still 26, but the magic day is over.

Well, color me American.

This blog may turn into a chronicle of, the making of, a road trip. A few weeks ago I (I think it was me) blurted out something about how great it would be to take a drive across/around the country, and really see it.

Since that utterance, all I can think about is this trip. It has changed the way I see daily life. All is a means to that end, which I think will be a whole different kind of beginning. I want to sell my car. I want to find an extra job. I'm even thinking about selling some books. (Gasp!) Everything is up in the air: how we'd afford it, what we'd drive, if we'd ditch the apartment we love so much in Portland and throw our remaining things into storage, if we'll come back, what month to go, what to do about our jobs, what happens when we get back, let alone what routes we'd take. We just know we want to do it. We both have things we want to do "when we grow up" and those things are still in focus, finer focus for Benjamin than myself, but still, they are there and wouldn't be totally put aside by this trip.

I've ridden as a kid from California as far East as Michigan and Tennessee via Utah, Oklahoma, and a few other places. I've flown and spent a bit of time as far east at Ohio and Kentucky. Ben has been to New York, Philly (I think), and Boston. We've both explored the West Coast and Colorado. Neither of us has seen Vermont. I've never eaten lobster from Maine. I want to go back to Zion National Park and show Ben what I remember to be some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I want to see the desert sunrise and a Great Plains storm. I want to swim, or at least put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean from the US Coast. (I've rinsed my hands in the Atlantic Ocean before, in Iceland.) It seems feasible. We have family in other states. We have friends of friends who would be willing to let us stay on their couches. I have a tent....

I'm brainstorming constantly and considering different options for all those questions we have. I know I want a new camera before we go, probably a digital SLR. And a serious US map. I want to document the whole thing, with words and photos. Both passions of mine that are thrown by the wayside too often for me right now. I don't know from what angle I'll make that aspect of this project happen, but I know I want it to be more than just a blog entry.

I s'pose that's as good a place as any to stop for now...

bits

"When we were kids, we could to anything, but we lacked the strength, now we have it and we think we can't do it. At some point life stops being guided by ones inner child and instead is guided by an adult altered by the environment, where to be that adult means not doing childlike things and being responsible. When in reality, our greatest responsibility is to be happy. We are responsible to be happy and if that means we have to act like children, let's welcome it."

" ...If you have too much, you sink. The more you possess, the more problems you have. If you go lightly, you go freely. Everything you need in your temporal life, the world will offer you temporarily. Life is not eternal and nothing belongs to you eternally. All you have didn't belong to you, and all you have won't belong to you..... Life is a journey where we are all travelers; we're all just passing through. Don't burden yourself, don't sink, lighten up..."

plan for minimal minimalism.