ccef

there is an excellent counseling organization called ccef in glenside pa.  each fall they have a weekend conference.  two years ago i attended the conference with the topic of fear and it was so encouraging.  this year the topic was sex - 'sex matters.'  the presenters approached the personal subject with careful sensitivity, but without shying away from addressing the hard-to-leave lies and hard-to-take truths that we encounter in both our surrounding culture and churches, as well as the hope and restoring beauty offered to us through Jesus as described in the bible.  i can't properly sum up what i've heard - if that were easy, then there wouldn't be a need for the conference or books or continued discussion.  the conference was recorded and should soon be available for purchase online along with other great resources through the ccef website.

ardmore

i got to know 'h-'john while we were both looking for a new philadelphia apartment two years ago and considered being roommates.   i was able to stay two nights at his place in ardmore this week.  it was conveniently close to king of prussia where i was attending a conference for the weekend.   as in all the rest of my many visits so far, this one wasn't long enough.  but i'm glad we got to hang out for a short while.

media P A

next stop, media pa.... (by the way, "pa" is almost always pronounced "P" "A" as opposed to "Pennsylvania"...   and i just wonder how many other states are most commonly referred to by the two individual letters of their abbreviated form.  i can't think of any others and DC isn't really a state)

in media i visited john, gretchen, and mattea who have become dear friends over the last few years.  i worked with john at STV and really started to get to know his family after going with them for ice cream to celebrate their daughter mattea's birthday in philly a few years ago.  but truly, i'm glad to think of them as my 'friends' rather than just a 'former coworker and family.'

me and john.

one of their dogs 'angel'

on the air

every 6 months my sister jolene volunteers at a christian radio station to help them raise funds from their listeners to support the not-for-profit broadcast.     she invited me to come with her and answer callers who were pledging.  i took about 10 calls or so while i was there.   i've never done anything like that, so it was another 'first' for me.

before leaving the station, we wanted to get a photo of me at the microphone in the station pretending to talk into it, just for fun.  the guy who was on air thought that would be fine, but then changed his mind.   instead of getting a photo of me _pretending_, he said we'd get a photo of me ON the air...   he handed me a stack of cds they were giving away to donators and had me read some of the album names over the air.   as far as i can remember, that's the first time i've been on live radio.  so yet another 'first.'    a few minutes later i got a call on my cell phone from my mom who happened to be listening to that station while at work and surprisingly heard my voice! haha, so funny. : )

me pretending

me NOT pretending

we kept each other sane during grad school

still in nj, i visited steve and brooke.   steve is a good friend from college/grad school who had shared over a year with me in hibernation while we working on our civil engineering theses under the same professor.   in school, people often confused us as being the other.  we were born within two weeks of each other and the beginning of my last name as well as my school email were the same as his first name...   so, it's understandable : )

we look very tall in this photo.

brooke and aaron  : )

nyc

on tuesday I decided to go into new york city. while i was driving around the upper west side looking for parking i got pulled over for 'turning from the wrong lane.'  i think the ticket was unwarranted given the situation, but arguments aside, the episode reinforces that going to nyc is costly one way or another.  in this case, i paid to meet and talk to a real nypd cop and get his autograph, plus another story for my journey.  so all is well.  adventure continues...

here are some nyc photos about parking...

jersey city

My drive from dc to jersey city nj was quite delightful.  i was singing loudly as i went along the I-95 corridor, and had the windows down until the evening chill forced them shut.   i enjoyed the evening with my sister judi and friend valentin.  we had success (by trial and error) finding an open place to eat.

i plan to see judi again in kentucky where she is giving a conference next week.  yay!

District of Christie

Going to DC on Sunday was great!  I visited a SGM church called Covenant Life that I used to be a part of when I lived in Maryland a few years ago.  I don't know very many people there now, but it has the same ol' feel to it.  After that I got to enjoy some time with my friend Christie and her roommates and 'half-roommates' who live in DC.  Sunday evening we went to her PCA church called Grace in DC.

On Monday we biked a few miles to the Washington Monument to sneak an overhead view of the city.

That day combined so many of my favorite things - spending time with a friend, biking, going high in a tower, not working on Monday morning, warm sunny weather, and driving with the windows down.  Oh, and also a fantastic breakfast which Christie treated me to at a nearby restaurant.   What a great time! (Can't thank you enough Christie!)  It would have been nice if it were longer, but I'm not complaining. : )

Still more goodbyes...

I'm so ready to finish up all of these goodbyes around Philly and start my hellos all over the country. This week I have been driving to NJ DE and PA almost every day seeing more friends. I guess all of the driving around here is a good warm up to driving the long trek westward. The wheels turn - Check. OK I'm ready.

