Alone

How long have you been alone? Not alone, like by yourself while studying, or walking home, but honstely alone. Alone, as in solo, only you and the silence for a period of time. Short or long, doesn't matter.

We had a guest speaker in my non-fiction class today who asked us this question. He had sailed from the Panama canal to Hawaii in 53 days, solo. By himself for 53 days, nothing but him and the open sea.

I was alone when I drove cross country this summer. Alone as in driving by myself. Alone meaning at the end of the day I would speak with the waitress at dinner and the front desk attendant at my motel.
During those 10 hour drives from Idaho to Wisconsin, in my red Blazer while blasting Ben Harper, I wish I had used the time to contemplate. To sink my mind into an idea and dissect it. But I concentrated more on goals, on my needs and wants from my summer's adventure. I thought mostly about what I wanted this summer to stand for, and more about what I would stand for once it was over.

Looks like it's time for a solo trip. A real solo trip, a hero's journey, as they call it in the literary world. An epic adventure that brings me home a firm believer in myself and in the distance I will then be able to cover with another.

Where shall I go? And what would I think about?