The Eve of Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest

It's been an incredible year darting across the country meeting all types of people in all types of situations. Tomorrow though, I'll be in the same place I was this time last year, Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest in Coney Island. I'll have more about the greatness of the Nathan's tradition after I live it for the third time tomorrow.

The past few days have brought about some thoughts of the past and good news for the coming weeks. I caught the bus from Boston to New York on Monday, and after steak and rice from Sean's kitchen I caught up with Carolina, something I'd been meaning to do for a while. We walked down to Astoria park, also something I've been meaning to do and have never done in the 2+ years I'd lived here. We talked while the sun fell at the same rate as the thoughts of rekindling a past summer's love.

Generally I'd of let it go sooner, it's been clear since Oklahoma, but it was the concept that there's a story about an all powerful being that decides your fate after you've expired, and that story puts chains on someone's natural urges and passion, that idea, that kept me prodding. Discussions of religion tend to lead nowhere, when someone aligns themself with their book of comfort you are now attacking their very being every time you question any part of any page, so every page can be used to justify their position. Sometimes you have to question someones religion until you find their real motivations, sometimes it's best to let them be.

The road is on my mind as it usually is, I posted a ride request on Trip Hopping and Craigslist with the simple task of getting out of Manhattan. I got a couple responses from people, the most interesting of which is to hitchhike towards New Orleans with a girl from there who's around here now. The details of that or whatever happens will surely reveal themselves in the coming days, I haven't a clue where I'll be in just a couple days.

I've spent many of my hours this week with Trip Hopping, my hobo travel site that we've finally started announcing to the world, I've been making sure all the code is ready to handle everybody, I'm excited about it. Almost as excited as I am about Joey Chestnut going back to back tomorrow in Coney Island. Nathan's!

Comments