My life is changing, tomorrow starts my solo adventure

enjoy
be kind

those are 2 really simple things you can propose to do, as a challenge, an experiment, or whatever, that have, a HUGE impact on your persona and in the treat you will be given while meeting others on your journey.

@brandonphillips, I’ve thought about doing the same thing. I literally had all my stuff in my car to do that very thing and then lost my nerve!!! What brought about this decision? Good luck. :)

You should leave your car behind and go on foot, you can adventure much better that way. Just fill a backpack full of stuff take a wad of money, get some camping supplies and go! I do this sometimes but just for a few days.

@brandonphillips, AWESOME buddy, very awesome. I admire the bravery!!! This will surely define a new beginning for you.

I’m not some fortune teller… but be very careful with the “I’m there” part. You will be there on your path, and it will be amazing, please enjoy it without expecting something at the end, there is nothing to arrive at, only travel towards. Props, wherever you end up you are doing something great. Best of luck!

@brandonphillips, COUCHSURFING! I don’t know where you’re coming from or where you’re heading but I’ve done couchsurfing numerous times and every time it has been amazing, you get to meet awesome people and you get a place to stay and you get to share experiences with random people whose only connection with you is the fact that you are staying on their couch for the night. If you have access to internet or something, maybe you could set up a few people in some cities to stay at while your travelling around.

@dobbyfisher, ha yeah I just saw that recently actually. Just got on again when I came back to Germany.

yeah, bring a back pack, when you find woods or wilderness that looks likes no one has been there for years, park, get out, and just walk for a few minutes… maybe an hour.

soak it all up.

I did that actually. But it was behind the steering wheel of an 18 wheeler. I have in fact set foot in every one of the lower 48 contiguous states. I met all kinds of people and fell in and out of love. I was arrested for violations of Mankinds laws and I at times failed to abide by Gods laws. At other times I fed the homeless and defended the weak. And I’ve had the experience of waking up at 4AM and finding myself at the controls of a 40 ton tractor trailer with a concrete bridge abuttment coming down the medial strip at me about 70 MPH. I’ve seen dead babies and survived an earthquake. I got chased out of an Indian bar in Flagstaff, Arizona one night at the point of a knife. And I now know that though I didn’t know it at the time, my wanderlust would be the basis for what I am today. Someone that has come to uderstand that the concept of the existence of the human race is a continuing learning process and that the people that you run into along the way that know everything are the ones you should run like hell from.
We are not a human being having a spiritual experience here but a spiritual being having a human experience.
Advice? GO 4 IT!
And on the subject of journeys? Best thing I could throw at you would be a little ditty from the Buddhist Zen I ran into during my spiritual ramblings; (author unknown)
Once upon a time there was a young man who wished to understand the meaning of enlightment. He therefore undertook to climb the mountain of enlightment. Halfway up the mountain he ran into an old man that was on the way back down. The old man was all bent over because he carried a big heavy sack on his back.
The young man shouted over at the old man, He said Old Man, Old Man I wish to understand the meaning of enlightment. Since you have been to the top of the mountain perhaps you can help me!
The old man hesitated, and then he stopped, slowly stood up and slid the sack off of his back. He stretched and then with a great sigh of relief he looked at the young man and said, Do you understand?
The young man thought for a moment and the he said, Ah yes! Yes I do. Well then perhaps you can tell me what comes after enlightenment?
The old man frowned, he bent over picked up the sack, put it on his back and headed off down the mountain.

God Speed Brandon. Go find “there”. Surprisingy “there” ended up being right here where I started at as I long ago returned to my home area got remarried and settled down. However I find myself at odds with those that I left behind and I feel pity for those those that never had the guts to explore their wanderlust. I understand that that something that woke me up on that night when I drifted into the medial strip is the force that exists in this universe that has a greater plan that I now follow and do my best to inspire and enlighten them. And that “there” is a place where you go in your mind. And that I had to go “here and there” to gain the experiences that got me “here”.
And north? Sound’s like that old spiritual self has a direction in mind. But realize that you may need to go north just to run into someone that informs you that you need to go west. Or east. Or south. Or up or down. And the women? I partied with a senator’s daughter one night in Green Bay, Wisconsin. I danced with the girls in Texas. And I took a waitress home in Florida that fucked my brains out. And woke up in the morning and did it agian. I did my damdest to get a load back to that town to continue this great love that I was suuurrreee was what I had been looking for all of my life and was going to fullfill all my dreams. When I finally did a month later I found that she had in fact moved on and left no forwarding address. And there went my heart all over the pavement. But I had to suffer the pain to be able to appreciate the pleasure I have now. But just between you and me there is this thing called hormones?
In the Buddhist story the old man lets his physical actions answer the spiritual questions the young man is asking. (HHHMMMMMM I wonder if that’s what you and I should do?) To answer the question about enlightenment he lowers the sack to show that enlightenment is load of of your shoulders. When you come to understand something you no longer worry about it. To show what comes after enlightenment he shoulders the load and heads toward the valley to spread his acquired wisdom to the rest of the human race and inspire them to climb their own mountains. The point of the story is that it is our resonsibility to do so and in fact that is the enlightenment that the young man is seeking in the first place.
Tally Ho! And remember. Not all who wander are lost!

@brandonphillips, “The only Zen you find on tops of mountains is the Zen you bring there”
Robert M. Pirsig