California

(written a week ago. We are entering day 12) 

It is the start of Day #6 in this new California apartment.  Mom and I made out like Thelma and Louise (sans the drama) from Maryland, stopped to visit dear friends in Chicago, and followed 90 West all the way to Washington, where we stopped for a week to spend time with people who are incredibly special to our hearts (shout out to Heather, Stephanie, my cousins!).  Then, we hopped on 5 South, drove through Oregon, and...

here we are.  California. 

 What did we just do?!  There isn’t even a gold rush or small town gun fights anymore, and here we are, convinced that this is where we need to be right now.  (John Wayne, where are you?!) The best solution we came up with to ease the adjustment phase was to shop for new, cheap house supplies and sign up for a YMCA membership.  That way, if we don’t make friends we will just workout and cook all the time!  Starting over emotions are still in need of processing.  To cut down on electric bills, we are keeping the lights off and the air down.  That should work out just fine, right?  And to convince ourselves that we are made of the same stock as those old-time pioneers, we even made sure that our beds arrived late, proving to ourselves that sleeping on hard floor is seriously no big deal. (One bed came yesterday, thank Jesus.  My back is going to need a serious adjustment...so yeah, I am not as hardcore as those West Coast trailblazers of long ago).  

Maybe hearts find satisfaction and fulfillment in adventures we didn’t know we needed.  Just like the body will start to crave something that it is deficient in, maybe the heart is similar.  It craves something, but you don’t know what that thing is until you are right in the thick of the experience.  As we were driving through the Badlands of South Dakota, I started to feel that way.  Then, when our car broke down in the Badlands, I knew the story was developing quite nicely, in an unforgettable sort of way.  Somehow we made it to Wall, South Dakota, a few miles outside of the National Park, where we were forced to breath and take in the “we’re not in Maryland anymore!” reality as the most honest mechanic I’ve ever met started working on our van.  People were kind there, in a slowed-down, not in a rush, everything is good kind of way.  Locals would stop by the shop to say hi to the mechanic, then offer their input on what was going on with the broken down cars. It was beautiful.  We were stuck there with a couple from Connecticut who take roadtrips across the States, often catching good music festivals.  Their RV lost its brakes in the park. They gave us some homemade seltzer water and broke out their banjos, turning a potentially stressful delay into a memorable occasion. 

After that short stop, we made our way to Mount Rushmore, which is located in the gorgeous Black Hills.  We arrived just before the start of sunset, which created a beautiful backdrop behind the faces of the four Presidents.  Then, it was off to Montana, the part of the trip I was most looking forward to.  That state is an experience in itself, with a population of less than a million.  I wish we could have spent a few days there, but I will just have to go back one day.  Especially since I didn’t meet any rich rancher bachelors.  (haha :)

The last stretch took us through beautiful Oregon, down into the north of California, where we were met by beautiful mountains and a perfectly clear sky.  

Now, we are learning to navigate a new city and make new friends.  Several blog posts could probably fall under both of those categories. 

For now, I’ll sign off and try to do some notebook journaling, where sometimes my thoughts flow much more freely.