Rochester, New York. I spent almost a week there with Donald and his roommates and their significant others AND Andy. If I'm not wrong, the apartment was originally meant for 4 people. Somehow, there were always 8 or 9 people at any given time. The week went by fast, but was lovely. It's always nice to be somewhere totally relaxing (read: South Henrietta). On Sunday, Stage Three began.

Fishers, Indiana. Yup, you got it right. Home sweet home, also known as total breakdown central. I don't think there's much more to say about being home, except that I also attended my dear, sweet, naive little brother Gabriel's eighth grade promotion. Cute, isn't he? Only two days later, Stage Four ran smack in my face. I had to leave for my REU Fellowship at Duke University.

Louisville, Lexington, and Junction City, Kentucky. Instead of making the 11 hour trip all by myself in one day, I decided to hit two birds with one stone, and go see the Slones. I drove down I-69 to Louisville (a trip I've made before), and changed to I-64 east towards Lexington. I thought I knew what to expect. Woop. Wrong me.

On that particular stretch of highway, there are a lot of brown signs. In Indiana and most of the United States, brown signs mean natural parks or forests, and suchlike. On I-64, it means something completely different. What I saw was this. Well, something to this extent, anyway.

For those who need to know, the Wild Turkey Distillery's just off Exit 19.

Well, I finally got to Lexington, and John hopped into my car, and we drove to his place and talked all night. I just had to ask him about the distilleries, and, boom, another shocker for me.

Apparently, in Kentucky, out of approximately 160 counties, only thirty are deemed 'wet'. The remaining 130 counties are 'dry', meaning no alcohol, not even beer or wine, is to be sold in those counties.

Oh, you're a couple celebrating your 25th anniversary? You'd like some champagne? Oh, I'm sorry, there's no alcohol sold here in Boyle County. You might want to drive thirty minutes to the nearest wet region and pick up some champagne from the local winery.

I went to bed at two in the morning, the phrase 'dry counties' repeating itself in my head. 'Dry counties. Dry counties. Dry counties.'

I got up at 6... Well, it sure was early, but it sure wasn't bright. After getting a McDonald's breakfast and filling up my car, I set off through Appalachia towards North Carolina. The day passed by uneventfully. I was on the road, and that's sort of a given.

Durham, North Carolina. Dookie. Home of the Blue Devils. Krzyzewskiville. Name it what you want, but it's my home for the next two months. I'm here to do a REU Fellowship with the Pratt School of Engineering. Two months, fully paid, free apartment, research experience with one of the premier universities in the nation. What more could I ask for?

Oh, yeah. I just hope it doesn't rain all summer.

ta-ta
-pia marie