2021 Roadtrip I, Chapter V

This was the last chapter of my day really - there was the drive home to come but by this point I’d been round the town, round one side of the lake, stopped for two meals, written, read, taken notes, cried, prayed, and gotten to that kind of mild delirium that comes from hours in the car and miles and miles of walking and talking to yourself the whole time. The sunshine was heady. There was a strong breeze. I was walking again (on the other side of the lake) and I had almost out-walked myself, covered way more ground than I expected, and I think come further in myself than I could really recognise. This was a moment of going beyond myself. 45 minutes perhaps of walking, motion as the wind blew across the water and the sun sparkled. This was the beginning edge of a new version of myself, a new chapter of my personality that I’d been searching for. Stronger than I’d feared. Buoyant, alive. Ploughing ahead without needing to know the way. Moments like this are why we come back from trips changed, refreshed, renewed, and why life goes on to be different