I’m beginning the countdown to adventure. This Saturday, I will be leaving on a cross-country trip — camping, hiking, backpacking, and meeting online friends for the first time. So much excitement (and trepidation) ahead of me!
To give myself the best send-off, I will start my trip at the most felicitous place I know: the intersection of Happy Trails Highway and Tao Road. How can that not be an auspicious beginning?
Yep, there really is such an intersection, just a scant four miles from where I am staying. Since the street signs are barely visible in the photo, I have blown them up so you can see them a bit better.
Happy Trails Highway and Tao Road. Such a great place to begin a quest for life and joy!
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(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)
Bertram's Blog 
February 1, 2016 at 12:56 pm
Good Luck and enjoy the great travelling and adventures
February 1, 2016 at 2:30 pm
Good luck and have fun Pat! Tell me, will you be listening to music or audio books while on the road, or will you just enjoy the silence and the scenery?
February 1, 2016 at 4:17 pm
I prefer silence. Always.
February 1, 2016 at 5:33 pm
Safe travels, Pat… Can hardly wait to hear every detail.
February 2, 2016 at 1:29 pm
“Happy Trails to You”. Quote from Roy Rogers. Wish you a great trip. See you when you get back.
February 3, 2016 at 8:18 am
You’re starting from what town? And which direction are you heading toward first? Have a wonder-filled trip!
February 3, 2016 at 10:00 am
I’m starting in California. Heading east along Interstate 10.
February 3, 2016 at 8:20 pm
Happy Trails to you, Pat. Gonna miss you. Who will help me count?
February 4, 2016 at 8:18 am
At least you’ll have a break from having help me keep time.
February 5, 2016 at 12:28 pm
I’m truly happy and excited for you. It’s been something you’ve talked about for a while and it’s finally happening! Yay! It’s also something I’ve been wanting to do (although I’ve diddled and dawdled for a while now, and still am), so now I can vicariously live it by reading your upcoming writings, like I’ve lived my grief through your grief– although this time there is no real travel of mine to match your real travels. 🙂 And like an Asian person, you look for an auspicious place to begin– February 8 is the Chinese/Vietnamese New Year, you know, and we always look for auspicious beginnings.
February 5, 2016 at 6:19 pm
Maybe there will be some real travel soon. It seems to be the next step in grief for many of us — stepping out into the world not just figuratively but for real. I have no idea whether I will even like the experience, but it is an experience, and experience is what helps up move along on our path.