A friend of mine is currently on a cross-country trip of a lifetime. Her office shut down, her Brooklyn lease expired, she bought a car and started driving. At the send-off party she had a little book for people to write suggestions in for destinations. Maybe she'll hit them all, maybe she'll find some little town somewhere and start a new life.
I've always loved to travel, and I do so whenever I can get enough free time and money simultaneously. But to really cut all ties to a home and set off across the country alone is both admirable and frightening. The kind of thing we only talk about doing.
As my friend swung up through New England, and west through Ontario, she found herself in my home state. Following her Twitter updates, I saw she was minutes away from my mother's house, and helped orchestrate a bed to sleep in that night. I suggested she head through da UP and got to Houghton, and sketched out a true Copper Country Cruisin' route that took her through many of the best sites of the Keweenaw.
The strange thing is that it made me feel...what? Is this homesickness? I can't say I've really felt it before, but I suddenly have this incredible longing to ride a bike around Milford. Or to build a bonfire on the shore of Lake Superior. Or to just drive long and far, through all of the familiar sights of a place that was once mine.
My friend, meanwhile, has crossed the Mississippi in Minnesota and is headed to "all points West." She blogs about her adventures here.
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4 comments:
I know that feeling. I don't know what to call it either. For me it's a remembrance of times when things seemed simple. It's like I miss something, but don't really know what.
"The river flows, it flows to the sea
Wherever that river goes, that's where I want to be
Flow river flow, let your waters wash down
Take me from this road to some other town
All I wanted was to be free
And that's the way it turned out to be..." ~The Ballad of Easy Rider by Roger McGuinn
I'm completely green eyed. Just read up on her blog and I'm really bummed that I missed her pass through Michigan. Everything involving the two of you aside (of course!), getting to meet her was one of the highlights of your wedding for me. I've often thought about asking you for her contact info, but felt weird after I let so much time go by. Feel more than welcome to give her mine. I come with perks, given that my work schedule keeps me to such odd hours, and I know people all over the place.
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