Jason Alan Griffin :: The Blog

From late April through early October, I ate almost exclusively hamburgers and pizza and big sugary desserts. I also regularly stayed up until 2 or 3 in the morning, watching TV or videos on YouTube. The bulk of my days were spent sitting in the car. Sure, I'd get out and run a bit with River, and often got out to go on small hikes or climb on rocks or jump in waves. And I'd occasionally stop to teach a Nia class. But it was mostly a sedentary, unhealthful lifestyle--something new to me. I noticed, during this time, I was more susceptible to getting sick and being cranky. I also gained significant weight. My usual weight range hovers around 155, and whenever I get above 160 I know I've gotten off track and seek to right myself. But during those past five months, my belly started growing enough to bulge out over my waistband. I was embarrassed to remove my shirt, which is unlike me. I could even see myself bulging when I wore form fitting clothes. An interesting aspect o...

This political environment has given rise to the question of who is my friend. I have reached a boiling point and no longer want to tolerate support for the neo-fascist running for president on an elitist ticket. So I have made the decision to remove those people who support him from my Facebook friends list. There have been some interesting reactions to this decision. I didn't expect much support for this choice in general, so I was surprised at how much I actually did get. But not surprisingly, I also saw a fair amount of resistance. I'm not the type of person who does things based on what most people think. I've marched to the sound of a different drummer my whole life, and if people get me, that's fine; but it's not a huge concern for me if they don't.  I'm not writing this to convince anyone else that I'm right or to persuade anyone to think or do like me, I'm only going to make an attempt to be understood, for what it's worth. Some pe...

I was on the road for 23 weeks. Not only is it the longest road trip I've ever taken but it's the longest I've ever been away from home.  During that time I made stops in the following 85 different cities. I stayed in each city for only one night unless indicated otherwise in parenthesis. Seaside, OR Coos Bay, OR Arcata, CA Santa Rosa, CA (2) Santa Barbara, CA (2) Carlsbad, CA (2) Marana, AZ El Paso, TX Del Rio, TX Rockport, TX Corpus Christi, TX (2) San Marcos, TX (2) Dallas, TX (2) Houston, TX (3) Slidell, LA Destin, FL Bessemer, AL Tucker, GA (2) Venice, FL (4) Pompano Beach, FL Gainesville, FL Florence, SC Charlotte, NC (3) Harrisonburg, VA Sandston, VA (2) Edgewood, MD New York, NY (6) Altoona, PA Columbus, OH (2) Aurora, IL Woodson, MI Springfield, MO Oklahoma City, OK Amarillo, TX Albuquerque, NM Holbrook, AZ Flagstaff, AZ (3) Kingman, AZ St. George, UT Glendale, UT (3) Las Vegas, NV Barstow, CA Gardena, CA Santa Ba...

Last night was kind of weird. After I was done teaching my last class of the tour in Pendleton, I stood in the motel room with the feeling that it was all over. There was a bit of sadness mixed with a bit of elation. And the feeling of being in the motel room was different. It almost felt unnecessary and strange to know that I was in a motel room and had no plans coming up except for driving home in the morning. There wasn't much going on on the ride home, but I did enjoy driving through the middle of Washington. The rolling hills were all different shades of brown as autumn was obviously in full swing. I stopped in Stanfield, OR for lunch. The choices were pitifully slim, so I opted for Jack In the Box. I hadn't eaten at one since I was a kid, and I used to really dislike it because they would include a balloon in with the order and the balloon tasted like chemical. It ruined the taste of the food to have that toxic powder on my lips from the balloon. Today I didn'...

Today was a situation that I don't care for. I had a six and a half hour drive before teaching a class. I tend to prefer to be in the town well in advance, just to avoid the myriad things that can go wrong to delay my timely arrival. Lucky there were no interesting sites along the way.  Well, actually there were, but I'd seen them all already so I had no problem. The ride was pretty uneventful; especially compared to the calibre of beauteous drives I'd been taking of late. I got an early start and I gained an hour as I passed into the Pacific Time Zone.  This is the kind of scenery I mostly saw: I got to Pendleton in plenty of time, even with stopping several times, for gas, pet food and rest breaks. I was able to check into the motel first and even had time to give River his dinner before I had to be in the studio. Pendleton is a tiny little town, so it only took me four minutes to get there from the motel. The studio was beautiful but they kept it dark. They ...

My original plan was to visit Arches on my way out of Grand Junction and then drive the rest of the day all the way up to Pocatello. But last night, on my way into Grand Junction, I saw a sign saying I was close to Colorado National Monument, so I thought I'd pay a quick visit there, too.  OMFG. I cannot describe this place without cursing. The shapes of the rocks and the color of the ground and the flora growing. It's all just so incredible. I actually literally understood what 'breaktaking' means. I was gasping so repeatedly that I lost my breath at one point. I also think I broke my awesome meter. It's going to have to be recalibrated at least. I cannot believe that places like this quietly exist in the middle of our country. Why aren't people talking about this place every day?  I was really hoping to see some big horn elk when we were in the Big Horn National Forest, but we didnt' see any that day. Today, though, I spotted a...

My plan today was to visit Bandelier National Monument and Valle Caldera National Preserve on my way to my final stop, in Grand Junction, CO. This is a long day of driving, so I split it up between two maps.  I started down in the lower right hand corner of the second map and ended up right here at the top where it says Motel 6. Leaving Santa Fe, I wish I had my camera handy, because I was impressed by freeway overpasses and retaining walls. Each one was painted with a unique Santa Fe design. I actually grabbed for my phone and the battery was just giving out, so I plugged it into the car to charge. By the time it was functional again, I was past the artistic architecture. Bandelier was only about an hour from the motel, and was my first stop. Driving to the destination I entered in my navigation for the park entrance, I passed a sign saying "Bandelier Access by Shuttle only."  But I knew that River couldn't get on a shuttle, so I ignored the sign and kept drivin...