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The California Gambit ...and
now, the
Money Shot: |
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I don't know exactly where I will end up, because there will be choices to make -- San Francisco? Wine country? Northern Marin County? Maybe even Portland, OR? (Note to self: that's not in California -- Ed.) Even more importantly, there will be circumstances to deal with -- money? Career? Housing? Truth is, the motorcycle trip is quite nearly equal parts opportunity and desperation... Opportunity, because the failure of the previous life, the net achievement of the first forty or so years (“zero” – Ed.), and the cutting of physical ties to the previous environment will let me go and see places and things I’ve never seen before, and hopefully to figure out whatever it is I wish to do with the rest of my life. Desperation, because I don’t really know what that will be, nor exactly where I will do it, nor whether it will even work out in minimally acceptable fashion, let alone the fairy-tale-ish type of ending I’ve envisioned in general. Not to mention several major questions, each as unanswerable now as they will be impossible to avoid when it hits the fan: first, can I really pull this off? (I'm sure the bike will be just fine, but what about me? I've "camped out" overnight exactly once -- in my backyard in Walpole -- and I didn't sleep too well because I was terrified.) Second, considering the places of beauty and special personal meaning in California, will there be melancholy upon returning to them for the first time as a solo visitor? (Friend, how can there not be?) Or what about the wisdom of traveling to a place that is or has been mostly on fire, and will also shortly offer gasoline at twenty-six dollars per gallon? (Hey, you know what? Not even The Chief (tm) can make sensible decisions every time...) OK, people, only one thing left to do: follow The Chief (tm) and find out! |