Two weeks into a six-week solo voyage, I finally felt my nervous system start to settle. Settle after nine months of constant alert, nine months of wonder, nine months of life on hold. Since April, my Dad's throat cancer has been clear, but the lung is being watched, and the trach had to come out weeks after the last radiation. My Mom has been holding her own. They're stable, and for the most part, my autoimmune chaos has been manageable. Mom and Dad needed me here, in the states, so I took a few weeks this summer to scratch off a handful of National Parks and a dream--long overdue--road trip I've long talked about. So, two weeks into a six-week hiking trip, I finally felt myself settle. The solitude has been a welcome relief from nights and days of endless dark wonder. In Montana, after visiting Kansas City, Wind Cave and the Badlands in South Dakota, Yellowstone and Grand Teton, and Custer State Park (SD), I felt myself...
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