pre-oddyssey:preparing to amuse myself

Five days away from quitting my job...10 days away from going back to cali...and 15 days away from the open road. Lots of changes lately-all in the right direction! Its only right to take a sabbatical to kick off the dust and foster the imagination.

This trip is by far not the longest i have been on nor the farthest i have travelled-but i feel the need to document it and share my experiences with you. I have been to many points on the world map and have driven across this beautiful country numerous times (sometimes for fun, sometimes not so much for fun when worlds have crashed around me), but this time I feel the most consciously aware of myself and why I need to travel and have new adventures.

When I was younger and always on the move, I thought it was a character flaw...all this wandering around. Poeple always asked me what I was running from-and I honestly never felt like I was running from anything, more to than from-but people asked me that often enough that I definitely had to look at it and ask myself the same question... I have come to the conclusion, in my 32 years of being me, that its actually just the way I tick, and I am superdy duper okay with that. ;O)

I have always worked multiple jobs, and had multiple circles of friends, and have always felt an overwhelming drive to have new experiences and see new places. It feeds my inner being and gives me peace and absolute joy and gratitude for this life...it keeps the cobwebs out of my imagination, opens my heart to new and different ways of living, and keeps the stagnation and saturation blues away.

So for those of you who don't know here's the so-called "plan"-I am driving a truck back from Oakland, CA to Key West for my friend Bill. I will be travelling solo and camping/boondocking all along the way. I will be stopping to see some friends and hopefully make new ones too!! My trip so far looks like Oakland to the Giant Sequoias, to the Great Salty desert of Utah!, to Emigrant Montana, thru Yellowstone, to Jackson Hole Wyoming, to Ft.Washakie Wyoming, to Kansa City, to Memphis, Nashville, Pigeon Forge(only for the "Zorb"-I will explain later), to Georgia to hopefully see my Bucket, and an old friend in a tight spot, and finally home to the keys...where i will dig my heals in and keep things in forward motion!

Thanks for joining me on this adventure... remember the journey IS the destination

Bye for now from the anti-desk of the Mermaid on Wheels