From Wildwood, NJ I drove to a Delaware DMV to get my license, then to Douglassville, PA to say bye in person to people from an office where I formerly worked. I stayed the evening and night with a former coworker, Dave in Pottstown, PA. We watched the last game of the World Series as we chatted about life and quarks and various scientific/engineering related topics.

I drove back to the Delaware DMV to inspect my van and get my title, registration, and tags transfered. Then I drove to Jenkintown and had a lovely evening with Mike and Rachel.

That day wouldn't have been complete without getting over to see Neal in Willingboro, NJ.

Friday I got some errands done and then had a splendid evening with Paula and Megan, enjoying every bit of their delicious meal and stomach growling contest.

That night and Saturday morning I spent time with my sister's family in Delaware - Jolene, Joel, Jared and Jessica.

 

Joel and Jared took me out skeet shooting where I had satisfactory success wielding a 12 gauge pump shotgun for the first time. While the pellets were impacting the flying clay, the gun was impacting my shoulder which I'm sure I'm gunna feel for a couple of days.

My friend Sara whipped up a wonderful meal from an empty frig and we had an evening that filled both bellies and souls with good stuff. That night I also shared my final farewells with Paula, Stacy, and Leah (glad I got to see all of you!!).

Then, of course back to Delaware.

Next on deck is DC....

Birthplace

This is me at the hospital where I was born... Just one stop along the journey of life.

Student Driver

The sign in the school bus window says "Student Driver." Should parents be concerned about that?

Emergency Siren Signs

I wonder how many people have melt-down-phobia.

Up side down

I have a tradition of standing on my head at various beaches or significant places. I guess this tradition started about two years ago. As I think about it, maybe it represents how my life was turned up side down in the last few years. Anyway, here I am on the Wildwood beach at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

Wildwood

I got to Wildwood on my dad's birthday and got to participate consuming my mom's homemade cherry cheesecake. My dad was putting out the candles with his fingers. No comment.

There is a peculiar correlation between how many birthdays someone has and how long their life is, but which causes which?

My mom and I share the enjoyment of walking. We got to do a lot of walking together during my visit. We went to the polls to vote, the diner for brunch, and then walked the sea wall and beach of my youth. I love the beach. Here is some baby dune grass that just got planted. I had to lie down on the sand to get the shot.

The water was nice.

Yes I am in this picture.  I am standing to the right on a pipe near the tire of this monster land/sea rover.  It's part of the major dune restoration project taking place in the current non-tourist season.


This is the house where I grew up.

When we got back to the house, I realized I had lost my keys somewhere along our long walk. My van was securely locked and I had lost both keys for it at once. Hmm. We did a lot of walking and a lot of that was on the beach. Would I have to backtrack the entire length? Even if they were dropped in a visible location, someone else might have found them and might not get them back to me. Or maybe the sand would cover them over, or the low tide could rise and devour them. I had to think. Focus. Narrow the possibilities. I focused my thoughts on figuring out where I might have dropped them instead of the pending hassle of replacing them. Several possibilities emerged, but I really wondered if they came out of my pocket when I was taking the picture with the baby dune grass. My mom and I drove back to that spot on the beach and guess what, my keys were happily sitting there sunbathing away like nothing was ever wrong. Yay! Mystery solved. Hassle averted. Adventure logged. Van/house easily accessible.

I love my parents, and they love me.  I'm glad they were happy to be my hosts at the beginning of this journey.  And why not?  They hosted me for the first 20 years of my life, why not a couple more nights now and again? : )

State #2

Monday. State #2. New Jersey. I met up with my friends Jess and Mel who treated me to brunch at the Painted Cottage Cafe in Collingswood (thanks!!). It is such a blessing to have these two as friends. Whenever we meet, I experience real conversations, precious encouragements, and moments full of hearty laughter -- many of which are the you-had-to-be-there kind, like the oh so gross drip of coffee! HaaaaHaHahaaaa!! I folded like a paper laughing at that one... see, you had to be there. So good for the soul!

I also got to see our other sweet Mel as she finished her shift at Starbucks while updating one of the holiday season drink menus on one of those chalk-ink type boards. I always wondered how that "chalk" looked so neatly drawn. Now I've had the chance to see it up close. It's more like a dry erase marker that goes on thick and actually wet, but then quickly dries into a chalk-like look. Hmh, never knew.

The drive to my hometown Wildwood, NJ was accompanied by a great roadtrip CD mix from a friend (thanks Mo!). It was also accompanied by a pretty colorful sunset (thanks God!). By the time I pulled off the highway to find a place to park from which to view the natural beauty, the colors had been absorbed into the clouds and all became gray. It still was a beautiful scene. I love sunrises. I love sunsets. I love clouds. I really do.

Hosts...

Teresa and Jim.

Sean and Anna.

John - my roommate and/or housemate for the last two years.  What a blessing living in a house with godly guys.

