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.

Wow, wow, wow!! Thank you soo much Bonnie and Jenny Spicola for the best Broadway experience ever. Tour of the set, backstage, special effects and of course the show. As a longtime U2 fan, I was very curious to see and listen to this show, and then, voila! here I am sitting next to one of Spiderman’s landing platforms. Listening to music that could only come from Bono and The Edge, and enjoying the show like the comic book, but even more amazing.

Aaaaand if that was not enough, we then had dinner at the delicious Veselka Ukranian deli in the East Village, followed by dessert at Veniero’s. Truly an excellent experience. Thank you so much girls, I loved it!

The start, as usual, was delayed. I decided to go to the gym, still had to pack, clean up the house, etc. So I got a late start. The weather was overcast but warm enough for a T shirt. I rode a solid two hours until past Hartford CT for my first break. My refueling stop was in beautiful Westport. Then the rain started for an hour and a half. I had to stop under as bridge to put on my rain jacket. But my average was obviously shot. When I pulled into Manhattan, the rain stopped in a sly wink from the higher ups.

After changing my soaking clothes and hanging out w Mark and his business partner The Turtle. Mark and I went to the Belgian restaurant around the corner for mussels and Belgian beer. The epilogue for the day was a fun nightcap at Ouest, discussing Garcia Lorca, Buñuel and Dalí with Seth, the best barman in the Upper West Side.

Somewhere in Connecticut (spelling?)