an image from our future move.

Man it’s been awhile. I started writing this post with the same amount of anxiety and guilt I have when I pick up the phone to call my mom for the first time in a month, except that it’s been almost 8 months! During that time I’ve been insanely busy. In fact while Tom, Sam, Mateo, and Harper have been preparing to take Transit Antenna in their own direction, the former crew has done everything but sit on their hands, dispersing across the globe with all finding some semblance of normalcy (or at least something other than life on a bus).

Steven-O at his best during a recent wedding (not his own).

The person I think I’m most jealous of is our former hitchhiker Steven-O. Since we dropped him off in Portland, OR in August of 2008, he says that he got “a little chunkier” (haven’t we all!) when he spent some time with his Italian mother who “loves to feed you,” landed steady work and a girlfriend for a while (from our last correspondence I couldn’t discern if he still had either), and eventually ended up in Australia, of all places. I’m not simply envious of the fact that he got to spend New Years Eve in Tasmania, (though I’ve always wanted to live with marsupials), but I’m more green eyed over his ability to glide through life like a rock skipping across a crystal lake. Eventually he will stop skipping and sink into daily life, but for the moment I really enjoy watching and postulating how far across the lake he will get.

Wheat's new floating love

The other Transit Antenna hitchhiker, Wheat, found love in his home town of Orlando. When we deposited him in Jacksonville early last year, the plan was for him to spend a few weeks in Orlando and then head back to Brooklyn, NY.

wheat und kim

Now it’s been more than a year and half since we dropped him off, and he has remained, for the most part, in Orlando doing a lot of gardening, fleamarketing, and photography with his girlfriend Kim. The lure of the road is starting to get under his skin once again and they are contemplating an extended road adventure of their own. Maybe Transit Antenna 3.0?

Seth workin' on the Clover Mural, finally

As of late, Seth and Jamie have spent the majority of their time living and working in Seth’s hometown of Clover, SC – population 4916. Jamie started freelance writing for the local county paper and just this month landed a full time gig as staff writer for the Rockhill Herald. (see some of her stuff here)

what Seth's mural will look like in the end, sort of.

All the while, Seth has been navigating the Bureaucracy of his home town in an effort to paint a mural. Finally after many months of wrangling, a wall and funding was secured, and he was able to break ground earlier this month.

the Kristofoletti fam in Geneva

There’s several big news items when it comes to Joe and Amy. First they had a baby. Crazy right? We were really unsure why they got off the road early last summer, and then they broke the news over the phone a couple months later.  On February 9th, 2010 Daniel Falcon Kristofoletti was born.

I told Joe that the baby's name sounded like a super hero secret identity. He responded with this photo.

The next big thing for them came after Joe painted a mural at Redux Art Center based on the Cern Particle Collider. Soon after he was invited to Geneva to paint murals on the buildings surrounding the Collider itself! As I write, the whole fam is living it up in Switzerland.

The first section of the Cern mural project. It attempts to depict the small blackholes created by the collider.

When they’re not Europeans, they spend their time in the great city of Austin, TX. They’ve tried many times to talk the rest of us into moving to the City of the Violet Crown. The only catch is its surrounded by the rest of Texas.

Taylor assisting with our movin' film.

Dawn , Taylor, Kentridge, and I have wrestled with where we want to set up permanent camp. For the moment we are held up in Charleston, SC by default simply because it’s where we have family we can lean on. But it’s not our dream city, and after much deliberation we have set our sights on New Orleans. While many would find the crescent city to be less than ideal, not only because of the glacial pace of rebuilding after Katrina but also because of the impending damage that the gulf oil spill will bring, it still remains close to our hearts and our top choice for a relocation. Dawn’s been working hard as manager of a local bakery, Taylor enrolled in public school, Kentridge has fallen in love again with the marshy backyard of home, and I’ve been busy with several projects including The Is Not Broke Recession Proof Wallet Co. And despite my internet silence, I’ve been heavily involved behind the scenes with Transit Antenna helping Tom and Sam get their still-unnamed bus rolling and running on Waste Vegetable Oil (both in person for several extended trips to Miami and virtually with drawings like the one below). I’ve also been behind the scenes of the website here working on some exciting new features. Next month we will have some special guests reporting live from the road. Stay tuned for more!

Despite living with my inlaws and not paying rent, it’s been hard to save any money mainly because of my lack of steady work. Dawn’s been really humping it for the both of us, but something always comes up that sucks the money out of our bank account. However come hell or high water (which are both very likely in our soon-to-be-adopted hometown), we are hitting the road in August to make our way to the Big Easy.

at a friends wedding where I officiated and dawn made the cake. POWER COUPLE

Oh geez, I almost forgot to give a much needed update on Walter, the bus. He has become a mainstay at East Jesus, where Container Charlie says visitors fight to stay in his comfy beds and enjoy his amenities.

The tire mammoth erected earlier this month on the grounds of East Jesus

Since our exodus in November, East Jesus has seen a fury of activity with many new art projects making their way to the Slabs.   Walter has received a battery and solar panel upgrade, a new water tank and inverter waiting to be installed, and drought-tolerant cactus’ which utilize a gray water recycling system we installed before we left. The pedal power generator / co-pilot seat will soon find a new home powering the East Jesus Tower lighting system. The interior has remained largely unchanged besides the addition of some cutlery and corkscrew in the kitchen.

A recent image of Walter taken from the East Jesus Tower

Charlie is in search of an ambitious artist that is willing to stay for an extended time in the belly of Walter and do some of the “round tuits” he hasn’t had time for, though with triple digit temperatures day and night at the moment, that seems unlikely in the coming months. With that said, there is an open invite for friends and fans of Transit Antenna to stay in the bus, with the stipulation that you bring Charlie a case of Natie Light and that you follow all of the rules of East Jesus. If a stay in the low desert sparks your interested you can email us at info@transitantenna.com for more info.

A very cool recent addition to East Jesus by Hollywood styrofoam and fiberglass sculptor Michael Rabbitt.

One Response to “It’s about time”

1. steve0 says:

   July 9, 2010 at 7:38 am

   I really just wanted to say that I think you guys are thhe best power couple ive ever met.