USA: a final review...

Here are some pictures that I didn't include in the previous posts, some of them were taken by Danny Blanchard (he took the bottom three pictures and if he wants credit, should post his website in the comments).
So I'm leaving for Costa Rica on Monday night, and I don't know a lot of things about what will happen there. I might not be able to get internet with my computer, which would mean that I can't post pictures very easily. So I figure a recap from here is a good idea. Also, I looked over the comments from the entire blog, and I found that I really appreciate comments. So if you read this blog, tell me what you like or find missing, and I'll try to make it happen. You can email me at christian.d.lloyd@gmail.com, or post a comment.

So, to recap:
I started this journey as a way of trying to extract my life from the bustle of society, sort of a way of living deliberately. I saw Sarah Plants pass away and I realized that I too would follow, and soon, and unless I did something about it, I could easily pass the rest of my days unhappy. So I left the workplace in search of my freedom. The easiest way to gain freedom from society is to go on a boat. Immediately things are different. The earth is no longer a stable friend, but you must fight for your balance against the wind. People are distant, perhaps seen, but not easily heard or spoken to. There is no traffic like you see on land, and the rules are like the rules of the schoolyard, without the duty on call. Big wins, little loses. Big with guns wins even more.
Pretty soon I realized that this freedom was essential to my life, but I wanted to see the country, so I moved into the Smurf Rocket and began my road trip journey. There is so much to see in the United States that I would like to do this again. For example, the desert has a way of showing me beauty that opens my mind up. It might be the high desert, and that the air is thinner, but everything seems so much clearer up there. I look at a cactus and I see a brave spirit flourishing in the wasteland. What is it about the places that hate mankind, that make me love them? Space, the desert, the top of mountians, the open sea, underwater...
So my mind became very clear at the top of Santa Fe Baldy, up at 12000 ft in the middle of the desert. When life becomes a task of surviving, the important things step forward.
I made it to California, where life is easy and summertime never goes far away, and I've been resting. The hard points of life seem a ways distant. So it is time to challenge myself again. This time, I will be going to a different country, and though it always seems like borders are purely imaginary, they hold great consequence. Language will be a big challenge, cultures will be different, and I will be forced to adapt. If I get into trouble, I'll probably be unaware of how much trouble I am in.
But at the same time, I go to relax. I go with no set plan, and no purpose (besides surfing and learning).
It seems, though, that my nature has not changed, since the beginning. I am a creature of my surroundings. When life is tough, I get going, and when life is easy, I sit. I will eventually rejoin society, and though I am not sure of what role I will play, I am sure that things will be easy. When that happens, I wonder if I will hold on to the spirit of adventure, or if all of it will fade to memory.