The theme of today has been letting go. For a while yesterday I was in a bit of a frenzy realizing I really only had that day to enjoy the Olympic Peninsula before the rain would come and I’d need to be southbound. I felt a bit overwhelmed by the need to see as much as possible before then. After all, when would I ever tour here via motorcycle again? (Well, hopefully I will again someday, but it’s certainly a rarity.)
I woke this morning with the intention of getting out of camp quickly so I could spend some time in La Push to chill and read my book for a couple hours. I’ve been wanting to take some time for this all trip. I only had about four hours of riding planned for the day, so this seemed feasible.
But when I went to go check and see if there was coffee in the communal pot, I saw Zoftan chilling at the table and just had to chat with him some more. With my titanium jug of coffee in hand, we ended up talking for a good part of the morning, and I’m glad I wasn’t in such a rush so as to miss that gem of a conversation.
There was too much material covered to wholly recollect in this post, and to respect his privacy I won’t share all the details here. But I come away with a few realizations. First was the marked difference in how labor is treated in the United Sates vs Romania. In Romania they don’t fire people because they were late a few times, for example. Sounds like a pretty cool place. We noted that unfortunately greed has a heavier hand in the states which results in a lot of heartless treatment of employees. But we also admitted that the states are a better place to acquire capital (which can be used for travel, of course).
I also found out that you can survive for multiple months on trail mix, protein bars, and blocks of cheese.
And lastly we discussed how so many vacations people take are ruined by over planning. You may have seven days to see fifteen different things and if you miss one how can you get to that one and then when will you see this one, or what if you forgot your wallet at the hotel… There’s a fragile chain that can be broken and ruin the experience when the itinerary is too strict. The unfortunate truth though, we discussed, is that the thin allotment of time off given at most jobs often invites this behavior. Because if I paid $1200 for this flight to Australia and only have ten days here, I’d better make that worth it. This is the concept with which I am currently wrestling and am hoping to learn how to better approach on this trip.
Even now I feel as if I’m wasting time writing instead of going out on the beach and watching the freighters pass. Maybe I am. But you can only do one thing at a time.
My campsite for the night was inaccessible. I booked it via Hipcamp only to find that the park they suggest walking in from does not allow overnight parking for such an activity.
Rob, the park host, helped me secure a campsite at the park itself, and was apologetic that I was double paying. This is something that I could see myself being annoyed by, as a professional penny pincher. But I actually don’t really care. I don’t even really care to leave a salty review on Hipcamp. Though I may try leave an informative one. The campsite I’m at now is phenomenal, right on the Columbia river.
I think the experience of sitting in the saddle and watching road and trees winding by all day has finally zenned me out to a point of better acceptance with letting go of these little inconveniences. You can only move forward with what you’ve got, and you can choose to enjoy this life or get pissed off by it. The former is a lot more pleasant at the moment.
Anyway, that’s all for today. Time to go watch some freighters pass by.
Miles Today: 218
Total Miles: 674
Camp: Vista Park, Skamokawa