Well, I’m pretty much down to just waiting for the day I can leave. I still have a few things I’m doing but overall I’m just anxious to get going. Two good friends are marrying each other so I’m here until after September 10th regardless. After that, I’m gone.
I’ve been staying with friends and now family. My apartment is gone, my stuff is gone, I’m almost ready to go. Using this time to get a few more photo edits done and trying to drum up some more web work to do before and on the road.
Money is extremely tight, bringing new meaning to “flying by the seat of your pants”. I haven’t even gotten a few things I need yet because I can’t bear to watch the digits fall off my travel budget. I’m sending out emails and messages trying to drum up a sponsor who’d like to use my truck as a rolling billboard and have me as an ambassador for their company. That would take a little of the financial stress away from the trip. Which is the only part that is stressing me at all. I’m more than ready and excited for the rest of it.
Aside from that I’m just working away, adding things here, trying to link up with people and get my final ducks in a row. Soon. I will be on my way….somewhere.
Doubting in one’s sanity at this point in the game probably isn’t a healthy sign but today was one of those days. Questioning myself and what it is I’m planning on doing.
As of July 26th I’ve had no home of my own. I no longer have an address. I’ve sold 95% of everything I owned, alot of it for pennies on the dollar because I had limited time to get rid of it. Most of what I have left is crammed into my truck which in itself isn’t even mine. Watching today’s payment come out of my already small travel budget really hurt. It made me question how long I can really last on my own. I also have things I need to do and a few things I have to get, all being put off because I don’t want to spend the money.
I’ve been really anxious to get the hell out of here yet thankful for the time and space in a friends house (house sitting) to work through some of my older photography, getting it uploaded onto my new online store etc. Even though it seems to be taking forever.
I’m yearning for the open road yet scared shitless that I’m not going to last more than a few months based on the financial realities of it. Having no financial back up plan is frightening. Then again, it’s not like I had one while scraping month to month together here in Vancouver to survive in the city and the reality was, that was costing me even more.
I guess I just needed to write this as a small form of therapy as even now I’m starting to feel the fear ease off, almost disappear. I can’t let myself undermine myself with negative energy. As I read this over I’m inclined to simply delete it and go to sleep. Yet I think I’ll leave it up. As a reminder to readers that I am human. That not every day is or will be cherries and rainbows. I have hopes and dreams of this upcoming trip. I also have fears and concerns regarding taking such a large stride in the opposite direction than most. I guess all that I can do is go about it as I have been, be open to incoming opportunities and get ready for what could be a really cool adventure.
Thanks for listening.
W
Stuff: items, things, or matter.
For decades our “dependence” or “need” for “things” has increased. As I recently sat at my one table, a table covered in my belongings at the local flea market, trying at times almost desperately to hustle a few dollars for something I originally paid much more for I wondered, “where do we get all this crap?”.
Some of my junk that I was flogging at the Market of Fleas - photo by Nancy Morrison
I had one table out of hundreds in one large barn like building in one city. Inside this building are vendors and dealers, some who have been there for over 20 years weekend after weekend selling their own and other peoples discarded “stuff”.
Just as one example, remember those VHS video tapes of all the hit Disney movies that came out long before the acronym DVD was ever invented. I remember people collecting those, waiting for the release of the next one, stocking bookshelves with their shiny white plastic cases that housed two spools of video tape contained within another plastic box. Disney had people eating from the palm of their hand, holding back releases of certain titles and then only releasing certain amounts to create even more of a demand. Well, it’s only been what, 20 years? Twenty years since some of those titles that went for $30 plus dollars each were on the top of many a movie collectors list. Fast forward to present day where if one were so inclined they could walk into the Vancouver Flea Market and buy all those Disney titles in VHS and in triplicate for literally pennies on the dollar. In more than one vendor’s booths I saw stacks of these movies standing as I high as I do. Going for a dollar or less each. The DVD versions aren’t fairing much better. Then, despite knowing that it’s because technology is changing so fast I still started to wonder why, even though we as humans know that something will be obsolete in 6 months to a year to we keep buying, buying, buying.
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So in my preparations to be out of my current apartment, amongst the selling of my furniture to the craigslist monsters, while sorting, cleaning and donating I found one more creature I had to contend with. For as long as I can remember I’ve had a metal box that I’ve been throwing pennies into. I roll and spend my other loose change on a regular basis but pennies always just got tossed into this thin metal box. Well, the penny box has gotten to the point that it weighed about 50 pounds. I’m not kidding.
Since I’m stressed for time and not about to sit and roll 50 pounds worth of copper I decided to look for a machine I once saw at the local Safeway that counted the coins, took 10% and gave you a receipt that you could then collect your “real” money from the checkout person. What a great idea I thought. Soon after seeing those machines all those machines were suddenly gone. I’m not sure why.
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Category: Praise and Rants, Preparation, Resources, Side Notes
Tags: British, Canada, change, coins, Columbia, Commercial Drive, counter, counting, dimes, loose, machine, nickles, pennies, resources, SuperValue, Vancouver One Comment
So about three years ago when I was actually making decent money I bought a 30 GB Ipod with Video. Great little music player, lots of room, love it. Then as I wanted to use my nifty music player on my road trips I bought a Griffin FM transmitter. Grand total of over $450.
While on my last road trip, Ipod was nestled securely in the Griffin holder that’s plugged into the lighter outlet of my truck. Songs playing,…then…crackle, crackle…nothing. Seems I could see the songs, scroll through my playlists, see the album artwork etc, just no sound would come out of the music player that I’ve grown to love. When I got home I started looking into why. Internet says there’s a known issue with the solder job on the logic board. A known Apple problem.
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Category: Praise and Rants, Preparation, Side Notes
Tags: 4G, apple, bc, Canada, iphone, ipod, irepair, irepair.ca, mac, north vancouver, service, simply computing, simply.ca, Vancouver, west broadway Leave a Comment
My good friend Nancy asked me one day if she could feature me on her travel blog. Of course I said yes, as any exposure for my upcoming trip is good and who better to have write about you than a good friend.
Nancy’s blog is Nancy Under the Stars and while visiting be sure to bookmark it as she’s heading back to Australia in a few weeks and will have plenty to write about.
To any and all company CEOs, advertising executives or anyone else who can see the potential in having your product or cause pasted on a vehicle that will be criss-crossing the continent — here’s your chance!
My name is Wayne, and this is my travel blog. In 2 and 1/2 months, September 15th 2010, I’m leaving my home in Vancouver, British Columbia, and taking an extended road trip for my photography. I’ll be taking this trip no matter what; the length of it depends only on its sustainability. But if all factors fall into place, I plan to be on the road for two to three years, as I plan to explore all four corners of North America, both in Canada and the U.S., including Alaska. Any sponsor on this trip will get a huge amount of exposure from coast to coast.
The advertising potential for this trip is exponentially increased because I plan to promote myself and my trip through all social media avenues. I already have an established professional and personal presence on facebook, a twitter feed, etc. I also have an online store for the sale of my photographic prints and on the new version of my personal website.
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Last night I walked up the stairs to the managers suite in my building and quietly slipped a piece of paper under his door. My written 30 day notice that on July 31st I’ll be vacating the apartment I’ve called home since July 2006.
Today I woke up late. I’ve been doing some running work for various concerts when I can pick it up. Today is the second show of “Star Wars in Concert” here in Vancouver. As I was heading out the door I started thinking that I was crazy. One part of me is completely excited about the prospects, opportunities and freedom my upcoming trip may bring. The other part of me…well, it’s stressed right out. Some days I feel like an overheating walking nuclear reactor.
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