My friendly backseat companion as we have travelled across the country.  6K so far, about 2K to go.  Three day marathon bridge game in Ashland in progress with Steve as a partner, vs. Elizabeth and John . . . life is very good. 

We're now just south of Mt. Shasta, in northern CA, poised for sibling and kid hugs and marathon bridge games in Ashland, Oregon. Beautiful here.

Among the highway signs we've seen along this thus-far 5744 mile journey:

• Zero Visibility Possible (on I40 outside Amarillo, TX); 
• Rest Area 33 miles (posted on a highway city distance sign, in west TX); 
• Elk Crossing next 70 miles (70 miles!) on I40 outside of Flagstaff, NM; 
• a large hand-scrawled BATES MOTEL sign outside of Walnut Canyon National Forest in NM -- showing a sense of humor, I trust.

On the road now for almost two weeks, and the load’s beginning to lighten, awarenesses dawning, the stress beginning to morph.  We loaded our last items, the bikes, into the crowded storage space and exited our very clean apartment and OP’s borders at 10:44PM on the 31st, a full 76 minutes to spare on our lease.  I had no idea how much trouble, how much constant work and focus the move toward actual homelessness (our luxury optional version) would be.  I was surprised by the sense of early organization and control, followed by later disorganization and randomness that we left in that storage space.  I had expected a feeling of lightness, freedom, and while I’m sure that sense is approaching – I can feel it hovering nearby – it’s arrival's not been as immediate as anticipated. 

The road itself has been a mix of delight, frustration and promise.  Again, it’s the sense of disorganization that’s been troubling:  stuff had its place at home – keys, wallet, phone charger, corkscrew, hand lotion, ipod, glasses, maps, books, self, spouse, hiking boots – but now life requires total reorganization.  And an awareness that things may not be in that new place, because I forgot, because that backpack pocket had other stuff in it, because this spot seemed logical right now – all adds to the sense of disorientation, senescence, lack of control. 

So that’s the challenge now – letting go -- of the past, embracing the present, the future.  Probably always has been my lesson, just didn’t recognize it.

We’ve just passed the 2K mile mark on this domestic leg.  Have filled the hug/love and fun meters to overflowing already through time with Gen and great friends in Maine and New Jersey. Lots of time in this little car, with this lifelong spouse --life is sweet, changing, surprising, interesting.  Yet that prior life of friends, normalcy, home, library glows in my heart, always will . . . sigh.