Hey everyone. :) I'm sorry it took so very long for me to write another post. I have had a lot going on lately and staying in my mom's house in Missouri Valley is definitely distracting. So, a few weeks ago, I actually ended up going to Des Moines.
You're probably wondering why in the heck I went to Des Moines which is about 130 miles away. I'll tell you, it was an amazing time. I originally went to go to a Rainbow Gathering. I know some of you probably don't know what it is. I only recently found out. It's actually a place where people who are travelers or peace lovers go to get out of society for a few days. It sounds pretty amazing to me honestly.
Okay, well now that the explanation is done, I'll tell you, the one I was going to actually go to is in Oklahoma. I was planning on going with about 4 other people (hopefully) and just backpack or go on a car ride all the way there. Two of us had it all planned out for the most part. We didn't plan everything but we planned enough to get us there in time. It was just going to be a group of people traveling to unknown territory a few states down. While the planning process was going on and we were getting ready to leave, I was staying with a couple of people in a cabin. In the middle of nowhere, no running water, no electricity only well water. Well water, beans and rice I guess actually. It was probably the most fun I've ever had in my entire life. We were living off the land. We were living off grid because the cell towers didn't reach out there. There was no electricity to charge phones anyway. We were 20 minutes away from the nearest town. It was definitely a scary thought to begin with. Seriously? In the middle of nowhere with random people I had no idea who they were. I didn't know if they were luring me there to do something to me. I've seen so many movies that people run into the middle of nowhere and there's that one cabin. Then you're immediately thinking to yourself; "Dang, this kid is stupid if he goes in there." I don't know what I expected. I definitely didn't expect to be welcomed with open arms and supported for the entire week until we left. I certainly didn't expect to go around the worse off parts of town and literally see what life might be like living homeless. It wasn't as terrible as I thought it might be. I honestly had a good time doing all of the things I really wouldn't do normally. I met about 6 people in a day and loved it!
I certainly didn't expect a few more things either lol. Like the fact that when I had been there for a week everyone backed out. It was the day before we were actually supposed to be leaving and everyone except myself backed out. Yet, I knew that if it would have been only myself, I don't know how difficult it would be to keep myself going just backpacking all the way to Oklahoma which ended up being our plan. It was to try to walk about 15 to 20 miles a day. About 10 the first few days then beef it up a lot to get there on time. It was an excellent plan except for one small detail. Everyone hadn't honestly done all of that walking in a long time. No one really wanted to but me. I knew for a fact that actually walking would take absolutely forever. I knew that hitchhiking would become something that I may get very familiar with. Walking 550 miles in a month and a half? That's hard work. It's not something that could get done by people who haven't walked that much in their lives. I wish we could have went but after everyone backed out, I just didn't think that it would be near as much fun. So, I came home.
I had no idea what was waiting for me at home either. I was welcomed back like I'd been gone for months instead of a week haha. I was so overwhelmed by the food! That's what I missed the most I think the whole time. XD The sweets and bad stuff for you. I ate so little for a week and then came back and pigged out a bit. If you've ever been away from the average every day american food life, you know that it's bad when you get back. I fell in love with my step-mom's enchiladas again lol.
I guess it was an amazing experience honestly. It taught me that trusting your gut and other people, you can be very pleasantly surprised. I sure was! The easy life that you have to pay 10 dollars a year on property taxes is the one I want to grow old on. I also learned that coming home can also be the second best feeling in the world. In second only to actually leaving. Throwing it all to the wind on a joyous hope that your travel itch will be scratched. I got a partial scratching. Right now though, I'm going to save up for a travel that will be big. That will be the real start of my adventure. I'm going to save up 14,000 to go on a year-long or more adventure. If I get to budgeting my money well enough, I may be able to make it last more than that and be a few year adventure. Who knows? Maybe I could make it permanent! Get a job on the road and get my name out there.
Anyone else have things like this happen to them? Do share please. I'd love to hear from you if you're traveling now and have some advice or even want to talk about anything. Or possibly meet up anytime? Anything you want to talk about go ahead I'm here. :)
