June 24, 2015
After nearly eight years in the beautiful city of Chicago, I was presented with a difficult decision. I had been working at The Oprah Winfrey Show for many years. As INCREDIBLE as that chapter of my life was, I was ready to get as far away from office life as possible. I was ready to use some of the money I had worked for and saved over the years to go travel the world.
At the same time, I was presented with the opportunity to work at The Oprah Winfrey Network in West Hollywood. After not nearly enough consideration, I decided to take the job with the justification that, for me, California was this new unexplored, magically beautiful land that I would inevitably adventure all over as a result of taking the job.
So I did. My brother Sean came over to my modest studio apartment and helped me pack all of my worldly posessions into boxes the night before my movers were scheduled to arrive. After all of my...stuff...was neatly tucked into a moving truck, I left Chicago's O'hare airport on a blisteringly arctic evening...my plane was forced to retreat twice for de-icing before we could take off through air that had far surpassed the freezing point. I watched Chicago vanish in the distance and arrived to LAX on a warm night. Any apprehensions I had simply washed away when I stepped out of the airport terminal doors and into the warm Los Angeles air.
My new company treated me incredibly well and welcomed me to this new city in a lovely way. I've been living and adventuring here for a few months now and I love it. The novelty of the job has surely faded as I find myself stuck indoors again all too often. Motorcycling, exploring, hiking, and camping throughout the bits of California that I've been able to on my days off has been a treat. I love seeing mountains and I had missed the ocean so much as I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida near the coast of the Pacific.
I miss friends and family in Florida and Chicago but I've met so many new, wonderful friends and I'm excited to continue venturing further and further into California's beautiful natural landscapes. Time for World travel will hopefully come before my knees go :)
Come visit me in California! I love playing tour guide in this beautiful place!
