Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Life is a Journey, Not a Destination

A picture from one of my Yellowstone trips

Spontaneous Trips

One of my qualities or faults, depending on how you look at it, is that I am very spontaneous. One day I called my wife from work and asked if she would like to go to Europe. I had been told about some real cheap tickets to Europe. So, two days later we were on a flight for Rome. On the plane ride someone asked me where we would be staying. I told them we didn't have any plans. So he told me how to get from the airport to Rome and how to find a hotel. It turned out to be a great trip. Another time I called my wife and asked if she would like to go to Yellowstone. I left work early and we headed out for Yellowstone that night.

View from King's Peak, highest peak in Utah

A Litte More Planning

A week hiking trip to the High Uintas Wilderness Area can be accomplished with a few days of planning. As a young kid and as a teenager we did a lot of backpacking trips in the High Uintas with my Dad. Then as a father I took my son on hiking trips in the High Unitas. He accused me of trying to take him to all the same places my father took me. That wasn't my intent, I was just going to places I knew and loved.

The Journey

This expedition is not one of those spontaneous trips. Obviously, a lot of planning and work is going into making this a successful expedition. Recently we have been working on a mountain biking trail. The trail does have a destination, but it is the journey that makes the trail worth riding. The South Pole Epic has a very specific destination, but really it is about the journey to get there. The planning and the execution is what will make this a memorable event, more so than the final destination.

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