Last Words

After writing up a draft on the plane bound for Portland following my last entry full of elegant, poetic prose and deep thoughts, I've decided to scrap it and it's come to this: I don't want to go to school! All the adventure, the change, the feeling that the world holds so many interesting and wonderful secrets, it's frankly quite hard to come back to the same house, the same city, the same position. But I should start from where I left off.

Dallion picked me up from the airport and we experienced a strangely awkward hour or so, laughing every time we looked at each other just at the absurdity of our closeness and unfamiliarity, we spent two days in the Portland heat wave, hard put to even find a bar that was open. The next few days was farm time, and during which I realized that a) I really want to try a rural/creative life there and b) I'm going to start a pie-making company called Pooney's Pies, and c) goat's milk can be really tasty. So many good things in such a short amount of time! Takilma (the area Dallion was staying in) is awesome and lovely- good people, good place. And we still have yet to check out Happy Camp, a similar town closeby on the California side.

We took off from Oregon with a fellow traveler- Jim Barile, friend and long-time roommate of Dallion's dad, and his annoyingly fluffy white cute dog Charlie. Charlie could perhaps be described as one of those beautiful people who are just never left alone- it seemed we couldn't walk two feet without Jim getting stopped by some cooing girl to ask the same old run of questions about his little Soft-haired Wheaton Terrier. We went to Glacier, stayed with Mateo (Dallion's friend) and his family at their lakehouse on Flathead Lake, and spent a good amount of time in the small white rich town of Whitefish right during the huckleberry festival, so we got our fill of huckleberry this and that (including delicious beer!) From there we spent questing for a Taco John's -the flavor of West-Mex- with no luck, stopped in a gorgeous natural area near Missoula where we climbed a mountain and bathed in the ice-cold stream and once again, got lucky and didn't get caught sleeping in the back of the Albatross (Dallion's truck). Thank you, Great Spirit!

The next couple of days were spent at the Grand Tetons- truly a grand place, though we had very little time to hike due to our general exhaustion and inability to get out of bed (which has continued for me), and to top it all off, it seemed that things were awry on the homefront, so we booked it back to Austin, driving late nights and early mornings to get back and clean up all the shit that hit the fan.

It's not as bad as expected, but it's still requiring a bit of elbow grease to clean up and some things just cannot be solved. I need to keep my head above water until I say goodbye once and for all to Austin and school and hope for the best for the things I cannot change. After all the excitement and wonders and challenges of traveling and Mexico I'm ready for a break, for things to be quiet and settled, but the world keeps on spinning and life keeps on spinning with it. But perhaps one day soon I'll have a little shack in the country with a goat and pie company and garden, and maybe even a horse (I still think of Chestnut everyday!) With that, though, will I really be happy? Or does discontent come from some other place besides your surroundings? Will I feel tied down? Bored? Only time will tell, and until then I'm going to milk everything, including my goat, for all it's worth. And perhaps my memories and dreams will be the lifesavers I need to keep afloat, along with the wonderful people I'm so grateful to have in my life and without whom I don't know who or what or where I'd be.

Love to all and happy trails!

Allison