Free time. Its a double-edged sword. When I quit the job I'd been doing for 8 years back in September, I was overjoyed at the prospect of days upon days of free time. I made a mental list of adventures and fun projects and little tasks I wanted to spend all my awesome free time doing. It was going to be great. Then things get in the way because there's time to let them get in the way...looking for a house, buying a house, moving into a house, getting all that stuff done to make that new house a home, looking for a job, interviewing for jobs, taking the dog for a run, tracking down all of our stuff that the military seems to have misplaced somewhere between here and Lousyana, going to the laundromat because our washer and dryer are with all of that misplaced stuff, waiting for a handyman who shows up 3 hours late to install something, wine tasting, dinner with friends, etc. (I'm not complaining about the last 2, by the way, nor the dog running).
Despite all of that, the one thing I can count on nearly every day is an hour or two of solitude in Ft Ord. Our new house is a mere 3 miles from the Creekside Terrace trailhead. While the trails aren't the primo singletrack that you'll see gracing the pages some glossy mountain bike magazine, there is nearly an endless supply of dirt and open space. Some days I trail run with the dog, some days I run with Terry and the dog, other days we hike, and every now and then I get to take the mountain bike out for a good chunk of therapeutic me time. And sometimes the camera comes along.
In January I'll start a new job. My days of freedom are coming to an end. I need finish that to-do list in the next month. And I hope that my daily romps in Ft Ord don't get lost in the busy shuffle.