And Awaaaaay We Go

With this past week's trip to see mein Vati, I’ve begun a few months of travel. It's not the, mostly, footloose, planless excursions of yore, no. The days of hitting town (Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Prague, Vienna, Krakow!), looking for the most happening music venues, galleries and museums, then moving on to the next town or far flung patch of countryside are past (just for the moment though!). I now find myself hopping planes, trains and saddling up young Bix with actual sorta, semi-solid plans and specific destinations.

It seems all my upcoming trips are about seeing, spending time with chums. Wow — how did I end up with so many awesome friends? I’m RICH!

Later this month I’ll be up in the Rockport area with my old pal (we met when we were 13!) Steve and his wife Elaine.

In August I’ll be winging my way to Cheat Lake in West Virginia. Incredibly, I was invited to the Jones Family annual vaca. I think they know that I’m, more or less, a feral-ish neurotic yet I still scored a berth. Huh. Jenny and I went to the same high school though I didn’t know her back then. Through Facebook I’ve met her as well as much of the rest of her family. Too cool.

September will find me in Hoosick Falls where I’ll meet another old pal from high school days. Señor Anónimo and his lovely wife, Jane — here from their home in Costa Rica for a relative's wedding — will meet me at Helen’s. From there we’ll head over to Brattleboro for a night of carousing before we head back to Valhalla by the Sea.

The extra colors of home

In October Jen and I will zoom out to Arizona — Jenny, Jen and I have it in our heads to spend a few days in and around the Sedona area. GORGEOUS!

Early November puts me in Gotham City, Der Groß Apfel, Metropolis, New York for the annual Just Us weekend. Helen and I take one weekend a year to just hang, shop, talk, see cool stuff, frequent killah restaurants and lounges and just BE together.

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
― Terry Pratchett/A Hat Full of Sky

Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow.”
― Anita Desai

“What is that feeling when you're driving away from people and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? - it's the too-huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies.”
― Jack Kerouac/On the Road