I contemplated sleeping on a friend's couch to stay another night in San Diego but the motivation to drive kept my foot on the pedal and my vehicle moving in an easterly direction. The urge to leave California overtook the need to sleep. The hospitable clean air and alpine needle beds of Cleveland National Forest invited me in but the internal disparity of needing to get as far away from San Diego loomed. I drove on.
On an off road field overgrown with barrel cacti I found refuge sleeping among the tall grass. I still find myself doing "five and 25" meter sweeps around my vehicle before setting up camp. Although not in a combat zone or on a mission, military habits are hard to break. Wild and free I found serenity from the tension of an unsustainable SoCal lifestyle.
Thoughts came through my head. Drive to Mexico. Leave it all behind. Find a new place to set up shop. Get out of dodge. Escape reality. The drive continues East. Can't use a phone. No GPS. No text messaging or social media. Got to breathe again and recover in nontoxic air.
Everywhere I went hospitality was found. I slept in the desert, in state and national parks, with Marine brothers, in a meditation room at a yoga studio, and sometimes in a nice hotel bed.
I saw wildlife, photographed national monuments and surfed in the Atlantic Ocean. Almost two months later I found myself back in Maryland.
From there I lived off the land. Slept in a hunting cabin for a month. Shucked oysters out of the bay and trapped rabbit and squirrel. Survival.
Liberty should never be sacrificed for pieces of paper that say you are worthy to eat food, have shelter and meet your basic human needs.
