My last post to this blog was April 19, 2012, just over a year ago. Today's May 5, 2013. I'm super sleepy as I'm writing to you, sitting on a couch in a sweet east Austin home where I have the pleasure of house sitting for a few weeks. I've been here about an hour and a half. Ate dinner, unloaded the car, now starting the wind-down.
I apologize in advance for the meandering ramble of this message.
When I first started this blog, I was restless in my work life and was dreaming about getting in the car and going. Although I had been advised not to take my car on any long trips until I had some major repairs done, I had a long held goal to visit Levon Helm's barn in Woodstock, New York and attend one of his famous Midnight Rambles. Then last April, as you see in the last post, angels laid Levon away.
About six months earlier, I'd lost my job (details in earlier posts as well) and didn't feel as much of a call to be roaming, as I was content having more space around me and getting into the work I was doing from home.
Plus my income that I'd planned to use to fix the car suddenly wasn't there. About a month after that last blog post, I left my beloved apartment of the past six years and moved in with two of my best friends who generously put me up and put up with me for almost a year. There's so much that I could contemplate about the entire experience, but I'm too tired to get into it too much tonight, save the general love and affection that's flowing between me and the Savannimals, as I type.
What brought me back to this blog is that I am much closer to being nomadic now, a year and change after the vision began here on this screen.
A few months ago I had the pleasure of being at the Levon Helm tribute show at SXSW in Austin, where members of the Midnight Ramble Band and their special guests honored the great fella. I was tickled to realize that the ramble had meandered to me.
The timing was interesting, too, as I'd just begun to fund raise to get a bunch of car repairs that I'd been advised I needed before I could take my car even up to Dallas from here.
The latest figures on the car campaign are 75% of the work is done. I still need $675- $775 more worth of work and parts to get the A+ grade to take the car roaming, but I'll tell ya, that 75% has made a big difference for in-town driving, and I'm really grateful. Especially as I've now moved out from the wonderful haven of the Savannah (what my house mates and I dubbed the home we've been sharing) and am deepening into the world of invitations and intuition. It seems useful to have a pony to carry me and my belongings around. And, too, I feel open to all sorts of possibilities.
On the way over here tonight, I had the thought, "I need less stuff or a larger vehicle." Then I began doing an exercise I learned from a friend to come up with solutions, no matter how far out they might seem. Two of my favorites were a solar-powered hot air balloon whose basket holds my stuff and a shrinking gun that makes items really small and then can reverse and bring them back to original size with a flick of a switch.
It's been exciting to realize that these meandering rambles are becoming possible and more tangible as I continue to fix up the car and reduce my belongings down to what I can take with me.Or whatever! A new place of my own, a trailer, leaving things at bus stops, getting more things and creating an art car out of shredded materials from clothes found at Blue Hanger . . . it's all so open!
I may hang around Austin longer, and I'm quite content to do that. I'm also happy that I'll be able to answer out-of-town invitations soon, too. All I really need is a quiet and comfy place to sleep and to hold my Skype calls (I practice a sort of counseling over Skype, if you didn't know) and a good internet connection. This is a longtime dream of mine: to be able to work from wherever I am.
Should something unfold locally for me, I'll be more than happy to gently land there. If the road that I've been doodling these past two years is what's calling me, well, I reckon I'll find out when the wheels touch it.
Here's where you can find my fund raising campaign ("Not Quite an Airstream, but . . . "): http://www.gofundme.com/NotquiteanAirstreambut
I'd be so happy if you joined with me and the amazing 51 folks who have contributed along the way. I will come back here and report as I go along. I have the feeling this blog could hold some wonderful adventures.
For now, I'd best meander on over to my jammies and get myself ready for bed.
So much love from me to you. Much more to come.
xx
