I'm sitting here in Tahoe...

They say when something happens like the events of last week, you never forget where you were when you first heard the news. I was in the Bayview campsite, right next to Lake Tahoe. My cell phone rang at about 6:50 am PT, It was my Dad calling to ask me if I heard the news. Even as he was filling me in, I dropped the top on the van and started down the road, looking for anyplace with a TV. I listened to the events unfolding on NPR as I drove up to Tahoe City. There I was able to find a restaurant serving breakfast with a TV on. Around 10:30 I checked into a motel in town and except for leaving for brief run and to get some dinner, I sat there and watched until about 10:30 that night. Periodically through the day I talked to friends and family in order to have some contact with other people as the events played out. I was already experiencing some uncertainty as to where I wanted to go next on my journey, and that day made it all the more uncertain.

Where to begin? I have about 6 weeks of traveling to catch up on in these narratives. I am now a week removed from Burning Man which was a remarkable experience, but I don't know how I could possibly describe it in an email. I am currently sitting in a coffee shop on the Western shore of Lake Tahoe and thinking about where to go next. I have tentative plans to meet some friends in Utah to go hiking in Zion NP sometime in September, but those plans haven't been finalized. I have noticed that I am at an interesting transition in this journey. Until now, I had several beacons that I was heading toward, first, get to Glacier NP, and then to Burning Man. Now that those are over I am wondering what to do next. I am no longer a beginner at this traveling thing, having figured out how to do it reasonably well and I have survived a few van crises. Went on a 10 mile day hike along the shores of Lake Tahoe yesterday (it is very beautiful out here) and had some time to ponder where I have been and where to next. Burning Man was an amazing experience, and people I met at the VW Bus Camp felt like a second family by the end of the week. The transition from that intense, very personal experience to traveling alone again has been a little bizarre. I got to see my Bus Camp neighbors Erin, Jason, and Eamonn in Reno this past weekend when they came into town to get Jason's van, which was great, but I had to say goodbye all over again which was hard. I have been thinking about the "unwritten" rules that I have been living by, and am starting to challenge them a little. I have realized that the purist in me felt like I had to explore every destination fully, and not be just a typical tourist passing through. One of the things I enjoy however is the motion of traveling to new places, so I have decided not to feel guilty if I only spend a day or two somewhere checking it out. The other realization was that I thought that for some reason I had to stay away from the place I came from on this journey, but I am throwing that out the window. This trip wasn't about running away from anything, so I don't need to stay away from anything. The ups and downs of forming new friendships and then leaving have helped me to realize ( I kind of already knew) how important being around people is to me. So I am thinking about flying home for a week or so around my Birthday and taking a little vacation from living in a van. Knowing myself as I do, I'm willing to bet that at the end of that visit I will be itching to get back to the van and on the road. And by then there will be some snow on the ground and I can start thinking about Snowboarding!!!!! Which is what got me started on this whole thing anyway. By then I'll really be looking forward to visiting my Burning Man friends all over the West coast (ok, I'm looking forward to that now..). The feeling of transition is very distinct, It is kind of like when you are reading a very large novel, it starts out kind of slow, and then completely draws you in. Just as something dramatic happens, you turn the page, and there is a blank page, and then on the next page, in large (usually Times New Roman) font are the words Book II. And for the first time you pause to think about what has happened, you might even flip back to the table of contents to see how many sections there are, you start to wonder what will happen next, and then maybe even think a little about how it all ends. I feel like my hand is slowly turning the page with the words Book II on it, and I have no idea what comes next and I am alternately excited about what comes next, and a little melancholy at the ending of what has passed already. It is a great place to be. Even in the hard moments I know I am alive.