Category: north carolina

Terra (Kinda) Firma: Durham, NC

If this were a more serious blog, I’d insert a thoughtful quote here about how the true purpose of travel is to return to where you started from and discover it anew.

Actually, I would insert that quote here, if I could remember who said it. Thoreau? Fitzgerald? You know the quote I’m talking about, right? It’s generally overlaid across stock photos of beach sunsets, and your aunt probably posted it on Facebook when she got back from Waikiki.

In lieu of more eloquent verbiage, let me just say this: it’s really, really nice to sleep in a bed. And to have running water. (HOT water, no less! What are we, royalty?) It’s also really great to pass a whole day without cursing at Google Maps, or arguing over who let a mosquito into the tent.

We’ll never know.

What I’m trying to say is that I don’t know what to say. After almost six months on the road, Sean and I finally made it back to our starting point — Durham, North Carolina, where we dropped our cat Phoebe off with my mom back in June. What’s happened in between is… well, this entire blog, and so much more that I haven’t yet figured out how to put into words.

Sean and I have both learned a lot about ourselves and each other. I have to say, the everyday peaks and valleys of having a relationship feel pretty manageable after you’ve been lost in the Mexican desert together with a low gas tank and no cell signal. We almost killed each other several times, but we didn’t, because it turns out we actually like each other quite a bit.

This trip has made me realize how lucky I am (how — dare I say — #blessed?) to have such dear friends and family in so many corners of the world. It’s also made me immensely grateful for the generosity of strangers, and made me wish for a world where everyone could feel that generosity.

Still, while I’ve seen a lot of beauty this summer — more than I know how to process, really — I’ve also seen some things that were very hard to look at. We’ve driven through days’ worth of half-abandoned towns, communities that have been left behind by corporations that moved to where the labor was cheaper or the taxes were lower. We spent three weeks traveling freely in a country full of people that our own government would imprison if they dared to cross our border.

It’s hard to make sense of all that, and to let it into your heart in a way that doesn’t incapacitate you. For that matter, it can be hard to let all the beauty and love and hope in the world into your heart, too. I guess I’ll have to make a bigger heart, which I guess is what I’ve been doing all summer, which I guess is why I was such a crank for much of it. Growing pains are a real jerk.

Anyway, we’ve made it to Durham, and our traveling days are over — for now. The next adventure is going to be turning all the things we’ve learned and the crazy experiences we’ve had into something we can share with the world — and stay tuned for that, because we’re ready to hit the ground running.

First, though, hot showers — and cat snuggles.

She’s happy about it. Trust me.

This is Team Watermelon, signing off.

Day Zero: Durham, NC

For about six weeks now, Sean and I have been counting down obsessively to our launch date. As soon we wake up in the morning, he’ll ask, “how many days?” and I’ll say “forty-one!” or “twenty-seven!” or “thirteen!” If I’m having a particularly bad day, he’ll just pat my back and say “nine more days, babe.”

Nevertheless, I don’t think either of us was prepared to actually wake up to Day Zero. We’ve been anticipating and saving for this trip for so long, it’s hard to conceive of it existing somewhere other than the future.

We’re a few days in now, and it’s almost starting to feel real. (We’ve stopped counting the days out loud, for the same reason we’ve stopped proudly reporting the contents of our savings account to each other: it’s not quite as exciting when the numbers are going in the opposite direction.) We made it to Durham, North Carolina, where we’re temporarily entrusting my mother with our pride and joy:

Phoebe doing what she loves: sitting on stuff I am trying to use.

Two days in the car for Phoebe was, I imagine, something like having the only two people you thought you could trust throw you into a rocketship with no space training and no perceivable end in sight. Aside from a few angry naps and about five minutes in Mississippi when we bought her some tuna at Subway, she kept up a constant monologue of desperate, accusing meows. By the time we got to Mom’s, she seemed happy to make her home anywhere that wasn’t hurtling forward at seventy miles per hour.

If you ever decide to embark on four months of uncertainty and adventure, I highly recommend you start it off by spending a few days with one of the most loving and nurturing people in your life. For me, that happens to be my mom. For two days we slept deeply, ate insanely well, and even attended a baseball game at the Bulls’ stadium. This was my very first ball game (possibly the first sporting event ever that I didn’t bring a book to), so Sean had to lay out some of the rules for me beforehand using my childhood Playmobil set.

Now at bat: the tiny elephant that came with a beach scene for some reason.
Like the napkin, but bigger.

We said goodbye to Durham this morning and set off for Atlanta, where we’re staying with a generous host through Couchsurfing.com. Tomorrow we swing back through New Orleans to cash in on a luxury hotel stay, then on to family and friends in Texas before we sweep the West Coast. Stay tuned, good people!