So, where do I start? This trip, that is, my adventure to the ocean and back, became something else entirely. Here are the highlights:
During preparations for moving out of my apartment, I ask my ex-fiancée if she would like to come with me on my silly road trip. She says yes. I also find out that I will be pushing back my trip in order to receive the highest individual award from FedEx. So, we travel to Kansas City to spend the night with my best friend, Mike. The next day our trip begins in earnest as we head north. North eventually gives way to west. West gives way to the Ocean. The days out to the Ocean were the hardest. We fought plenty, but we had no choice to continue on the journey. Upon arrival in Seattle (to a stirring rendition of the Star Wars theme song, sung by wild animals) things perk up. The Ocean gives way to the Ocean and we head south. South becomes annoying and becomes southeast. Once it becomes east, we are chased by a tornado and decide to go north again. This brings us to Colorado where we climbed a mountain and the truck blew out a brake line. Once that was fixed the direction became east again. Our last night camping was one of the best. We fed the fire with wood, stories, and understanding. The adventure ends where it began, in Kansas City. Eighteen days and 7200 miles later, we found ourselves in Urbana. Rebecca's job and new apartment were also born that day, August 21st. On that day, while moving boxes of belongings into Rebecca's apartment, my dad called. My mother, who had left on her own adventure just a day or two after we left for ours, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Shocking information, to say the least. Her adventure, a study abroad program, took her to South Africa. She needed me to be there. We finished unloading the truck, and then I told Rebecca. After a great deal of crying and talking, I left for Charleston to develop a game plan with my father. The best flight appeared to be on the 25th, so I took it. August 25th I left for South Africa, though I arrived there on the 27th of August. The study abroad program was to last 3 months and my mother's radiation would last 6 weeks. I had one week in Cape Town, then 4 weeks in Port Elizabeth, where the radiation treatments began. I did the highest bungy in the world, twice, and learned to drive on the left hand side of the road. Port Elizabeth led to Cintsa, outside East London. Cintsa gave way to a 3 day safari. Finally it was back to Cape Town. I left South Africa on November 21st and arrived in Charleston, the city of my youth, on November 22nd. Total days between moving out of my old apartment and into my new one: 115.
Wow. My original idea was to just drive west until I got to the Pacific Ocean and then leisurely drive back. It seems that God had a different plan that involved three times the oceans and so much more.
