from whence i have come...

out of the forest (quite literally) and back onto the grid.

today is my father's birthday.

today i am a mere three days shy of being 'on the road' for two long months. i think i had an inkling that these months were going to be long. as the days passed, the time away from anything i've called home seemed to strech on like the midwest horizon. i found small pieces, little places of 'home' along my way. Seattle. Plymouth. Nashville. Ft Collins. that was good.

today i drove from southern oregon straight to my parent's house, in lovely-golden-brown-hilled NorCal. by the by, it's really hot up in northern northern california right now. as i crested the last hills before i dropped down into the valleys that comprise the 'north bay area', i felt the cool coastal air nip softly at my arm as it hung out the window. the air was a sure sign that i had returned to the land of my fathers. but with it, i know comes so much more. that the life i know outside of traveling along america's roads on the roving winds, that state of living that I guess i would call my life, would once again be mine to inhabit and partake in.

but things are different. irevocablly different. any substantial time alone; traveling great distances; traveling at all; partaking in something outside of yourself; seeing life outside of yourself; meeting someone special; these things change you. they have all happened to me in the last two months. i have changed.

i have fed my wanderlust. i have floated on the winds up the coast, seen the Big Sky, and traversed the wide plains. i have sat quietly beside a beautiful woman. i have grown weary of the road, and have chased the sun westward as far as i can.

another year lays just ahead. i cannot get there by car. i cannot and will not walk there alone.

i am full of hope...