Two Years!
Packed up and handing the keys to the detailers before I left that morning.
It's hard to believe that today marks the two-year anniversary of my departure from Kirkland, Washington. This has without a doubt been the fastest two years of my life! It began that morning with a drive all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee, to pick up the new Airstream Interstate 24GT Sprinter van, with a stop in Milwaukee, followed by four and a half months of traveling in the Sprinter before I discovered Moose Lodge.
The second day of our journey in the Sprinter
When you add in the two weeks of scouting in the Alfa before I bought the Sprinter, it was a total of five months of searching for my new home and over 13,000 miles of driving the US in the hunt for that place where I thought I could produce my best work.
I'll never forget that departure from Kirkland that early morning with no idea where I was going or for how long. I still write and post the daily adventure here at Moose Lodge and have faithfully kept this log going since long before the house was sold and I was packed up and ready to go. Since then, I've been tracking my daily discoveries, right down to how people interact with me as I go about my daily work.
The crazy details you can’t imagine.
Looking back, there were some big lessons in all of this. For one, when you get out there and see the US, it's a better, more interesting place than you can possibly imagine. Your brain can't keep up with the surprises, no matter how creative you are at considering your uncertainty. It's constant delight, even when things don't go as planned. You learn that problems, no matter how big or small, are something you just deal with head-on, and you continue. You don't ignore or set aside the issue and do something else; you just solve the problem on the spot and move on to what's next.
Rediscovering farmland and the big sky!
The shore of Lake Michigan
The amazing campgrounds full of interesting people.
The biggest lesson of them all, the thing that I've thought about the most, was that everything to do with the adventure and my enjoyment of this journey was wrapped up between my own two ears. My attitude had everything to do with the outcome, and it was my responsibility to adjust accordingly and not expect the environment around me to change. It doesn't care if I'm here or not. I sometimes have to remind myself that I'm temporary, no matter what.
It's easy with my old support system to forget that the outcome of my work is driven by the attitude that went into that work. It's terrifying and empowering, like standing at the edge of a cliff, knowing it's a decision to enjoy the view just as it's a decision not to jump.
I've discovered in an amusing way that I'm highly efficient and doggedly tenacious about everything within my control, and I'm entirely impatient with everything that's not. My trick is to focus on the tenacious part and keep working no matter what. When I'm waiting for something to happen, I'm writing or working on life here at Moose Lodge. Every day is intentional and not passive.
In the two years, I've written over a thousand blog posts on six different blogs, completed a book, advised companies, and I've failed and succeeded at a lot of small things that nobody will know. I've been sent out on the Quora Digest to over 105 million readers, and gained almost 20 million views. I've written over 2,000 answers, and over one in four make the Digest. I never stop writing.
The discovery of Moose Lodge
I've learned to cut a giant lawn with precision for the first time, while listening to great podcasts. I've learned that there really are magical places such as Moose Lodge if you're willing to look hard enough. I looked at over 10,000 homes online around the US and physically toured dozens just to find this place, and I love every minute I'm here.
I've experienced daily wildlife like I never knew before, and not just from a distance. I learned that each wild animal I encounter here has a different and distinct personality, and like humans, they run the full range. Deer are not just deer, and their expressions change just like dogs. Who would ever think a turtle out in the wild would be happy to see me and come running, as turtles run, just to see if I have apple slices on me.
I've enjoyed some of the best thunderstorms of my life. I've experienced extraordinary yet random kindness and generosity, unlike anything I found in the Pacific Northwest. I found a place where people say "hello" when walking by, and where politics and differences of opinions don't make you enemies, and where political correctness is considered amusement and wokeness is seen as simply a lack of critical thinking skills. Around here, good manners never interfere with a good laugh.
It's been a remarkable two years, and I've not fully landed yet. I'm still rebuilding and fumbling my way through this journey, so it's far from over, but I did want to take a moment to acknowledge the milestone.