West Coast Toe

West Coast Toe

I started the Tour Life blog at the beginning of our first ever trip out west. The idea for myself was that I had been dreaming of touring the country since I was in 10^th grade, flush with the confluence of seeing Springsteen for the first time and reading “Travels with Charley,” and I thought that maybe other people might be wondering what it’s like to become this weird travelling carny show traversing the country. It became more meaningful for me when I realized that if I didn’t have something I had to do, in other words not just parsing out the mazes in Yes and Know books, but something I felt I had to stay on top of for the long-ass drives in the west, I would crawl out of my skin and beat my brains out with the flappy, cellulite flecked hide. I can do 4 or 5 hours napping and searching for ingrown hairs, but after that I need something to do.

This is our second trip though, and not the undiscovered country the last one was. There’s got to be a reason beyond staving off boredom to write it though, or else it becomes like a teenager masturbating. Sure it’s better than not masturbating but becomes rather desultory after awhile. The question I guess I still have is whether the costs are worth it. I love pretty much everything about it and ultimately this is the fulfillment of a dream going back to 10^th grade, but it’s a weird concept. It’s phenomenally disruptive to not just ours, but our families lives. I am going to spend almost every single moment with five people who at some stage of the trip will fervently hate me, and vice versa. We will return so exhausted that it will take weeks in a zombie like state of dislocation and exhaustion before we feel healthy again. So I guess I’m just curious to keep that line between the joys and adventures of this form of travel and the price you pay to attain it firmly in my peripheral vision. I think it’s probably like looking at a nebula through a telescope. I guess we’ll see.