Riding the planet

We were just teens when a friend was accepted to Notre Dame it was agreed that if I would help him move, he would pay for my flight back. As it turned out, when sessions ended I often helped him drive one way or another for a number of years. Criss-crossing the country we saw some incredible things, visited historic places and spent time in National Parks and Monuments. Driving the open road is an incredible experience when you have lived in the same house for most of your life and without the pressures of jobs or school it seems the very definition of freedom.

Now that I am of a certain age, I feel that longing again, to see places far away, places I have heard about and longed to see for myself. As I walked my morning walk this morning it came to me that I want to spend time "riding the planet." That is, specifically, to experience and enjoy the Earth's beautiful places as it spins through space as you might ride a roller coaster or a theme park ride, for the sheer enjoyment of it, not to get somewhere but "to be" somewhere.

That's me, in this image from some number of years ago. We had gone to Alaska to see the Northern Lights. Mushing sled dogs was just an added bonus. I have spent far too many years now with my nose to the grindstone, missing so many important and real things, doing things I thought were important, and maybe they were, but I don't know if it matters now. I want to ride the planet while I can.