"Upon those travelers who make their way without maps or guides, there breaks a wave of exhilaration with each unexpected change of plans. This exhilaration is not a whore who can be bought with money nor a neighborhood beauty who may be wooed. She (to persist in personifying the sensation as female) is a wild and sea-eyed undine, the darling daughter of adventure, the sister of risk, and it is for her rare and always ephemeral embrace, the temporary pressure she exerts on the membrane of ecstasy, that many men leave home."

-Tom Robbins-

The arranged plan of driving to Bishop and working at an animal clinic for the holidays was completely blown apart, along with the lower end of my engine, ultimately leaving Joseph and I stranded in Arcata, but with time comes opportunity, and a free van may be falling into my lap soon. I'm still undecided on what to do with it, but I'm leaning towards selling the freebee and purchasing a rebuilt chevy 350 with the proceeds and dropping it into the motionless shell I'm not ready to stop calling 'home'. Is a day job at an auto shop and possibly night work at a restaurant in my near future? Only time will tell. . .