Fuck yeah, hitchhiking

This summer,

reiversmusic:

I have plans to hop a freight train going anywhere. I haven’t made up my mind where yet though I have drawn up some routes to consider. I still have a job, and I still have a family that demands all of my time off. In lieu of a typical mid July trip to Houston to lay in my cozy 2nd home, I’m going to have to tell my family I’ll see them this winter. I probably won’t be able to make it as far as Minneapolis, and definitely not Portland, but I intend to tell the higher ups that sob story of missing my sister and parents and taking at least 2 weeks off from responsibility to pursue adventure and freedom.

I hope to meet people I both come to love and those I come to hate. I hope I get irked just enough by mosquitoes that sleeping under a starless city sky is still worth it. I hope I make some one time use friends, and I hope I make life long pen pals. I hope I’m told to both “get a job” and told how brave I am. I hope to completely live off the grid in a manner that is 100% sustainable. I hope my fingers play well enough to earn enough money to find my way back when I need to. I hope I’m brave enough to do this.

And I hope to quit my job, live on loans, and make it through school and enroll in a traveling medical program so this can not only be an annual summer time thing, but partially a way of life. I’ve decided I’m not moving (who does from Albany, and doesn’t come back!?), right now this sounds better. It’s been just a few weeks since I’ve become genuinely interested in this but it fully encompasses everything I’ve been wanting for years in one aimless, confusing mess. It might sound like I’m suffering from some sort of Candyland, Californian dream but at this point I will deeply regret it if I don’t give it a shot.

I’ve never been both more happy and sad in my life. This semester and work year have been completely miserable and I feel like I’ve lost everything beyond material value (which does not mean much of anything). But from it I’ve gained new ideas, more knowledge, and a renewed interest in making my life meaningful again. And that last point is more valuable than I can put into words.