It has begun.

This is the start of my search for finding myself. The title is just what it says, and here's the wiki definition of 'walkabout':

"Walkabout refers to a rite of passage where Australian Aborigines would undergo a journey during adolescence and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months.^[1] In this practice they would trace the paths, or "songlines", that their people's ceremonial ancestors took, and imitate, in a fashion, their heroic deeds."

The other example of it comes from Babylon 5 and an episode called "Walkabout". Dr. Franklin has realized that he is addicted to stims and almost killed a patient. He follows a religion called Foundationists (I'll get the definition on that later) but here's how he describes going 'walkabout'

"By going walkabout. You just leave everything and you start walking. The Foundation adopted the idea from the aborigines back on Earth. The theory is, if you are separated from yourself, you start walking and you kept walking, until you meet yourself. Then you sit down and you have a long talk. You talk about everything that you've learned and everything that you felt. Now you talk until you have run out of words. Now that is vital. Cause, the real important things can't be said. Then, if you are lucky, you look up and there is just you. Then you can go home."

I am 50 years old and have three kids and three grandkids, two jobs and feel like I haven't made full use of my life. I'd like to think I have another fifty years in me, but there is a lot I want to do that I haven't done yet. My adult life has been mostly spent taking care of my kids, struggling to survive as a single mom and never really taking time for myself long enough to connect to 'the big picture'.
I currently have two jobs that I love to be at but it's still not enough to pay all my bills and feed myself and keep my car going and.... you see the path I'm going. I'm tired of the race, slogging through life with the occasional period with my head above water. I have tried to sell jewelry I make with no visible results, I've also created some wonderful photographs but have not been able to get them out where people can actually see them. In the back of my mind, I'm a failure at succeeding.
I never finished college, got close to two degrees but never finished.
I want to be noticed. I want people to be interested in what I say other than telling someone how to knit or how not to kill their plants. I've reached job burnout after about seven years.
I've worked at Walter Andersen Nursery for 11 years next week, and worked at Beverly Fabrics store for six or seven. Two jobs with only a full day off between them divided between two days a week.

So here's my ultimate vacation plan:
I got the seed of my idea from two sources, one is President Obama's theme of 'we are one' which is also the overrall theme of my favorite television show Babylon 5... oddly enough (or possibly connected) it was also an inaugurational document that featured it.
"No matter the star, no matter the blood, no matter the race, no matter the planet, we are one."
I want to take a trip across America and see all the little towns and big cities, the natural wonders and back roads that I have seen in magazines and on travel shows. I want to meet gardeners and knitters, tying my two hobbies together across the country. During this trip I would enter my thoughts and experiences on this blog and add photos along the way.
Here's the list of obstacles to achieving this goal:
Money; I haven't enough to make the rent let alone survive traveling across the country on my own. I need camping equipment, I need money to put all my things in storage and pay off bills, and I need to buy a computer and get my car up to traveling.
Computer: I have an old desktop eMac that is not very portable. (see above note on money)
Obligations to work: The nursery is on a tight budget, and not to sound egotistical, I am very much needed there. They can operate without me, and have done so in the past when I take vacation. The fabric store on the other hand is a very small crew and missing one person is like cutting off a limb. It would be very hard to just drop everything and take off leaving her in the lurch even though I'm only there two days a week.

My kids are mostly grown, I have no obligations to them other than my son who is going to be 19 in April. I am thinking of taking him with me, but that's still on the scales for deciding.

Possible money solutions would be to get on radio shows, send out emails, do whatever I can to ask for donations. Get the word out in the gardening and knitting communities that I would want to stay with people on my way around the country to save money.
Write a proposal letter to Apple, Kodak, and whoever else I can think of to sponsor me with products.

This most likely won't happen until next year, I'm not set up for it yet, but that is my plan. Start the process now, get the word out and get the wheels turning to make this happen.
I'm still deciding on the format for my entries as well. Story telling style or just lay it out there as it happened. Most likely a little of both.
So... whoever finds this first... let me know by adding your name to the followers for this blog. I will only be posting my thoughts and day to day life for the most part this year, I'm not a real go-getter which is why I'm in the life I am. I'm hoping to change that this year.

So... it begins.