Thursday, January 14, 2010

Now Available...


An American Walkabout is now available online through lulu.com. The book is 5.5" x 8.5" with a full color cover. The price is $8.50 for the paperback and $5.25 for a PDF download.

If you live in the area, I'd be more than happy to autograph your copy if you purchase the paperback.

The book contains the entire story of my trip, including all the stories that I never posted on this blog. I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/an-american-walkabout/8161292

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Adjusting to "Normal" Life

I'm finding it difficult to get back into the swing of routine life. As soon as I returned to SW Louisiana, I started getting frequent headaches again. It's the air. It has to be. I've had a constant headache for three days now, and I get about four or five a week. I also have to take melatonin to sleep. It's too loud at night, and the noises are all wrong. I can't hear the trucks driving above me on an overpass. I can't hear crickets in the middle of the woods. I can't hear that silence that's so complete that it's consuming. Instead I hear the hum of electricity in the walls and powerlines outside and the traffic in the distance. I hear dogs barking.

I keep trying to hitch from Sulphur to Lake Charles, but each time I do, someone I know comes along and gives me a ride. My money is running out because "normal" life is expensive and if you want to do anything, you have to pay for it. Living on the streets was so much easier and cheaper. Life was so much simpler.

I'm looking for a job because I need money. Money will allow me to move to North Carolina where I can set up a new life and get into new adventures. There's literally millions of acres of national forest in that state, and I need to live there in order to explore it properly. And once I get there, I can start saving money for the next adventure.

I'm going to canoe the Mississippi River from the headwaters at Lake Itasca, Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. It's not some dream I cooked up that I'll talk about. I'm going to do it. It's my next adventure. I just need to get the hang of routine life again for a little while. Then I can take off again for a few months and try not to drown.

Now, if I can only get over my fear of water...