I’ve been planning this trip for months. I’m a wreck when it comes to leaving for just 3 days, so you can imagine how nervous I was planning for a 6-week trip (by myself, no less). I can’t even tell you how many long-distance phone calls I made to line up just the right class in just the right state at just the right time. Some places I really wanted to visit just didn’t fit with my overall schedule, so frustration and discouragement were feelings I got really, REALLY used to during the planning process. Then somehow things just fell together, and I felt really good about this whole idea right up until a few days before I left.
I had so much to do and I was so busy at work, I didn’t think I could possibly get everything done. When it was finally time to leave and the car was (over)packed, I was still worrying about forgeting something. Placing my nerves aside, I crawled behind the wheel and headed for my first stop: Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
As soon as I hit the highway, my feelings of anxiety vanished. For the first time in two weeks, I felt calm. My feelings of peace and tranquility intensified as I drove through the Idaho countryside, including some places I never knew existed. As I approached the majestic Grand Teton Mountain range, I thought I must have taken a wrong turn. The Wyoming I remember as a child consisted of long open roads and brown, flat land. Before me lay the purple mountain majesties I remember singing about in school and herds of elk and deer roaming the lush green plains of late spring. Then, right there in the middle of the road stood six MASSIVE buffalo. Up to that point, I’d only seen them on television, and now, here they were, just a few hundred feet away.
At that moment, I realized my adventure had just begun, and all the worries and frustration and nerves leading up to the trip no longer mattered. From that point on, I didn’t care that the temperature dropped from 67 degrees down to 27 and I found myself suddenly surrounded by snow. I didn’t care that the route to Rapid City, South Dakota, was covered with snow, then rain, then fog. We’re so consumed by our daily routines and responsibilities, it is a rare moment when we find ourselves with nothing but open road ahead of us and behind us, when our biggest concern is where to eat and when the next rest stop is. I just need to sit back, relax and enjoy this journey.
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