These past couple days have made me incredibly grateful. Not just for my beautiful quarantine location + kind hosts, but also for the technology, convenience, and people that I normally take for granted in my life.
Life on the ranch has been a little bit lonely (at night-time especially) but it’s given me some time and space to reflect about the past several months, including my graduation from Stanford, and to soak in the scenery. Fortunately my Covid symptoms have been pretty mild (coughing, tiredness, slight fever), so I’ve taken a couple of long hikes to the trails and lakes in the Mount Tamalpais Watershed area around me. I’ve grown used to the daily routine of waking up, wandering around, and taking care of food + necessities before going back to sleep — which, honestly, has been quite a relaxing change from the blistering pace of Stanford, but I’ve also been a little bit anxious at having to take time off from Spokes.
The property that I’m staying at is incredibly beautiful and is still close enough to the town for me to enjoy grocery and food deliveries, and I’m extremely grateful that the cabin I’m staying in is very large and comfortable. I don’t have wifi or electricity in the cabin, but I do have cell reception and mobile data, which I’ve used to stay in touch with the team and entertain myself through social media and news feeds.
At first it felt a little bit disorienting to not have clear markers for change - like the checkpoints of our bike rides - or other variations in my day that might give me a clear sense of the passage of time; but I’ve become a lot more comfortable with the slower pace of life. The highlights of my days include taking quick (cold) showers with the hose by the horse stable, enjoying fat burritos for dinner, hiking 8 miles to the nearby lakes and back, doing laundry in buckets by hand, and making the 40 min trek to Safeway to get curbside grocery pickup (and to steal their wifi).
I’m trying my best to soak it in, since I’m starting to realize that this may be the last time in a long while that I can sit still without pressing obligations, but I’m having a hard time still dealing with the sluggishness of relative isolation. Social media has helped me a lot, as have the other conveniences of having a smartphone and a lot of external support (thank you “Jon” from UberEats), but it still feels a bit empty. I think that for all the criticisms we give to modern society, there’s something quite grounding about having a goal to work towards — even if we’re all just competing in the ‘rat race’ of life.
There’s a bright light at the end of the tunnel — I’m scheduled to fly over to Reno on Thursday and meet back up with the team. I can’t wait to see them and I’m sure that when I hit the road again I’ll be wishing I had this kind of rest and alone time. But it’s more than enough for me right now. Can’t wait to get rolling again.
