What a relief it was to get downriver from the San Juans, and to get away from cliff-like mountains directly in front of your face. Each mile downriver, the valley got wider. Finally I could breathe again, and stretch out my arms to distant horizons, and reach upward to bigger skies. Who needs those giant heaps of static rock (mountains) when there are moving, puffed-up, monsoonal clouds to admire, instead.
Now then, so far, so good. But where was I going? I hadn't really decided. Yes, that happens a couple times per year. I wear myself out on the pro-s and con-s of two or three alternatives. This is great fun. If there is still a stalemate at the moment of decision, I sometimes defer to trivial happenstances, such as 'what lane I'm in' or 'what side of town I'm on.' Few things could better capture the sweetness of this style of travel as deciding your itinerary on the spur of the moment.
And so I headed through an area I hadn't been to, in ten years: Paonia CO to Crested Butte, or maybe Gunnison. A severe thunderstorm was prophesied, and indeed it had been following me to the east, all afternoon. It finally caught up with me on a dirt/gravel road near Kebler Pass. Just imagine how slippery this smooth surface would be if it were soaked. Fortunately I found a pull-off to wait out the storm.
The next morning I assessed the area for dispersed camping, mountain biking, and hiking, but found it wanting. There were few side roads to explore or camp on. But some hikers at a trailhead looked happy enough. (Oh geez, I was so sick of hiking poles, hiking boots, stereotypical motor vehicles, etc.) But what were they so eager about? The forest was dismal and thick. It would probably take hours of dreary plodding before they would get above tree-line and be able to see more than 20 feet.
So why linger? At Kebler Pass I had to decide whether to head down to Crested Butte or Gunnison. Since Crested Butte is a congested tourist trap, I opted for the Gunnison Basin, my favorite area in Colorado.
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Why am I going through a blow-by-blow description? The internet is full of trivial travel-blogs that do just that. I wanted to describe how sweet it is to experience a full cycle of Aversion and Enjoyment; the blast of lightning between positive and negative charges; or the wind rushing between high and low pressure.
Those who deny themselves the full cycle -- typically for the sake of some mistaken notion of "positive thinking" -- are missing a fundamental pleasure. They are trying to settle for half of a sine wave, instead of experiencing its full undulations, and thus rob their travels of vivifying contrast and drama.
And speaking of undulations. Finally I was at the Promised Land of the Gunnison Basin...
Now then, so far, so good. But where was I going? I hadn't really decided. Yes, that happens a couple times per year. I wear myself out on the pro-s and con-s of two or three alternatives. This is great fun. If there is still a stalemate at the moment of decision, I sometimes defer to trivial happenstances, such as 'what lane I'm in' or 'what side of town I'm on.' Few things could better capture the sweetness of this style of travel as deciding your itinerary on the spur of the moment.
And so I headed through an area I hadn't been to, in ten years: Paonia CO to Crested Butte, or maybe Gunnison. A severe thunderstorm was prophesied, and indeed it had been following me to the east, all afternoon. It finally caught up with me on a dirt/gravel road near Kebler Pass. Just imagine how slippery this smooth surface would be if it were soaked. Fortunately I found a pull-off to wait out the storm.
The next morning I assessed the area for dispersed camping, mountain biking, and hiking, but found it wanting. There were few side roads to explore or camp on. But some hikers at a trailhead looked happy enough. (Oh geez, I was so sick of hiking poles, hiking boots, stereotypical motor vehicles, etc.) But what were they so eager about? The forest was dismal and thick. It would probably take hours of dreary plodding before they would get above tree-line and be able to see more than 20 feet.
So why linger? At Kebler Pass I had to decide whether to head down to Crested Butte or Gunnison. Since Crested Butte is a congested tourist trap, I opted for the Gunnison Basin, my favorite area in Colorado.
______________________________________________
Why am I going through a blow-by-blow description? The internet is full of trivial travel-blogs that do just that. I wanted to describe how sweet it is to experience a full cycle of Aversion and Enjoyment; the blast of lightning between positive and negative charges; or the wind rushing between high and low pressure.
Those who deny themselves the full cycle -- typically for the sake of some mistaken notion of "positive thinking" -- are missing a fundamental pleasure. They are trying to settle for half of a sine wave, instead of experiencing its full undulations, and thus rob their travels of vivifying contrast and drama.
And speaking of undulations. Finally I was at the Promised Land of the Gunnison Basin...
Comments
And this brings us back to the irony of "progress." The more it eradicates our "problems," whether heat or cold or hunger or labor or bears or wolves or accidents or "wild Indians," the more our daily horizons are narrowed to encompass but the bland and neutral and "safe." ...And the more life loses its primal savor.
I'm not opposed to the heart-way. But when I read somebody else's "heart-way", they are usually in a different mood than I am. Therefore what they wrote is trapped in their own little private, sentimental, moody world.
The "mind-way" concerns itself with thoughts and ideas that are independent of private emotional prisons. Therefore thoughts and idea transcend the differences between individuals' moods.
If some enjoy a "heart-first" approach, this is one way of being. If others enjoy an "intellect-first" approach, this is another way of being. If still others take an action-first approach, this is another way of being. Let us give one another the basic courtesy of independence and individuality...instead of lecturing each other, even gently, to be what they are not.
Let us give one another the basic courtesy of independence and individuality...instead of lecturing each other, even gently, to be what they are not.
Isn't that what you just did....lecture....gently?
How else do we grow and learn and communicate and enjoy each other if we cannot, gently, express our experience as it contrasts with another?
Yes, enjoy.
I don't think it's a lecture. That would have to be classified as your own personal experience.
I rather like people pointing out to me a different way of thinking/feeling/experiencing. Otherwise, I will just continue to live within my own shell.
You do bring up a very valuable point.
Boonie, you said
The "mind-way" concerns itself with thoughts and ideas that are independent of private emotional prisons. Therefore thoughts and idea transcend the differences between individuals' moods.
I do think there is a point where what originated in the mind and what originated in the heart comes together. Either one, alone, is a dangerous extreme. When we are allow both heart and mind to function as they are meant to, well, that's the best. No?