Ok, so I have some great news.  Fantastic news, even.

A couple of things.

#1---I am writing again.  And, friends, that is just...well, it makes you feel all warm and special on the inside.  As a few of you have told me, you miss my blogs.  Well, frankly, I do, too.

Because I still have all of my daily thoughts...but I am left to keep 'em in my head.  And that is never fun.  I don't get any feedback, and I don't get to share fun stories that happen to me!

Like when I fell on the ice.  Like when a girl thinks I'm stalking her but acts all happy when I'm around and doesn't tell me.  Like when I decided that three weeks is more than enough for me back at "home"...

What?!

Oh, right, that leads to # b.

#b--I'm gearin' up for a roadtrip.  Yeah, yeah, I know, I've been on numerous roadtrips already.  So maybe I've driven across the country a few times (48 states!!!).  Springfield to Boston and back, Springfield to Florida and back,  Springfield to Oregon and back, Springfield to California and back...of course, insert the fantastic trips of Texas (can't tell ya about that one!), Texas again (hello, Officer!), Mississippi (a couple of times!), and on and on and on.  I've even forgotten quite a bit, I'm sure.

Well, I LOVED every single trip.  And I'm itchin' again.  But this time it's a bit different...

You see, this time I am takin' advantage of...

1.  Free time.  I've got it.  I have no job, I'm waiting around for surgery, and mi padre recently commanded me to stop tearin' down his house (I decided to renovate my parents' house without really asking...haha).  So as it stands, at the end of the week, my work is done here.  (But can I just say what a beautiful kitchen and dining room they will have?!).

2.  No real connections.  I've been back for three weeks, and I've been keepin' busy.  Really, I have.  I've redone a kitchen, mostly redone a dining room, I play 2 indoor soccer games each week, I hit up the Tuesday "Taste of the Town" (a different restaurant each week), and I've managed to be a Best Man, fix a generator, start flight training, buy and sell seven computers, sell a motorcycle, and eat out at Buffalo Wild Wings and other restaurants numerous times.  Not too shabby for 22 days of work.  But I don't really have the solid friends that I'm lookin' for.  It's one of the things that propelled me to go on my trek through Europe, and not much has changed since I've been back...so without any real roots, I'm very much able to "uproot" and leave!

3.  A pretty sweet set-up.  Ok, here's the deal.  I love craigslist.  I do.  I've used it to sell stuff, I've used it to buy stuff (remember that time in 2004 when I sold my car in Boston, packed up everything I owned out there and mailed it all home in big boxes,  and bought a motorcycle to drive home 1100 miles???  Yeah, that was craigslist, my first taste of the sweet deliciousness that it is).  Well, it turns out that they also have rideshare on there.  More or less, people look for "travel buddies" to split gas costs and driving time as they take trips ranging from in-state to across country.  I don't think anything could line up any better with what I am lookin' for.  My favorite food has been served to me on a silver platter!  A chance to drive across our beautiful country, a chance to hit the open road, a chance to meet someone and share and receive countless stories, a chance to think again, a chance to be myself doin' what I love!  Can ya tell I'm excited?!

So here's the deal.  I've posted my specs.  And I'm lookin' for a ride to who knows where.  I really don't care.  It may be Maine (cold), it may be Texas (I heart Texas), and it may be California (um, yes).  Or it may be Podunkville, Oklahoma.  I don't know!  And it may be a student tryin' to get home for the holidays, a businessman on an important trip, or a wandering nomad searching for answers.  I don't know that, either!

And that's the beauty of it all.  So as it stands now, I should leave sometime within the next week, drive to somewhere in our vast land, and then try to find a way to get back before Christmas.

Sounds exhiliarating.

And then after surgery, I'll probably try to do that a couple more times.  I mean, if I'm goin' to have to sit around, I might as well do it while watchin' scenery pass by at 65 mph, right?  (I'm reminded of the time when I woke up from my morphine the day of my hand surgery to my best friend callin' me to say that Scotty and Fiddy were in town...within minutes, I was on the road, avoiding taking any more medications because it told me not to operate heavy machinery with 'em [a Buick Century counts, right?!].  In just one day, I had driven to Nebraska).

It's time.

I'll keep ya posted.