stuck in bishop. . . kind of

Still in Bishop, by choice yet not by choice. I have to stay here until I get my renewed license tag in the mail. so until then I guess I have to soak up the perfect scenery, the perfect boulders, and the just nearly perfect time. . . so unlucky. For the first time since the beginning of the trip I am not traveling with someone, and it is a kind of nice change. I am able to just relax, soak it all in and really be gracious for everything I have. I have gotten alot of reading and writing done and find myself sitting for hours just looking around, more like gawking at the place that I call home at the moment. I get up early and climb when it is cool outside then soak the sun up during the middle of the day, then around 4 I venture back out to the boulders and climb for another 4-6 hours. I feel like I have perfected the living in the van thing, and for the first time on the trip I have realized that my bed, maybe half the size of a twin bed, is my room. My office is the fold up chair outside my van/home. My kitchen is as organized as it has ever been, my pantry is full of good food after the unbelievable markets in Berkeley, and I have facilitated life by sucking it up and cleaning my dishes right after cooking and eating, which is easier said than done, at least for me. I have no address, and no where to be, but yet I feel like I have so much to do, and the chunk of time I allotted to myself for the trip suddenly feels like not enough. I worked to live, and now I am living my life as I believe I should live it, at least at this point in my life. I truly believe I am supposed to be right here right now, but I can admit that it may be different 5 years from now, but I see no point in stressing about 5 years from now. . . right now. I have met people that I will know forever, from all over, and have seen places that I would never have seen if this trip never materialized. This way of traveling doesn't make me feel like a tourist, which I love and have realized that even though I would love to travel the world in the same fashion as this trip, that there is still so much to see, to experience in this country. There are cultures within cultures within this all encompassing American culture. I know everyone does not have the opportunity to do what I am doing, but I want to encourage whoever is reading this to travel which is different than vacationing. Don't stay at a resort, or pick up the tourist pamphlet at the destinations gift shop. Get a bike or walk around wherever you are. Rent a car and drive until you see something you like and want to experience, and don't just do what some travel expert, or concierge told you to do. Experience the culture, meet the locals. Its way more challenging, and may even be more work, but it produces stories. And stories are the only thing that we can share with others from our experience, anyone can pull up a google image of just about anywhere or anything, especially if its a vacation hotspot. As you tell these tales more and more, you will get better at telling them, and maybe influence others to do the same thing you just did. If everyone does this, maybe 100s of years down the road we will have a society that doesnt just live to work, but works in order to fund their amateur storyteller profession, to experience as much of the world as they can in the years given to them, a more understanding, aware, real world. You shouldn't have to work for a year to only buy a bigger TV that does the same thing as the smaller one, or a brand new car that still gets you from A to B. I'm not saying we shouldnt buy nice things but I definitely think money earned should be used to experience life, not stuff. I think 50 years later when that car is dead and that TV is dead as well, the stories you have accumulated will be all you have and will make you smile. And I think everyone can agree that its better to smile than not to.