Blogosphere redux

Hello Everyone,

This is the second part of my return to blogging.

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I’m selling my truck. That will become relevant in a minute.

When I was preparing for my trip, I spent a month getting ready and cleaning my apartment. It was a cathartic experience of focusing on which items were really important and discarding bags and bags of stuff that wasn't. It felt refreshing, a purge of useless detritus. Letting go of an attachment to physical things meant I had more mental energy. It was lightening.

This is the part where I talk about my truck. I guess it wasn’t that much of a lead in.

Despite how good it felt to getting rid of so much stuff, including an attachment to most physical things, I’m going to miss that truck. For the entire duration of the trip, it never let me down. It carried me and the camper up and down mountains, across small streams and through crowded streets. When I was in an unfamiliar place, it was always reassuring to get into the cab. It was solid.

I thought it would be a burden when I got home though. It’s a bit beastly for an urban commuter vehicle. Hard on gas and a bus to try to park. But then winter came, and it showed it’s worth again. I busted through snowbanks, breezed over rough, icy terrain, even towed someone out of a tough spot. Again, it was reassuring.

And so while I don’t have a buyer yet, and despite how good it felt to not only get rid of stuff but to let go my attachment to stuff, I’m going to miss that truck when it finally leaves.

wes

Photos

I don't have any photos of adventures this week, so I took one of Arthur in the dog park, looking handsome as usual.

I also included a couple of pictures of a side project I'm working on. I'm fixing up an old chair. The first is the original state of the chair. The second picture is the chair disassembled and stripped of paint. The third is the pieces sanded. Will update as I move through the steps.