What had started out to be just an afternoon of wandering around in the Colorado foothills was turning out to be an experience that was not pleasant at all.What had started out to be just an afternoon of wandering around in the Colorado foothills was turning out to be an experience that was not pleasant at all. Perhaps you would understand a bit better if I filled you in on what was going on. All of my life there has been a burning deep inside me to seek adventure. I want to, no I need to, find out what is over that next hill or around that next turn in the road. If I look at a map and see all the nice freeways and byways that are designated as "I" this and "I" that, then boredom sets in and, yawning, I put the map away and choose some other route. Any time I have headed out on vacation the tug of adventure has caused me to abandon the proven route and, literally, forced me to drive down the forbidden or undiscovered path. Oh, I suppose there is a psychological reason for this or, perhaps, I'm a reincarnation of some ancient explorer or, maybe, it is just born into some people and they can't help it. I know I can't. I joined the merchant marine when I was quite young, simply because I had read somewhere these ships wandered all over the world; I wanted to see the world. When we were in port and loading the ship, I was like a caged tiger pacing from rail to rail and bow to stern hoping we would get underway before I went bananas. I had seen this portion of the world and I wanted to get on with seeing the rest of it; wanderlust, I guess you call this. Where were we going? Who cared as long as it was somewhere different from where we were at the moment. I have never taken a train, a plane or a ship, other than the merchant marine, to get where I wanted to go. In view of the fact I have seen most of the world via the maritime service, this form of travel no longer appeals to me. Now, when I go somewhere I take the only form of transport that satisfies as far as I'm concerned and that is the four wheeled vehicle called the automobile. Planes fly over things and all you see are colored patterns, ships can't go into valleys and hidden places, trains roar past most of the good spots without stopping and all you see is a blur of wooden poles holding up wires and the back fences of the poorest neighborhoods in America, but the car can be maneuvered into most any place. |