My Nomad Journey – Week 2

This post is part of the “My Life Off the Comma” series about my Nomad journey. If you haven’t read my earlier posts, I strongly recommend you go back upstream and read these earlier reflections, so that this post will make more sense for you.

Buckle up! This might be a long post this week. By the way, there might be pictures throughout, but be sure to go to the bottom for a gallery of photos.

Greetings from the road! It’s now been 2 weeks since I left home and have been enjoying the generosity and company of some long-time friends and loved ones over the past 2 weeks. I’ve not only been able to explore old stomping grounds and catch up with people I care about, but I’ve also been able to settle into new work routines and prove that I can be just as productive a worker from someone’s guest room or a coffee shop as I can be from my own desk. Caveat: this is due to the nature of the work I do. I sure do respect the HELL out of all of the people out there who are patient, customer, client, public-facing and have to “be there” to do the job. I know that’s hard work (from my own experience) and that it is especially trying at times of year like this. I appreciate you!

This week also brought some unexpected “fun”(?) along the way. I’m a little bit poorer after this week and, yet, I rolled with the punches and did what needed to be done. This is in large part because of how deeply “aligned” i’m feeling with my journey right now. I know that even though these things are a hassle, it’s ultimately because I’ve chosen this path and these are the kinds of things that come with life on the road and using my car in this way.

Okay, so here we go again! Once again, I’ll break this up into “What I did”, “What I learned” and “What’s next”. I hope the bullet points are okay to follow. 😁

Here’s what I did this week:

