Here we go! Early tomorrow morning we climb into the truck and start heading east. It may be snowing, but once I get out of the Montana mountains the weather looks pretty clear until the Great Lakes region.

I *think* I have enough gas money. With oil at $102.65 a barrel today, I wonder what I will encounter. My fingers are crossed!

One of the things I love is that when I set out to do a project, with all of the preparatory steps it takes to get there, by the time it's time for me to show up and do the gig, I'm ready. I feel that readiness building in me as I prepare to go "out there" and teach. It's an exciting feeling. I know that I don't know what I will encounter, and that there is no way to prepare for the unknown, and I'm traveling on faith. It's not the first time, most likely won't be the last.

I hear from friends in various places that there is a lot of sickness, flu, pneumonia. I am hearing this from California, New Mexico, Montana, Vermont...feels like a plague, eh? The bugs sure do get tougher and more virulent. It makes me think of the algae bloom and it's ultimate fate.

But, possibly depressing thoughts aside, I have loved being in the Bitterroot Valley and expect to return here in the not too distant future.

I'm thinking of all the people out there who I love, and how good it feels to love you all.

Everything's coming together. The Healing Magic class is all set to go! The lessons are online, the discussion boards are set up...now it's ready for more enrollment! My kit for travel is coming together. The truck and camper are both for sale and in process...lots of interest.

This is a quickie entry...I am looking for funds for tires. My tires are getting smooth and I am about to drive across the country. I can get new ones for around $120 apiece. Anyone want to help out with part or all of a tire? I only need 4!

Sunny, in the 20's F, snow in the canyons and mountains, none on the valley floor.

It has been my good fortune to have this time to move at my own pace, to work on projects in my fashion which is to have many going at once and gradually work a little on each thing...moving from project to project. The online class Healing Magic is set to start in a little more than a month. The materials are in good shape. It's a joyous opportunity, to put together and offer material that will, hopefully, be transformative as well as informative for the class participants.

I wonder what it would be like to live in a society where we were all encouraged to move at our own pace, to work on projects which inspire us. In my position of privilege as an American I have been able to carve out niches of time and space to live in this way. I know others who do so as well. It seems to me that one either has to have so much resource that one can afford to set one's own pace, or have so little that you are not beholdin' to a job or rent or mortgage. The folks in the middle are certainly being squeezed.

When I meet people who appear to be living less "in the box" they tend to be folks who have chosen to follow a path that is true to something inside of themselves. That takes courage, especially when there is so much encouragement, even demand, for conformism. Courage is interesting. Using my own life as a frame of reference (the best one I have!) I am struck in moments with how I have changed my life in the last few years, and how it could be scary except it isn't for the most part (notable exceptions having to do with physical health). It's pretty exciting.

Then I think about the trip I am about to embark on and go...whoa! What the...?! Can I really do this stuff?? I know I can, and it's exhilarating to keep realizing that.

The snow has mostly melted here in the valley. There is still plenty in the mountains though, and I can see that it is still snowing in the mountains.

It's good to have this time with Lasky. I see her age is catching up with her. She was 15 human years old in December. Now she is a little less strong, and appears to be slightly disoriented occasionally. She's still pretty much herself, but it is like watching her start to run down, knowing that eventually she will stop. She's still a love.

I'm working out my money and infrastructure for getting across the country and to Italy. Things are coming together. It's a process.

My days here are pretty quiet. I'm not doing much media in the way of news.