Wish You Were Here

I am sitting in a Hotel in Morgantown WV waiting for my mom to come pick me up for a week of visiting with family. I "woke up" this morning in PA, on the side of the road soaked to the bone. There is a saying with lightweight travelers "comfortable most of the time and safe all the time". It's the trade back, what I pay for my lifestyle. Only comfortable "most of the time". As I was singing Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" I was contemplating how I could feel so refreshed after the worst sleeping conditions of the past year.

I caught a ride out of NYC with a man named Mike Johnson. Mike helped start a 30ish y/o urban community on Staten Island. The trip was filled with great conversation and connection. Finally, late into the night I was dropped of at Rte 119 and I76. I was not well prepared to sleep outside and it looked like rain. I played it cool though, like it was going to be no thing. I had of course my old down bag and my therma rest. I left my tarp with Liam, shortsightedly forgetting how useful a tarp is after sleeping inside for a few days. A got a few hours of sleep before it started raining at witch point I changed my set up from comfy mode to 'safe mode'. I stayed awake for the rest of the night consentrating on a balance between staying warm and staying relaxed. I was huddled in the fetal position wrapped in my sleeping foam instead of laying on it, feet hanging out with my flattened sopping sleeping bag draped over me in a way that I touched it as little as possible but it could act as a wind block and rain deterant. When my right side would get cold I would flip until my left side got cold then I would do childs pose for a while...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXdNnw99-Ic