We had a blast, but as is our particular habit, we tried to cram way too much into our month on the road! We could have done the same trip in three months and still not seen all we wanted to see on our route or spend as much time as we wanted with our family and friends. Here are pictures, all finally up to date. Thanks for your patience!
We are now in full getting-out-of-the-country mode, so nothing too exciting to report. Will likely post next from Europe!
The road trip has been much more taxing of our time than expected. Time on the road has not necessarily translated into time to write, as it quickly became apparent that my roadworthiness is directly tied to my ability to look up at the road vs. down at a computer screen. (Sadly, or not, there is no more interesting story behind that sentence.) Time off the road has been spent catching up with old friends and family, eating, and sightseeing. Scarce computer time was allocated to vital tasks such as email correspondence and google-mapping our way across the country.
Excuses thus given — and blamelessness conveyed via passive voice — I offer up a few observations, in no particular order, which I might or might not write about more in depth later.
The last rays of the day paint the dry grass the color of Monet haystacks before dissapearing over the hills of Wilbur Hot Springs, in the folds of which we are safely ensconsed. There’s a drought on. It feels good to finally be on the road, even if we only made it a few counties up and over from San Francisco.
This was a much-needed change in plans. After the hectic pace and emotion of the last week, it felt necessary to take a break before we barrelled on down the road. We were a wreck! Already, after an afternoon soaking and chilling out, I’m feeling like a new man.
After a night here, we’ll head through Nevada, staying the night somewhere along the way en route to Utah’s Arches National Monument. Yellowstone and Idaho will have to wait for when we have more time to explore. Two nights in the desert sounds great at this point.
I think the excitement of it all is getting to me via insomnia. With this latest bout, I thought I might start this blog off...
I added the tagline for the blog tonight/this morning, ripped fresh from Kavalier & Clay, which I've been delighting in reading. Flush with the optimism of transit. True, ain't it? Whether its crossing a river on a ferry or an ocean on an airplane, the thrill of transport is undeniable.
Starting a new travel blog is equally thrilling. I've intentionally left the destination out of the title, so as to incorporate any and all travels under one umbrella. All this in an effort to centralize my writing efforts. El camino viejo literally means "the old road." In Venezuela, at least, this was the term used for a local highway rendered obsolete by a freeway or a route similarly made redundant.
They're the most charming, los caminos viejos, snaking through misplaced landscape and bisecting towns time forgot. It's why we travel, picking up a theme from India Byways, to connect with these old roads. I'm looking forward to finding, and getting lost on, the old roads my ancestors might have trod in Spain. I'm also in the middle of A Field Guide to Getting Lost (link to Village Voice review), a marvelous tome by Rebecca Solnit, about the latter phenomenon. A worthwhile endeavor.