I’ve been traveling all around Oregon for the last two weeks, taking in the sites and experiencing things on the West Coast that this native East Coast Gal hasn’t experienced. I’m fascinated by how different the landscape is.

I’m really enjoying the coastal weather in Lincoln City where I spent most of my time at two workshops presented by author Dean Wesley Smith. It’s cool here by the sea, and I’ve spent my nights with the windows wide open, nary a mosquito in sight.

What I’m dreading is the trip home. (And if you saw my Writer’s Prompt post of two weeks ago, you’ll know why.)

But I’m dreading the trip back for other reasons: the load I bear.

I packed light. For a 17-day trip, I managed to pack in my carry-on and a (somewhat overly-large) purse. I did buy toiletries and other incidentals when I arrived, and did some creative laundry in the hotel about mid-way through. But I’ve managed to collect enough gee-gaws and doo-dads while I’m here, that I’m not sure how I’m going to manage to get it all home.

(Fossil huntil – and finding – will do that to you, as well as trips to the local book store and one interesting yard sale at the church across from the hotel.)

If I had to do it over, I would have packed even lighter.

Here’s Your Prompt:

• Pretend you’re going on vacation for three weeks. Make a list of the items you’ll absolutely need, or won’t be able to live without, for three weeks. (It’s got to be a list of items that you can carry or haul yourself.) Now, cut that list in half.
   
• Write a poem or short story using at least three items from the second list.
   
• If you journal or write memoir, write your worst traveling experience EVER.
   
• Have you ever taken public transportation? Think about a stranger you’ve seen or met on public transportation, and write a character sketch of this person. Make up the details you don’t know. Write a story about this person, but it can’t be a ‘traveling’ story.
   

Good luck!