• I left Phoenix on a Saturday and drove to San Antonio. However, since this is all about exploration and adventure, I broke the drive up with a low cost motel in El Paso for a night. (More on that later.) Rather than drive I-10, the more common route out of Phoenix, I chose the scenic route out Hwy 60 east, which takes you through the Queen Creek pass, quite a few mountains and the San Carlos indigenous reservation. The scenery was beautiful and the traffic was light. I enjoyed seeing a road that I hadn’t previously seen and stopped a couple of times to take pictures of the scenery. I really enjoy these drives and it’s something that I enjoy doing alone. It gets me into my mind/heart and I’m really able to absorb what I’m seeing and feeling about the land outside my car windows. Overall, it was a sunny late Fall day with lots to see and long stretches of desert road to reflect and just “be” with myself.
• Upon arrival in El Paso, a friend had told me to check out the scenic viewpoint above downtown and University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). I’ve been to El Paso before and driven through many times, but never really explored. The drive takes you to a low mountain landing that gives you a 180+ degree view out over El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. Quite stunning. I love anything that gets me up into the heights and lets me look out at vistas and views. This was no exception. I was also taken by how much dust was blowing in this part of the country(ies). Granted, this is all desert areas, but it was also breezy. You can see for miles in many places and see how the dust blows out over the horizon and across parts of the US and Mexico.
• From there, I checked into my motel. I’m not really about the glamorous life, and neither is my wallet. For these drives where I’m really only stopping for a few hours, I’m staying at the $60/night spots. Clean, safe, but not fancy at all. For El Paso, I decided to experiment with a $40/night spot. The location was convenient and the room was clean and did the trick. I had to laugh, though, when the hotel had a desk, but NO chair. “So this is where we’re at!” I could tell that this hotel served the needs of lots of people and I know there were many folks there who were grateful to have a place to stay at a price they could afford. Staying in these places keeps my ego and my judgments in serious check!!!
• Okay, now for the exciting stuff. I promise not to go day-by-day for a whole week. I left El Paso on Sunday morning, headed for San Antonio and my week with a good friend. (Remember: I’m keeping friends’ names anonymous on here until/unless they want to be mentioned.) If you’ve ever driven I-10 through West Texas, you know that there are long stretches of desert, mountains and mesas, but not very many cities or towns. For this reason, the speed limits are typically 80mph. Nice! Who doesn’t love an Autobahn-style drive through the remote parts of Texas. The problem with that is, when you get a small piece of gravel kicked up from another car’s tires, it’s like a bullet! My “bullet” happened Just about an hour or two outside of El Paso. First one tiny rock, no damage. About 20 seconds later a second rock and “bam!”, I had a starburst the size of a small dinner plate across my passenger side window, with cracks running top to bottom of the glass. Fortunately it was all intact and I was able to continue driving with it. I stopped to take pictures, document the situation and get everything ready for my insurance company when I got to San Antonio. When telling the story to a store clerk a few miles later, she said she had gone through 2 windshields this year alone! I was pretty proud of myself. Old Paul would have lost his mind and gotten dramatic and victimy. Today’s Paul saw it as one of the things that are going to be part of driving and touring the way that I am.
• Okay, San Antonio next! I got to SA safely and spent a lovely week with my friend and her family and two sweet (but not small) dogs. We had a great time catching up, gossiping about old times and doing some things together for meals. Mostly, it was an average week for us both. We were both working and had client appointments, etc. She was generous to set me up with a desk in the guest room and sometimes we both worked at the dining room table together. I was so appreciative of the time and hospitality. Most nights we just talked on the couch. A couple of nights we watched a little bit of TV and talked too. Both of us with our wine, even if mine happened to be alcohol free!
