When you start off on an adventure living out of a van you don’t expect to find yourself at a wine tasting event with a handful of Jackson, WY locals. But that’s the beauty of adventuring. Nothing turns out quite like you expect. Maybe receiving joy from situations that ebb and flow away from the original plan is isolated to certain personalities, I can’t say for sure. But what I can say, is that I love the unexpected, the unplanned for, the shifts, the changes, the last second decisions whether to turn right or left. That’s what adventuring is all about in my book.
I mean, what are you suppose to do when you accidentally leave your only warm jacket 7 miles out in the Yellowstone wilderness and it drops to 20 degrees with snow covering your van a week later? Or what do you do when your van locks you out without food, water, or warmth while you’re back in the sticks of a Wyoming national forest? What do you do when every camping site in the 30 miles between Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park are all full and you’re looking for a place to sleep? What do you do when a two day stop in Bozeman, MT turns into two weeks and you’re timeline is now totally off? What do you do when you’re miles out in the desert land of Wyoming and your original mountain bike tire and your spare both pop leaving you stranded? Or what do you do when you are miles away from your campsite back up in Shoshoni National Forest and the chain on your bike decides to break in two? What do you do? I’ll tell you what you do, you roll with it.
But adventuring is not all about the unexpected problem or hurdles, sometimes it’s the unexpected blessing. What do you do when a guy working at the local fly shop walks in, hands you a beer, tells you to go check out the local rodeo, and then come out for beers later? What do you do when a random stranger tells you of a secret fishing stretch along the North Platte River? What do you do when you meet a random Italian guy in the middle of a national forest who invites you to join him and his pup on a hike to a mountain top lake. What do you do when you’re invited to float and fish the Madison River on a friend of a friend of a friend’s drift raft? What do you do when people offer to let you use their showers and run a load of laundry while you’re in town? What do you do when a girl asks you if you want to climb to the roof of a downtown office building while in Bozeman, MT? What do you when a guy with “Salsa Man” written across his shirt with a marker at a farmers market in Casper, WY asks you if you want to try his spicy salsa called “The Reaper”? What do you do when you’re invited to help bottle a batch of wine with the local winery? What do you do when you’re invited to a local hangout after last call at a bar in a town so small it doesn’t have a name? I’ll tell you what you do, you roll with it.
When the door of adventure cracks open, don’t be afraid to push it wider and walk through into the unknown.
Love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Delete