And here we go...

Sitting here waiting, writing. This seems to be the trend of late, though now is slightly different. I am waiting to embark on adventure 1 of the new year, and it is no small feat. Mel and I are taking off for Great Sand Dunes National Park in just a few hours for 5 days of backpacking through scattered, sloping dunes, rolling alpine hills, and towering winter peaks. If we 1) make the drive alive, 2) Don't freeze to death during the nights of single digit/sub zero temperatures, and 3) decide to come back to reality, there will definitely be a post complemented by pictures coming Tuesday night.

But that is a world away at the moment. Yesterday I was in the airport waiting for a nameless pilot to take me 39,000 feet about the world. Waiting again. Only this time was much more reflective. Having just finished Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey, I found myself in a very reflective mood wishing I had a notebook to jot down the rambling thoughts that circled my brain. Instead, utilizing the technology of the 21st century I texted it. Of all things. Oh well.

"The aroma of McDonalds and cheap old lady perfume stifling the air, I sit here waiting. However, this waiting and resting became compromised when the overhead speaker deafens us all, reigning instructions upon the hundreds gathered in our tiny enclosure called Terminal 1. Confined like cattle in a pen being shipped all around the world, we listen. Some for leisure, and some fly for business, but the people remain the same and a lot can be said of them just by watching. Suit man wants to feel important, even though he is flying on a cheap airline. And nobody wears a suit when they fly unless they just want to feel better than the people in their pajamas. After all, if someone was really high ranking and deserving of a suit, they would know not to wrinkle it on a 2 hour flight, but instead would change upon reaching their luxury hotel.

Someone else is planning a lavish wedding, likely costing tens of thousands of dollars. It is all just the same. The same superficial excess people immerse themselves in every day. Enough of this. Instead, we take to the dunes. To the land where we will see nobody else until climbing back into the car on Tuesday afternoon. What an experience, calming and rejuvenating it shall be."