September 5, 2012. San Jose, California.


I finished walking on September 8th, 2012 at Half Moon Bay, but I didn't take any photographs that day. This is the last one, coming down out of the Coastal Range into San Jose.

I'd been on Highway 130 through the mountains, one of the most remote roads I'd ever seen. Quiet and still, virtually no cars or houses. Climbing up and up and then I was on top of the earth, floating in the sky. Something was shimmering way out on the horizon. The ocean, maybe. No, too far, but it was near. And so was the end.

The eleven months I'd spent on the road was flashing before me like they say your life does before you die. I spent most of that day on Highway 130 weeping.

This last photograph seems like a hopeful one. It's vast - the sky and the golden fields - and it hints at the beauty of things to come.


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