On The Road Again

 

On January 2, 2014, I left Phoenix for Las Vegas to attend BlogWorld, CES, and Affiliate Summit. I had a rough idea of what my travel schedule was going to be for the beginning of the year… but everyone, and I mean everyone, asked me if I was going to settle down this year or keep traveling. I knew I wasn’t ready to stop how I was living my life even if it was a little on the different side. I somehow knew by the end of January that I would know where I was going this year for my big trip. Initially I thought I would do the same path as last year but in the pit of my stomach, I knew that wasn’t supposed to be the plan.

My intuition told me to pay attention to signs and let The Universe guide me. So I did. When I left Las Vegas after two weeks I drove to San Francisco for another tech conference and to see some friends. On the way there I passed three license plates that said Alaska and a billboard for Alaskan Airlines. Come on – 3 Alaskan license plates in the middle of the night on a road that wasn’t overly traveled? That weekend I was headed to the Travel and Adventure Show and the first people I met when I walked in were these great guys from Exit Glacier Guides in Seward, Alaska. Then I met five more people in a row from Alaska – out of the 50 rows in the convention center I went down the one for Alaska. And no, it wasn’t in the center or on the end – completely random.

I asked The Universe and the answer was unmistakably – go to Alaska! I had to figure out when that was going to happen and what that looked in terms of how long I would be on the road. I left San Francisco after two weeks to head to Los Angeles and go to another Travel and Adventure Show. Again I kept meeting people that I could spend time with in Alaska and on the trek there. After LA I was supposed to head back to SF for a few weeks to write my book Unstoppable: Girl On The Run but when I got to Ventura I became stuck and couldn’t drive any further. You can read about that story on my retired blog here.

When I was in Ventura I was depressed and knew something wasn’t quite right and I couldn’t put my finger on it. I knew I was not supposed to go back to SF and I turned my car around and headed home, back to Phoenix. I wanted to write at our beach house in Rocky Point, Mexico. My parents were less than thrilled with the idea of me going down to Mexico by myself. I went anyway. I loved it more than words can say. The solitude, the being one with nature, the sheer amount of writing I did. I wrote 56,000 words in February alone! I felt alive and every ounce of my being was turned on. My soul was open and I felt a huge life changing shift was about to happen.

Two Blog posts from Mexico: http://orangedragonflyblog.com/rocky-point-day-1-the-jellyfish-apocalypse-of-2014/
and http://orangedragonflyblog.com/bird-apocalypse-2014/

The life changing thing happened in a few ways – I let go of a friendship that I should have said goodbye to a long time ago. Sometimes we are put into people’s paths to help them and sometimes it is to teach us lessons. I learned what I needed and breathed a sigh of relief once it was all said and done. It was painful, very painful but the lessons I learned were ones I had been repeating for way too long.

Most of this happened when I was in Austin for SXSW and luckily I was surrounded by some really amazing friends that gave me great perspectives. Austin was one of those trips that was incredible for me. Friendships blossomed, faith restored, and lessons and fallacies unveiled. I grew so much in seven short days. I had conversations with people I admired that rocked me to more core. I let my wall down and let in a couple great guys that were offering nothing more than amazing friendships.

The last day I knew I needed to leave because I just can’t handle that sheer amount of people!As someone who can feel other’s energies quite easily, being around that many people for that length of time was very draining on me. I headed back to Phoenix and didn’t talk to a soul on that entire 16 hour drive. I spent a couple days in Phoenix then went down to Mexico for a week to really recharge. I wrote more on my book and felt like I was finally making progress… those days staring out and watching the ocean roar by are the ones my soul longs for in the middle of the night.

I came back to Phoenix to celebrate my 40^th birthday on April 5^th. 40!?! Seriously? When I turned 39 I sold all my things and traveled the US – what shenanigans would I get myself into at 40? I had a wonderful day with my friends and family and truly felt like I was traveling down the path that was meant for me. Even though all this traveling seems crazy, it makes sense to me.

On Thursday, April 10^th, I packed up my car and took off from Phoenix to San Diego, the first stop as I make my way to Alaska. I need to be in Alaska the first week of June. Here’s my very tentative schedule for the next couple months with a ton of uncertainty as to what is going to happen in May.

San Diego: 4/10-4/14
Los Angeles: 4/14
Paso Robles: 4/15-4/17
San Francisco: 4/17- ??
Yosemite: Either 5/3 or 5/10
Oregon
Seattle
Fly back to Phoenix 5/16-5/19
Alaska: 6/1

Thank you for traveling with me and for giving me guidance and hugs along the way. Everyone thinks living the way I am is easy and is the epitome of living life to the fullest. It is awesome, I won’t deny, but it is also extremely hard to live each day not knowing where you are going to rest your head that night. My first week back on the road was tough, and I can’t wait to share that story with you soon. For now, I am happily writing from San Francisco and looking forward to making more memories this weekend. For now, I’m on the road again… to Alaska.

Saying goodbye to my Dad on 4/10/14