Monday, February 9, 2009

Excitement and Walter

Repacking the explosion of gear/clothes/guidebooks that found itself onto the floor and dropping off the remainders of my possessions at storage last night made me finally realize.....IT'S SO CLOSE! Tomorrow, actually. I'm stoked. A little anxious (for some unknown reason/s), but mostly just really excited. I'm excited about all of the things that inherently come along with travel - sights, tastes, smells, problems to solve, people to meet. I'm also excited to be traveling at this point in my life. Not that I have any unique insight for why getting out on the road will be good for my soul at this exact moment, but I really feel the need for some revival of passion after feeling a bit burnt out. In the words of Walt Whitman, in one of the only Whitman poems I can still remember by heart....

Afoot and lighthearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune - I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

The earth - that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
I know they are very well where thy are;
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens;
I carry them, men and women - I carry them with me wherever I go;
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them;
I am fill'd with them, and I fill them in return.)


It goes on from there, but you get the picture (and I've filled my corny quotation quota). I am excited, and I the next time I post it will be from the open road.

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