Traveling Song

I open my door and this is what I see.

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Mt Holyoke Range. Norwottuk, M-M hiking trail to the Robert Frost trail.

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Reunion Blvd. Dallas, TX.

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Dallas, Texas. I need a pair before I leave.

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Hyatt. Dallas, Texas. 24 to 4th floor.

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Arriving in Phoenix. The landscape is so foreign from my East Coast life.

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Boat launch sunrise. Oxbow, Northampton, MA.

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Sunrise from a dock. Lake Winnepausake, NH.

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Canton, MA.

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Aquinnah beach near the clay cliffs/dunes. Very rocky after Hurricane Irene changed the landscape of the beaches there. At one point the tide was red as clay was swirling and bashing onto the shore.

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Menemsha dock door.

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Dolphins listening to iPods. Boogie board for sale spotted Menemsha beach.

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Menemsha, near the bike ferry to the cliffs at Aquinnah.

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East Chop beach. Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard.

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Settling in to The Tower Room in a house shared with friends for a week in Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard. A beautiful, old, charming, wraparound porched, wood-floored and many rambling halls to bedrooms house a few minutes walk from downtown. If you sit on the porch and peer through the trees you can see the ferries come in. Sort of. This house has a great, story-telling feel. I picked the teeny room up the narrow extra stairs after falling in love with the tower and no doubt my calves will yell at me with the extra long walk up. Here's to a week of good memories.

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Glacial rocks and reservoirs. I am sitting on faint traces of fossils from life during the dinosaur age. Sometimes traveling occurs five minutes down the road from where you live. Whiting Reservoir, Holyoke.

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Total mileage of first solo road trip: eight days, 3305.7 miles. A few ten+ hour days of driving challenged me, but developed into a certain calm zen. I discovered a love of Love's Truck Stops and their strange mix of food, very clean bathrooms, tshirts, beef jerky and glass cases filled with crystal figurines (unicorns and the like. ) I have learned a lot... about myself, about strangers and different cultures and mannerisms, about urban cities and musical history, about countrysides and greasy food. I've listened to so many podcasts and music playlists, seen parts of the country I have never seen, fell in love with a city that calls to me (Asheville), and seen the most beautiful vistas I have ever been lucky to be near. Most of all, I learned I can accomplish a lot if I just follow the ol "decide what to be and go be it" mentality.  A few decompression days are needed before I can remember all of the strange and fantastic moments, but for now, I go to sleep, thankful for my rental car, a new Dodge Avenger with a heart-engine of gold. I named him Paul after the million Paul F Tompkins podcasts I listened to that kept me company on the road, and I was sad to drop the car back off at Alamo. I hope the first 3,000 miles were as good for that car as they were for me.

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Views from Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park in Virgina. Absolutely sure that no description is necessary, but I will add that I am already planning another trip to go hiking and stay there for a few days. Truly beautiful.