The day had come when we were finally going to face our complete incompetence head on and learn to fish. Bob had the day off so he agreed to take us out to show us the ropes. Waiting outside the gas station sipping our coffee we chatted up several more people before he arrived fifteen minutes after we got there. Soon enough we were heading out to find a suitable spot.
On our way we stopped into Litchfield to pick up some night crawlers at a store one of their high school friends owned. There was a display of handguns laid out in there which Todd took great notice of, but we managed to escape without purchase. We also managed to pick up some tips on where to go to avoid the new DNR guy so we wouldn't get busted for our unlicensed fishing endeavor. This avoidance was handy as well since we fished for an hour or so in a creek we could see the bottom of and never caught, nor saw, a fish that day.
Once we decided we'd gotten the hang of baiting hooks, casting lines, and sitting on bridges bullshitting we returned to Litchfield for a lunch at Kacy's. I actually really did enjoy that "just sitting there" style of fishing and I'm thinking it could prove quite useful further west as we head to thinner populated areas. Lunch was nice too, however, with warm food and bottomless coffee.
Bob dropped us off back at the softball field after lunch where Todd and I reclaimed my tree of the day before. We marinated ourselves in the shade for the rest of the afternoon with rest and relaxation. He napped while I wrote a little and started in on my new book, Starship Troopers. Once again, on cue, the softballers came marching back and Todd soon woke and wandered over to hang out with them. I was completely content writing at that point so I stayed under my tree until I was soon overwhelmed by the horde of frolicking youngsters encroaching steadily on my train of thought. One 8 year old in particular chose me to hide behind from his friends and it was overbearingly adorable when he whispered to me from his crouched position "nice hat". I soon joined Todd in women's softball watching.
Eddie had been umping that game, so when it ended had a beer with him after. I was hoping many of the cute players would be retiring to the bar as well. It was really great, however, talking to Eddie in that empty bar regardless. In fact, we ended up having a surprising conversation about spirituality that was incredibly insightful.
Soon Eddie had to head home which was when we ended up turning to the bartenders for chatter. Once again we found ourselves wrapped up in a full blown, engaging political discussion with the old dogs that had been getting Todd lit back in his 20's long, long, long ago. Before he hit 29 of course.
This, and much of the rest of all these happenings over the past week and a half, hit Todd squarely in the chest for our walk back to the gravel pit a mile away that night. In all my recent events both back in Mass and processing it to myself here in Michigan I was having my own revelations that night as well. For that mile back, and as we laid in for the night in the backyard of his decaying boyhood home in our bivys, a lot of new thought processes started coming together as we swapped insights.
For me, the main realization, that I'd been writing about under that tree, was that I think I may have finally found an answer to these dual lives I have. The answer had actually been handed to me by that psychic lady in Jersey of needing to blend my need for community and travel, not chose. When she told me that it seemed right, I just had no idea how, and now I think its hit me.
I'm going to butcher this, but I'll give it a shot regardless. I realized that as much as I enjoyed meeting all these folks I was getting burned out on all the people. I was getting burned out on being a guest continuously regardless of how welcome I was, and I was aching to sequester myself away in my bivy again, in my woods which now felt like home. However, I also was getting annoyed with the acknowledgment that we had unconsciously bound ourselves to both a traveling track, and us moving to where ever the other is moving to. Todd was looking at staying longer and longer in Hillsdale, and I was thinking more and more on going on without him. Splitting up the Fellowship as it were which left me with a feeling of being a deserter. Talking that out with him, though, it eased that feeling away into foolishness. After all, the main idea was that we were after free movement and following our instincts. It was restlessness pushing me onward regardless of his decisions, but that restlessness was born out of me needing to move forward after three weeks there. It definitely did not seem right for me to be there in July.
This notion of getting out of our travel track mode also lead me into thinking of my usual reasons for settling down again. I settle down because I miss my friends while off being "the intrepid adventurer". I set off and travel soon after because I get tired of going to work everyday accomplishing nothing but paying my bills each month in a timely fashion. I go to work to pay the rent, and I pay rent to have a house to "be stable" in. This was my train of thinking, but what I realized was I don't need to pay rent to be stable. I don't even need to choose a city to live in.
My dilemma is that I have too many friends strewn about the country, and even a few abroad that I care deeply for and would love to see regularly. Having a day to day job prevents that because with time off comes less pay and less pay means not making rent. If rent is lessened to $54 for a storage unit and I live around town in a bivy, then I can live where ever I want and move to where I want to be when ever I want. Day work would easily cover expenses then, and hopefully I could sell photographs out of galleries in various towns as well.
With this notion I realized I could be in the various towns my friends are in with a fair amount of regularity. After all, many of my customers in shops over the years have been living in two or more cities and I saw them as definitely as regulars and part of the community. So there you go, that has been my latest big idea that I'm all giddy on trying out.
We spent the night laying out talking this idea over. It agreed with us both, the next question is to see if our heads get it.
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