My road trip began on Monday December 20 and I am now into my seventh week.
I am coming back down south and will be passing 8,000 miles shortly.. When I first began visualizing this road trip I looked at the map and the roads from Oregon down the coast to Southern California and across the southwest to Florida and then up the Atlantic coast to Boston and I briefly considered taking the direct route back home (Via I 80 or I 90) and considered the likelihood that I would run into snow. I thought that if necessary I would simply “wait out” any snowstorm and stay over in a hotel as long as necessary to ensure that I drove only on dry roads. But then I looked at the map and decided to drive all the way back south even though it would add 2,000 miles to the trip. So here I am.
Spending a few days in Chappel Hill, North Carolina visiting with my friend Phil Kaplan (a psychologist that I first met while working together on a DV LEAP training program) and his wife Iris (my new friend). Jerry is becoming best friends with their dog Oliver. The weather is sunny and the temperature is up near 50 and it is lovely. It might take me another three weeks to get home but I am definitely at the back end of my trip. This week I will go back down to Florida and then am intending to try to stop for a few days in New Orleans as I head back West.
This trip has been even better (much) than I hoped or imagined. Except for one half of a day driving through New Jersey I have loved every day. I have tried to actually talk with Trump supporters whenever I could and have managed to have conversations rather than arguments. (stay tuned to my analysis which may not come until the end of the trip). I have asked people questions all across the country about politics and religion and life and have started to reformulate my own beliefs. (stay tuned for that analysis which is definitely forthcoming).
The trip has triggered memories of good times and important experiences for which I am very grateful.
I have taken the opportunity to visit with people who were once important in my life and simultaneously reminisced about out past, caught up on our lives since then and most importantly thanked them and offered a sincere goodbye. I have needed to assure my friends (as well as my children) that I do not have any secret diagnosis or medical condition that makes me expect to be leaving life soon but I have become aware that things happen and change without any warning.
I am planning to go to Savannah Georgia tomorrow – where the weather will sunny and near 70 degrees and then back to Florida for a while where the weather might even reach 80. I have packed away winter coat and other winter gear and am now back my more natural gear of sandals with long pants and a tee shirt.