|
Travelogue
-
Epilogue
Links-all Travelogue pages
Travelogue
Epilogue Monologue
05/25/05
I had a stack of return plane tickets to get me back to the
States. This meant I had to backtrack rather than simply fly direct from Bali.
It went like this: Bali-Bangkok-(two day
break)-Singapore-Auckland-Papeéte-Los Angeles-New York. After 40-plus hours in jets and
airports I barely remember staggering into a cab at JFK, but after a good night's sleep I was de-lagged and ready for the Big
Apple.
I spent a full month there, with brief excursions to Connecticut
and Rhode Island,
hanging out with my family and visiting a few friends. I lost my tan and
gained 10 lbs, but it was worth it.
Weather
reports at last suggested that winter might finally, really be over in south central
Alaska, so in early May I flew to Anchorage where I'd left my camper stored these past 7 months. Now I'm
back on the road, based for the time being on
that idyllic fjord beach near Seward that I described and illustrated in
this travelogue last August/September.
Near-future
plans may include flying lessons this summer (I'm looking into it
now). Next fall I figure to head down to South America. I've been hearing
good things about Ecuador, and I'd also like to visit Chile and maybe Argentina.
~
OK,
now the real epilogue...
For
the past year I've kept this travelogue going for my amusement and
yours. If nothing else it has been a useful exercise, nudging me to write often and helping
me get my
"chops" back after years of writing mostly business
correspondence. (Hopefully there has been some visible improvement between
the first pages and the last.) It also motivated me to take lots of photographs, and to become
proficient at digitally enhancing them so they'd look better than what I actually
took. Most of all, keeping this journal going has been fun. I hope reading
it has been, too.
I'm
going to stop now. Not stop traveling, but stop writing about it in this
format. It's time for me
to focus on some other writing projects, and maybe even sell some of them
to help support this vagabond habit of mine.
For me, traveling is not
a means to an end, but an end in itself, a heady tonic, an antidote
for restlessness and boredom and a balm for my obsessive curiosity. It's addictive, too. I expect I'll continue for as long
as I can and as long as it's fun, taking breaks once in a while to catch
my breath and renew my appreciation.
So,
this
journal ends here. If you ever get to wondering where I am or what I'm up
to, or want to tell me what you're up to, don't be shy. Send me an
email!
|