• Now let’s talk about the car… For the windshield, I was able to get an appointment booked for the glass repair folks to come to the house and replace the windshield in the driveway. Thanks to insurance, no deductible or out of pocket. However, when the day came, it was raining. No place covered or dry to do the repair. I spent some time trying to find a parking garage or other covered place to meet the tech. Meanwhile, he wanted to come early, which wasn’t going to work because I had moved client calls to get them done sooner in the day specifically for this repair. After a lot of juggling, moving the appointment time and calls back and forth, I decided to take it into the shop instead. Booked that for the next day. Also with the car, when I left Sacramento, I had noticed a slight wobble in the steering wheel. Very, very subtle. If you’re like me and grew up without money, you probably drove a lot of really sketchy cars like me. Let me tell you, after years of broken down cars and letting problems go until the last possible minute, I now have a third sense when it comes to “potential problems and expenses” when it comes to my cars. Even with the good cars, I can tell when something is coming. So that little vibration turned into a wobble and that wasn’t something I could ignore. I got the tires rotated, just in case that was it. No change. So I took it to a shop to have it checked out – keeping my fingers crossed that it wasn’t going to cost a million dollars. It came back that 2 of my tires were running low on tread. This was weird, because I had replaced all 4 tires back during Covid in 2020 and couldn’t figure out why only 2 were low. (The 4 yo tires being worn out is because I bought the lower priced ones in 2020 because the prices were crazy!!!) Then I remembered that I had 2 tires replaced in 2022 after I had a wheel stolen off my car while parked in a parking garage. Anyhooooo… So I gotta replace 2 tires. Okay – lowest possible price = $500-something. Middle price = $600-something. Okay, let’s do that. Since I’m driving all over, I don’t want to go the “cheap” route for this. Okay. Now, let’s add all the rotating and balancing. Cha-ching. Let’s make sure the 2 other tires get balanced as well. More money. Then, as I’m waiting for my uber to take me to a lunch appointment, he points out the 2 wiggling struts in the front suspension. Better do that, or else all this money is in the toilet. So that day, I spent $1,000+ to ensure that my car is running smoothly.
• It was a dramatic week on the car front, but by the end of the week, I had a shiny new windshield and a smooth drive again. Happy camper.
• As for the rest of the week, my friend and I visited the Pearl in San Antonio. It’s a bougie shops/restaurants/hotel/apartment district that has been going strong for years now. Lots of great sights and things to do, eat, shop. I recommend you check it out and visit there if you go to (or live in) San Antonio. The city and citizens are very proud of it, as they should be. It’s on the northern end of the famous Riverwalk, as well. The place was crazy lit up for the holidays – lights on every tree, building and fence.
• I was also able to meet up with some other friends while staying. Two different groups of folks were available for dinner or lunch meetups. I got to catch up with friends I had while living in San Antonio in the past, along with some former co-workers and friends from other capacities. Big apologies to the friends reading this who I didn’t get to connect with. I only had a few hours of non-work time to connect, so I decided to save y’all for another visit. I still think about y’all though!
• I said farewell on Saturday morning and headed (slowly) to Houston, to stay with another friend. Rain storms were rolling across south Texas that day, so I was driving in and out of rain the entire trip. I stopped at the now-becoming-more-famous Buc-ees, just outside of Houston. To my friends outside of Texas and outside the US, you gotta look this up. It’s basically an truckstop super center on the side of the highway. There’s a handful of them around Texas – not everywhere, just yet. But when you walk in this place, it’s a truckstop Mall/foodcourt! Crazy! Food, shopping, Buc-ees merchandise… Nuts. The people are nuts too. Big-ass soda cups, snacks, barbecue, beef jerky, baked goods, candy… local Texas stuff, of course. It even comes with a person in a Buc-ees beaver costume for the kids. Check that off the list, now I can say I’ve done it.
• Lastly, I drove around downtown Houston and the Galleria areas before heading to my friend’s house. Houston has always amazed me for how much high rise development they have outside of the central city. I’ve heard many people describe it as “many downtowns”, because of the skyscraper clusters that dot the landscape. When I was in my 20s and did some work in Houston, I was fascinated to drive by these places. Saturday was no exception – yet the development has continued and it is just astounding. The Galleria district is 10 miles from downtown and has so many buildings and highrises that it would dwarf most major cities’ downtown areas. Anyway, add that to my list of exploration.
• Arrived at my friend’s house, unloaded the car and was able to take a nap for the first time in over a month. SO grateful to her, her home and her guest room for having another place to crash.

