One Pair of Cowboy Boots & Two Suitcases

It is only a week since I shoved two suitcases, a pair of cowboy boots and an assortment of odds and ends into my car and headed out to meet the echoes of the future.

One week ago I missed a turn under the black desert night and spent thirty five minutes backtracking through the black desert night to find a cheap motel.

I managed to get about six hours of sleep that night, none of it consecutive or so it felt. Between my excitement about the adventure I had set out on, the trains that ran every half hour and the loud neighbors sleep didn’t come as easily I would have liked.

But that didn’t prevent me from getting an early start the next day, I had too much too do and no time to waste so I pushed on.

One Week Later

One week later I am firmly ensconced in my new short term home and have already put in a few days at the new office. One week later and I don’t need my GPS to get around the neighborhood I live in nor do I need it to find the office.

Some of that is because I made a point to do a test run before I started and some of it is because I made a point to focus on where I was going. Memories of a trip out here five years ago stuck with me.

That is because I relied on the GPS to get me around and it died…at midnight.

I was about 30 miles away from my hotel and desperate for sleep, so being lost wasn’t all that much fun that night.

Things Change

Five years later nothing has changed and everything has changed. Five years ago I thought about what it would be like to live here, but it obviously didn’t happen.

Now thought has turned into action and dreams of what could be have changed a little bit and I am learning what it means to be a resident and not a visitor.

I left a ton of stuff back in LA and to a certain extent am enjoying the freedom of not having it.

There is something nice about a minimalist life style. There are benefits to figuring out what you want and what you need.

Twenty-four Versus Forty-Four

The move has also made it clear how some of those wants and needs have changed. Twenty years ago I could drive all day and not notice the lack of lumbar support in my car seat.

Twenty years ago I wouldn’t have had much interest in finding a nice restaurant to stop at so that I could grab a cup coffee and enjoy a nice meal. Fast food and a Coke would have been perfectly fine with me.

And of course twenty years ago I wouldn’t have thought twice about trying to find a house in a good school district or paid any attention to whether a neighborhood was good for raising kids.

Those weren’t wants or needs, but that was then and this is now.