Panic Attacks and the Road Trip to Colorado

Roadside Cemetery - Imagine the stories

Juxtapositions again

Lake Superior beauty

Mack and I enjoying the solitude at Lake Superior

From Munising we started our journey AND a new day traveling along Lake Superior. I'd label this leg of our trip as scenic solitude...there were a few travelers and most seemed to be older, perhaps retired, and truly enjoying the journey as were Mack and I.

If you haven't traveled by yourself and/or with a canine companion, I'd highly recommend the adventure. There is a tremendous amount of time to think, plan, consider, and map out not only your journey, but the remainder of your life, if you wish. There were times that I felt more alone than I would normally like, but much of the time was spent quietly contemplating the beauty of my home country. Every scene produced either a photograph or a possibility for a painting, or both.

Purposefully NOT listening to the news OR even the weather for the entire drive was relaxing and left a lot of time for introspection. And although I checked in nightly to ensure my family knew my location and that we were safe and uploaded pics to Facebook so they could follow our progress, the news, politics or weather was not on our agenda. I had time to think about where I have been (both literally and figuratively) and where I am going.

This also allowed time for old demons to visit..and that they did. Panic attack prone when feeling alone, there were a couple of times (no actually several times) that I had to remind myself to breathe deeply and enjoy the moment. My favorite side-roads/trips were quiet, traffic free, full of potential paintings and photographs, but also a little nerve racking as I fought the panic down.

And I won...no panicking and a camera and mind full of ideas for future projects and paintings.

Stay tuned for the next leg of our journey!