I’m back!
I’ve been “on the road” much of the last six weeks. I posted in dribs and drabs when I could but technological hurdles finally got the best of me. Eventually I just called it and went largely off line.
I regret lugging heavy laptops. They were mostly for naught. Quixotic efforts to keep my smart phone on a leash are a greater hassle every year and this year might be a tipping point. To me a phone is a phone; at best a toy for playing in someone else’s sandbox. Meanwhile, a computer is (if one is so inclined) a tool for creation. I see now that most people do not create and therefore have no idea what I’m talking about. I can do just about anything I want while traveling in my personal vehicle (cash is fine), but once you’ve been separated from your vehicle (such as by an airplane) everyone hangs on the infernal glass slab and avoiding it gets hard.
I’ve been in something like ten states and a province. I learned I was wildly incorrect about the borders of certain Canadian provinces… though nothing dramatic happened.
I’ve used every common form of transport. I’ve gone several thousand miles each, in all sorts of technology; my truck (which is now in the garage for “Dodge-related minor repairs”), commercial flights, and (notably) a cruise ship. Despite my best efforts I couldn’t avoid the “third party” bullshit methods of transport commonly inflicted on the traveler; shuttles, busses, Ubers, taxis, a self driven car, urban light rail, some sort of pointless casino tram, airport trams, those Jetsons moving sidewalks, and lots and lots of walking. So much walking. Lots of fuckin’ walking.
Hell, I even paddled a kayak.
Was it worth it? Yeah. Travel is usually good. I did some for the purpose of attending to needful things. That which needed doing is done for now. I did some in happy exploration; which is definitely more my style. Some of it was simply because I got a chance to do a thing on the cheap. Regardless the reason, travel is good for you, provided it’s not overdone. Overdone, it’s brutal.
Overdone was definitely on the horizon. I was beat when I returned. We’ve all been there. Travel a glass of whiskey, the first sip is bliss but in excess you’ll hurl your guts out.
In keeping with my personality and finances… I did everything on the cheap. Extremely so. I didn’t quite hobo my way around the nation clinging to a boxcar* but I didn’t dig a debt hole and throw myself into it. (*Speaking of which, I was always of the opinion that most men dream of a bit of “hobo-ing” just like every young boy thinks he’d like to be a pirate. I’ve since been informed the two are not analogous. In fact nobody under 40 even knows the word “hobo”.)
I think I’ve got “travel” out of my system for a while. I’m back in my comfort zone and I feel like staying there. I already cancelled the next (much smaller planned trip). I had visions of returning to my icebox home climate to find it in full springtime glory. At first I thought I’d jet away on a nice motorcycle / camping trip. Then I thought I’d sneak away for a simple easy overnight camp. Then I looked at my bed and reasoned “it’s cold out there… I own a house for a reason” and slept for most of three days.
One last thought. A man goes through eras in life. I think I’ve entered a new one. I found myself sitting quietly, observing, thinking, pondering. Like the world at large is a puzzle to be observed but a scrum that no longer needs my participation.
I’ll explore this more as my head has time to level. All I can say is that I’m happy that my fellow human can run about like monkeys doing stupid shit; gambling, and drugs, and drinking, and sex, and profligate spending, probably a dozen other things I’m forgetting to mention. But I was of a mood to sit under a tree and contemplate. As a younger man I’d have picked my favorite vice (drinking) and gone at it with professional level abandon. Now, in a different phase of life, it feels different. Dear God, did I somehow attain wisdom? How pretentious of me!
Anyway, I’ll report more later. But for now I think I’ll catch up on sleep.
Thanks for waiting for me.
A.C.
