Every so often, I get a thought stuck in my head. I read a snippet, a phrase, that sparks my imagination and sense of adventure, and I just can't get it out of my head how utterly awesome that must be to do. Then I find out that no one has done it before/the metro doesn't go there. Or that no one wants to do it with me, or that their schedule doesn't permit it, yadiyadiyah...
I have let a lot of adventures go by the wayside, because I couldn't find anyone to join me. Sharing the experience is sometimes as important as the experience, and social convection dictates that weirdo who came alone to dinner/concert/the most romantic place on earth is a sad lonely soul...
Well, no more.
This will the inaugural post of #Thursdaytravels, as a way to keep me in line with adventuring, with or without you, and to regularly write. Regularity can be a great thing amid spontaneity, so consider this my fiber.
So back to the thoughts that get stuck....
When I started listening to one of my favorite bands, Explosions in the Sky, I was struck by how wondrous I felt, and always thought they would be the perfect soundtrack to stargaze to. Blasting First Breath After Coma from the car speakers as I cuddle under the stars with my perfect partner-in-crime, and just feel the universe.
*Record scratches*
This city girl wasn't raised to spend time outdoors at night. So, camping is a totally foreign concept, and an irrational fear of bears and not being near flushing toilets, as well as not having someone to show me the ropes, largely kept me away from fulfilling my Into the Wild dreams.
I will say that the last 10 years of travels and adventures have eased me more into to nature, despite my nurturing, but when the Perseid's came around yesterday, I was still desperately searching for a more weathered soul to go out into the middle of nowhere to watch the meteors streak across the sky with me. And if not an outdoor expert, just another soul. Nevermind their level of comfort in nature, I just needed someone to outrun in case there really was a bear...
As luck would have it, no souls were available, but I wasn't going to miss such perfect conditions to see the stars. And then truly, as luck would have it, the kind folks at Shenandoah National Park invited us mere mortals to lay down in their fields, without having to camp, and just take in the shower.
120 miles and 2 1/2 hours later, I found myself laying my sleeping bag on a dirt path in Big Meadows, where I laid, stunned at realizing that I was seeing the Milky Way for the first time. Headphones in, stars out, and the show began.
Remember the Windows 95 screensaver, Starfields? Yup, it was pretty much that.
Please play the song, and in a different tab, starfields, at the same time. Or find a different video of actual shooting stars. Then you might get a fraction of what it was I was feeling.
Ok I lied. You won't get any of it. The cicadas, or the cool breeze, the drool collecting on the side of my mouth as it hung open in sheer awe. The feeling of being so small and insignificant, at the same time, a oneness with the universe. These feelings that can't be talked about in everyday life, with normal everyday people who never look up, who never leave, who never do things alone, who never travel. So I may not have shared this experience with anyone intentionally, but there was a field full of people who did see the same thing I did, which gives me hope.
Holding on to this feeling as long as I can. Until next Thursday, at least.
"Travel only with thy equals or thy betters. If there are none, travel alone." -The Dhammapada
*No pictures available, because I couldn't do it justice. Okay fine, it's because I don't know how to actually take pictures beyond what I'm eating... But it's on my list. That and get a selfie stick as I continue my solo travels?
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