The Night Before Adventure

Tomorrow begins the third leg of my adventure after taking a lovely pause for the holidays. As I depart for the next series of stops, I find myself incredibly nervous. Just like I have been before the start of each preceding segment of this journey.

The first section of the trip took me from a temporary housing situation into the unknown. I was learning how to camp. With a dog. I learned how to use all of the essential equipment and tried cooking outdoors for meals. I raced the sun and got comfortable going to the bathroom taking care of my needs outdoors. I got sick on the road for the first (and hopefully last!) time, saw two national parks, visited with two friends in different states, and got a glimpse of the connectivity between types of creation.

After a pause for recovery, I left the comfort of staying with family for the next stretch of road; into the desert. The desert taught me more about how to use my equipment, how to repair it, how to live in an environment that literally sucks the water out of you, and the value of taking pauses to stay in hotels for my own sanity. I saw beautiful stars above and incredible structures deep below mountains. Piper took her first (and hopefully last!) trip to the vet for trying to taste a cactus. I made two new friends and visited with another, went four days without a shower, and took my first unplanned detour just because I saw a sign on the side of the road.

Now, I head into another new situation: bear country. Between leaving the safety of regular sunshine in the desert (my electricity is solar) and reimagining the layout of my car set-up to make loading anything with a scent into bear boxes or bags to hang from trees, I'm cautiously optimistic. I'll be facing higher elevations, lower temperatures, more intermittent connectivity, and an increased number of threats from wildlife. It's a few centimeters away from being terrifyingly debilitating - like walking through a winding line to go on a roller coaster when you are afraid of heights.

I've been staying with adventurers who know this region well and have been willing to answer hundreds of questions. It's reassuring to know that I am more prepared today than I was nine days ago. Continuing the roller coaster metaphor, it is a bit like having the safety harness snapped into place and remembering that hundreds/thousands/millions of other people have done this before and survived. I got used to thriving through adversity during the second leg of the trip, and I'm afraid to leave the security of what I know now for places that defy expectations of what can exist in the world.

Excitement, courage (I have this!), and the reality of probability over possibility are tempering my latent agoraphobia. Tomorrow, I'm going to know more than I know today. Tomorrow, I'm pushing myself into doing things I only ever imagined "real" adventurers to do. Tomorrow, is another 24 hours of infinite choices.

"There would have been a time for such a word.

— To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,"

                                        ~Macbeth (5.5.18-19)

Right now, I'm going to live in today and enjoy my time with loved ones under a solid roof. If I stay in the present, I can just take care of the situation of the moment without fear or anxiety. Just for today, that's how I intend to suck the marrow out of the bones of life.

To find out where the third leg of the trip takes me - and to read the many posts about places I've already been - keep coming back!