I journeyed to the west over a period of time between December 2013 and January 2015. A rough timeline:

  • Visited my compadre in San Francisco for a week over new year's. This was because due to mutual agreement, I would visit him since he had visited me in Akron the new year's prior.
  • Flew out to visit him for another week in May
  • Got laid off
  • Ran out of money
  • Ejected to San Francisco to find a job
  • Hackerspaced around a bit while surfing on whuffie
  • Started hacking for an open source startup in the new age fintech
  • Drove my car across the country
  • Rode a train back
  • Kept going into another strange land
  • Realized that for the first time, I was coming back from Europe at a place that wasn't CAK.

And thats pretty much where I'm at right now.

The people out here are very welcoming. Some amazing relationships have blossomed from this journey. An incredibly good decision was made.

For my next trick, I'm going to move all the rest of my things out here and settle in to change the world. I'm finding my place in the world again and I want to be ready for whats next.

This journey taught me quite a lot. I can totally drive across the country in three days. And its a blast. Crossing an entire continent by car with a cat and some of the worldy possessions that I hold closest.

I also learned a lot about myself. In the process of moving, I shed much of the weight of previous relationships. People who were important to me drifted away and are now reduced to casual observations. The role they have played in my life for numerous years has all but dwindled. Not lost, not forgotten, but not around.

In their absence I have grown and learned and become more than I thought I could be.

Funny how that works.