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As I write this, I sit at camp near Flagstaff, AZ. The daytime weather is exceptionally mild, and I have excellent cell signal. As of this 10th day on this trip, I have not yet scuttled off into the remote wilderness, instead I have remained at some campsites within the general reach of civilization.

Yesterday I did all my chores, restocked on food, and took a hike into Sandy's Canyon and then Walnut Canyon. Today, I rest. Tomorrow, I plan to go to the Walnut Canyon National Monument, and see the canyon from it's upper rim as well as the ancient cliff dwellings. And soon after that, I plan to see the Sunset Crater north of town.

Things have been going well! I am relaxed and have been able to take care of myself nicely. I get partially paid tomorrow, and I will spending that money to get me a cheap pair of shoes to wear around camp, and some cheap audio gear to listen to and make music. I had a speaker already, but I broke it by stepping on it while not paying attention. Very dumb! A mistake which will cost me some money for a replacement. I will surely be more careful now. Heavens forbid I step on my laptop some day…

I have come to a grinding halt with music production. I won't let myself truly give up, but quite frankly I've felt creatively bankrupt. I keep trying to come up with some good lyrics and I am struggling so much. And even when I sit down to make stuff without lyrics, I have found it so difficult. This is the worst part of learning to do something new! I know in my heart that I must try and fail before I can begin to succeed. It is a bit of a skill issue on my part, I just need to force myself and keep going forward. I've watched some YouTube videos about music theory and writing good lyrics, now I just need to spend some time really doing the work of actual production. I really want to make this happen. I've wanted to make music for years and now I finally have the software I need to do what I want.

Yesterday, I was able to finally talk to my teacher from the school I dropped out of. For legal reasons, he was not allowed to communicate with me outside of school while I was a student. Now that I've dropped, we have no such restrictions, so we caught up and plan to stay in touch. I'm really happy about this, because I've always enjoyed spending time with him at school. He seems really curious to know how this crazy life of mine pans out.

…and I am too. What a decision I have made, to completely upend my entire life and return to the road. Will this be the right choice for me? I feel like the likely answer is yes but I wonder where I will be in 5 years. Will I still be happy out here? Will I have gotten hurt? If this doesn't work out, what then? Only time will tell…

I have not yet documented this trip so I will be recapping a bit here.

I began my trip barreling down I-40 for about 14 hours. I arrived at The Box rock climbing area not far from Socorro in New Mexico and immediately discovered that the potential campsite was SWARMING with little bugs, more than I had ever seen in my life. Just in the process of fetching my headlamp from the cargo, there were dozens of them in my car. Thankfully I know this region well and was able to follow this up with a different location nearby that did not have so many insects. I drove there with all my windows down to get the pests out of my car, and it worked. I arrived late at night and went to bed shortly after.

I like New Mexico a lot but I planned to skip it and make Superior, AZ my first destination. On my drive there, I was feeling pretty nostalgic going back through the https://helixnebula.space/CibolaDatil/ I had spent many days at before, so I turned off the highway and returned to one of my old campsites. It had changed quite a lot since I last stayed 3 years ago, the tall(ish) grass was replaced by well worn dirt. Seems that others had discovered the spot and wore it down a lot…or maybe it was thoroughly grazed by wildlife. No idea, but this is a welcome improvement in my mind, I prefer camping on a dirt flat over long grass. The immediate surroundings of the site remained untrammeled.

I wished to remain there until the next day, but I thought it would be a good idea to get my hair cut before it got dirty enough to need a wash. Poor planning on my part lead to me departing home with hair that was much too thick and long to wash easily. So I scheduled a cut in Show Low, AZ, and I have returned to having a really short buzz cut. Super easy to maintain and wash, but goodness I HATE the way I look with such short hair. But it really doesn't matter much, I am always, always wearing some form of headwear. What's the point of having long and thick hair that's always squashed by hats?

The scenery on this whole day of the trip was lovely, especially going through the Salt River Canyon in Arizona. I didn't make it to Superior until dark, which made me a little sad that I didn't get to see quite everything in the daylight. Once again I returned to an old campsite that I'm very familiar with, and it too had changed quite a bit since my last stay some years ago. The spot I used to stay at was heavily overgrown, and some very inconsiderate folks had dumped a large load of trash nearby. I found another worn clearing nearby and made camp. I slept at this spot for the next 6 days, making little trips to nearby locations during the day.

In those days I remained by Superior, I hiked into Arnett Canyon, went to the Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum, visited Oak Flat, and took a brief jaunt into the Pinal Mountains near Globe. A couple of those days was also spent just relaxing and passing the time at camp.

The heat there was quite intense, with the first couple days hitting just about 100F. I deployed my new sunshade, and it worked beautifully. It provides effective shade all the way from morning, to solar noon, and sunset…though it does need to be relocated periodically throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky. This heat was an excellent test of my resilience, quality of my clothing, and the rest of my gear. It worked out well and I am pleased to report that I won't always be running away from the desert heat.

When I was ready to depart, I chose to return to the Coconino National Forest around Flagstaff. As well as my days at Superior had gone, even when I hiked in near 100F heat, I have to admit that I was (and still am) relieved to be in shady alpine weather. I am temporarily trading those hot days for cold nights and freezing mornings. It's quite alright, I admit.