I hope my friends and family, and new friends and new family (!?), will enjoy the content that I present to you here. I am on a grandiose journey with my husband, one that is a manifestation of a dream that has been tugging on our consciousness all our lives. One that we quit our great jobs, sold our belongings, and gave up our wonderful Brooklyn apartment to pursue. One that we left our ever-strengthening friendships and perfectly lovely life for. See the world. It had to be done.
So here we are, almost a year after we left everything to become homeless, nomadic. Here we are, at this very moment, in a little buggy fishing village on the Pacific coast of Mexico. We told everyone we were going on a bicycle tour, but we have gotten here by all sorts of transportation… plane, train, car, bus, boat… you name it. But the bicycle has been the main theme, especially since we hit the deserts of Nevada and Arizona. It has been an adventurous zig-zag of a continuous bicycle line from Las Vegas to San Blas, and we plan to keep going all the way to Patagonia, or until the money runs out, or until… whatever. But I'll let Lewis tell those stories over at Rudiments of Gruel. I have my own stories of a more visual sort.
One of my many excitements over this experience was my chance to explore the artist in me. I had played with watercolors a bit before we left, and I wanted to play with that more. I imagined myself becoming an excellent street artist, selling paintings in town squares to help fund our travels. I would send hand-painted postcards to all my friends. Romantic, huh? Well, that hasn't exactly played out, but I did bring along a watercolor setup and I am doing some painting here and there. It is a struggle to capture the inspiration that comes when I am flying down a mountain on my bike, or to have inspiration at all when I am lying in a dark tent exhausted at the end of a long day. But here and there I manage, and I want to share. Luckily I brought my needle felting too, a craft that I am always motivated towards, and one that is much more practical for the road. I want to share that too!
I have found that I love taking photos. Who doesn't, I suppose. But I really love it, and even more so, I love tinkering with them. Since I have been on the road, this passion has grown. Themes have developed in my photography that I want to explore more. The things I see on this trip… there is so much color and texture and beauty! I want to showcase those discoveries. I am a beginner with a point-and-shoot and know nothing about proper photography, so if you do, and have any critiques or advice to give, I am all ears. Flickr is a work in progress, but if you want to see more photos from our travels than the ones I select for this blog, check them out. Many of them are rough, but they tell a story.
And please, write to me. In the comments, in an email, whatever. But seriously. I need some interaction, some feedback, some encouragement. If I sound desperate, it is because I am. :) Well, maybe not desperate, but I would love to know someone is out there reading this, perhaps enjoying my work a little bit. And it isn't all about me. I would love to know about your dreams. Are you pursuing them? How can I help you to do it? The minutes of your life are so valuable, much more valuable than you are selling them for, most likely. If I can motivate you to spend more of them doing what you really love, please allow me.
Enough midnight ramblings...