As much as I'll miss this place and all those I admire associated with it, I can't wait to hit I-80 for New Jersey in May. I'll be home, relaxing and focusing my efforts on the job hunt.

But before beginning a career, I want to go out On The Road -- me, my Volvo, my camera, a tent (a rucksack too), my notebooks. I want to see the expanses, the wide-open spaces of this great country. I want to cruise the highways, traverse the towns, check out the cities and marvel at the parks and wonders.

I'll stay with friends and releatives where I can, and camp out -- enjoying the air and nature -- where I can't. I want to write, about that trip and some of my other stories, both short and long, develop them and see if there's money, even a living, to be made there for me. I love the storytelling of fiction as well as that of reporting, of chronicling.

Then, maybe by October I'd love to be settled in a new city or town, in a new area, learning a new job and meeting new people. On some nights, I can just go home and write, make up more stories and develop old ones further.

There's so much possibility out there I can't stand to be idle here in Indiana anymore.