A Thought...

I just thought a little thought that I thought I'd share with you...When looking back at some of my blogs, it became increasingly clear to me the number of miles Joe and I have been traveling in the last few weeks.

It's not that I have anything against putting those miles on my car, it's just that the amount and distance that is amazing to me. Let me try to explain...

If I put around 200 miles on my car while living in Georgia, it was compared to a trip to Atlanta or Savannah or Jacksonville or somewhere that seemed to require a very, long and tedious drive. It usually meant being on the interstate and fighting traffic the majority of the way. It was something not to be looked upon as pleasurable in most instances.

However, since making the move to Wyoming that has all changed for me. Take for instance the excursion with Trina yesterday. We left Casper yesterday morning slightly before 8 am and returned around 6 pm. We drove about 350 miles! That was a 10 hour day trip which didn't begin to seem as though that amount of time had been invested. It was pure joy. It was exciting fun. It was very pleasurable. And as reflected on this (and I couldn't reflect long as I needed to get some things done) I pondered the differences:

• Everything is new so I look at everything with new eyes;
• The scenery is absolutely spectacular, stunning, unusual, etc., etc., etc.;
• The speed limit is awesome - 75 mph on the interstate. And, as you know, most interstates look the same in every state primarily boring. Therefore, the "boring" scenery goes by quickly since you don't stay there long at 75 mph;
• The lack of traffic; the different types of roads - blacktop, redtop, white gravel, red gravel, dirt, etc.;
• You are constantly engaged with your surroundings since you keep alert looking for wildlife...the wildlife that might run out in front of you or the wildlife that you observe standing in the surrounding countryside. And, the wildlife has been interesting and varied here i.e., pronghorn antelope (LOTS OF THEM), mule deer, white-tailed deer, prairie dogs, striped squirrels and/or chipmunks, wild horses, cows, beavers, big horned sheep, skunks, etc.

So, the reason for this pondering is this...the several hundreds of miles that we put on our car during our weekly excursions are but a small blip on the map for us. At the end of one of our exploring adventures, it seems as though we've only gone a few miles in a very few short hours. For the investment of usually 1/2 tank of gas (or less) and an Igloo cooler full of sandwiches, chips, pudding cups, sodas and water, we are having the time of our lives exploring out here! It's like mini vacations each weekend. The kind of vacations we used to have to save for for months in advance to purchase airplane tickets, rental cars, lodging and food. The biggest problem for us when it comes to these weekend excursions is...where do we pick to go?! There are so many places to see, especially since we are so close to Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado and Montana and then entire state of Wyoming. There is just NOT ENOUGH TIME!!! And, the downer is that Mother Nature will be rearing her winter head here in the next few weeks and then our excursions will be limited due to weather. But, hey, that will give me time to plan more trips in the spring, right?

Might I also interject by saying - our car has gone places that some trucks would not try. However, every time before leaving on our trips, we pray and ask for safety and guidance wherever we may go and our prayers have been answered. We don't take the dogs with us as we never know where we might go and we don't want to endanger their lives or limit our opportunities, so they guard the home front and wait for our return. We also call Corey and Nikki and Mom and Dad to let them know where we think our destination will be in case we don't return home. We try to cover all our bases and if you saw the trunk of my car you'd know I've tried to think of every thing we might need in case of an emergency. So off we go with paper map in hand, charged cellphones (which may or may not keep service), our GPS system fondly named "Barking Bob", our picnic bag, hats and sunglasses and binoculars.

How blessed I feel to be able to do the things we do. It gives me the time to spend some wonderful alone time with my sweetie. We have the opportunity to build new memories about the things we see and experience together. We ooh and aah a lot. We laugh a lot. Sometimes we shout out our amazement or sometimes we just stand in pure awe. Do you know how wonderful it is for me to stand at the top of a mountain and hold my sweetie's hand? The saddest part to me though during these trips is that I am unable to share them with my family and my friends. I especially miss not sharing them Mom and Dad, but try to do so with the pictures and the phone calls which begin..."Guess where we are right now"? and Dad pulls out his atlas and tries to locate where we are and Mom says she wishes she could be there with us. That's the real reason I do my blogs about the miles we go and pictures I post. It's not to brag, but rather to share my joy, my excitement, my love of discovering something new and sharing it in the only way I can. So, enjoy if you want and can. It's my gift to you and a blessing to me.