May 16, 2011 11:57
"Why have I been so quiet lately?"...you may ask.
Because I am watching the gas prices go up and my desire go down.
As the trip looms a mere month away, I see that the state of the economy will indeed impact this journey.
Gone is New Orleans and Savannah...though avoiding the devastation of flooding and tornadoes in our poor South also seems a good idea for now.
Rerouting from Memphis to Asheville, NC and up through Virginia and Pennsylvania and Maryland to New York....
Gone too is Boston. Though I am really looking forward to spending some time at the Smithsonian in DC. That gets to stay.
The interesting part of this is that I am fine with the trim down of the trip. The WHY of this trip has changed. I think a year ago I was running away from the known or desperately trying to run to something unknown.
Being gone from my daughter for six weeks was just feeling like too much. Being alone for that long was feeling....heavy.
The real truth is that I don't know if I even need to take this trip anymore. Now, it feels as if the real tourdefifty started a year ago when I decided to do this. It is as if the real journey played out this year in my life. Dark dark scary alone places and beautiful ecstatic moments all discovered on my own. Driving through my own transition quite literally.
Now the trip seems like simple icing on the cake. Maybe there will be new inner discoveries, maybe there will be revelations.
But the real work seems to have been done.
The hero's journey is internal. The spiritual quest seems complete.
I found myself without having to drive all over the country in search of me. I guess the only thing I am looking for anymore is "Now What?"
But I will go. That is what I do. Take adventures. Take risks. Embrace adventures.
What do I need? Traveling music, my friends. Send me songs for the road that will help my soul fly and eyes stay open.
Let me take you with me.