Journal Entry, October 2, 2007 8:30pm

"On foot, in a van, on a fleet motorcycle or on a bicycle, a person must be very careful not to become overly concerned with arriving." --Peter Jenkins, A Walk Across America

At night the silence is as massive as the mountain. The vault of stars above in the very black sky both surprises and enchants me--I see so few stars at home in New York.

Home? Is it? Will it be again? Though this journey has just begun I cannot help but think of where I will find myself at its end. Truth be told I´ve been thinking of the future long before this present even began--such is my way. Cursed or blessed, it is who I am and how I think.

I did cry today. Not over some emotional break-through or -down, but by reading that damn book my Mom sent me off with!! Needless to say, it's engaging, enthralling even. I´ve read over 800 pages in 3 days. This speaks not only to the greatness of the book, but to how much time I have, suddenly, on my hands. I can't help but feel guilty as each chapter ends and I plunge into the next. Shouldn't I be doing something? Like figuring out my life, for one? It's too soon, I suppose, for that kind of thing. I need to let these wide open spaces (spaces I asked for) engulf me for a bit, consume me both mentally and physically for awhile. It seems I have a harder time living in the moment than I'd like to admit . And like I said, cursed or blessed, it's the only way I know how to be, and I can only hope that this is a good thing, or at least that it will be in the end, when the trip is over and I return home, wherever that may be.