I have run out of time to be able to do the kind of trip that would be the most spectacular. When I estimated the time needed to get to Seattle at this point, I wasn't looking at the shoreline drive.
If it was earlier in the trip I would have flexibility that I do not have now. I keep saying I need to live long enough to see and do more. So many wonderful places I have been through on my travels. So many places it might be awesome to play tourist.
But this trip hasn't been about being a tourist. It has been about meeting and connecting with people.
I think that is why I am meant to take route 5 when I leave this area today. It will have me around more people, and if I get to Seattle quickly, then I will get to enjoy the people there some.
I have really appreciated the conversations I have has with those I have met. Some of them have been almost superficial, others long and powerful. Some have been a conversation with no cards given out, others that included my cards, my phone number, information on cedonaah (cedonaah.blogspot.com). Some have been with US citizens from various places, some in transition themselves, others have been those from other countries, like Australia and Germany. It has been conversations with those of different ethnicities and men and women alike, and even an awesome 14 year old, one would never have known was 14! I have even engaged a few dogs along the way, even though I am more a cat person :p I have stayed in a B&B, hotels, motels, with a stranger, at a stranger's house when she wasn't even there, and have been gifted places to stay. I have spoken to those who have had their own intimate relationship with cancer, those who know of others who have had one, and those who have had no clue of what it is like. I have been gifted a meal, a drink, a gift card, and sometimes cash. I have been offered lots of hugs and prayers along the way, some on the spot.
I have had the opportunity to be myself in all her glory through those who may have at times humored me. I got to share about the things that I am passionate about, and had the kinds of conversations that have been the kind i know others welcome but don't always know they can have. I have hypnotized, offered my recordings, been a coach. i have offered my few cents of encouragement to those I felt I should.
I reached out time and again even though it often felt awkward and contrived - and it was. But it was ok. I survived to do it again and again, even when I was met with less than a positive reaponse - and even after an older woman was literally dragged away from me by the hand, the way someone would do with a kid.
I asked for assistance with the cost of things, and often got nos. But there were times I would receive something of a discount. I was once told of the person knew my story sooner, my meal would have been free.
I am writing as though my trip is over, but it is not yet. And I am not sure when it will be in that I want to continue this when I get back home. I do not know where or how I will do it, but wherever there are people, I have to try.
The world is full of such incredible, awesome people, and I love meeting them. It has been very difficult to spend much of the last year and half barely surviving.
A part of my mind wonders how this is all fits what is going on with me physically, and I really don't know. But then again, we really don't know things until we know, you know? If anything, this trip has shown me that in a big way. I had no idea how I was going to get here, but I did.
I may have no idea how I am going to get to the next place, or even where it will be. It might be at the edge of an ocean or the rim of a canyon, but if I keep going I will find out, and likely discover some incredible people and things along the way - including myself.
Please continue to share about me and this journey. It is not over yet, and won't be until I take my last breath - hopefully many years from now. I feel very inspired and very loved and appreciated.
Thank you for your part in the adventure I call my life.
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