I packed the final items in the car this morning, still under the light of the moon. I was running on pure excitement (ok, excitement and a little bit of nervous energy). I couldn’t believe the day of departure was finally here! It seemed like it would be forever before I could load up the car and pull out of San Diego for the last time this year. And then, all of a sudden, it was upon us. I was ready, though. Or so I thought. 😉

At 0630, once the last items were tucked securely in their place, Charlie jumped into the car and we were off. Just like that. No looking back. In the early morning hours, the scenery wavered between thick, mysterious fog and the silhouette of rocky mountains, with the sun rising up behind them. I was in awe of the sheer beauty of everything. Everywhere I looked put a smile on my face. If I was already smiling, my smile grew even bigger. I felt big and small, all at the same time. But, mostly, I just felt free.

In the weeks leading up to my trip, I spend hours upon hours looking at Roadtripper.com, recreation.gov, alltrails.com, Google maps, and many other sites to decide where to go, what route to take to get there, and where we’d call home each night. I wanted to make the most of my trip. I had no interest in rushing across the country, nor spending the majority of my time on mind-numbing highways through concrete jungles. I wanted to see the American landscape. I also wanted to be highly organized and efficient. I had today planned down to the hour (with some wiggle-room, of course). It didn’t take me long to realize that was unnecessary, ineffective, and unrealistic; not to mention, completely counter to the whole spirit of my trip. There is no rush! I’ve given myself plenty of time to make it from California to North Carolina. The last thing I’m going to do is stress about the minute details of sight-seeing and let things I have no control over (i.e.: weather, traffic, construction) adversely affect my day.

So, after all of that, where’d I go? Pull up a chair. Take a seat and stay awhile. I’ll tell you…in the next post. 🙂

~malama pono~