Newport Day Uno

After D.C. I headed on up to Newport R.I. I loved the drive there and stopped at an awesome little Rock Wall that jutted out into the Atlantic that you could walk on. It was in a pretty remote area. The rock wall was made out of giant slabs of you guessed it...rock! About 1/2 mile long. About 1/4 mile out from shore it became pretty uneven and almost impassible. I went out as far as I could and just loved being surrounded by the water and crashing waves. There was no one else around just me and the water. Here is part of my journal entry I wrote right after I made it back to my car;

"My hands are to cold to write. I just got back from chilling out in the middle of this Rock wall in the Atlantic Ocean. The waves were crashing all around, Easy to loose your mind in the middle of it all. Not many thoughts rolled through my head. Just the peace and sound of the water."

Huh I find that interesting...the Peace? I was totally at peace and relaxed and excited yet the water was far from peaceful. It was captivating and violent yet I was at ease and comfortable just day dreaming. It was a pretty exciting experience for me and I called my mom and buddy Jeff while i was out there trying to share and express with them both what I was experiancing. My mom understood being from the ocean herself but I think Jeff thought I was nuts. Lol.

After this I drove into Newport myself and explored the city a little, while getting lost looking for parking. I found a big parking lot and garage next to a Marriott hotel. This was going to be my home for the next two nights and almost three days.

Newport was a pretty neat city but I could tell I didn't fit in very much. It was full of east coast white collar workers and an overall rich crowd. Newport is a big vacation area for the people in New England as it sits along the water and is a big spot for sailing. Never the less I was comfortable in my plaid with my shaggy beard walking around this town. I didn't look to much like a bum, but there was no question I wasn't from around those parts.

I found a main street with a bunch of bars and restaurants and was trying to find somewhere to hang out for the night and also eat. Everything is so expensive so I went and ate at a Panera Bread Co. That was only my 2nd time there ever and I loved it. I found a blues restaurant playing some music for a 5 dollar cover and then another one down the street playing stuff for free that seemed more my crowed as far as age goes so I went there. I was an hour early so I went into the bar to have a drink and watched the band set up. They started playing and well I am not one to leave live music but I left...Lol.

I decided to try my luck at the blues cafe and told the bouncers at the door about the band down the street not being of any worth and had him convince me that staying here was worth my time and money. So I forked over my 5 dollars...I know I am cheap huh...and went in. As soon as I walked in and saw the band I laughed and immediately felt more comfortable and in my element. The last bar was full of a bunch of young kids there looking all nice and business like and the men where hounding out the women. Not much my style. Now the blues place was full of older people, a few young, but most were nicely dressed taking out their aging wives for a nice glass of wine and dinner and there to just enjoy the evening. So on that point about the evening my goals already matched that of the atmosphere. Second when I walked in the band was finishing setting up and they were in stark contrast to a nice upscale blues cafe. They looked like a bunch of old drugged out biker dudes. They all were probably in their 50's maybe hard 40's with long hair and pony tails, beer guts, cut off shirts, jeans, shorts, and tattoos going up their arms. Now I really felt like I was home and fitting in. I was the one dude not cleanly shavin much less showered wearing plaid and a Carhart jacket in the middle of this older rich crowed. So I fit in with the attitude of the atmosphere and fit in with the band in not fitting in with the materialism of the place. Oddly enough I new it was going to be good.

Once they started playing it was awesome! The blues club turned into a rock and roll fest and the old people became excited and brought out the rocker in them and all of a sudden every thing that seemed so abstract about the night turned into a fitting puzzle piece. So I let the jack and coke run free off my tab for the remainder of the evening. During the bands intermission I went up stairs to go sit down and have a drink and I noticed some guy that I saw rocking out to the band that I decided to go talk to. We sat and chatted for a bit and he was explaining to me how crappy it is that kids aren't allowed to smoke weed without being afraid of the cops but senators can have 76 martinis if they wanted to. The convo got pretty good and I concluded he was pretty dead on. He was a software engineer and had been for the last 20 or so years. He was in his late 40's and his son happened to be there and he introduced me to him. So now I had friends for the evening.

One thing that kinda deserves its own section is something he said to me that caused me to think as I had read the same thing in USA today a little earlier. Upon finding out that I was just recently back from Iraq and after talking with me he told me that I didn't seem fucked up and like I still had my head on pretty straight. He brought that up like he was surprised and really expecting something very different, like I was to be crazy or he needed to be cautious of me. I thought about that because I had read that employers where hesitant to hire vets because they figured they had to many emotional issues to sort out. I began to wonder if that was really the general thought about all of us coming back or not. Most people thinking we are all going to be to disrupted in the head to still be a functioning part of society. I have some thoughts on that that I could go into but that kinda will re route this entire bar/Newport story. However this trip has been needed and good for me to take and it has helped me calm down a bit from when I first came back, so to a point his concern made sense.

Alright so the band started playing again and I had made friends with the bass player a little earlier and bought him some beer as he was the only one drinking in the band. I figured he was the last one with a liver still intact. This second set from the band, I moved a little closer along the dance floor as I am not one to just stand still listening to music to much and started standing and dancing to myself. Well i get this tap on my shoulder and its an older lady still kinda cute but never the less she just wanted to dance with the one dude that was out there totally enjoying himself not caring about anyone else. Good sense of taste I would say lol. So we proceeded to dance and had a good time doing it. I think I was getting stared down by all the older men in the place and thats one thing I hate about bars and the whole enviornment of trying to pick up a chick. I am not much of a dude that likes to make others mad, i would rather everyone be happy and just enjoy themselves and put egos aside for a bit. General thinking though i assume people think that is kinda weak because all you ladies want a guy to fight for you. To that I say, "well meet me some other way then at a bar." Any case me and her danced and pissed off some people I am sure lol, who knows...and I went sat down with her and her friend and bought them a drink and just chatted. They were interested in what I was doing and couldn't believe I was just crashing in my car.

Well me being a nice guy I danced with her friend and saw a good opportunity to have lady number one meet the weed smoking computer engineer. So I brought him over and introduced them to each other and well my good deed for the year was accomplished! We all enjoyed the rest of the night together listening to rock and roll in a blues cafe.

By the nights end I new the bartender, the door lady, the bouncer, the bassiest, two older women, a computer engineer and his son by name and they all new me. This all set me up well for the next evening. (to be continued)....