Here’s what I learned this week:

• Again, such gratitude to the friends who are always there and who hosted me on this week’s journey. I always appreciated you and I’m learning an even deeper appreciation as we get to reconnect in this capacity, talking about deeper topics and getting to know each other more than before.
• I’m more patient now than I used to be. I don’t know if it’s age, sobriety, my coach training, or perhaps just because I’m on this nomad journey that is fulfilling my soul, but I’m way more patient with things than before. The car issues, living out of a suitcase, flexing my schedule routinely, working wherever I land… these things used to really challenge my need to control and have everything buttoned up. Oh, I’m still very “ocd’ish” and can be very rigid, but I’m definitely developing some flexing skills and more acceptance/adaptation.
• I’ve been on a journey of embracing my solitude for about 5 years now, particularly since Covid. This journey is helping me study this. I very much need alone time and, as an introvert, can tell when I’m over-extending myself and my energy. But staying with friends as I have been has not been an issue. I’ve been able to enjoy visiting, talking, companionship AND recognize when I need to spend a little time alone, head to a coffee shop or close a door to do some work. I’m enjoying the process of relearning how to be around people in a house, versus living alone.
• What’s also been different is being okay with doing some work things “after bedtime”. I was working and my friend asked if I wanted to go for a walk with the dogs. My first instinct was “no, I have to finish this”. But I realized I had all day to finish and the whole point of staying with people I know was to spend time with them. Also, the whole point of the journey is exploration. So I went on the walk and came back to the writing work later that evening. I also find myself doing some things like organizing my calendar, cleaning out emails, making my todo lists, etc. at night after everyone has gone to bed. Old Paul would have been bitter about this, feeling like I “had to work after hours”. Right now, it just feels like “flow”. I don’t really have any feelings about it. I’m getting my stuff done and I’m not “giving up” anything else to do it. I’m not missing out on my TV programs or other things, because those are no longer in my routine. In fact…
• After a conversation on the couch with my friend one night, I was talking about how irritated I was with the prices and price increases on all my streaming subscriptions (and more). It dawned on me… what the fuck am I paying for them for? I’ve been dreaming of cutting the cord for a while now. Now that I’m on the road, I don’t have a couch and TV to spend 4 hours watching crap every night. So… canceled them. ALL of them!!! I had 6 streaming channels that were costing me about $1,000/year. Done! Canceled them all. That paid for the tires and car repairs!!!! Yes, there are a bunch of programs that I will miss watching, but you know what…? I’ll just miss them then! Kinda like giving up booze and then giving up meat, I don’t really miss them. And if I do, so what. I’m on a different path now. I kept my paid Youtube subscription as my backup. There’s always plenty to watch over there, if and when I have the time.
• Last thing I learned this week, I really don’t need very much. I wear the same clothes each week (so far). I wash them and then wear them again. I have a full toiletries bag for “just in case”, but I’m using the same 5 things. I have extra stuff for work-related tasks, but don’t really use them now. I will acknowledge, OF COURSE, the things that are being provided for me by my friends when I stay with them – bed, towels, place to sit and sleep. I’m not minimizing that!!! But as for the things I’m carrying with me and using each week – not a whole lot, really. And whenever I find myself someplace cool, like the Pullman Market at the Pearl in San Antonio, shopping really isn’t an option. If I see something, my first thought is, where will I put it? So now I buy things I will give away or consume quickly.
• All of the above reveals to me how much I continue to enjoy my freedom. More so my freedom to move around, my freedom from carrying “things” and my freedom to make choices along the way.
• One last thing I learned this week… Well, actually, it’s developing… I’m changing my relationship with comfort. While I still very much like comfort (in all ways) and will have a tantrum when that is challenged, I’m noticing that I’m way more open to challenges right now. I’m staying in very comfortable places, thanks to my friends, but I don’t have a comfortable place at home to maintain and keep up with. This usually leaves me feeling very unsettled, anxious and subconsciously nervous and edgy. That’s not the case right now. Weird. I just added a new client project to my workload. Very busy, very intense for 2 months. I’m very grateful, of course. But I also realized that I was putting off a project I had planned for my Off the Comma business strategy. While my first thought was, “that will now have to wait”, it occurred to me that it doesn’t. It might be crazy, but there’s no reason I couldn’t put in the extra work to do both. I suspect this is because I’m no longer tethered to things that used to require my attention. I have more attention to spare now and I’m a (little bit) more comfortable with being uncomfortable. I dunno. I will observe this more as this journey unfolds.

Here’s what’s next:

• I’m here in Houston for a few days, then I have a stopover in New Orleans to visit a colleague and catch up in person. I’ll stay the night there to break up the drive to Atlanta.
• Once in Atlanta, I’ll stay for a month or so to do some intensive work projects and prepare for some work travel at the end of January. I will also be spending time with one of my longest-term friends, who is like a sister to me. We will have good times as well. Oh, and my friend from Phoenix will join us for a few days. The three of us are like the Golden Girls, in a way. LOL!
• After Atlanta, I have some tentative things in the works. I’m waiting to hear about some teaching and speaking gigs back in California that might prompt a flight there and back. Florida is next on the road trip list, as I have friends there to visit.
• I’ve also been invited to join a friend in Mexico City, which I would LOVE to do! The opportunity to drive there is also very intriguing, so I will do some research and potentially plan that before the weather gets too hot.
• I plan to start moving up north when the weather warms up, so I probably won’t get up to the northeast before May or later. That leaves a few months to be flexible and “see what happens”!

Well this was a novel this week!!! I hope you enjoyed the journey. No guarantees I will always have so much to write. This one took a long time!

As always, please interact with this post. I love getting your questions, your thoughts, and your comments. I’ll reply when I’m able.

Please enjoy yourselves in this week ahead and look for another update from me next weekend, or later, if I get caught up in the adventures of the journey. Be well my friends!

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