The Homo Hobo

My friend Jamie passed away on December 21 from cancer. I first met Jamie my freshman year (her junior year) of college through mutual friends. I am a huge Iowa women’s basketball fan and Jamie is to credit for that. We loved watching her play in college and endearingly referred to her as “TB” or “Tall Bitch!” This post is not necessarily about my travels, but Jamie’s passing was on the first leg of my new journey. I spent hours trying to figure out how to make it back to Iowa for her funeral, but in the end, navigating flights, rental cars, and the lack of funeral clothes proved to be too much so I was unable to make it - and that was ok. While this new journey for me allows for a lot of flexibility, it was an early lesson that not everything will be possible. Jamie was a member of Lisa Bluder's first recruiting class at Iowa and said this in an article by the Gazette , “We had just gotten here, and we needed bodies. Jamie was a tall post presence, and she lived near Iowa City. We...

I left for Puerto Vallarta today. Yes, I left before Christmas and on my mom's birthday (love you, mom!) but the timing worked out well and I saw my whole extended family at Thanksgiving so I felt ok about missing out this year. I have been to PV a number of times, I know people who live there, and I knew others who would be there during the same time this year so it all worked out well. This stay was in an Airbnb in the Romantic Zone. It was a little bit of a walk to the action but also allowed for some quiet time and some good R&R. I was on PTO for this trip and it was nice being able to check out for a few days.  There were a couple of planned activities/excursions, but mostly it was just going with the flow day by day. There were multiple days spent at the beach and the rooftop pool at the Airbnb. I was invited on a boat one day with friends for a late afternoon/early evening trip to do some whale watching and to catch the sunset on the water. If you've never experience...

I left the condo for the last time today. Closing is tomorrow, but I had a package delivered so I stopped back and worked for a few hours in the (mostly) empty place. The new owners kept a decent amount so it was never fully empty. I'm not flying out until December 19 so I chose to stay at a hotel in downtown Des Moines for five nights. I could have stayed with friends and it was a little weird staying so long in a hotel in Des Moines, but I just wanted to start my journey early and take the airport shuttle straight to the airport on the 19th. It was emotional leaving the condo on December 14 to go to the hotel but when I left on the 16th, I felt at peace. When I moved back to Iowa after the 2008 campaign, it was only supposed to be a few week stay as I plotted out my next political job outside of Iowa. I had no intentions on staying in Iowa but here I was for the next 16 years almost to the day (not working in politics, thankfully). I kept a few totes and pieces of art, but other ...