Day 46: Fall City, WA

I rolled into my campground just outside Fall City, WA yesterday. I'll be here for three nights, June 29 - July 2.

It's a nice park. They offer a sauna, a hot tub, and a swimming pool, all of which are good quality. And some pickleball courts. Strong wifi.

I've been getting a crash course on campgrounds these past six weeks. This one is the best maintained and has the nicest facilities so far.

God Is a Dentist

I was experiencing some kind of extreme tooth pain, so I wasn't as active as normal yesterday. I wasn't sure what was causing it. The pain was all over my entire mouth, teeth and gums. It felt like it was coming from down deep in my bones. It was an 8 or 9 on the pain scale at times. It would come in waves. Several times I didn't know if I could bear it much longer, and then it would eventually subside.

I have a very smart dentist friend who was stumped by the symptoms. I spent much of the past week concerned that I might be requiring a root canal or something serious. I believe I eventually figured out that it was mainly caused by a sinus issue along with an apparent gum infection. I'd never known sinuses could cause that type of pain in your mouth. I discovered I was able to alleviate the pain by running my face under hot water in the shower. I also did breathing exercises in the sauna. Those efforts, along with frequent mouth washes with half hydrogen peroxide / half water helped immensely.

Good times. There were some vulnerable moments being in that kind of pain by myself in the middle of nowhere. This has been going on to various degrees for just over a week. But I seem to have made it through. It's at about 15% today. Praise the Lord. I truly do give God all the credit for making that pain go away. It could just as easily come back. I have no control.

It's amazing how when you have tooth pain, absolutely nothing else in the world matters. It serves as a good reminder to practice gratitude daily. An infinite number of things are going right for us to be able to experience the simple pleasures in a given day.

The past few weeks, I've been experiencing so much joy and happiness that I've actually been struggling with some unexpected feelings. First of all, I feel a part of my mind wondering what the catch is. Can this be real? Can life be this amazing? And then some guilt. Is this ok to be doing this and enjoying my life to this extent? It's almost like the scene in Seinfeld where George Costanza's sitcom finally gets picked up by NBC and his immediate reaction is, "Oh no. I'm going to die. God would never let me be successful."

Obviously it's not that extreme, but as I observe my mind, I notice some part of it poking around to see where the holes might be in this amazing life I am finding myself experiencing. The truth is that it is real. It is happening. And it is 100% God's grace.

I've been doing a great deal of work to reprogram my mind to welcome this joy and happiness into my life and to move away from the elements that do not serve me. More on that later.

The Return of the Blog

During the week I take a rigorous accounting of my time - detailing on paper what I do with my time throughout the day. But I try to take it easy on Sundays. I've designated it as a day for resting and writing. Free of the tasks that are less pleasant or more challenging. It feels like a perfect day for writing.

I've taken some time away from the blog, but I've been thinking about it and how to I want to use it often. I'm going to resurrect it, and make it a vehicle for documenting my travels. I'm still debating about maybe making it private, only to be shared with family and certain friends. Or possibly I will charge $1 per month or something nominal, just so the readers are only people who want to be there enough to clear that low bar, but is nonetheless a bar. It also removes some anonymity because if you have to provide a credit card, that is one of the more effective means of verifying an identity. The only reason this is a concern is that I will be sharing a certain level of personal information on the internet, and I want to exercise a bit of caution. If you are reading this and have some thoughts on the subject, please do share.

I do extensive journal writing, but I freeze up a bit when it comes to the idea of sharing personal details of my journey freely. I could make it less personal, but that feels less interesting to me, and my enthusiasm fizzles. I'll continue to try to find a balance in this area.

The Road Ahead

Since departing Nashville on May 15, forty-six days have elapsed.

My time has been almost exclusively solitary. Have I gotten lonely? Nope. I really haven't. I have enjoyed it immensely. Of course I love my family and friends so much. But I have needed this time and I am absolutely soaking it up. I am enjoying it much more than I ever anticipated. I feel like I could do this forever. Then I start wondering if I am being foolish somehow. Am I going to wake up one day and realize I've gotten sick of it? Possibly. The thing is - I really do not think so. What am I going to do? Time will tell.

When I start having these types of feelings, I get great comfort by contemplating death. I've had quite a few friends die in the last few years. And this life is all over for them. If I knew I were going to die in a month, what would I want to do with that time? I can't think of anything I would rather do than what I am doing. If I knew I were going to die in 6 months? Same thing. A year? Same. Five years? Same. Ten? Same. So that's comforting. The only difference is that I would want to be spending an appropriate share of time with my closest family and friends at the same time.

So, while it's been quite solitary up to this point, it's about to get quite social for 10 days or so when I depart this campground. Some great adventures ahead!