The Blind Man Society

So, I was sitting here at a new coffee shop thinking about some things today. As you may know I went traveling and backpacking this last month. When I was younger, in my 20s and 30s I traveled the planet. I was pretty good at it back then, but its been a couple decades since. Last month, I decided it was time to recapture a bit of the Glory Days.

So, I gave up my room that I rent, talked to my landlord, packed my backpack and set off at the beginning of the month. I didn’t really have a plan when I started walking for the border. I figured, I would make it up as I went. So, after a 40 or 50 mile walk, I got to the border crossing and left the nation.

I thought about a lot while I was walking for days at a time. There’s something to the idea that having the bases covered financially and every other way gives you a great sense of freedom. And, knowing this, I just went where the breeze took me – and it was bliss.

It was while I was walking, stopping occasionally to take nips from my whiskey flask and play my double drone flute for bystanders, that I came up with the beginnings of a plan. I figured it would be good, to do a three part trip. I would start, ass a tourist with money, staying in hotels and having a very carefree time. I then figured, it might be good to be a backpacker, with not as much money, staying in the occasional motel and camping outside. Finally, I figured that having been homeless before, I would do some homeless travel.

Over the last week and a half since I got home, I have been writing about all of this. And, its getting to be time to share it all now – in the travel series I wrote about on the last blog post. And, this is going to be good!

I was over at the old shop recently, and bounced these story ideas and “The Plan” off of a friend who works there. From his facial expressions, I think I redlined him. Laughing, but – he was thinking a lot after that. I know this, because I would sit out at the coffee shop writing while it was closed while I was homeless, and he drove fifteen miles to come back that night to talk more about these stories and ideas. So, I must have been on to something good, and that was one HECK of a compliment!

The writing that is coming, is entertaining, educational, and also real. It will probably be a little disconcerting to some – but what it highlights, is what can happen when we go from having money and being carefree to not having money and being in real trouble. The decline – the spiral, I recorded as it happened. And, I was out there living it as it happened. Some of it, was great fun. Some of it was not.

I’m one of those people, who needs to find things out for himself, despite what others say. And, I found out a whole lot this last month! Including why sometimes the Glory Days are best left in the past, and embracing age, maturity and wisdom gained over the years is preferable.

The first blog should be out in the next day, and I hope you enjoy reading it! Have a great day out there, wherever you may be, and as always please feel free to leave a comment in the box below!