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I suppose in a way my travels have already begun.
I left San Deigo on the 3rd of June. I slept in a number of rest stops, an almond orchard, and Yosemite Nat'l Park on my journey to Oregon. My car, having topped (at last estimate) 396,000 miles, made it without any (at least any unusual) problems. All of my belongings fit nicely inside since I recently donated over half of them to the Salvation Army. I arrived at my home in Oregon June 5th, about 10:30pm... I was ready to be home. The time from then until my sister's wedding June 16th is being spent preparing for my journey to Europe. I've ripped up numerous guidebooks (literally), bought socks and antidiarrheal medicines, gotten multiple shots for immunization, am attempting to learn French, and run around like a crazed snail building his backpacking home. I've packed my pack with nearly everything I will be taking, including a one-man tent, sleeping bag, and pad, as well as clothing, and it weighs in at about 30lbs. Not too bad. So far I've carried it about 9 miles, adjusting straps all along the way. It's not too bad, really, and I'm sure I'll get used to it. In fact, I plan to hike regularly here so that I will have one less shock to deal with when I reach London. For those of you who don't know, my plan is simple... It mosly consists of not having a plan. What plan there is goes like this: I'll leave Oregon after the wedding, most likely that Monday, June 19th. From here I will hitchhike/walk/crawl/swim to Fresno and Hume Lake where I will be attending the wedding of my friends Kenny and Jenny from San Diego. I will then fly from Fresno to London by the shortest route, probably via LAX and Chicago, where I would like to layover for a couple days, as I've never been there. Eventually arriving in London, I plan to stay only long enough to adjust to the new time and mad Londoners, and then I'm on my way to France. I may go through France to Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, or straight to Belgium, Germany, maybe Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Czech, and Italy. Those are the countries I hope to visit, although plans are subject to change without notice to even me. I do have a friend in southern Germany whom I plan to visit. I will also be visiting my friend in Switzerland, probably on August 1st, as that is their national holiday. I'm scheduled to be at L'Abri in western Switzerland from August 15th through the end of the month. Other than that, and probably including that, I will go where the seat of my pants leads me. I'm not sure when I will return -- although I have a limited amount of money, I wouldn't mind supplementing it along the route. Most likely I will return in October or November... but who knows. I'm open to anything right now. The trip should include minimum expenses since I plan to camp in campgrounds, hitchhike with locals, and bargain at markets. I am not going in order to see the sights or get away. I'm especially not going in order to spend money. I am going to learn. I am going to learn from people who have lived in the same places for thousands of years more than our country has existed. I am going to discover why they believe as they believe and think as they think (and what exactly it is that they believe and think!). I am hoping to learn what is a European, an atheist, a skeptic, a hedonist, a Muslim, a cynic, and a Christian. I am going to test what I believe is the Truth against everything I can find. True Truth will stand any test, and so I hope to find what really is the Truth of the Matter. I hope you enjoy joining me. -Dustin |