Day 168

today has been huge. huge. huge.

but first,

we woke up in montana and went to church in a surprisingly populated town- in montana. who knew. the church is only a couple years old but apparently has been growing rapidly and is now held in a sweet, former movie theater. it's sweet and their sermon titles and weekly activities are designed as movie posters that fill the display boxes outside. we sat in the balcony of freshlife church and their mannerisms of music and teaching and overall vibe reminded me of imago dei in portland. good place.

adam and i, along with the two guys in the house from church we're living with and a new zealander nate who's crashing here temporarily too, went out to lunch with the friends from last night. afterwards, we all hit up glacier national park and spent the afternoon waiding in the icy streams of glacier runoff and skipped rocks and climbed trees in the crisp and perfectly clear fall sun. we were hippies.


here's the huge part tho.

we left montana late after having dinner with the girls. all the preparations and future of these plans for the winter revolved around tonight's process of getting my work permit on the way back up. i was nervous, considering my success with past border experiences, but felt a strange sort of comfort/excitement in the fact that this border crossing was the same one that chris mccandless passed through after going north from wayne's farm on his way to alaska.

i showed them my papers and janitor job offer from the church but they suspected i needed one other document- one that is very hard to get. i sat in their lobby, spending the minutes praying and playing solitaire on the ipod, all the while feeling an incredible combination of peace and faith. there's nothing better then gratefully understanding that what's about to happen is meant to happen exactly the way it does.

bob marley still happened to be echoing choruses of ''everythings gonna be alright." the song had been stuck in my head for most of the drive back. after over an hour of talking on the phone with the immigration at a different border location and getting a clutch benefit of the doubt concerning an almost detrimental detail of my permit's 'religious organization conditions', i was granted (literally granted as they could have rejected me) a permit and happened to have the necessary cash in my wallet for the fee. i had just enough to pay the $150 canadian and hadn't had that much money in my wallet in months. before leaving, i asked the two night border guards if they'd heard of the movie 'into the wild.' "that was a horrible movie" snapped the female guard. i stifled any sort of opinion-based response and thanked them for everything and left the building with a bigger battle won.

we finally began driving again after almost two hours of waiting and i watched the murky outline of nearby mountains slide against the haze of stars and galaxies. once again, i stand amazed at this path and place in life that's been presented for me. i can't easily remember a time where i've been as happy as i am in this moment.

now, i'm very low on free cash and am going to the vintage clothes store in town tomorrow to sell some of my summer threads. i think that's a win-win situation because i'll be lightening my load and maintaining survival until work starts. i'm selling a kayak setup back home too if you're interested. and a jeep. and i'll soon have photographs available on wallblank.com


overall, i felt something huge tonight. again. faith and trust are more real to me than ever before. this path, this life, and this adventure as been blessed and guided in countless ways.

whatever it is You have me here for, i'm ready.

Day 68

dvd night. again. doesn't the last one seem like only a couple days ago? we were really on top of the process this week.

today turned into an adventure. myself and yuself, the other american who's from nyc, have some work permit issues to work out so we got permission to leave camp, i borrowed a car from dave, and we took a drive to downtown duncan. driving and moving fast with the windows down on a sunny afternoon is really a fresh experience after walking around in respective routines at camp. the government building gave us further information and next week we'll be driving a little further to go to a place that's only opened on thursdays from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm with a short close for lunch. this is kind of a narrow target to shoot for since we both have busy days and this location is an hour away, but some things gotta get done.

last night i stayed up a little longer to chill. the camp is good and all but the days can get bland and the grass is quite matted and the screams and yells continue to echo off the mountain. paul and i were talking about how old and worn even our own clothes seem to be feeling. i got new shampoo at walmart a couple days ago just to change it up.

without any distractions or duties last night, i took a tripod to do some night photography. here's some of the stuff. you can click on each to see the full size if you wish.












moments of free time can be rare. i sometimes find myself dwelling on a picture from a various travel from the past couple years and remembering the story that it holds. i might start sharing some of these pics and stories in posts. we'll see.

-vagabonded raconteur-