Blogging from the Air

So, this is it. I spent a fantastic few days with Garg-alum and former Mason Proper member Matt Thompson and now I am in the air. Thanks to the miracle of WiFi technology, I can write this while our plane shakes over the Rockies.

Many of you are probably wondering why I haven't been updating from the road more, though I imagine that most of you assume it's because I am too busy/lazy. Well, that's only half right. As previously stated, the iPhone app that I've been using to update this blog while on the road has ceased to function. That, combined with a full to the brim schedule of exploring Seattle and hiking around mountains, has prevented me from keeping you as up to date as I would like.

And now, cruising over clouds, I am not even sure what to say about the trip. For all intents and purposes it's over. But it doesn't really feel like it's over because there's so much left undone back in Virginia. Plus, I am flying back, so it feels just like an everyday vacation. The days of camaraderie and the nights of fear in the Utah desert seem distant, like the memories aren't even mine.

Maybe by tomorrow I'll be better sorted to put this all together. I've said farewell to the road, and now I need to write the epitaph for the Assault on America's Senses.

Cheating

Right now, I am snug and cozy on the couch of Jenny -- a friend from College and GargAlum. She has been the most gracious of hosts, and I am grateful for it after the long slog it took to get here. I'm in Nebraska, a state I have visiting twice before. Both of those times, I was headed to where I am going tomorrow: Colorado.

However, tomorrow I will be boarding a plane to get there.

For me, it feels like cheating. Part of the reason I took this trip was to do it on the cheap and to stick to buses to see America pass by me. But I just got off of a 20+ hour ride this afternoon, and would be staring down the barrel of at least another 10 hours (more likely 16-20) to get to foot of the Rocky mountains. Right now, I just can't do that.

It would be one thing if it were my last big trek, but it isn't by a long shot. The trip from Colorado to San Francisco is over 30 hours, the train takes just about as long, and the flight is more than I am willing to throw down. Also, it's a cheap flight and a very short trip.

So I am cheating.

I feel bad about doing so. I feel like it's not in the spirit of this adventure, and that I'm not living up to my promise I made to myself when I stepped out of Virginia: do this and have fun, but be smart about it. And when I said that, I was thinking primarily of personal safety and bank accounts.

But getting to Colorado does put me in a good and flexible position for the final leg of my trip. Also, it means a nice respite before the longest ride of the trip. And right now, I think I need that. I've loved my trip but the long, dark, quiet nights in the buses aren't just hard on my back. I need to see more friends, take it easy, and lighten my heart before I get back on the Greyhound.

I'm looking at a no-transfers straight shot from Denver to San Francisco, and I am looking forward to being ready to make that trip.