and so we begin, again...

it took me till 2007 to get on board with this blogging thing. we'll see how long it lasts.

i left today. left my life in sunny (actually, gloomy) Santa Barbara. feel like i've done this before. got a different car this time. (moment of silence for my beloved White Car)

been telling everyone for a year that, hell or high water, I was going back on the road. been counting down the days. hell, there hasn't been a single day that has gone by that I have not thought about Montana, Red Feather, and being 'on the road'. and in a flash, here I am. I gotta say i'm still a bit disoriented. worked myself dizzy these last three weeks trying to make some last dough so i could justify this trip in my head. feel like i left in such a hurry. i swear, no matter how many lists i make and subsequently cross off, i never feel prepared. but maybe that un-prepared feeling is the point. too much control and we lose that 'real life' aspect.

i arrived at my parents this eve. will be here for a couple of days gathering self and relaxing the tightly wound spirit. don't think i feel like i'm quite on the actual road trip yet. i think it's because i've driven that damn stretch of the 101 so many times that it's actually familiar or commonplace or something. i think when i hit the open road north of here, heading into the California high country, i'll start to 'feel more at home'. cause i say, damn, nothing calms me down more than a drive. a simple arm-out-the-window/wind-in-the-face/vast-freedom-ahead kinda thing.

third in three years. i'm wondering how many more of these i'm going to need to take to calm this wanderlust. maybe next year, just one more: Alaska.

i'm sick. i haven't even really started this trip and i'm already planning the next one. and i never think that far ahead. i guess with the exception of these trips. i guess i'm always thinking about the next one. and...i just realized, that's how i survive in SB. not job to job. not show to show. but from one trip to another. is that wrong. one of these days i'm going to have to sit down (or take a drive) and figure out something else besides road trips to define my life with.
maybe later. or maybe in the woods.

i love this blog thing. i can think outloud and have a bit of a creative outlet. whoever thought of these things...

stay tuned for the further adventures of Michael Conrad II