In a couple of weeks, I will back the old gray Landcruiser out of the garage and return to Venice, LA. To get there, I will head to Savannah, GA where I last left the edge, and then just keep the water on my left until I get to Venice, LA where this entire journey on the edge began. I am about to complete a circumnavigation of the entire lower 48 states — punctuated by several transects of the same at the start and end of each leg — that I started in March of 2016. Since then, I’ve made two trips a year, always picking up where I left off and continuing around the country clockwise.

There is really no good explanation for all this. I outlined the thinking when it all started, and I still agree with it today. Hit the road, meet people where they are, see the country, bring no preconceptions, record what I see/experience. And now it will soon be over.

Before that, though, I will visit the edge that once was the first edge for many seeking the “New World,” and now may well be the last edge for many finishing their mortal journey on earth. Florida, for the most part. I will travel the east coast to the Keys, turn around and travel the gulf coast to Venice — with brief stops in the Everglades and, hopefully, a tour of the Tennsaw River Delta in the tail of Alabama. I will sleep in odd places, meet great people, see amazing things, learn interesting stuff. I may have things to say about all of it that are funny, compelling, boring, or, more likely, a little bit of all of that. All I can guarantee is that I will be different when I return that when I left, and that I will treasure every minute — good and bad.

As usual, I can’t wait to get started. Over the next weeks, I will check the truck and gear, and stare at routes without really planning one. Part of me doesn’t want to start because this will mark the end. Part of me can’t wait to start because this will mark completion of the goal. Part of me knows that Venice, while the end of the lap around the edge, will also be the beginning of another crazy idea to do something else, another adventure, another chance to rethink how I view people and the this glorious country in which everyone, everyone, starts a journey of their own, of some type, every day.

If you have been following along at http://www.ropeandchain.com, please look for the updates on daily posts. If you haven’t been, please join in — you can catch up by clicking “Edge Trek” where you can read the intro and then see every post from the beginning (just scroll to the bottom and read up). If you enter your email, you will get a heads up for each post (disclaimer — I have no idea what WordPress does with those emails). You can also follow mlewis1965 on Instagram and see daily pictures with a link to the blog.

Go out and find your edge.