Mile 0: escape velocity

It's amazing how many odds and ends accumulate when you stay somewhere for even a brief time. I spent a big chunk of the morning corralling little bits of my life and stowing them in an organized way in the back. I determined not to travel the country with a car filled to overflowing with stuff like the Beverly Hillbillies. Better to start later in the day than regret it down the road.

I had decided that I wanted to leave from OB, both to say goodbye to my old neighborhood and to mark the start of my trip exactly at the coast. I got this wild hair to carry a bottle of ocean water from the Pacific to the Atlantic - I don't even know for sure what it signifies, but it seems to be something like bringing that essence with me as I travel, then releasing it when I get to where I'm going. So I gathered water, and said goodbye.



I brought the statue of the Amida Buddha from my altar along with me, as a kind of touchstone and also a subject for photos - traveling solo doesn't give you a lot of opportunities for portraits, and also I wanted to do little things with the Buddha like people do with stuffed animals as they travel.

One amusing thing that happened right at the start was that my Blackberry internet connection failed, which I was counting on to be my map. Would I have to buy a map, or trust road signs, or worst of all ask for directions? I took it as a sign (as I tend to do these days) not to worry and just trust that everything would work out. And so I just took off up the 15 freeway and settled in to the number 3 lane, trying to keep my speed below 70 as California drivers whipped around me on both sides.

Departure.