FLOYD!
Well, friends, it's so weird, but the minute I got off the interstate and headed towards Floyd, I got a rush of great feelings. Sirius was playing great music; Virginia is for lovers (of life!), and it's just like heaven. I planned-- I planned this year long adventure. I'd still love to see the Pacific Northwest. But I can't live there. There's some bluegrass maybe, but not like here.
Four hundred and twenty five people live in the township. That's smaller than I thought I wanted, but crime rate in the whole area is like negative one. For the most part everything is local; it has a Subway (yuck!) and a Hardee's. If these are the only two pock marks on the landscape, I'm pretty okay with that. Multiple great restaurants that have won awards for being "foodie" destinations. Right on! They may have not just caught seafood a few miles from here, but it's an easy drive to sit next to the ocean munching on crabs. Oysters. Whatever they have up here.
This place checks every box-- the most beautiful place I've ever seen, bluegrass, an active and vibrant community with lots of artists and everyone I've met is so damn sweet! Bike trails, hiking trails, more roadtrips to other spots than I can imagine! Just three hour drive to see the ocean! I could go, just as easy as driving to Omaha (from where I lived in the middle of nowhere). And, for the first time on this trip, I've found that I could actually afford to live here. Not IN TOWN, but I don't want to live in town anyway. Give me a few acres and a creek, a water and electric and septic system, and it's all good! I want to lay in a hammock at night and watch the fireflies, and now and then run into town and see amazing music. I want to kayak and not take life at all seriously.
They say they live on "Floyd time" here, and I can dig it!
In town it's adorable, quaint little shops, and the awesome Floyd General Store. The dude who owns it is AWESOME and he's already hooking me up with music lessons. They do a music podcast from there and live shows all the time. Every Sunday the locals come together and jam bluegrass! I'd love to get good enough to get in on that.
One other random thing: for the most part on this trip, I've shut the camper door at dark and not gone out much. Tonight I stood out under the stars forever. I feel safe here; it just feels -- hard to describe, but I'm 7 miles from town on this farm. I'm the only camper out here besides the camphost, a really sweet boy from Buffalo. We talked about Buffalo's incredible array of comfort foods. I don't think I've ever been anywhere where eating food really bad for you has tasted so great. If you ever want to hasten your departure, based on eating wings and subs, Buffalo is highly recommended. Also, the people from there are usually super cool. Anyway, the ones I've met.
So I'm out here kinda on my own, but it just feels like I could go outside and sleep under the stars. But I'm not going to, because I've already taken bug bites to a whole new level.
If you'd have told me a few weeks ago that I'd find my absolute heaven in Virginia, I'd have called you a damned liar. That's the problem, maybe... in the past I just planned to move somewhere, and went. This is a terrible idea. You can't tell how a place is really going to feel without going, exploring, finding out. But this place opens a whole WORLD to me, just like Vegas did. I spent every weekend there exploring the desert, mountains, ghost towns, natural wonders. Every time I jumped in the car, I could spend hours just seeing that part of the world. This can be exactly that for me too!
NOW, for ideas on how to build a life: maybe get a few acres, maybe build something. Maybe a dome house! An earthship! Maybe live in the camper a while. Maybe start my own tourist attraction, like build all kinds of weird shit out of old stuff. Make something fun, silly even that people will want to come see. Or just sit back, without people coming to my place. Write books. Write songs. Watch fireflies. Visit the camp where they filmed Dirty Dancing. Yeah, I'll admit I really loved the idea of that camp when I saw that movie. Can life be more like Dirty Dancing, but without the back alley abortion? I feel like it can. I'm not going to carry any watermelons. I'm not going to make any concessions. Just create exactly the life I want and love it. I'll work when I need to, volunteer where I can, be a lover... because: Virginia's for that.
Four hundred and twenty five people live in the township. That's smaller than I thought I wanted, but crime rate in the whole area is like negative one. For the most part everything is local; it has a Subway (yuck!) and a Hardee's. If these are the only two pock marks on the landscape, I'm pretty okay with that. Multiple great restaurants that have won awards for being "foodie" destinations. Right on! They may have not just caught seafood a few miles from here, but it's an easy drive to sit next to the ocean munching on crabs. Oysters. Whatever they have up here.
This place checks every box-- the most beautiful place I've ever seen, bluegrass, an active and vibrant community with lots of artists and everyone I've met is so damn sweet! Bike trails, hiking trails, more roadtrips to other spots than I can imagine! Just three hour drive to see the ocean! I could go, just as easy as driving to Omaha (from where I lived in the middle of nowhere). And, for the first time on this trip, I've found that I could actually afford to live here. Not IN TOWN, but I don't want to live in town anyway. Give me a few acres and a creek, a water and electric and septic system, and it's all good! I want to lay in a hammock at night and watch the fireflies, and now and then run into town and see amazing music. I want to kayak and not take life at all seriously.
They say they live on "Floyd time" here, and I can dig it!
In town it's adorable, quaint little shops, and the awesome Floyd General Store. The dude who owns it is AWESOME and he's already hooking me up with music lessons. They do a music podcast from there and live shows all the time. Every Sunday the locals come together and jam bluegrass! I'd love to get good enough to get in on that.
One other random thing: for the most part on this trip, I've shut the camper door at dark and not gone out much. Tonight I stood out under the stars forever. I feel safe here; it just feels -- hard to describe, but I'm 7 miles from town on this farm. I'm the only camper out here besides the camphost, a really sweet boy from Buffalo. We talked about Buffalo's incredible array of comfort foods. I don't think I've ever been anywhere where eating food really bad for you has tasted so great. If you ever want to hasten your departure, based on eating wings and subs, Buffalo is highly recommended. Also, the people from there are usually super cool. Anyway, the ones I've met.
So I'm out here kinda on my own, but it just feels like I could go outside and sleep under the stars. But I'm not going to, because I've already taken bug bites to a whole new level.
If you'd have told me a few weeks ago that I'd find my absolute heaven in Virginia, I'd have called you a damned liar. That's the problem, maybe... in the past I just planned to move somewhere, and went. This is a terrible idea. You can't tell how a place is really going to feel without going, exploring, finding out. But this place opens a whole WORLD to me, just like Vegas did. I spent every weekend there exploring the desert, mountains, ghost towns, natural wonders. Every time I jumped in the car, I could spend hours just seeing that part of the world. This can be exactly that for me too!
NOW, for ideas on how to build a life: maybe get a few acres, maybe build something. Maybe a dome house! An earthship! Maybe live in the camper a while. Maybe start my own tourist attraction, like build all kinds of weird shit out of old stuff. Make something fun, silly even that people will want to come see. Or just sit back, without people coming to my place. Write books. Write songs. Watch fireflies. Visit the camp where they filmed Dirty Dancing. Yeah, I'll admit I really loved the idea of that camp when I saw that movie. Can life be more like Dirty Dancing, but without the back alley abortion? I feel like it can. I'm not going to carry any watermelons. I'm not going to make any concessions. Just create exactly the life I want and love it. I'll work when I need to, volunteer where I can, be a lover... because: Virginia's for that.
Comments
Post a Comment