Traveling

I dreamt last night an epic of a dream.


In the midst of the daily grind, I woke up one day and decided I was going to take off. Take a vacation. Get the hell out of dodge. I wasn't going to ask anybody. I was going to take my bike (or car, or something) and cross the country to Los Angeles. I started out on this trek on a bicycle - I would ride cross country. I came to a stop in the road very soon. There was some emergency drill (we thought?) of all the responders, including a boat, a helicopter and a huge tractor-trailer that was blocking traffic. (It was blocking a wedding in progress as well... the bride and father-of-the-bride looked on, frustrated. They were negotiating with the driver about getting out of the traffic).

I got out of my car (off the bike?) and walked in to explore the cluster. I walked into a huge container, like container ships carry but bigger, to discover a whole crew of folks - they apparently traveled with the cargo to transport it, but now their container was empty. I pleasantly informed them I was coming with. I left the bike/car behind and started making friends.

During the trek, I developed a relationship with one of the guys... he was sweet, lovely, and as soon as I got to Los Angeles he pretty much evaporated from the dream. Originally he was part of my plans for visiting, but he got lost somewhere along the way.

I bought a scooter as soon as we got to LA, but I only used it once. I met up with my brother, and my mom was there, and one more friend... and spent a good part of the end of the dream walking through confusing streets and finding my way back to them. I felt lost the whole time - the streets made no sense to me, they had no apparent layout (think San Francisco meets Boston), and I was disoriented time and time again. And I knew that it was a huge city, so I was afraid everything would be very far apart.

When I called my brother, he met us within 5 minutes, so I knew he lived close. I separated from the group to run an errand or something of that nature, and had rely on my own sense of direction to get back. I had no phone, no way to get in touch with them, no plan for when and where to meet. I walked through neighborhoods, including a park with a performance space (theater or opera house?), but realized that was the wrong direction... and ended up going through this huge entertainment center - like Dave and Busters but outside. It was almost like a Disney Theme park, and so crowded. Once I made it through that, suddenly around the corner the landscape flattened and it was almost swampy - I swear I remember seeing Spanish moss covered cypress. I turned a corner in what was now a quiet neighborhood - and a straight street! - and there was Judson, Mom and friend.

Needless to say, I was very proud of my sense of direction.

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The dreams of travel are significant. I am going through some kind of trek lately, but the route and destination are hugely unknown.