My Nomad Journey – Weeks 9, 10, & 11

Greetings from California! My journey is taking me from Atlanta back to Sacramento to take care of appointments, meetings, clients and to teach classes for clients. Rather than do the 4-day drive for just a week, I decided to fly. That was always one of the intentions for this journey – to go where work calls and leave my car parked where I’m currently staying. So this is my first opportunity!

You know it’s been a few weeks since I wrote, so I’m trying to catch up now. I’ve been very busy on the final stages of a client project. The work has been challenging at times, for the entire team involved, but we are nearing the end. Sadly, this commitment I made was a trade-off for driving and exploring time. But that was “on purpose” and I’ll be back on the road again soon.

Here’s what I did:

A LOT of work! My current project had me doing a lot of writing, designing and meetings. I also did some teaching/facilitating. Often, a lot of my work involves “popping in and out”, between meetings, client calls and smaller tasks and projects. This big project calls for extended periods of focus and creation. I was glad to have planned my trip to allow for a place where I could “burrow in” and dedicate myself to this project. It was a gift! Thanks again, to my friend in Atlanta.

Aside from the work part, I’ve been enjoying a period of domestic life. My friend and I cook, run errands and binge watch TV. Once the colder weather broke up in Atlanta, we were able to get the dog out on some walks and such. Much of the last 3 weeks has been like so many others; work and chores and house stuff. I have been keeping up with the gym, however. I generally make it to do weight training 3-4 days a week.

I’m also getting used to the roads and directions in this part of Atlanta. It’s been a while since I lived someplace that you have have to drive to get to everything. I’m finally figuring out my North, South, East and West up here. Because it’s hilly and forested, it’s not a usual system of streets and blocks. But I’m finally getting my bearings and know where I’m going!

One thing we were able to do was to book a weekend trip to Savannah, Georgia. Savannah is on the Atlantic coast and is about 5 hours drive from Atlanta. When you go to Savannah, you can stay in the town or you can stay on the beach. There is a beach town on Tybee Island, which is where we booked our rental. Also on this trip, we took my friend’s dog. (You’ve already seen pictures of Bella.) This was Bella’s first road trip to a vacation destination. We agreed that the whole thing would be an experiment and the beginning of a process to help train Bella to go on more trips with my friend. This was quite the adventure and we accomplished our mission – even thought there were a few bumps along the way. She did good, though!

Tybee Island was not very busy, because of the season. Ironically, only 2 weeks before we arrived, the entire southern coast had received snow! Tybee (and Savannah) had snow for the first time in a record period!!! We spent a little time exploring the town. There was a big running race going on the first morning, with a 5k, a 10k and a half marathon all at the same time. So while walking the dog to explore and find breakfast, we cheered on the runners. It was fun to sit outside and watch the runners approach the finish line while we ate. We watched a lot of interesting people and talked to the owner of our restaurant about his travel adventures and his lifestyle that allows him to run his restaurant for half the year. That afternoon, we had planned to go into Savannah to explore and walk. (My friend has been there before.) But after taking a nap, I made the call to just stay on Tybee and relax. We both needed some rest time after the month of January that we had each had. The rental property was adjacent to a little restaurant with a deck that overlooked the dunes, beach and the ocean. So we took the dog and camped out in the sun on the deck for the afternoon. My friend had her wine, I had some non-alcohol drinks and Bella had a bowl of water under the table. In addition to the various dogs on the deck barking and talking to each other, we watched the people come and go, making up stories about their lives. Also, because we were the only restaurant on the beach for a distance, and because there were strands of lights hanging above us, we were the ideal location for various birds (mostly crows) to come and perch. And shit. So I got “shat on” by these birds at least 3 times. After a point, I just laughed about it and blew it off. I was due for a shower anyhow. 😁 After some snacks, sun and beverages, we went back to the condo to play cards and settle in for the rest of the day. Lazy was on the menu and we were ready for it! We eventually decided to order pizza and just keep it easy.

Since we were driving out the next day, we decided to explore a little bit of Savannah on the way out of town. We got up early, packed everything and Bella, then hit the road for town. We started at a local coffee shop for pastries and coffee. After that, we explored around the town for about an hour or so. We wanted to get back to Atlanta before it was too late, since the next day was work and a travel day for my friend. Savannah is an old city with ties to the American Civil War. The history of Savannah is checkered, as it was on the confederate side of the war and steeped in pro-slavery tradition. In fact, many of the parks, squares and monuments within the town center were built on top of indigenous and enslaved peoples’ burial grounds. The layout of the town center is a square grid, wrapping around a large central park, bounded to the north by a large river and peppered with smaller parks, institutions and historical sites and monuments. The architecture is textbook “old south” antebellum, with large manor houses, row houses for the wealthy and institutional architecture that catered to the wealthy and privileged. Despite its haunted history, it is meticulously maintained today and is a popular tourist destination. There are many, many other stories you can look up about this city. I definitely would like to go back and spend more time walking around and exploring. With its history, traditional architecture, dense layout and the countless large, old tress, it is a walking treasure map of knowledge and discovery.

