Safe Houses

February 6th, 2006
Just South of Lansing, MI

We spent last night in Indianapolis at Charlie Wiles’ and had a fantastic evening of food, beer, music and general catching up. We met his wife Satchiko, his two daughters Lena and Aiya and his young foreign exchange student from Shanghai. Vinnie from GarageMahal also joined in the festivities.

The visit was another in a growing progression of connections with people we’ve shared good times with along the way. Sometimes, Tami and I joke about the trail of chaos we might leave behind as many of our hosts have to rise for work or to take care of family following protracted evenings of partying. I know we’d have a hard time maintaining our routines back home if a similar pair waltzed into our lives in the middle of the week. All the more credit to the likes of Charlie and the hosts who preceded: Tanya and Amanda in Dallas, Frank and Co. in El Paso, Chris and Mary (and Scott, Tami, Big Cheese and Squeeze) in LA, Todd and Christie in Tucson, my Mom and her man Bob in Casa Grande, AZ…… To the person, they’ve all been excellent hosts and the visits have punctuated our journey with the sustenance of community, extended as it is.

These are all people we really enjoy. The fact that the visits have stretched a good distance across a continent has added an unexpected continuity to the journey. Their homes are the interludes between chapters where we recount the recent sights and experiences from our lives and they catch us up on theirs. Over a nice meal and long conversations we are getting some of the best memories since leaving San Francisco.