I thought that it was going to be really hard to leave Arcata this week: I’m so going to miss Suzanne and the dogs; the yoga studio down the street, the incredible gluten-free bread; the nearby beach (which we haven’t gone to nearly enough); the friendly neighbors; even Gina, the cat that yells at me all the time. (She yells at everyone all the time, I don’t think it’s personal.)

The weather, however, is being very obliging about encouraging me to go. It is cold and gray, in the 40s and 50s, with rain predicted for all the later days of the week. I’ll be sorry to say good-bye, but I can’t say that I’m going to mind finding myself some sunshine somewhere.

I do have really mixed feelings, though. There are all sorts of things that I’m looking forward to doing in the next couple of months: visiting friends and family, including a mini-reunion with some college friends; seeing the Best Brother Ever’s new puppy; eating blueberries straight from the bushes… but I am completely unenthusiastic about the driving part. I’m obviously not done traveling, because I live in a van and it’s not really an option to not travel, but the process of getting to the places I want to go does not fill me with joy. I’m going to have to work on that somehow.

But one day at a time, right? Today’s job is to write some words; work on getting a part ordered to fix the damage to the van; maybe schedule an oil change for later in the week. And spend as much time as possible admiring S’s garden, which is really just fantastically beautiful right now. More so on a sunny day, but the rhododendron outside the van’s window is stunning even in the gray.