Days 45-46: A Few Miles to Go

This summer has been quite the adventure. We've seen fire and ice. We've seen buffalo, bears, elk, deer, mountain goats, prairie dogs, bighorn sheep, and coyotes. We've been to concerts, we've made new friends, we've climbed to the tops of mountains. We've put our toes in the Pacific Ocean. We've watched sunsets and stood in more streams and lakes than I can count. We've seen more than I can possibly capture with words. 

It doesn't feel like we've been on the road for a month and a half, but my calendar says we have. We've had to rely on ourselves out in the middle of nowhere. We've gotten dirty. We've gotten lost. We've found amazing spots we hope to visit again. We've sat in powerless terror as a powerful storm swept overhead. We've learned to sit in complete silence until the silence turns into sounds you usually overlook in the chaos of daily life--until it turns into the rustling of Aspen leaves and the chirping of insects. 

My favorite part of being out in nature is finding places that make me feel small. Most of the time while we are on the road we were cut off from the news and "real world" and only got snippets of what was happening out there on the radio or on the phone when we have service or from texts from family and friends. We caught bits and pieces of Orlando, Dallas, Baton Rouge, the presidential campaign drama, etc. At times it felt like our world is falling apart, but I can assure you--if there's anything I have learned from this trip--it is not. There is most certainly evil and ugly in this world, but there is most certainly beauty here too. I know that the issues our society is facing are real, and big, and important. But I also know that the planet doesn't care. While we all fight, the mountains still stand, the rivers still rush, the trees still whisper in the wind. I find peace in the certainty of that. It makes me feel small, but it puts things into perspective. I wish that everyone could just remember to pause and take in the beauty of this planet and realize how impossibly perfect it is. It's hard to be upset and angry when you are standing on the top of a mountain or floating in a sandy-bottomed lake. 

That sounds a bit hippy-ish, but I know I can't capture what it's like to see this country in the way that we have. The people. The towns. The landscapes. I can only say that we are lucky to live here and we are lucky to have seen so much of it. 

We decided to end our trip at one of our favorite places to camp here in our home state of Ohio. John Bryan State Park in Yellow Springs. Speaking of hippies...this is a great place to find them or be one!!! As I write this, I'm sitting by our last campfire of the trip. We've been away from "home" for 45 days, but we've found so many "homes" along the way that I can't even say I have been homesick. 

I do look forward to sleeping in our king sized bed and cuddling with our cat Springs and having a dishwasher and a refrigerator and running water. That will make the end of the trip a little less bittersweet,  but I know that this isn't the end of the adventure! It's just a Rest Stop. (And a much needed one at that...thanks to the damage from the hailstorm!!!) There's definitely more to come. 

"The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, 

And I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep..."

-Robert Frost