Good morning,

I hope you are doing well on this Tuesday morning. I write you today from the public library here in the deep southern city of Birmingham, Al. I arrived here last night from Greendale, In. after spending the last two weeks there working on my Ohio and Kentucky gigs. I also spent a few days working on Carol’s upstairs apartment and enjoying all the comforts of a warm and friendly family atmosphere. I’m already missing the basement room and Carol’s home cooked meals, especially after spending the last night at a rest stop!

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to secure a job in Indiana after the two weeks, so I decided to bolt for the south and hopefully work the north side of the state when in arrive in Chicago next month. Which is why I’m back in Dixieland trying once again to secure a gig in both Alabama and Mississippi respectively, after having passed through this area back last summer in June. I didn’t have much success the first time around so I’m hoping for a better experience and much better weather. The extreme heat and humidity made my last visit miserable partly the reason I bolted after only two days!

I enjoyed my drive through Kentucky and Tennessee, stopping periodically to take some pics and explore some points of interest. I got to see Abe Lincolns’ birthplace in Hodgenville, Ky. I also stopped at the world famous Mammoth Cave National Park, just north of Bowling Green. It was a much needed distraction from the CL and gigs search. It still amazes me how diverse this country is, by just crossing state lines I can sense the different feel for each individual state. The language is English of course but the tone and accents differ and the pride a lot of people feel and cherish for their hometowns and states is something most people are always willing to voice or display in a varieties of ways. Signs, tee-shirts, caps, flags dominate the landscape everywhere I look and always seem to be the topic of conversations at many gas stations and restaurants. I proud to from Arizona but I never get too over the top with it; at least I don’t think I do?  Regardless, I will keep my Wildcat shirt in my suitcase while I’m in Alabama since I’m heavily outnumbered by the number one ranked Crimson tide fans!

So friends I hope to be checking in soon with some good news from here so I can move forward to Mississippi and Memphis. Thanks for checking in and for indulging my adventure. Have a great rest of the day!  #Yo-Ga-Fla

Juanjohn

Good morning friends,

I hope all are well wherever you call home. I myself am still feeling great and at home here in Greendale, Indiana, with Carol Stephenson and her boys. Having already completed my Ohio gig on Monday and setting up a gig for tomorrow in Louisville, Kentucky just south of here, I only need Indianapolis to complete the tri-state loop! In the meantime I’m just about done here with Carol’s garage project.

It’s been a great boost to my confidence and a charge to my batteries here with this family. I’ve been able to rest my tired body along with mind with a nice bed, fabulous home cooked meals and engaging conversations. Carol and I have a lot of things in common and can’t wait to be reunited again in Arizona once she sells her home and heads west to Tucson. I’m sure she’ll find some project for me to work on when she settles in to her new home. I in turn will look forward to enjoying her table full of delicious dishes and chatting about my hopefully complete journey. On Wednesday we made time between drywall coats to make flour tortillas and she allowed me her kitchen to make my famous bacon wrapped, cheese filled, butter and garlic shrimp. I was glad she the boys enjoyed it. As much as building and fixing things brings me a tremendous amount of  satisfaction, I have to say that cooking for people, especially loved ones is far more enjoyable for the Johnny man. That is a trait I inherited from my mother who taught me many of the dishes I now share with everyone and anyone who is willing to sit at my table, at home and now on the road.  

I have also enjoyed getting to know these folks better with every passing day. Especially Chuck her eldest son. He is smart and funny young man who is also skilled with many of the same trades as me. A talented artisan in his own right, Chuck has traveled many parts of this great nation and beyond.  Working from the garment district in Manhattan to the Burning Man events in Nevada, he and I have become close just sharing our love for the trades and travel. He too knows a little bit about roughing it out there on the road and surviving with very little or nothing at all. Also being at the mercy of generous, loving people who go out of their way to help strangers like me! He is currently single ladies and a great catch for a lucky lady someday.

So now I feel the fall weather upon me and I hope to be able to find my gigs faster and my stays shorter in order to beat the really extreme cold that will surely catch up to me at some point. I’m still hopeful that I could be in Hawaii by New Years and avoid any severe conditions that will make travel and finding work more difficult. Only time will tell. In the meantime I will continue to enjoy every day and minute of this wonderful adventure I’m experiencing and sharing with you good folks.

Thanks for your support and encouragement. Take care and have a great day!  #Yo-Ga-Fla

Juanjohn

Good morning friends,

Happy Saturday to you and yours on this beautiful fall day, I write this from a warm and cozy basement in Greendale, Indiana. I arose early to check in before heading out to my Ohio gig in nearby in Cincinnati.  As mentioned in earlier post, I’ve been staying with a family from friends back in Tucson, working on the side repairing a garage loft while I complete my gigs in the neighboring states.

If I went back in time to visit my deceased mothers home in Arizona, this is as close as I would come in this world. Carol, although young enough to be my big sister, has opened her house and especially her kitchen to this grateful, weary, traveling tradesman. She has made me feel like one of her own, even kicking out one of her boys out of the basement, to accommodate yours truly for a few days! We had met last year back home, as I serve as her daughter Krista, regular handyman. My tour was just in the planning stages then, so we weren’t sure if the timeline was going to work for both of us once I got to the Middle America portion of my journey. Let me say I am sure glad it did especially my back and my tummy! I was fortunate that unlike Michigan, I found a gig the first day here in Ohio, just across the river forty miles one way. She has gotten up every day to serve me coffee and breakfast before departing and also making sure dinner is ready when I get back from work. Not only are the meals home cooked but she daily gives me a list of options to choose from, dessert included.  That is way too kind and loving and far more than I deserve, but I will take it all in to remain true to the book research portion of my tour!

I feel like her mothering type of approach has been good not only for my physical wellbeing but also for my mental disposition. I feel at home with her and her two sons, Chuck and William, both laid back and friendly. Talk about brothers from another mother as the saying goes, I get all three here in this abode. We sit around after dinner chatting up about many different topics and past experiences. Carol’s family has roots in Colorado and southern Arizona and the border town of Nogales, where I was born, so we have a lot in common, besides the love of family and Mexican food. I’m sure it will be difficult leaving here once it’s time for me to move forward as it has been with all the fine folks who I’ve had the fortune of staying with so far. I’m sure I will have regained the few pounds I had shed these past few months on this tour!

I had never been to this part of the country before, only flying over a few times in the past, but it does have a middle class, blue collar feel to it. The locals are friendly; the heavy traffic in the metro flows patiently, which is a good indicator to me of people’s attitudes. I suppose this is considered the conservative part of the country and although I don’t have a political dog in the fight, I see a great many Trump signs posted everywhere. From private homes to businesses and roads both rural and urban, last I counted: (for research purposes) 182 for Trump and 2 for Clinton, and the one of the Clinton signs was riddled with bullets! I also noticed a great many men sporting orange hair and some women touting chastity belts for some strange reason!

Anyways friends I’m sure I’ll have much more to write about once I’m done here and dip into the south once again. I wish you a great day and thank you for your support!   #Yo-Ga-Fla

JuanJohn