i-5 & beyond . the grapevine . iphone

So.

Here I am in the beginning, the beginning of all of it.

What is all of it exactly?

Well I’ll tell you. :)

If you didn’t already know, I recently partook in a soul searching, life changing roadtrip. I drove all up and down the west coast, all on my own. I had a lot of time to think, to look, and to see. Why did I take this roadtrip? Well, there were many reasons… reasons that I will be revealing as the sharing of this trip unravels.

Before I began the trip, I honestly didn’t fully know what to expect. I would be driving about 3000 miles over the course of two weeks, seeing various friends, new and old, as well as having a lot of alone time. I put all my expectations aside, really. One of the things that I’ve been trying to work on with myself is expectations for things – often I expect certain outcomes or emotions, or things to happen, and often I just get disappointed because my expectations don’t meet reality (if you’ve seen 500 Days of Summer, I loved the split screen scene with Expectations vs Reality – SO TRUE). So with this trip, all I told myself was that I would be here these days, see these people, and put aside all other expectations and agendas. My only agenda? To enjoy what came. :)

I started Sunday afternoon & jetted off to Berkeley, where one of my oldest and closest friends lived. I would spend a two nights there before heading off on the main stretch along the coast. I was nervous and excited before leaving, mostly because I knew that I would not be the same person I was when I return. I knew things would be different. The night before leaving, we were at a farewell bonfire for some friends who were moving to Chicago that week and in a small way, it almost felt like a private farewell bonfire for myself as well. Goodbye to what I knew; hello to the future.

The photo above (taken with the iPhone) was what it looked like right after I got past the Grapevine, when my stomach started to stir because the trip was becoming real. Once I went past LA (which I drive to fairly often), I began territory that I have never done on my own. And it felt liberating.

I will be slowly blogging my trip in the coming weeks, and I will also try to keep updating with my usual wedding & other posts. But for now, this is only the beginning, with much more to come.

Away I go. :)