Ramblin' On...

1,900 miles from Minnesota to Oregon. Part 1.

...And it looked a lot like this. I took a lot of photos on the road, but they really aren't worth posting. You would only wonder why I posted so many photos of the same stretch of road. This was not an interesting drive, at all. It took me three days to complete, and really, I would not do it in any less as a solo driver. I got up early each morning and averaged about 12 hours a day. I took plenty of breaks to avoid too much fatigue on the road.

This sign should be updated to "No sign of intelligent life next 81 miles." And at that 81st mile there was only a diner/gas station combo and one very unfortunate hobo.

These I just found fun to collect...

Beware of Bull

Beware of Pronghorn

Beware of goat (or donkey?)

Beware of Horse

Beware of Ram

Beware of Moo-Cow

Beware of Elk

Banjo was a model citizen the whole trip. He just snoozed the days away and thankfully would still sleep most of the night. I can't imagine doing the trip without him. My best friend through it all.

I lived for 2 months in a tiny Motel room. Nothing fancy inside and kinda trashy outside, but it worked. I had a TINY fridge (smaller than most mini fridges) and no kitchen, but I made it work.

I learned to cook a LOT of things on my camping Trangia stove. No fire alarms were ever set off (most likely due to dead batteries.) I am now a gourmet camp chef.

A Change of Heart... and Place.

Greetings from.... OREGON!

I'm sorry it has been so long. I never forgot about my blog, but it had to go on the back burner because of the long hours I was logging at my last job. I then changed jobs... because of the long hours I was logging at my last job. I just couldn't make it work there anymore, I won't blame the job or myself... we will just say that something was not working, and we will leave it at that. 

In an exciting turn of events, I took a travel job last October, with my first placement being in Oregon. When I came out here, I had no internet or functioning computer to blog with. Just last week I received my long awaited new computer, and I am hoping to resurrect Good Gestalt. I am so sad that I wasn't able to blog through this huge transition in my life... so you may see a series of posts about my travels and transition, because I want to record them for myself as well as share them with friends who read this blog.

So far I am loving my new life. It was a little scary packing up my car, dog, and driving 1,900 miles across country alone to a place I'd never been, but there was something deeply rewarding about it. I surprised myself. Sometimes I am still in awe that I had the guts to do it.

It also changed my perspective on what I want in life to a staggering degree. Before moving I was living in a house (rented) with my girlfriend. We painted, decorated, and quickly filled up the space with furniture, crafts, patio furniture, a grill. All of that went lock stock and barrel out of my life when I moved. My girlfriend moved to a smaller apartment, and I could only take what would fit in my car. All of my other possessions were given away or hauled out onto the lawn in one hug garage sale. 

It was strange. All these things that had soaked up my personal spending money now looked like a heap of cheap junk sitting in the yard. I then realized that all things lose there value in time and will someday be discarded. I took what at the time seemed wanted or necessary, but even that seemed to be weighing me down. Since then I've been trying to scrape down to a system of essentials that are needed, used, and cherished. I suspect this will be a subject of future postings. Minimalism apparently is a trend on the internet, so I used some of what I read for inspiration, but I don't really want to adopt a label or set of rules. I just have realized that I have been brash and reckless in acquiring things that I end up not using and just throwing away. With fewer things, life seems lighter, freer, and cleaning is much easier. Plus, there is that whole "gotta fit into my car when I leave," thing. When you move every three months, anything that is not used frequently quickly quires resentment.

So I pardon me a bit as I catch the blog up. As I've said before, the blog is always going to be a personal blog, so I do want to record some things that have passed, but you are all invited along for the ride. And the ride just got a bit more exciting....