queen of the slipstream

i believe today is day 26.
i am in gainesville (and i think i can finally remember to put the e in there, even though i think it is pointless) and it is surely a strange place.
i think it is pretty here, but i am almost positive that most of the town's livelihood comes from UF, and that is no place for me to be.
i am staying in a hostel tonight. it is $20. i am happy about that. i wasn't so happy when i pulled up to this place. for one, i couldn't even find it. there is no sign, no sign of life, and no life. or there wasn't any when i got here. zen hostel. i pushed the creaky screen door open to find a dark living room, and then i heard a door open. oh no. i really envisioned my death. it was a middle aged lady. she said the owner wasn't around, and that she didn't know where the female dorm room was, but she did direct me to the bathroom. thank god, i was about to burst. i did a little exploring and found a house behind the main house, and found a man inside named jim. one of those "i'm too nice i must actually be scary" type of characters. i asked him about food nearby, he said he would show me around a bit. he's been living in an apartment in the back house for 2 months helping the owner with the yard keeping.

the visions of my death slowly dissapeared, especially after i read the house rules posted in the coffee table in my room and the slew of postcards praising the zen hostel tacked to a cork board in the hall. "toby" the owner, still isn't here, so i haven't had a chance to pay for my bed yet. i am tired! i guess toby plays harmonica at clubs and stuff. i thought he might be young, but i guess he is very old? i will find out.

i have today and tomorrow left here in florida. i think i will not return here for a very long time. florida is a place you can explore only for so long before you start to lose it. i cried a lot today when i left my aunt's house. lesson learned: don't stay anywhere long enough to get comfortable. motion is the name of the game and i have to keep moving. tomorrow i will be in tallahassee, which is not as fun to spell as tennessee, but its close. i will stay with my cousin, sara, in her apartment, which, is on....wait for it....TENNESSEE ST. i will send her many a postcard just to spell out those words.

i am exhausted. i can't believe how much work this vacation is. "vacation" ha. i can't wait to see my friend in new orleans. i have been in florida for so long, i sort of forgot there was more to this trip than the sunshine state. i am so happy there is more, and ready to see new things.

oh! also! i heard a fact from serena about florida. apparently it has the most cows of any state. and before today, i wouldn't have believed it, but driving on i-75 today for 100 miles through the middle MIDDLE of florida, i passed so many cows. its actually quite beautiful in the middle, not as swamp disaster as i imagined. but that doesn't make me want to stay here any longer than i am. panhandle tomorrow and then ALABAMA. christ, i am so scared of alabama.

goodnight.
B