I took a week off from this blog, mainly because I was grappling with my ego, and felt that this blog was a huge projection of that. I was reminded why I keep up with the blog when a number of friends and family mentioned that they had no clue what I was up to and were looking forward to my next post. That reason, combined with the reason that I intrinsically love writing and sharing these blog posts, is why I'm back online and ready to continue sharing about this crazy road trip I'm on!
In the past two weeks I've got my life rocked via the deserts of Big Bend National Park in Texas and Wonder Valley in California. There's so much to share! Here's some highlights: Texas
Where I last left off on this blog, I was in Dallas, picking up my friend Rachel, and we were about to head to Big Bend. I met Rachel in our NCOBS New Staff Training a year and a half ago. It was so exciting for me to see Texas with her, since she is from Texas. Rachel had so much great local knowledge and personal experiences to share. We joked the whole time that we were "hosting each other"- her hosting me in her home state, and me hosting her in my car for the week.
We did many things, it was chaotic and peaceful all at the same time. On our first day, we hung out at this desert oasis called Aqua Fria. With the exception of a small group of locals that came to hang there for a short while, we had the place to ourselves, which is saying something, because it was a HUGE place. The desert is such a fascinating, resilient, and artistic place.
After our one full day and two nights at this (mostly) heavenly oasis, we moved to Chisos Basin Campground. On our journey there, we did a short day hike, and once at the campground we enjoyed a second "golden hour" hike. Rachel is an amazing photographer, and likes to shoot in golden hour, so each day just a bit before sunset we would run off to chase down the amazing light. When her photos are ready to share, you can rest assured that I will be sharing them.
While Rachel and I were together, we constantly talked. We share many frameworks through which we understand life, such as being Outward Bound instructors, having a meditation practice, endeavoring crusher athletic feats, journaling, and others. Having these in common gives our conversations so much flow, common ground, and room for clear articulation. We both learned so much about ourselves, each other, this country, culture, human behavior, social justice, and so much more- just by talking nonstop and sharing our lives with each other. It was a real joy. After all, my love language is quality time.
From Chisos Basin Campground, we left the next morning for a one night overnight backpacking trip. The trails were so well maintained and our packs were so light (no rain, warm temps...)! We cowboy camped on the rim of a canyon. It was beyond epic. The night sky was out of this world. My words hardly even scratch the surface of an explanation, and that's fine. And I must apologize, I don't even have any pics to help explain, which is also fine. Of course Rachel has a bunch, and someday those will trickle through the social medias.
After our two days of backpacking, we drove to El Paso where we camped at a state park to cook dinner and camp with our friend from New Staff Training, Dusty. It was so nice to see Dusty and continue our amazingly deep conversations with a new person's perspective. The next morning I dropped Rachel off at the El Paso airport, and set my sights on California. Texas threw me for a loop! How could this trip get any better? California
I had planned out for my first week in California a visit to a work-stay that I found on Workaway. Workaway is a website, in the same vein as WWOOF, where you can see listings of work-stays and hopefully find a place to trade labor for room and sometimes board.
Before I went to the workaway, I spent the night in San Diego with my friend from crew at Penn State, Emily. This one night of front-country heaven was the perfect transition between my two weeks of desert time.
I headed to my workaway the next day which was in the town of Twentynine Palms, next to Joshua Tree National Park. Its a massive understatement to say that this workaway rocked my world and changed my perspective on life. The host's name was Lindsey, and she was super rad. Three other volunteers came through while I was there, as well as numerous neighbors and friends.
The basic logistics of work were- we'd work for an hour-ish each morning at sunrise then again in the evening after sunset. Lindsey is building "wonderdomes", an adobe type structure that offers protection from the desert heat in the mid day. During the middle of the days, it's too hot to do anything, so we would just vibe by ourselves in a dome. I would journal (heavily), meditate, stretch, and talk on the phone with lots of friends. If we talked on the phone in the last week, thank you for being in my life.
I made a piece of junk art that I was actually super proud of, and thought it was quite deep. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I accidentally ran it over with my car while peeling out on an ego-fueled mission. The next day, Lindsey did a tarot card reading for me and I drew one that was called "the destroyer" and I figured it was referring to me. I think this whole mishap made the art even better. But then again, the art is only as good as anyone thinks it is. What even qualifies as art anyway, right?
Well there's the surface level update of what went down the last two weeks. I had honestly been wondering if I was ever going to "find myself" on this trip, or just spend 4 months lonely and bored in the wilderness. I say this without fear of sounding cheesy anymore, but I have truly become so much more connected to myself, family and friends, and the world through the last two weeks of whirlwind experiences. My time in the desert has been extremely transformational and I am so thankful for the experience. I can't even imagine what's waiting for me as this trip continues... One month 'till ski season!
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