It was a very hard decision but, in the end, I decided that for me, at this point in my life, it was the right thing to do. My long time girlfriend, Linda, understands why I need to leave and I understand why she needs to stay. That said, it didn’t make the decision any easier or any less painful. I am fortunate and grateful that Linda and I will continue to be friends, but the die has been cast, my house has been sold, escrow is closed and I am starting to plan life beyond Southern California
Phase 1 is already complete. I drove my truck up to Billings and it is now in storage there. All of the rest of my worldly possessions are making their way into a storage facility in Los Angeles until I get settled somewhere. I expect to be a nomad much of 2018 so I guess I’ll get used to living with a minimal amount of ‘stuff’ which will be a good thing!!
Purposely I am leaving my plans a bit loose. I am committed to going to New York to spend time with my daughter, Jordan, the first two or three months of 2018. Once I leave New York, I plan to move to Montana, most probably Bozeman, MT where I went to undergraduate school at Montana State University or perhaps Billings where my sister lives. I will rent a place there in the spring and start looking for a house to buy.
And then in late August, I am scheduled to head to Australia to begin a 3 1/2 month, 4,700 mile bicycle ride across Australia and then New Zealand. In all of my travels I never made it ‘down under’ and this seemed like a good way to see some of the country! (I’m sure I will have plenty of time to question my sanity as the ride develops!)
So, it is shaping up to busy a busy year filled with many adventures and many unknowns. I am just going to see what develops as I don’t want to introduce any artificial pressure to do one thing or another in any specific time frame. I decided to resurrect this blog to track the progress of this adventure and see how it develops – the plan versus reality!!
I jump back and forth between moments of great excitement (this is going to be a great adventure!) and moments of shear terror (what the hell have I done!) But, no turning back now. The movers will be here in a few days to finish cleaning out my house and then my nomadic life will officially begin!