after an insanely busy week, the Fall Color Tour 2004 kicked off around 7am on the 16th. from my humble abode i drove an hour and a half to whisk rachel from columbus, where we snapped our first casual self-portraits and set off for another ninety minute drive to coshocton.

on the way, we stopped at Event Number One: the longaberger home office. for those who don't know, this is a building shaped like a basket. an enormous, ridiculous, seven story basket, to be exact. we followed the busload of middle aged women inside, noted the extreme waste of space in the center of the structure, and climbed a remote stairwell to the seventh floor.

we decided to pass on the obligatory tourist photo shot in the foyer, and headed to Event Number Two: the river view high school marching band invitational. we arrived on the scene and spotted our fellow miami alum in all his assistant band director glory. though now directing instead of marching, i witnessed the same determined focus i remembered so long ago in our mumb days. busy with students, responsibilities, and the unpredictable weather, steve became the unwitting object of our stalking; any lulls in the action were used for brief interactions with our dear friend. despite the intermittent downpours and wind gusts, we watched the generals march an impressive show, both visually and technically.

eventually we bade goodbye to steve and coshocton, and battled the weather all the way to virginia. en route to meeting my old high school friend krista and her husband phil, we passed through west virginia on three separate occasions, drove through horizontal rain-turned-briefly-to-flurries in maryland, and started a trend of interstate welcome center visits. finally arriving on campus, i caught up with krista while rachel sifted through pictures and phil started preparing the next day's lunch in this spacious resident director's apartment. the following morning was a bizarre mix of events including [but not limited to]: church service, a donkey sighting, a garden gnome photo shoot extravaganza, and the befriending of an elderly woman named peggy from staunton. after a delicious lunch of taco soup, we headed for the mountains. the overlooks at shenandoah national park were staggering. knowing full well that pictures could not possibly do the views any justice ["another faraway nature shot!"], i tried anyway. after hiking to see some falls [they can kill, you know], we opted for dinner from domino's, and our flexible and gracious hosts took us in for another night.

monday morning we were on the road to winston-salem, north carolina. brochures promised a town that we never really ended up finding. sure, we located winston-salem -- not to mention the OLD SALEM VISITORS CENTER[!] -- but frankly i was a little underwhelmed by what i saw. then again, maybe i was just tired of driving. at any rate, we met more miami alums for a short night's visit. though i never knew linda and charlie during my college days, there was still that odd familiarity that comes from meeting others with whom you have unknowingly shared a campus. rachel and linda chatted while i studied a "Let's Go USA!" travel book for our upcoming trip to asheville. after another good night's sleep and cookies for breakfast, charlie graciously fashioned a clear and precise map to direct us to the first[?] krispy kreme store; conveniently for us, it was located quite near i-40. i had my first ever fresh and hot krispy kreme glazed donut... mmmmm. after some action photos by the free standing krispy kreme sign on a well traveled highway, we were off to asheville.

four through six coming soon...