Seth - my roommate for what, the last year plus, minus winter?  Nothing like taking someone's picture as a way to wake them up.

Full of goodbyes

Sunday was full of goodbyes at both the 10am Fairmount Liberti church
service and the 4pm Fishtown service. There are so many people I love
who have been such great friends in the last three years! It's simply
amazing how much God has blessed me with such love by surrounding me
with these people.

Also, in the early afternoon I had the chance to visit my dear friends
from the past - Sean & Anna and their three children in Abington, PA.
That visit stands as a perfect example of one reason I'm doing this
trip. I really want to see the people who are way overdue for visits.

After the Fishtown service I spent the night in the Fishtown section
of Philly with my former housemates, John and Seth. I watched the
Phillies lose game four while I was warming the couch for sleeping.

Officially

My season of journeying has officially begun...

Right now, everything I own is in my van. My goal was to have nothing in storage while on this trip, and I have reached my goal, with the exception of the four back seats which I removed from the van to create my storage/living space. Those seats are stored, and there are also a few important documents that I will leave with my sister.  Other than that, it's true -- everything is in my van... books,  blankets, pillows, files, instruments, tools, bathroom products, games, photos, journals, old letters, maps, tents, backpacks, tarps, food, dishes, a cooler, my entire wardrobe, my bike...  everything.

My first hosts are friends in Philly: Jim, Teresa, Emily, and Alaina. They threw a fantastic costume party with a talent show and plenty of wonderful snacks.

Sorry, I didn't snap any pictures for this post, but I will do my best to share a fair amount of photographs along the way.

H1N1

Over the weekend I had some great times hanging out with friends and it was so nice to not have to think about working on Monday.  I also continued brainstorming how to set up the interior of my van.  Monday I perused Home Depot, Lowes, and IKEA to act on some ideas and gain some more ideas.  My body felt fatigued during the day and I could tell I needed to get some rest.  By 6pm I was in bed with a terrible fever!  The fever was extremely bad over night, hung with me through Tuesday and tapered down into Wednesday - I stayed in bed almost 40 hours straight!  The suspicion is that I got the highly contagious H1N1 virus from one of my friends over the weekend.  They had it confirmed, so I have no reason to think it's anything else.  I guess this is no surprise.  In fact, I just read a Fox News report which said, "this is the week, through Oct. 24, during which the greatest number of people would be infected." based on a recently published study.  To be honest, this is perfect timing - I'm done with work and I'm not on the road yet. :)  The rest is well-needed anyway. So I'm resting and staying away from people.  Assuming I take the remainder of this week to recover and become non-contagious, I will have to cram four weeks of visits and goodbyes into three weeks.  Bear with me. : )

It's happening!!

My new journey has just begun. I don't know how far, how long, or how well it will go, but it has begun. Yesterday was my last day working for STV Inc and my first real goodbyes. :( I worked there for five years. I learned a lot about highway designing, worked hard beside some great people, and acquired my Professional Engineering License. Now I'm taking a break from that career to spend time seeing many friends and connections, visit parks and forests around the states, do some organic farming, have more time alone pondering how amazing God is, learn and teach various skills with people, and have a blast as i go through all the excitements and challenges that await me as i embark on a kind of journey that so many people only get to dream about.

Last Monday I bought a blue 2001 Pontiac Montana minivan. I hope it serves me well on my trip. Other than servicing the anti lock break system, greasing the power windows, and replacing a high-beam bulb (and I'm sure there's more i don't know about yet :) it's ready to go. As for the interior, there are a bunch of things I would like to do to customize it for my trip. A lot of that will happen in the next two weeks before I'm officially homeless, and I'm sure that will be an ongoing hobby as my needs and habits change along the way.

While it could change at any time, the general trip itinerary I came up with is as follows: spend now through mid November visiting many friends and family in the greater Philadelphia area. The last two weeks of November I'll travel west, making many stops (which MAY include Harrisburg PA, Pittsburgh PA, Covington VA, Lexington KY, Columbia Missouri, Kansas City Missouri, Lincoln Nebraska, Denver Colorado, places in between...) and finally arrive near Sacramento, California by Thanksgiving weekend. Then my idea is to spend December in California, maybe working on a farm in Southern California. In January, drive the southern states back to Florida and spend a few months on a farm in Southern Florida. Travel up the coast and slow the pace through the Philly area in the spring. Spend summer driving the northern states and parts of Canada from Maine to Washington state. That's the general scheme, but so much could happen between now and then to change that. Time and circumstances will tell. To start off, I have a pretty large list of people I want to see before heading west four weeks from now, and not a small to-do list. So here I go!

I'm so grateful for all of you, my friends and family, who have encouraged me with your love while I make this big change. Without your support, this whole endeavor would likely collapse. Much love to you all!