Left off at a Starbucks on the 27th.. From there, I walked, just kept walking.. I swear my pack just keeps gaining weight somehow haha. Anyway, getting a few miles down the road I was stopped by a woman named Lauren, a traveler herself, and asked if I needed anything, at this point it was beginning to be closer to the evening, and I'd yet to find a place to sleep. She offered to let me crash at her place, a gesture I did not expect, but was too tired and grateful to turn down. She said she had a few more stops before she was off work, and we would meet at a Starbucks down the road, and with a renewed sense of purpose and a destination in mind, I headed for Starbucks. I didn't know how long it would be till she got there, so I grabbed a drink and took a seat, talked to Molly for a bit, then to Meagan, both helping distract me from the exhaustion I was feeling, I don't remember any other day before this feeling so hard.. I was drenched in sweat by the time I dropped my pack at Starbucks. After a short wait, Lauren was picking me up. She told me about her backpacking trips she's been on, hiking the Appalachian Trail and Yellowstone recently, stuff like that, it was a really good conversation, then we got to my pack.. Lol.. I knew it was bad, but I didn't understand just how bad until then.. It's nearly 80lbs, last I weighed it, her jaw dropped and that's when I knew I was doing it all wrong haha. She was telling me how hers was in the 40s, and after the first stop on the Appalachian Trail and they went through her pack, it was in the low 30s, and that was a good weight for her size.. Whereas mine is too much for pretty much anyone's size haha. We talked about going through it, but unfortunately never got around to it, would have been good to get feedback from a fellow traveler, one more versed in it than myself, and see just what could be cut. When we get to her place, this awesome little Studio by the water, she lets me grab a shower while we wait for the guy she's seeing to head over so we can all go get dinner. We end up going to this really tasty place called Local Catch Bar & Grill, and it was so good..!! Had fish tacos with locally caught fish, blackened, mmm miss those tacos.. Haha. Afterward we headed back to her place, watched a documentary on Eero Saarinen, a Finnish American Architect and Designer, amazing work, followed by a documentary on predatory animals in Africa. As the night ended, I settled in on the couch, thankful for a nice place to sleep, food in my belly, and good conversation.
The next morning, the 28th of December, found us all getting ready for our days, Lauren dropped me off at the Starbucks she picked me up from the night before, grabbed a coffee and talked a bit more, just relating to the dating scene, having been previously engaged, and traveling. From there we said our goodbyes and she headed to work while I hung out there to let my phone charge. I met a man named Trent, we struck up a conversation about my camera while he waited for someone he was meeting. His daughter happens to be a photographer and picked up a professional Canon, and I told him about my Olympus, and as it goes, conversation moved to my giant backpack and what I was doing. After a really pleasant conversation, he decided he'd waited long enough and took his leave, but left a generous gift card to Starbucks for me. I swear Starbucks is secretly sponsoring my trip haha. I have received one from Her before I left, one from Molly, one from the Christian Radio station in Destin, and now one from Trent. After a while I decided it was time to leave, unfortunately later than I would have liked, and began trekking east, destination of St. Augustine in mind. I don't know why, but it was a terribly tough day.. All in all, I only got as far as the turn off for Lauren's place, roughly 6 miles east of Starbucks. I stopped often, being eaten by mosquitoes, drenched in sweat, just utterly miserable for some reason.. At one point I took a break in an abandoned lot, talked to Her on the phone... it was a strange feeling, to talk after not really saying anything of substance for so long, when we use to talk so often of such heavy things.. We talked of the trip, she often saying she's proud of me, we talked of the hardships of it, of my photography, which she spoke nicely of, she also talked of sending money when she could after the start of the year, but I just didn't really feel like I could get behind that idea.. I don't know why, I've helped her plenty, but her helping me, after all these things that have happened between us, I just don't think I want anything from her, feels, I don't know, like a halfhearted way of showing she cares. I'm sure it's just a logical based thing for her, just help me because I've helped her, but I don't know, doesn't feel right. I ended up getting to Santa Rosa Beach and tried washing thoughts of the day behind me, took the boots off and just walked around the beach, taking pictures of the night sky and thinking about this trip, about everything it's entailed, everything I've hoped to work though in my head, letting go, and how so little of that has been done. I have to say, nothing like sitting at the edge on the beach, looking at the stars and the blackness of the night stretched out before you.. At around 1am, I made my way to a bench and just tried dozing off there a while; it was a long night.
Today, the 29th, I woke around 5 or 6am, having not really slept at all through the night aside from quick 20 minute naps here and there, took more pictures of the day starting and met some people at the beach, a woman photographer, used two Sony, and a man that was retired military, Marines, photographer as well, we all chatted for a minute before going our separate ways. I then headed to a coffee shop across the street, Sunset Coffee Co, cool little place with outlets and free Wi-Fi. I didn't actually plan on updating this thing today, but I figured, I have the opportunity, might as well go for it. I can't remember the woman's name I met when I got here, working at the register, though she may have been an owner, we talked of travelers she's seen passing through and how she would love to do something like this, but just unsure of herself to really do it. I uploaded a handful of the pictures I took last night and this morning to the Facebook page, Chris' Chronicle: Adventure Abroad, though still have yet to really look at anything I've taken or do any post production on them. Now that this is updated, my phone is mostly charged, it's about time to pack up and head east some more, hopefully today will go better than yesterday had.
Later days.
PS, I'm a terrible swimmer, so this song title makes me smile, I've drowned in the ocean before..
“I salute at the threshold of the North Sea of my mind
And I nod to the boredom that drove me here to face the tide
And I swim, I swim, oh swim
Dip a toe in the ocean, oh how it hardens and it numbs
The rest of me is a version of man built to collapse in crumbs
And if I hadn’t come now to the coast to disappear
I may have died in a landslide of rocks and hopes and fears”