Rory Turns Seventy Six

Today was Rory Conlan's seventy sixth birthday. You heard that right folks...a seventy six year old is contemplating walking across the country in the Newport to Newport Transcontinental Pilgrimage. It will be a real gift if we can pull off this feat. We talked briefly on the phone, but I am really looking forward to spending some time out on the open trail with him. I believe it will be good for both of us to get out and see where the chips may fall.

Till then, I suppose we'll both have to get by on what the universe sends our way.  Today in Maryland it was a magnificent sunset.

Sunset Fishing on the Severn River - Annapolis, MD

The sunset as seen from Jonas Green Park on the Severn River proved to be an amazing event tonight.  When I snapped this photo of the fishermen in the foreground, I was pretty sure that I'd captured the best light for the evening. That's not how things worked out in the end.

It Just Kept Getting Better - Severn River Sunset

Ten minutes after I thought I'd seen the best that the universe had to offer, the sky was alight with the fiery expiration of the sun. Suffice it to say that I think the little beach down at Jonas Green Park in Annapolis is positioned quite nicely for a Key West style sunset festival or perhaps a luau.

I hope that Rory's day ended on the same high note that mine did. Soon enough, I hope, we'll be able to compare notes on the unfolding of the path at our feet. Until then, we'll bot keep our eyes open for what tomorrow may have in store.

Transitions Into a New Future

Today the morning's walk was marked by a great sunrise over the Anacostia. It proved to be an auspicious start to a day where I felt that the transition to a different and I believe better life moving forward gained some significant headway.

Sunrise over the Anacostia

Deep into the third round of thirty day minimalism, the practice is finally getting into a comfortable rhythm, and I'm really liking the results. Meeting new people is starting to gain some traction, and I'm mostly keeping up with a solid effort at previous incarnations of the thirty day principles.

A year ago, I was beginning to sense that major lifestyle shifts might be possible. Now I know they are a reality with some relatively simple rule sets, and that knowledge is giving me a great deal of confidence that almost no goal is out of reach if you make small steps in the right direction and keep it up over time.

Acting the way to right thinking has been the key in unlocking this previously untapped resource for me, and I'm grateful that my focus has shifted from a lethargic intellectual approach to a more active physical approach. I'm also grateful that I've had a great partner in this journey in Rory Conlan. I believe we've supported each other in making some significant changes, and that relationship has really been a bedrock of some of the great things that are happening around both of us.

Today we spent over an hour discussing the walking route between Newport, RI and Newport, OR.  We both approached the challenge in our own way. He tackled it with paper maps in a Rand McNally road atlas, and I took a more digital approach with Google Maps. Regardless of the reference material, this action and discussion helped solidify the path forward in our march toward what I hope will be a collective adventure of a lifetime.

I haven't the faintest idea what tomorrow might bring, but I'm excited to experience the unfolding of what promises to be another great day.

Endurance

There is a certain resilience in the act of endurance. Keeping up the practice with some degree of endurance is the point today.

First Day of September - Anacostia River - Washington, DC

Tomorrow's path will not be the same as today's, though I expect it will rhyme a little.