Day 0 — I Need a Vacation

i’ve been employed for a little over a year now, and i’ve barely used any of my PTO (one of many acronyms i’ve had to grow accustomed to over the past 13 months), so i’m going on a trip.  2 weeks. something like 4500 miles.  twin cities.  glacier.  yellowstone.  tetons.  bryce canyon.  canyonlands.  arches.  rocky mountain national park.

and about a million pictures.

i have to confess i don’t really have many plans for this trip.  all i know is that i’m going to drive a lot and enjoy the company of my thoughts and a few good books.  my good friend keegan will be joining me for the first few days, but after that it’ll just be me and my surroundings.  i don’t really know how that’s going to feel.  i’ve been on my own before, but rarely have i had an extended period of time where i’ve drifted through the world without any face to face contact with friends or family.  i’m looking forward to it.

i’ve never read kerouac’s the road  (maybe i should pick up a copy for the trip), but i’ve read zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance  and i assume there’s some overlap.  i anticipate this whole just-me-and-the-road thing will have some sort of spiritual component to it, and i can’t wait.  i’ve been trying to get back into mindfulness and whatnot lately, and maybe this will help.  at the very least, it’ll help with my overall happiness.  when you don’t have control over your work and feel that most of it is pretty mindless and repetitive, you start to slip into this downward spiral of bitterness and frustration.  i expect mindfulness and time off to help significantly in getting me out of this spiral.

views like this won’t hurt, either: