Cry (You're not expected to enjoy every moment)

"Just as a white summer cloud, in harmony with heaven and earth freely floats in the blue sky from horizon to horizon following the breath of the atmosphere--in the same way the pilgrim abandons himself to the breath of the greater life...leads him beyond the farthest horizons to an aim which is already present within him, though yet hidden from his sight."  Lama Govinda, The Way Of The White Clouds. 

I read this excerpt from The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen, while waiting for my plane to take off. A friend recently commented that this trip will be a pilgrimage of sorts.  Didn't really look at it that way and won't know until it's over. But solo travel is a different ballgame. Fewer distractions means more time for me to look inward. My solo bike trip down the coast was like that. I walked away knowing I could do anything in this world. And over 30 years later, I sat at the base of Mt Shasta for five days, in silence, thinking about what the rest of my life was going to look like. And then realizing it didn't really matter. Life, right now, just is.

Oh.....and the title of this post? I was at my favorite coffee shop this weekend and in the paper was "Eleven Key Tips For FemaleThru Hikers".  Cry was #8  Can't remember the others. 

Next stop: Chile