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Thu. June 3, 1999
On the road
After bidding Sarah farewell, Erika, Dr. Leake, and I shuffled into my mentor's Ford Taurus/jellybean-mobile. The destination: Athens, Georgia and the SARA REU meeting on the campus of the University of Georgia. I only slept a short amount of the 4 hour ride north. The countryside here is really lovely. From Valdosta to Athens the landscape progresses to a flat, former ocean bottom to a hilly and somewhat more rugged highland. Thick forests of dicidous trees tell me that the fall must hold dazzling colors in this state.
The 3 of us joined the rest of the REU students and staff at a convention hotel located on UGA's campus. The entire group promptly set out to a Mexican restaurant to get to know one another. We sat in groups at separate tables and I had the delight of getting to talk to Jonathan. He's a student in New Jersey and a resident of Vashon Island(?) in Washington state. One subject phased into another as we talked about our homes and our love for film and animation. We have many interests in common and more surprisingly, many philosophies of life. Maybe it's a Northwesterner thing...
After dinner the group separated and retreated to our hotel rooms. I stayed with a student studying under Dr. Leake at VSU named Jason Gaines. He'll also be studying asteroids but with a program called Jove. The best, quick way to describe him is a long-haired, brilliant, southern hippy. He's got as thick of a southern accent as anyone I've met here. I'm sure people take him for a pure blood redneck when they hear his drawl. They're surely wrong. Although he confesses to slightly redneck beliefs, Jason is a musician and what appears to be a very impressive student. Dr. Leake talks very highly of him and I can see why. We yammered about a few things before we allowed sleep to overcome us. Most of all, we talked about music. He plays guitar and sings. Jason says his influences lie in honkeytonk and southern rock. He recommended some groups to me and I did the same to him. We also found that both of our favorite groups have yet to make it to the other's area. I do really appreciate how, even though we didn't agree on selection, music is really a great way to get to know someone.
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