Home.

Evidently, my cellular reception is hit and miss.  When I asked about a t-mobile hot spot I got this – “A what spot?”

It looks like I’ll have a wireless connection at one of the restaurants in Valdez, but my phone might not work – SUCK! Anyway, the reunion starts tonight and I’ll get to see people I haven’t seen in 10 years.

Renting a car and driving to Valdez was one of the best decisions I’ve made thus far.  It was stunning.  What should have been a 5 hour drive took me closer to 9 as I had to stop and take pictures at nearly every pullout.  I’ve driven that stretch of road so many times, that it seemed like every corner, hill, rest stop, and outcropping of trees held a significant memory.  There were times when I would round a bend and drive through reenactments of my old self – ‘made out at that rest stop’ ‘got in a snowball fight there’ got out to stretch my legs and got in a fight with Reggie there’ ‘chased Ambria with the camera’ ‘peed in the woods there – and got my boots’ ‘camped’ ‘smoked my first cigar’ – yadda yadda yadda.  Culminating in the grand master memory – ‘Got married on that hill’.

Some prominent places held three or four of me in various stages of growth between the ages of 14 and 21.   I could watch myself grow up.  My hair changed, my style altered, even my sense of humor seemed to metamorphosis.  I love that 300 mile piece of asphalt.

Through the Matanuska Valley, over Hatcher’s Pass, across the Copper River Basin, over Thompson’s Pass, through Keystone Canyon, over the Valdez mudflats and there you are.  Home.

I remember dreading the drive when I was younger.  It seemed to take all day and there was never a good place to pull over and pee after drinking three mochas.  Now it’s one of those things about visiting that I most look forward to.  Road trips are a fact of life when you live up here.  We would get a car load of people and drive to Anchorage for the weekend just to see a movie, because Valdez doesn’t have a theatre.  Ambria and I once drove 2 hours to Glenallen for a specific pack of bubblegum.  Perhaps, because so many of my fondest memories are forged on the road, the BlissQuest needed to be a road trip. 

I think I saved Alaska for when I’d be ready to deal with the influx of memories, feelings, and grief.  I expect I’ll laugh a lot – cry even more – and leave reborn in some way.  There’s something about homecoming that recreates you.  I’ll keep you posted as to how that works out.