After leaving Portland, I wandered up the Oregon coast for a while.
Stopped at one of the beaches, felt the sand on my bare feet, then the ocean waves rushing up my legs.
Wandered up and down the shores, found a nice discreet spot to stop in the bushes and enjoy a bit of Oregon's fine cannabis, and felt the world around me...
In some areas, finding a good camp spot along the way before dark came easy.
Other nights, I might find myself restless and still driving after dark, eventually to simply park in any spot not likely to be disturbed for a few hours, recline the seat, and fall asleep for a while...
After a few days at this, lovely and beautiful as all these changing landscapes may be, another part of my brain begins to grow weary, thinking, where are any familiar people I can feel natural hanging out with, isn't there anywhere I can just stop and settle without needing to pick up and move on just as I start to get comfortable, and on a direct physical body level, that creeping growing feeling all over my skin that keeps asking, demanding, how long since the last time I had a shower?
Stopping at coffee shops along the way, seeking to manifest the inspiration to keep coding up the pieces of a project with no immediate financial payoff, but the eventual prospect of creating a profitable crypto enterprise down the road, over which I have total creative control, provides the motivation to keep going...
But in the mean time how long can I really last like this? Walking the tightrope between the life of my dreams, and the tough reality of what might be necessary to meet everyday needs? Going back to "work" for $ to keep afloat, while it might divert some mental energy from my real labor of love, could give me the means to better care for myself, get a decent place with a bedroom and a shower in time for winter, while hopefully still leaving enough time and mental power to bring these personal projects to fruition.
I began driving back east through Washington, toward the place which has brought the closest thing to resembling stability for me...
But not without stopping to visit a few more beautiful places along the way, which I did my best to capture with the cheapo clearance phone. Thinking positively, the strange automatic filters and funky palette effects that seem to turn on and off randomly, could be thought of as the camera adding its own layer of artistry....
I especially liked the way this next one turned out, in the twilight sun near the water, around Mt Rainier...
Freaky psychedelic mountains, courtesy of the auto-filter:
Then suddenly, it switches to more muted palette, without changing any camera settings at all!
Across the badlands of Idaho, and back in Montana, I stopped at a nice parking area near the highway which I had never explored before, found some fun rocks to climb, featuring awesome views of the land around...
Down by the water, I took a dip in the familiar Clark Fork river, providing sweet relief from the sweltering summer sun....
Now, I find myself back again in my old favorite coffee shop in Missoula, having slept and showered at the house of a kind friend...
Tomorrow, I reluctantly plan to return to the land of mercinary code work... Admittedly, I am lucky that there are nice people willing to pay me to do this stuff, even if I often find the work itself uninspiring, and occasionally catch myself silently swearing at other past code mercenaries who obviously just threw a bunch of shit together for a paycheck without regard to quality, or excellence... such is life under capitalism in these times, where everybody does whatever they have to for a paycheck, in a land where nobody is really free, but I digress.
Also have an appointment to look at a local room for rent this week. It would be nice to have a sort of home base again for a while, with a bed, bathroom, internet access, a real kitchen, and all that.... Will it be worth the sacrifice? From where I stand right now, the answer is yes, though that could change again with time... Shifting needs, shifting circumstances, adapting, evolving, with a goal not merely to survive, but thrive!