I have been on the road for a week and to be honest it has been relatively easy in a sense that I have had 3 stops at friends’ homes. Through seven nights I have spent 4 nights in friends’ beds, 2 nights in my car and 1 night in the backcountry. This was strategically done to not completely jump into living out of my car right away. A night in the car, then a night in a house, then repeat. For over half the trip, I have had a roof over my head and good friends to talk to. From this point forward it won’t be like that. The next time I will see someone I know will be in 13 days in Montana and I already can’t wait to see you, Frank. I have struggled cooking while car camping, sleeping in the backcountry and have had bouts of loneliness. And these struggles have all come during the easiest part of my trip. I told myself before the trip, “At the beginning I will need time to adjust and towards the end there will come a point when I get sick of this. The goal is to get through the adjustment as quickly as possible and be able to delay the end for as long as possible.”
Well here goes nothing. As I enter New Mexico the heart of this trip really starts tonight. Home is long gone and I’ll be relying on only myself and my Subaru to keep me moving through this. The struggles were expected and this wasn’t meant to be a “picnic”, so the objective is to overcome the struggles, learn and stay positive. I know I need to be patient with myself when I make mistakes, do things inefficiently and take wrong turns. Push through the tough times and enjoy the good times, simple enough.
Tonight I will car camp again (hopefully better this time) in Santa Rosa State Park then onto Bandelier National Monument tomorrow.
Hope you are all enjoying the pictures. The scenery will be changing tomorrow.
Matthew