In 1984 I stayed 6 months in California and from 1987-1991 I studied in Iowa. Ever since I have had a love for the United States that goes deeper than USA being a great country with beautiful national parks, big cars and lots of possibilities. I am not sure what it is but I do know that I feel some kind of freedom when I am here in a way I never have felt in Europe and I also know that the experiences we make when we are young and our senses are open and unspoiled have a profound influence on us for the rest of our lives.
After Hong Kong I completed my trip around the world by landing in Holland, only to continue to Florida on May 10th in order to attend the 2nd Annual Conference on Functional Neurology in Orlando. I was looking forward to meeting my colleagues and to listen to world class scientists presenting their newest research. I wasn't sure how my own brain would function after an eight months long break but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I knew more than when I started out on my trip. So it is true that knowledge sometimes has to sink in!
After three awesome days at Omni Resort in Orlando among old and new friends, enjoying a bed the size of my room in Hong Kong, indulging in chiropractic and functional neurology, sipping long drinks at the cocktail party and dancing at the awards dinner, I packed my suitcase Sunday morning as I have done for 3/4 of a year, rented a car and headed north along the East coast to Savannah and Charleston, the first stops on my 5 week long road trip from Florida to New York. And how I love driving in the United States! The roads are wide and clean, it was hot and the sky was blue and I cruised along at the comfortable maximum speed of 65 miles an hour, radio at full blast. And best of all, very little traffic.
Savannah in Georgia and Charleston in South Carolina are both beautiful cities with old houses reflecting the past wealth from the times when there were huge plantations with slaves and abundant commerce with The Old Country (read England). I visited a former slave farm, Magnolia Gardens, and learned that plantations in South Carolina had gotten wealthy on rice production, and not cotton or tobacco as I thought.
Next stop was Charlotte in North Carolina, visiting good old friend Ulla Svane and her family. She had a yoga course in Ashville that weekend so we drove up to the mountains the next day. For many years I wanted to see Smokey Mountains and I was not disappointed! They looked pretty smoky to me besides providing some nice hikes, the first ones since I sprained my ankle in New Zealand.
It seems like I know people all over the world and whilst in North Carolina I paid a visit to Myron and Charlene Brown in Rockville, just 20 miles south of Charlotte. Myron is my old mentor from when I studied at Palmer College in Iowa, a chiropractor who has had a lasting influence on the way I practice.
On the way to Washington, DC, one passes through Harrisonburg, Virginia. But I more than just passed through because while attending the conference in Orlando I met a colleague, Jonathan and his beautiful wife, Liezel who live in Harrisonburg. They suggested I come visit them. Unfortunately, by the time I got there, they were away for Memorial weekend. However, they had arranged that a friend of theirs, Butch, would take me out for dinner. What better way to experience Virginia than being shown around by a local, a real Southener? And mind you, Americans are gentlemen - besides taking me out for dinner, he also took me on a tour in his Mercedes on 'Skyline Drive' in Shenandoah National Park, an extension of Smokey Mountains' 'Blue Ridge Parkway'. If one is open for adventures and don't mind surprises, life can be pretty exciting.
I get plenty of excitement and experiences on my trip and what happens next is that I need some days to relax, reflect and just do nothing. Or read a good book in the swing, listening to birds chirping and crickets sing (or whatever crickets do), chill out to the sound of running water in a fountain, the humming of the bees - or the grunt of something I'd never heard before and interpreted as a bear! According to Charlie Dixon, the owner of Shenandoah Valley Farm & Inn where I stayed, there are bears in the forests on his land. I believe him, and I got rather suspicious on a hike when I saw something that sure enough could be bear shit. 'I went up the mountain this morning as you suggested', I told him one day. 'Did you bring one of the big sticks from the basket over there?' he asked. 'No, eh, why?' 'Because of the critters! It's good to have if you run into a racoon or a bear'.
Oh well, it seems like I had just avoided yet another disaster, but it kind of spices up the adventures and I safely made it up to Washington, DC. As usual without a GPS and with only one or two wrong turns. Of course I'd have to see The White House on the way up north, but my purpose was mainly to visit a friend: coach, life designer and author Renessa Boley. I very much enjoyed driving through Virginia with its rolling hills and vast landscape, knowing that from now on that my trip would be dominated by big cities and traffic jams.
The Capitol, The White House, Pentagon, numerous war memorials and nineteen Smithsonian museums! That's just a small part of Washington DC. I got on the hop on - hop off double decker bus and viewed the major sites from there. I hopped off and saw several museums. The Holocaust Museum had the largest impact on me. For days, you just can't get those images out of your head. The Air and Space Museum was huge, Museum of Natural History was huge, Hirshhorn Collection boring, American Indian Museum interesting and the Museum of American History huge and interesting.
Also very interesting were the conversations I had with Renessa. She is a very clever girl who can initiate a thought process in you without a hint of prejudice. I don't 'think' as much as I used to, probably because the adventures quiet my otherwise analyzing mind. People ask me what this trip, these nine months have meant to me and how it has affected my life and me as a person. I didn't know when I started out last year because I was tired and stressed and slightly worn out (though I loved what I did, my profession is my passion) but I needed a break, also I never wanted to grow old in Holland. I had to make this move and traveling has always been my passion. Giving up the clinic was a huge sacrifice, though.
So what has it meant to me? I have become a much happier and more satisfied person. I have become more curious, more interested in other people and I live more in the present, or as Eckhart Tolle would say, I live in the Now. It's powerful. I laugh more. My passion for life has returned. Of course I still have days when I become frustrated, irritated or I procrastinate. However I have learned that the fastest way back on the track is to take some kind of action. It doesn't really matter what action it is as long as I do something. It could be as simple as a walk down the road. I have learned to take my self less serious. Who cares anyways? I had to come back to the US to be able to put the rest of my trip into perspective to fully appreciate what I've experienced so far. The most important thing might be that I do not regret anything.
