North of Kansas City

We have departed the commune. Unfortunately we couldn't quite handle the tight living space and desperately wanted to be on the road again. We've both got quite a case of the wanderlust and hate to be tied down.

Driving through Missouri today was really wonderful. We encountered a few rude people, including one 6 foot tall cowboy at 7:30 this morning who declared we must have been lost, but also were reminded of the extreme hospitality of some. One man at a gas station south of KC showed us how to check our oil, and other people were just very wonderful and cheery.

We're about 3 hours south of Omaha now, and will most likely be heading towards there tomorrow afternoon. We'll camp somewhere if we can't get in touch with Tym and check the city out. I'm compiling a list now of things to do in Omaha.

While East Wind was a wonderful experience, I'm glad to be out of there. There was some serious baby mama drama going on this weekend, and the tension was greatly felt. Babydaddy ended up with a black eye, and confrontations were rampant.

After the first few days at East Wind people were finally very friendly to us, as we were respectful and proved to be hard workers. We tried to get as many hours in the garden as possible every day, and learned a ton from our managers Richard and Lauren. Both were extremely interesting characters who were very passionate about their jobs and the gardens they had to tend to. Not many East Winders helped them on the farms, so thankfully we received some positive reinforcement for our work.
For the most part we weeded one overgrown part of the garden. We also harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, garlic and basil. Harvesting is time consuming, but definitely one of the more enjoyable parts of gardening/farming. We also helped pickle 70 jars of cucumbers, where I ended up seriously hurting my right wrist/forearm. After a long day of weeding, I attempted to use my wrist while ladling brine into the jars, which made me realize my wrist was getting sore. But, stupidly, I attempted to pick up a heavy bucket of cucumbers and ice water, and ended up pulling the muscle on my wrist that had felt sore. Its gotten worse the past few days and I plan on going to a doctor in Omaha to get it checked out, just so I can get some suggestions on what I did to it and how I can quickly allow it to heal, since not using my hand is out of the question.

We are currently at Mel's uncle Phillip's house just north of Kansas City. We had a lovely dinner outside in their great backyard, hanging with their 4 dogs. Missouri is without a doubt an absolutely beautiful place. The Ozarks in the south are filled with tall trees and rolling hills, and the north is flatter but much more spacious.

I'm incredibly excited for Omaha tomorrow. I've been waiting to go to this city since high school.