Across Country: March 2012

My sister has made more garments for me than I can name. She sewed several of my prom and formal dresses for high school. She made me the most beautiful wedding dress in the whole wide world. When I was very young, she would take me to the fabric stores and have me pick out patterns and fabrics that I liked (always velvet and silky ones) and she would make me nice clothes. She is the best.

She has accomplished so many things over the years. Now she is about to launch an Autumn/Winter collection and multimedia art exhibition entitled Nest. The fashion line will debut at Richmond Fashion Week next month, and an all encompassing art show will follow, showcasing all of the elements from the Nest.

I wish so much that I could be back in Richmond to experience this. I urge everyone who has the means to get involved in every way that they can. And boy are there plenty of ways to get involved! This is a link to the Nest Kickstarter which is a website that enables you to donate to her project in exchange for amazing handmade presents and things. This is a link to her Facebook page and one to her Tumblr where you can keep tabs on her and all the amazing events coming up. Here in her official website, AngelaBacskocky.com. And hey, if you know her personally, I know she is always looking for a hand in the studio :)

And just for fun, here a a few photos from her various websites.

Nest garment.

My sister is a mason, too.

Sketches and mood board stuff.

Skulls, a very important part.

A piece from her Hungarian Folk Collection.

The final day of our voyage had arrived. We loaded the car up for the last time, a lot less cat food and litter than when we started, nearly 3,500 miles more on the odometer. The last day would be a short and relaxing drive mostly on a highway that we had driven before when we visited Oregon. We would get to Portland well before dark, and we had allotted enough time for a few stops along the way. First we would visit the Redwoods on the northern Californian coast. Then we would take the I5 to Eugene to visit Hayward field at the University of Oregon where some big running thing was going on. Then it would just be a short few more hours before we would reach our final hotel.

We left Eureka as fast as we could that morning. The cat carriers still had a smell to them, so we bought some Febreeze. It helped a little. The quicker we could forget about that town the better. After about 45 minutes of driving north, we entered Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. While we had seen a few redwoods in the mountains while driving the night before, we still had not seen them up close. Before we could stop at a trail head, we saw a sign warning us of elk crossing the road. Oh how wonderful it would be to see elk. Well, of course the signs don't lie in California, and as we rounded a bend, in a field to our left, we saw a herd of elk just lounging in the morning sun. We got out to get a better look, but heeded a sign warning us not to approach on foot. We continued on to a trail we picked based on it's name. BIG TREE. Hmm... they probably could have come up with a better name. We left the cats in the car with the windows down and took a short 20 minute hike through the enchanted forest. It was so lush, so quiet, so massive, and so unreal. We played on fallen trees, hugged quite a few ginormous trunks, but mostly quietly walked through the forest, taking it all in one breath at a time. It looked like the dinosaurs lived there. All of the ferns that filled the ground were huge. It was a short adventure, but we will be going back in April.

The morning was going so well, with me crossing "hug a sequoia" off of my bucket list. The sun was shining and we were just about to cross into Oregon, our destination state. The road was following a river through the mountains. And then again, just like with every other state border, the scenery rolled up and before us we saw wide open land, dotted with lumpy hills, and snow covered mountains in the distance. Although we had probably unknowingly been driving by a lot of it in the mountains the night before, we started to take note of a lot of Bigfoot stuff in southern Oregon. Lot's of Bigfoot gas stations and signs and restaurants. This was before me and Tim had started getting into all of the Sasquatch stuff, so we just found it amusing.

After a few hours we came upon Eugene. I was far too exhausted to pretend to be enthused by this track event, so Tim went in alone while I stayed with the animals in the car. I watched from the street as Tim found the unguarded entrance and sneaked in, happily for free. I took a nap, a lovely sunny nap in the car.

Once back on the road, the time flew by as we drove through the Willamette Valley, passing vineyards and things we had seen before. And then all of a sudden, we saw it in the distance. Whitey. Mt. Hood. He was tiny and probably hundreds of miles away. But we knew that meant we were getting very close to Portland. As the snow topped mountain grew bigger and bigger, we felt more and more like we would actually make it, like the car wasn't going to break down, and no one was going to die. The sun was starting to set and the sky was turning pretty colors. We exited the highway and there we were. We had made it. We passed downtown and saw the Made In Oregon sign. We crossed the Morrison Bridge. It hadn't set in yet, but we had actually drove across the entire country, taking the long way, down through Texas and up the Western Coast. Passing through eight states, driving about 4,000 miles in six days, with three pets, one car completely full of our only possessions, and just a bit of courage. Just enough of it to up and leave everything and everyone we had known, for a change of scenery. No other plans beyond just making it there. No house to go to, no jobs to make money with, and no one but ourselves to rely on. Maybe it wasn't courage, maybe it was insanity. Either way, we did it.

It was exhilarating and exhausting to think about. The culmination of over a years planning and strategizing. It felt good to have accomplished something that not everyone gets a chance to do. We gave ourselves a fresh start, a jump start. A clean slate and all of those other cliche things people say. We'd succeeded.