After returning to Atlanta, it was back to the routines and back to the work. At the end of this week, I began this trip back out to California for the business I described earlier in this post.

Oh… I’m keeping up with my spanish practice. I don’t recall if I mentioned it or not, but I go to a local Mexican restaurant frequently for lunch and they graciously let me practice with them. I so appreciate their patience and help… and especially the food as well! Aun estoy practicando mi español durante cada semana. Voy al restaurante Mexicana local para almuerza unos pocos veces de mes, y los camareros son muy amable y ellos practican conmigo. Tengo divertido y practico al mismo tiempo.

Here’s what I learned:

The most important thing I learned over the past 3 weeks is how important variety is to me. Although my work commitments were intentional and planned, I continue to discover how much I enjoy work that allows me to switch gears frequently. Throughout my career, I’ve done large scale projects like this. I’m good at it and I have a lot to offer. But I realized how much I enjoy being able to still do hard work, but work in multiple streams. Working on one, all-consuming, long-term project is more challenging for me as I get older. Perhaps its the nomad in me – I find that even in the mental/emotional/intellectual spaces, I like to roam and wander! I’ll need to keep myself aware of this for future projects. It’s not about saying “no” to work, so much as it is about being really clear on what saying “yes” will ask of me.

I’m going to need to take a sugar detox pretty soon. I’m not “crazy” on the sugar, but when I have it, I have it big. (Can anyone else eat an entire pint of 1,000 calorie ice cream in one sitting, after eating a full dinner???) I don’t know why I’m sharing this, other than to say it out loud and make myself accountable to it.

I’ve noticed how much I continue to want to get rid of more stuff. On this journey, I have 3 bags that hold everything I need for the road. Clothes for multiple seasons, shoes, toiletries, plus all of my work gear, chargers, accessories, etc. I also have gadgets and things that I might only need at certain times of the year. I have a few extra bags – backpacks, purses, etc. And I have some notebooks and portable lights, just in case I’m staying in places that don’t have what I need for Zoom meetings, etc. All that said, I’ve done a pretty good job of getting everything into one roll aboard and two 28” duffel bags. But I still keep thinking I can carry less. I’ve not made any decisions, but it’s very interesting to me that I’m living on the road like this and 3 bags still feels like too much!!! Let’s see what happens when (if) I decide to settle down again!

Speaking of that, while back in Sacramento, I went to my storage unit. I basically didn’t pack any clothes, because I was able to just pull what I needed for the week from storage. That was really nice! Carrying an almost empty suitcase was pleasant. But while in the storage unit, it was weird going through the bags and tubs that I packed almost 3 months ago! I was looking really critically at all the things and thinking really hard about whether I really want to keep them. I’ll make no decisions yet, but I’m curious to see what I do with a future home and all of these belongings. It’s just too much!!!

By the way, I’m actually hosting a workshop about simplifying and decluttering. Check it out!

There’s one other thing… This has been happening for a little while now and I chalk it up to just being a nomad. But I experienced it more during this flight and driving around Sacramento this morning. I’m experiencing strange and unclear feelings right now. I am back home, and yet I can’t explain what I feel about it. It’s not homesick. It’s not a change of heart. It’s most likely just “big” feelings at living this way. It’s also a little bit of having gotten used to being in Atlanta for 2 months. Strangely, I don’t have a “place” right now, but I have lots of places. And I love the road. So I’m sharing to say that living as a nomad brings up lots of new feelings for me that I couldn’t have predicted and can’t clearly and completely describe. Who would have guessed? So I have lots to unpack as time progresses on this journey.

’ve also learned that I need to allow more time for rest. I push myself really hard. Hard work. Hard thoughts. Hard emotions. Always pushing and always chasing a todo list that doesn’t end. I’m going to allow time in my travels ahead to go into some solitude and quiet for a little while. I think I need to also take a break from technology and spend some time in nature.

Here’s what’s next:

After this week in Northern California, I’ll head back to Atlanta for a week. Then I’m off to visit some friends in a few places in South Florida for a few weeks. I have some classes to teach from those stops.

I’ll head back to Atlanta for a few work trips on the west coast. I have a handful of teaching assignments back in California and in Las Vegas. My first plan was to drive back and just drive between stops. But the schedule and other obligations make it easier to leave my car in Atlanta and fly between assignments. All good though! I’ll also dogsit for my friend between trips, as well.

In April, I’ll start back on the road again. That story is yet to be planned.

I wish you all a pleasant February ahead and look forward to seeing you in the comments.

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!

Want to hear other people’s stories about getting off their commas? Check out the podcast!

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