* In the immortal words of Buckaroo Banzai.

It wasn’t until my dad’s death in 2006 that I truly understood what that phrase meant. Seems I had the emphasis on the wrong word for years. I’d been saying, “No matter where you go, there you are.” and kind of interpreted it as some kind of zen travel directive. But it’s supposed to be, “No matter where you go, there you are.”

The You is inextricably tied to you. In order to do an adventure like this, one has to have at least a semblance of comfort with themselves because You are always there. One of the things I found reassuring on this trip was that, while I was most often alone, I was rarely lonely. I did have two wonderful doggies and they gave me company, but dog companionship is not human companionship and the pups are lousy conversationalists. But I also wanted that “aha!” moment. A true inspiration, a twist of the plot. I knew that was unlikely, as great revelations and life-changing realizations tend to only happen in movies.

                              (near Jacob Lake, Az.)

What I did find was a renewed and deep desire to connect with old friends and family. I’d been missing having a community close-by for a number of years, and this experience cemented my priorities.

On this trip I had some truly spectacular adventures just me and my dogs. But the ones that meant the most to me, were ones spent with friends or visiting family.

                               (old friends gathering: my birthday, and dear friend visiting from Switzerland April 24 in Chicago)

I now have a destination: a new job is the new adventure. The new city is only a few hours away from my mom and from many long-standing and dear friends. So I settle down for a while. This won’t be the last installment on this website as I have never been able to stay in one place for too long. I’ll post my weekend and vacation adventures roaming around the midwest and trying to figure out how Argos and I can comfortably camp in humidity.