Sometimes, you have such a good joke in mind that you have to spell it all out yourself.

But sometimes you just have to trust that the person you’re riffing with will get there. And sometimes that trust is rewarded.

Me & my friend John, tweeting about Maine’s notorious Boon Island. Our round-the-world trip came to a stop just shy of the one-year mark. Last December, JM and I delayed our Hawaii-New Zealand-Australia return trip by taking on another house sitting gig in NY. In March we extended our US stay to the point of buying a house and me getting a job. So here we are in Houston, settling into the routine, deciding what’s next. I promise to let you know more, this time before another year passes. Welcome to Maine, The Way Life Should Be!

Almost twenty years ago, I sat in a half-full subway car on the O’Hare line, big sunglasses over my eyes, staring out the window and ruminating on some terrible news. I didn’t even know I was crying until the man sitting across the aisle from me gently, quietly, discreetly said, “I’m worried about you, miss.”

I smiled a little, shook my head, and told him I was fine. He nodded gravely. At my stop, we nodded and smiled again, both a little ruefully.

I wasn’t fine, but he couldn’t help me. No one could help me, because life sometimes brings sorrow and that’s just how it is.

Except that fellow passenger did help, just by reminding me that even strangers sometimes care about each other, and that the sorrow is outweighed by the caring. We are all traveling this road — at different paces and to different destinations, but we’re all on the same road, more or less.

I’ve never forgotten him. Thank you, fellow passenger.

Well, I’m not waking up at 5:00 any more like a week ago, but since then I am pulled out of sweet slumber at around 1:30 every night. There is no way I’m getting up to write at 1:30, I’m too lazy. This will hopefully be resolved by next week when we take the back roads down to Adelaide. When traveling JM and I usually hit the hay not long after dark (which is coming earlier and earlier) and wake up before sunrise and the swarms of flies.
Speaking of flies, our trip with the Getaway group was great and best of all our interview ended up on the cutting room floor. Possible reason: JM mentioning the word “butt”. We went to the regular Thursday night barbecue at Jol’s to watch the segment and also say goodbye to the usual crowd since we may not be back this way for a few months or longer. I had such a fun time on that shoot and am grateful to the cameraman Chris who taught me how to use my polarising filter! Here’s the Getaway segment about the Never Never Track and Jol’s site Direct 4WD where you can book the trip if you’re down this way (JM’s done all his 4WD training with Jol as well). Also here are my photos of the Never Never excursion. I just realized I may not have internet tomorrow. Looooong story short, our house sitting gig is up and we haven’t found anything new. In case I haven’t mentioned it before, JM and I are about to embark on a year-long journey around Australia wherever the wind may take us. Along the way we plan on doing some volunteer work in indigenous communities, map some areas, take photos, write a bit, and who knows what else. I hope to send updates whenever we hit an internet cafe, but until then… don’t let the net bugs bite.
[null, null, null, {"document_url": "https://macbebekin.wordpress.com/category/travel/", "unformatted_src": "https://i2.wp.com/farm3.static.flickr.com/2322/2440297507_f1c72e47f8.jpg", "src": "https://i2.wp.com/farm3.static.flickr.com/2322/2440297507_f1c72e47f8.jpg", "formatted_filename": "f c e f", "alt_text": "On the way back to camp", "rendered_width": 500, "rendered_height": 332}, null, null]