Skip this post if you’re not up for a decidedly philosophical goo pot of emotion!
So today was an epiphany for both of us. Somehow we got to talking about how we missed our families and how we were overwhelmed by the emotional toll of our trip more than the physical challenges. We both ended up in tears. Then at one of those pull offs where everybody is taking pictures and creating a minor traffic jam I found myself in tears again, amazed at the power of these natural wonders. This seemingly universal urge to somehow connect. It got me thinking about Henry David Thoreau. I had a "Different Drummer" poster plastered to my closet door as a teenager. A actually read Walden in college, not just the Cliff Notes! He said something like "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.’" He thought he could get to the basics, truths, by going to nature. Weren’t these people, in their motor homes; with their campers; or their tour buses somehow someway reaching out for that? I don’t know.
People I don’t know come up to me and ask about my trip; but, more often they talk about about how they used to bike or some other connection they have to my trip. It’s that longing for connection again-to the natural world or one another. Right now I’m seeing this everywhere.
So are we all just trying to satisfy this yearning to connect to nature, to one another in whatever way we can? Am I just trying to do that?
As I said goo pot!
Onward!
2 comments:
Ahh Tom you always wax philosophical..... being surrounded by such majesty it is easy to do so.....I think perhaps you might be having a realignment of priorities...You and Steve are our modern day pioneers and I do believe that spirit lies deep within us...... pedal on Brother. There is more to see and discover...inside and our xoxo
Thanks for reading sis. Most of the experience had been beyond words!
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