A view of Toronto from our canoe
To summarize my experience on the road trip thus far and to find the commonalities between the various places we’ve visited and people we’ve spent time with, the most common thread is that I would love to live the lives of everyone we’ve spent time with and I’d be happy living in each of the places we’ve visited.
We are so fortunate. We are surrounded by good people that lead interesting and challenging lives. As I move through my life and think about how to live it as well as I can, I constantly evaluate how and why I do things the way I do, and I am always watching others to examine how they live and why they do things the way they do. This trip has let us drop in on the lives of many different people that each do things differently but each do things well with their own good qualities shining through. There is so much good in people and I simply have to watch and observe how to continually be a better person each day.
Julie and I have a unique challenge and opportunity at this point in our lives in that we are in a position to choose our next path. We have bought some freedom recently and it is up to us to find a purposeful and meaningful way to spend our limited time. With this in mind, we watch how others do it to get ideas of our own. It’s helpful and also challenging at the same time. The hard part is I could easily see enjoying the career life again, I would love the family life and all its challenges and rewards, I would enjoy working on houses again, as well as enjoying the beach life. There are so many cool projects in the world and as I watch others working on their particular projects, I want to join in and play each of their particular games too. However, we are currently living the traveling life which has its own set of rewards and challenges. The good news is that there is lots of green grass, no matter what side you’re on.
We have also gotten to visit some really cool places. Toronto is lovely and a fun city. Portland, ME was awesome with nice restaurants, good running paths along the water, and good friends. Rhode Island was a pleasant surprise. We had a great time with Kris and really loved the quaint little houses and the quiet neighborhoods. The water access and the access to big cities would make this a great place to live. New York City is amazing. I could easily live there and have a blast. We ran in Central Park each day, had excellent food with a supply of restaurants we likely could never exhaust. There is also so much going on, so many different ways of thinking and doing things that I imagine I could learn a great deal from the collection of people living so closely together. We could also live the beach life. The Sauls have shown us a great time and a great life on the shores of Ocean City, NJ. I would love to live on the water, be it summer or winter, the water has such a powerful draw for me, some sort of unexperienced life that continually calls my curiosity.
Along with good people and cool places, we’ve also had tons of ice cream. As of yesterday, we’d gone out for ice cream five out of the last seven nights. And one of the two nights we didn’t get ice cream, we had a red velvet cake instead. We are eating well to say the least. However, we have also been running quite a bit only missing a couple days on the trip so far. I thankfully have gotten on Julie’s Hood to Coast Relay team and will be running at the end of this month in the race in Oregon. As a result, I have the drive to run with Julie each day. It’s been a real positive because we have quality time together plus it’s neat to experience these places on foot and running.
In conclusion, the road trip has been great thus far. There are so many good people in the world with so much to offer. I really enjoy spending time with people and getting to experience these good qualities because it is motivating and it helps me see how I can be a better person. Plus, I love good food, and we are getting plenty of that along with plenty of potential new places to live at some point in the future. Thank you to everyone that has been part of the adventure thus far.