Wild West
Today I start a new experiment called “The Artists Way”. This is a technique wherein you try to do as many conscious exercises to channel in the inner artist in you by doing thoughtful exercises. One of the exercise includes writing 3 pages the first thing in the morning for 30 minutes straight in a stream of consciousness. I love the appeal of this exercise as I have been in a writing limbo since forever and it has killed the inner writer in me. I am not very proud for being overcome by the dullness of adult life and succumbing to the sad malady of boredom and the adult idiom of paying ones bills.
I do have a lot of interesting things to write about though. In a nutshell, I just moved in recently with my girlfriend, did a roadtrip across the United states - the so called “the great move to the west”, we did it the modern way with all the amenities technology can afford. I also want to pop in the difficulties I had to endure the past year and the immense learnings I received from getting laid off, almost giving up, finding a new opportunity, exploring a new city and building a new home and attaining stability again. There is so much that has happened that I am grateful about and that I can write about.
In this article I want to choose to write about my journey - my ultimate roadtrip and what I learnt from it.
The spiritual awakening started with a hangover. Twas a Sunday and I had finished up a bottle of Vodka with a clean whitewashed house in El Segundo. I was getting my apartment ready with a final inspection of what is left to be cleaned right before leaving for Ann arbor Michigan. Work had been crazy before wherein I had catch a tight deadline delivering a revamped version of the AI agent architecture that I was supposed to deliver at work. While my work was that of a squirrel putting a stone while building a bridge, I managed to do my best and get all my affairs in order before moving to Michigan.
Right when I was recovering from my alcohol in celebration of a proper cleanup, I get the notification that my flight that day is delayed. At the nick of time, I decide to get my total flight rescheduled to the next day. Packing a copy of “The Big Short” I leave for Ann Arbor the next morning, excited and traveling first time from the ever busy LAX airport. I was greeted by a kind Uber driver who dropped me safely to the airport.
The flight was long and had a layover at the Denver airport. This would be the point which I was going to revisit from another mode of transport soon! But looking at the Denver from the sky from the aisle seat was a treat to the eye. A city glistening in the golden sunlight - endlessly extending along the plains of Colorado and bordered and protected by the beautiful Rocky mountains. Incidentally the Football World Cup semi-final was supposed to be on the day I was traveling. It was Spain vs France, a match that I was very excited about and looked forward to watch it. Spain won, although I was rooting for France although the match was lukewarm and Spain played considerably better than France and deservedly won. I watched the match eating some good old McDonalds.
I reached Ann Arbor Michigan and got greeted by dull overcast skies. I came to know that there were immense wildfires close to the neighboring Ontario Canada region and it was a pretty bad situation for folks up there. People had to relocate their houses and it affected many animals and living beings around the area. I was not as concerned still being on the plane, waiting to get down and get my stuff and meet Sage soon and it was not even conspicuous enough for me to realize how bad it was until the next morning where I actually saw the dark skies.
I had packed light and got down the Same ole Detroit airport arrival gate. I like how intimate and cozy the Detroit airport makes you feel. I was greeted with Sage in her revamped Subaru which had been fixed for this very trip. We went home tired, Sage had been packing and was helped with her best friends Joanna and Loisa and had been worked up until that point to almost exhaustion. I was done with my stuff at work too and was ready to treat myself with Vacation finally. It was convenient that we got to do this roadtrip while having Sage move from Michigan to Los Angeles. This opportunity would not have presented itself at any other time and I am glad we decided to capitalize on this moment and decided to do this!
Now we had an itinerary laid out in front of us. Upon going at her house, we opened up our Notion page - “Road Trip of the Century” wherein we had our beautiful itinerary mapped out -
July 18th - July 25th! Chicago → Mid-West → Colorado → Utah → Vegas → Los Angeles.
Places I had never ever been and Sage either. This was going to be the best trip of our lives.
Some ancillary things we did before we took off on the Road in our Subaru were - having ice cream with Joanna and Loisa and having a crazy photo shoot with the girls, visiting the art festival at Ann Arbor, meeting with Sage’s supervisor Justin and her cohort and witnessing her going away party and a lot of packing! I am grateful for all the people Sage made contact with and through her I got to meet them and know so many interesting personalities. Her and her people have definitely expanded the scope of my thinking and my world.
As for our road trip story, I will continue this story on the next day where we take off for the Mid-west and our Adventures then on. But for now, that is all. Good bye Ann Arbor.
Rising from the ashes of the wildfire we started off with no surprises, just grimly saying our goodbyes to the wildfire sighing in relief cheekily. Our first stop was a subway station.