Post by johnVC on Feb 28, 2020 16:26:28 GMT
Dear Madam or Sir:
Upon the much dreaded arrival of my sixty-fourth birthday, I ascertained that I did not want to start every current conversation about myself with the words, "I was." So I went out for twenty-eight days to rediscover America, missed opportunity, and myself. Forty-three years had passed, as they so often say, "In a blink of an eye," and I took the roads so frequently traveled by to find myself again. I was now retired as a landscape architect, swimming pool contractor, arborist, and plant nut in general. My most recent venture of growing state-legal medical marijuana was growing tiresome. And, my twenty-two year relationship with a good woman had stalled and was now at a standstill.
The journey began in the humble little town of Anza (aka Hillbillyville) located in the interior hills of Southern California and progressed onwards to Salida, Colorado, then thru Kansas to Missouri, turned south to U.S. 40, then progressed east on U.S. 81; when it ended, I crisscrossed those little roads in those little states on up to Maine. I caught up with an old college classmate on Long Island, my middle sister on the Jersey shore, and my 90 year-old uncle who raised me in Olean in the toe of the boot of New York. Then the real journey began on out to Washington State University over the same northern routes I took in 1972 fleeing the east, my recent marijuana arrest and conditional dismissal, and a heaping helping of Roman Catholic guilt.
An American Odyssey looks back, looks forward, and looks inwards, occasionally all at the same time, at a life yet unfulfilled. I wasn't completely sure what it was that I was hoping to find out there on the road, but what I did find was a comforting reaffirmation that most of the decisions that I did make in my life were right given the circumstances. Questions I had before leaving were largely left unanswered which could be expected of questions that occur after one's sixth decade of life. File that under if you don't know that by now, you probably never will. In the final analysis, this cross country cleansing significantly improved my self-confidence and sense of self-sufficiency, and for those reasons alone, was well worth it. Why and how? Come on this odyssey and find out.
Best regards, johnVC
Upon the much dreaded arrival of my sixty-fourth birthday, I ascertained that I did not want to start every current conversation about myself with the words, "I was." So I went out for twenty-eight days to rediscover America, missed opportunity, and myself. Forty-three years had passed, as they so often say, "In a blink of an eye," and I took the roads so frequently traveled by to find myself again. I was now retired as a landscape architect, swimming pool contractor, arborist, and plant nut in general. My most recent venture of growing state-legal medical marijuana was growing tiresome. And, my twenty-two year relationship with a good woman had stalled and was now at a standstill.
The journey began in the humble little town of Anza (aka Hillbillyville) located in the interior hills of Southern California and progressed onwards to Salida, Colorado, then thru Kansas to Missouri, turned south to U.S. 40, then progressed east on U.S. 81; when it ended, I crisscrossed those little roads in those little states on up to Maine. I caught up with an old college classmate on Long Island, my middle sister on the Jersey shore, and my 90 year-old uncle who raised me in Olean in the toe of the boot of New York. Then the real journey began on out to Washington State University over the same northern routes I took in 1972 fleeing the east, my recent marijuana arrest and conditional dismissal, and a heaping helping of Roman Catholic guilt.
An American Odyssey looks back, looks forward, and looks inwards, occasionally all at the same time, at a life yet unfulfilled. I wasn't completely sure what it was that I was hoping to find out there on the road, but what I did find was a comforting reaffirmation that most of the decisions that I did make in my life were right given the circumstances. Questions I had before leaving were largely left unanswered which could be expected of questions that occur after one's sixth decade of life. File that under if you don't know that by now, you probably never will. In the final analysis, this cross country cleansing significantly improved my self-confidence and sense of self-sufficiency, and for those reasons alone, was well worth it. Why and how? Come on this odyssey and find out.
Best regards, johnVC
