Song of the Open-Road

1.

Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune — I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

The earth — that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
I know they are very well where they are;
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens;
I carry them, men and women — I carry them with me wherever I go;
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them;
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)

-Walt Whitman


Caitlin and I recommenced our journey one month ago on June 28th. Since then we've been to Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and have been cruising up the coast here in California for a little over two weeks now.

In a five day journey from the Twin Cities to Los Angeles, CA, I saw more of this country's wonders than I've seen in my life heretofore. As a new friend in the East Bay can attest to, I am an "awe-filled" person and day after day I found myself pulling to the side of the road to just gape at the landscape surrounding me.

Nothing has been more apparent in these Western lands than the immense power of water to shape and mold the world surrounding it. From the spires and buttes in the South Dakota Badlands, to the majestic glory of the Grand Canyon's North Rim. And now here, in California, the Pacific morphing the Western Coastline despite all of man's effort to stop it.

We've planned our trip thus far around making sure we were in certain cities to meet up with various friends at specific times. We spent a brief, but lovely time with Nicole in L.A. before she headed out on her own adventure to the Philippines; another brief, but lovely time in San Diego with Rachel, her gf Beth and her wonderful family; and then had more brief, lovely times with Maryan during her visit to the Bay Area.

During this month, I've also taken the GRE and managed to leave various bits of my heart scattered throughout the country. The two are not necessarily connected, but monumental nonetheless.

At this point, I (can't speak for Caitlin!) feel a little overwhelmed at the vast amount of experiences we've had and am ready for a more routine-oriented couple of weeks on a farm to help me digest where we've been and everything we've accomplished. It still hasn't really hit me that we're back on the road again, I think in part because I haven't really been writing and documenting our existence. So count on some retroactive posts that will help unpack our last month as Cait and I relive it through the hundreds of pictures we snapped along the way!

We'll be officially moving to a Wordpress site that is a little more capable of appreciating the wonderful pictures we (Caitlin ;) ) capture. Here's the unofficial link there! We'll have all of our old entries and will be each documenting our different experiences... just altogether one page. Simple, non?

It don't mean I don't love yah...

In case you hadn't heard - Philadelphia swallowed Caitlin and I whole. Our lovely home, with our wonderful roommates trapped us in its warmth and free rent and we decided to spend this awfully cold winter/beautiful spring working out at the Y, studying for the GREs and working odd jobs here and there to save money for future journeys.

The ultimate reason for staying and not leaving, however, is the wedding of two of our favorite people in the world - Piyali and Tariq. This wonderful union is happening on Memorial Day weekend and back in February that seemed just a minute away. The thought of heading out west, then traipsing back East was too daunting, especially with our two amazing cats purring just at the sight of us.

So here we are! And its spring, with all of the perennials I buried last year without the hope of ever seeing them bloom again, have shot forth towards the sun. Lettuces, kale and chard are sprouting in the back yard raised bed and last years potted herbs are all showing signs of life. The glorious sunshine day in and day out is only increasing the itch to get out and about - head west young ladies!

We're currently deciding the best route to get over to Northern California which is where we plan to pick up where we left off in December. Will be wading through the bazillion farms that Northern California has to offer in the coming week and sending out letters of inquiry by the end of next week.

Let the conspiring begin!!