Roadtrip 2008, Westbound

Today begins the solo portion of my Eurovan adventure. For the past three weeks I've been traveling with Zach to move all his stuff from Seattle to his Dad's place in Columbus OH, then to visit their family cottage in South Bristol ME, and finally a stop of several days at his Mom's place in Winsted, CT. This morning I drove Zach and his brother to the airport in Hartford for their flight to Holland, and started on my way southwest for a meandering return trip to Seattle.

I've always enjoyed traveling with Zach. He's easygoing, tidy, considerate, occasionally funny, he has great connections everywhere for interesting people to visit and places to stay, and he's simply great company. Nonetheless, I'm rather looking forward to finally traveling alone. Travel with another person always involves some compromise unless you're a totally self-centered ass (I'd like to think I'm not.) For the next three weeks, I can set and then change my itinerary on a whim. I can choose to buy or to make meals as I like; I can splurge on a campground with WiFi and showers, or boondock in a truck stop if I'm feeling frugal. I can linger over sights that intrigue me without feeling rushed, or if I get bored I can just move on without worrying that I'm rushing someone else. For the next few weeks, it's all about me, me, me.

Interestingly, I also expect to spend more time communicating (blogging, emailing and phoning) than I did when traveling with Zach. That's partly due to where we stayed (not much cell service or WiFi in South Bristol or Winsted) and partly because I was kept very busy with Zach's friendly family, but there's another aspect to it as well -- something I'd like to change about myself. This is tough for me to articulate... I'll need to find the right words for a later post.