Hello from Eugene!

The last day on the mountain was very, very bittersweet. I had an early morning breakfast shift and drank a large amount of coffee on an empty stomach which, after hardly consuming caffeine for two months, had a very powerful impact on my system. Oops. I'm glad my tolerance is at a better level though. Anyway, I worked my breakfast shift, directly followed by a dining room shift, directly followed by a dish shift. I was cranking through the day and loving every minute of it. I was saying goodbyes along the way to people who I knew I wouldn't see later on, but my heart wasn't really there yet, as is the norm for me. I tend to not get emotional about goodbyes until the very last minute or even after I've left.

I went from my dish shift down to Ram Sharan's house, where he read my oracle. At least that's what I *think* it's called? I gave him my birth date and year and time and he told me my corresponding "card" (a 2 of diamonds) and then proceeded to look up in books what that meant astrologically and what it meant about me as a person and how I related to other people in my life. It was really, really, really cool. We talked a lot about what the next months are going to bring and how the past year has been as well. Everything he told me I could totally apply to what seems to be happening as of late. It was quite remarkable and some things resonated so true to me that I got teary on several occasions over the hour and a half I spent with him. It's an art I'll definitely look in to more... it's like tarot or astrology but... not. This is one of the books he used.

After my goodbyes with Ram Sharan, I felt quite emotional. Talking about the future so intensely really brought the fact that this future wasn't at Mount Madonna to the forefront of my mind. As I went through my lunchtime and afternoon, I kept tearing up randomly, sometimes during goodbyes and sometimes just being on my own. I surprised myself at being this way, actually. I thought about it and I guessed there were two contributing factors 1) the caffeine, even 6 hours later, was throwing me for a loop, and 2) it hit me that my travels to Oregon were really terrifying and I hadn't actually processed the fact that I was just going out on my own taking transportation I'd never taken before (a train,) staying in a setting I'd never stayed in before (a hostel,) to a place where I didn't know anyone (Oregon.) I guessed that if I were flying straight home I would have been much much less emotional overall.

My Megpie drove me to Gilroy to catch the bus, and she talked me down quite a bit about the travels and I felt a LOT better after that. I'll miss that lady so much...

The bus ride from Gilroy to San Jose was pretty uneventful though mildly interesting to a girl from Maine; there were a couple of guys who boarded the bus who were all cut up and I overheard them that they got jumped by their opposing gangs a few days before... scary shit. One of them had stitches all over his face in these long lines like a quilt. Oh Greyhound...

From San Jose I got on an Amtrak and from there I felt much more relaxed knowing that I would at least end up in Eugene. It was a very, very nice train with two stories and a nice dining and lounge car. I was seated next to a woman named Ruth who was from England and headed to Portland. I didn't sleep much that night because the man behind me insisted on making phone calls frequently throughout the night and humming loudly the rest of the time. Oh well. The sunrise brought lovely views of northern California and Oregon and I spent most of the morning in the lounge car. I spent most of the time chatting with two ladies in their 80's and really had some great conversations.

I landed in Eugene about 1pm on Monday and lugged myself and my stuff to the hostel which wasn't too too far away. I checked in, and went for a nice walk around downtown and up to Skinner's Butte which overlooks the whole city and took some lovely photos of the colored trees. Downtown is pretty cute, but I definitely miss the New England architecture. I intended to go out and play bingo at the local bar that night, but I was so exhausted that I went to bed at 8pm and slept a full 12 hours.

Yesterday involved a lot of walking. I went to the farmers market and to a clock museum, and just walked and walked and walked. I got a HUGE burrito from "El Pinche Taco" around the corner and only ate half of it for dinner it was so large. I intended to save it for today but evidently someone at the hostel accidentally ate it! I saw her just this morning and she apologized profusely... she thought it was hers. But we're staying at the same hostel in Portland so when I get there she'll still be there and she promised to buy me one there. Ha.

I spent last evening at the bar around the corner (Sam Bond's) and listened to some bluegrass music. It's a very, very cool bar... probably one of the best I've been to as far as atmosphere goes. I went the whole night talking with a guy from Australia who's been traveling the west coast and was just in Eugene for the night. I'm loving meeting all of these people from all over the world.

And, as I put on my facebook, I accidently reformatted my memory card when I was reviewing my pictures on my camera and deleted all of them. Poo. I actually didn't freak out as much as I thought I would. And Meg has maybe 75% of them on her computer. And perhaps I can get some fancy software to restore them... inconvenient to say the least. An opportunity to practice surrender and nonattachment???

It's raining in Eugene this morning... let's see where this day takes me.

Love to all.