music: AJM playing his travel guitar
I”m currently sitting in Volker’s living room. Next to me is my trusty green Osprey Silhouette, once again packed to the gills. After two weeks of seeing the entire length of this country fly by at 70 MPH (and it was a grand tour, especially once I cleared the Rocky Mountains) I’m ready to do some walking. Tomorrow AJM and I will set out for Sequoia National Park (the specifics of how aren’t quite hammered out just yet…could be a car ride from a benevolent soul or the bus through Fresno and Visalia, then a 6 mile walk up the hill into Sequoia Proper) and begin a 280-mile walk from Sequoia’s Giant Forest to Yosemite valley via the High Sierra and John Muir Trails. I’m quite looking forward to the change of speed, but also healthily nervous about the whole undertaking. 29 days on the trail isn’t something one takes lightly, but in many ways AJM and I have been preparing for this for a while. We’ve locked down our food resupplies and packed our bags (mine’s hovering between 50 and 60 lbs with 8+ days of food in it) and for all intents and purposes are ready to spend a month in the High Sierras. we have brushes with civilization on July 27 and August 4, and then will be meeting tmo on August 9 and Volker on August 13. We land in Yosemite Valley on August 16th if all goes according to plan. Should be a good little walk in the park.
And after that…?? I suppose I’ll have to figure out what I want to do with myself for the next couple of years. But first things first: Sequoia. Until next month…
music: none
In a few hours, once I’ve packed up my laptop, sleeping bag, and buttpack and thrown them into the front seat of my car, and after I haul what furniture of mine is left in the pumpkin-colored room at 12 Curtis into the basement, I’ll drive west on I-90. Away from Boston and the East Coast, into the sunset. Five years I’ve been in Boston, and nine years on the East Coast, and it’s time. It’s been time, I think. Since I got back from my road trip two years ago I’ve had my eyes on the Western horizon, waiting for the day when I could pack all my worldly possessions into my car and drive. That day is today.
I think I’ve spent so much time thinking about today that the actual event is a bit anticlimactic. At this point I’ve said my goodbyes-and-see-you-laters, I’ve tied up as many loose ends as life would allow, and I’ve distilled my material goods to that which can fit into my car. I’ve been feeling sort of dissociated from all of it this past week, in a fugue state of sorts, maybe to soften the blow of a major life transition. But even in my leaving some things comfort me; I’ll roll out of here much like I rolled in, with a little cold, a degree of exhaustion, and Peet waving me on from the porch. But this time is quite different; I’m headed into a big question mark for the first time in my life with no real plans or immediate goals. Should be interesting.
Connecticut today, the Midwest by Tuesday, Colorado by Friday, the Pacific ocean a week after that. Some stops in the Rockies and Utah to add some spice to the whole trip. Then some wandering through the Sierra Nevadas, and after that…who knows? The rear of my car is about 3-4 inches lower than it normally is, exhaust pipe clearance is less than comforting. But after 200-odd years of Americans pushing their wagons west to seek their fortunes, that isn’t going to stop much.
There is change in the air. My world in Boston is in a great deal of transition, and it’s not just me. I never did fully take to this city; a good deal of my energy was spent trying to work my way around Boston and it’s idiosyncracies. Staying any longer would have been counterproductive. Perhaps I stayed too long as it was, but nothing can be done about that now. There were some good things here…Chowdahaus, Live Live, Tuesday nights at Matt Murphy’s, grad school, 12 Curtis, the Biosphere, teaching….there will be things that I will miss, and people too. But it’s time. It’s been time. There’s much ahead to be excited about, and I am completely unencumbered and hold no obligations. I can do whatever I want. The freedom is intoxicating.