Prize winner taught during his exile.

The problem with visiting universities in the summer is that logically there are not many people around. So I did not get an appointment at UM. I did however have a very nice chat with David Wilson, the Graduate Coordinator and he let me walk around the building to soak it all in, I loved it! Late lunch was at the beautiful Student Union. The campus is expansive and pretty.

From there it was a nice short ride to Georgetown U. Where Spencer Daum, Walnut Hill ’09 was hosting me. He’s working for the university so I’m staying in his dorm, which I confess is strangely refreshing.

Spencer gave me the insider’s tour of the school and of beautiful Georgetown, which I rewarded him for with a juicy rib-eye steak and a nice cigar sitting by the river, gracias amigo.