Yesterday I crossed over into the territory I covered in the ride that I did in 2014. In 2014, I rode north from San Francisco to Florence and then turned east on the TransAmerica. This time, I was coming down from the south and headed to SF and points beyond. On this occasion it's easy to compare where I'm at now to where I was in 2014. The biggest and most obvious difference is that in 2014 I felt like I was searching for something, whereas in 2016 I feel like I've found something. Every day I wake up with a list of issues, not least of which are the financial ones. But what keeps me going is the realization that I'm so much happier and more fulfilled than I was back then. I don't fear the future as a general rule. I have anxieties but they don't dominate my life. Often I think about how nice it would be to go back to the life I had then. There was a lot to recommend it, on paper. But being here provides an acute reminder of how unhappy I was back then, and the contrast to where I am now. I am literally and figuratively headed in a different direction.
