Los Angeles has been tempting me to stay with my favorite weather.

Today I woke up and looked out my window at the most beautiful orange clouds peaking through the Santa Monica skyline. Would have taken pictures, but I feeling too cozy in bed and just watched the colors change as the sun rose. We've been having some excellent cloudy days, (without it being cold), and as I got out of the van and walked around it was still that magic hour of the morning where the colors of the palm trees, the Santa Monica pier, pop out like a photoshopped picture. I think to myself about how nice it is and how mornings like this are exactly why I'm doing this whole trip.

And just as I'm looking out at beach wondering how I'm going to attempt to describe this later I look up past the water at a flock of birds taking off against a rainbow in the background. Amazing. So I watch as they fly off, think about my trip and about how nice it would be if it rained sometimes this week. Other than about half an hour one afternoon about a month ago there still hasn't been any rain since I moved into the van.

I couple years ago, when I lived in Seattle, I took a weekend trip to Olympic National Forest. I took advantage of the weekend to get out of town because I was so sick of hearing people complain about the rain, (at the time, really just a sprinkle). It's Seattle, folks. Surely the novelty should have worn off by now.

I spent the first day driving until I felt like stopping (more about my obsession with driving aimlessly in a future post) and spent the second day curled up in my cozy car with a book looking out at a spectacular thunderstorm. I have always thought of that weekend as the epitome of relaxation and slow travel. Just sitting and enjoying the weather that others are taking as burden. Enjoying the smell of rain and having no plans to speak of; secure in the knowledge that anything I want to explore will still be there when it stops raining and I'll still have the time to explore it.

I don't remember now what book I was reading. But I do remember the story I started writing inspired by the couple I saw as I walked by their RV while they sat at their table enjoying a glass of wine and the view of the clouds and a rainbow over the ocean. I remember cooking ramen with the car as a windscreen, and exploring an inlet of the Washington coastline later when it stopped raining, and I remember thinking, "I need to do this more often."

And this morning, here I was. Looking out over the cliffs at different clouds and a different rainbow over the same ocean, 1,100 miles away, reveling again in the idea of travel with no particular plans.

And then I went off to work.

After all, I'm not living on the road yet, just the streets. And that, to be honest, is why I'm getting out of LA. I've been enjoying living in the van in LA so much that part of me wonders why I'm leaving. What I need to do is just take more time off and enjoy this city. I do really like LA, I just don't get around to taking advantage of all that's here. It's tempting to convince myself to stop working so many places and actually do some exploring of this city.

But I know myself. I've got too many places I work here and too little ability to say no to work.
That's the problem with having 3-4 part time jobs, (and only one with regular hours). I'm always afraid they're going to dry up so everytime I'm offered work I take it, even when that means I'm working 70 hours a week. Even now that I know that the very idea of the work drying up is crazy. It took me a while to build up to that 70 hours and I guess I just remember what it was like when I first started in LA and was working that after school program that paid $25 for an afternoon of attempting to teach 20+ kids science.

I've been listening to the "A Year in Europe" podcast lately and on one of the early ones Sheryl mentions that it's taking her a while to slow down to travel speed. I know it'll take me some time too and I think the only way will be for me to get out of town for a while. I suppose that's generally the purpose of travel. I need to go to places where it's harder for me to fall into work that is not what I really want to be doing long term, but entertaining enough that I don't quit. Places where I'll slow down and learn to focus. Once I've got figured out though I'll be back to LA to explore.

Another month and a half and I'll be out of LA and actually have the time to stick around and enjoy the rest of a gorgeous day like today.

Maybe it'll even rain.