Hi. If you’re one of the handfuls of readers of this blog, which you are if you’re seeing this in your email or your WordPress reader, you will know that I am no longer on a bicycle trip/journey/adventure/odyssey, and if you’ve paid any attention to the occasional dates that are affixed to certain posts you will know that this has been the case for some time. I’ve had a backlog of hand written journals to get through, and now, alas, this backlog has more or less come to an end (well, it properly ended some posts ago while I was in Colorado, but I’m only now acknowledging all this in a conversational way). However, I have several voice recordings that I have not transcribed into text, as well as some thoughts that I typed into my phone, which I will collect here. As of yet I am uncertain as to whether I will post all of these as one or two separate large posts, or break them up individually. I have a feeling this decision will be dependent upon the length of the individual pieces, some of which are extremely short, though none are particularly long.

Currently I am in Berkeley, California, house-sitting for the next two months (until October 20). I’m very much uncertain what I want to do after that, and, naturally, with my wide assortment of interests but only this one body to experience these things with, I have to pick and choose carefully (or not so carefully because whatever I choose it will be the “right” choice, I’m certain).

Here are the options I am debating between. Also, if you have thoughts on any of this feel free to leave a comment. This may sound like a strange request, since I never address the reader directly, but instead post journal entries and photographs at a whim, none of which are ever directed to anyone, or written for anybody other than myself. And that has been my intent for the whole of the existence of the blog. To have something directed to you is then likely something of a surprise. I’m not sure if, or how much, this will change moving forward. I’m tempted to write to an audience, and less to myself, or make an attempt to find a balance between these two modes. I’d like to present a warmer, more human presence in the blog. On the other hand, does this matter? I don’t know, so I suppose I’ll just continue feeling my way along and allow things to develop as they will naturally, as in my opinion, that is generally the best way to go about most anything.

However! Onward! To the future! Or the current present…

My original “plan” for this blog was to provide a public place of record of my bicycle trip which came to an untimely end around Santa Fe, NM. Though, perhaps it was quite timely, based on all the wonderful experiences I’ve had since the injury (which I imagine has healed by now): purchasing a cheap car (I haven’t owned a motor vehicle in over a decade) and driving up to Colorado, a state that  I hadn’t planned on visiting, to spend much time with my long-time friend, Doug, and while there making a friend who has provided me the opportunity to visit Hawaii cheaply; developing an interest in trail running; hikes up Grays and Torreys Peaks; traversing the entirety of the Ten Mile Range (I didn’t actually write about this, but my Instagram has some details if you’re interested) and so much more.

Now that the bike trip is over, at least for the next few months, what will I be putting here? And what ideas do I have for the future? 1) At the end of my house-sit I can go to Hawaii for a month, leaving my car and bike—safely—here, and then spend most of December on a long road trip back home to Maryland in time for the Christmas holiday, staying there through the winter and then either, picking up the bike trip again in the spring (going north and west this time), or road-tripping up to Alaska to find summer work at a seafood processing plant or on a boat ($$$$), and then going to India in the fall/winter for a walking/running trip as a way to explore that enormous and enormously complex country (again, writing and photographing along the way) which would also give me options for Central and South-East Asia; 2) I could just stay here in Berkeley because honestly, the Bay Area and Marin County are some of the most astoundingly gorgeous places in this country one could possibly ever want to live, and are fantastic for trail running, cycling, and anything else outdoors related, but also Acme and Tartine are hiring, and I’d seriously love that opportunity to learn how to make incredible bread or pastries, but this would require of me to put any adventuring on hold for a minimum of a year, something I’m very reluctant to do; 3) I could do everything from option one minus going to Alaska and/or cycling, but instead go to Georgia/Armenia and volunteer on the Transcaucasian trail building project, which would be a great opportunity to visit a part of the world that I am enormously interested in, and contribute to a worthy project in somewhat still developing countries, AND potentially use that area as a jumping off spot for an international cycle tour (I’ve long wanted to visit Central Asia, which is just a ferry ride across the Caspian Sea from the Caucasus); 4) I could stay here until spring, like I had originally planned before growing a bit homesick and meeting cool people with thoughts of going to Hawaii, and pick up the bike trip then (of course this would require finding semi-permanent residence in an expensive area (not ideal!)).

I think that’s about it.

I should find a job while I’m here, but all the jobs I want I would feel horrible leaving after just two months, yet I honestly can’t see myself staying here right now (I could, however, see myself moving back whenever I’m ready to settle down somewhere) because there’s too much I still want to do that I wouldn’t be able to if I were to find a wonderful job here. I’ll probably end up doing some combination of one and three. There’s also the off-chance that I just move back home and stay there if given an opportunity to do something cool. Right now, frankly, I have no idea, but thankfully I don’t need to make a decision until November (of course, assuming I go to Hawaii, which the likelihood is really high, I’ll be making that decision well before October).

I’ve written a fair bit here, and I have a lot on my mind too. This likely won’t be solved any time soon, but hopefully I can at least continue to provide some content (I’ve written a few things since being in California, and I have an adventure article I wrote for a magazine, but had the submission declined, which I will post here). In the meantime, thoughts?, opinions?