Reflections from the first week...
One week in. This morning I woke up to a gorgeous view of the sunrise on the surrounding mountains in Zion National Park and a deer eating grass and scratching his antlers after a perfect night sleep under the stars. Fast forward a couple hours and we’ve been stranded by the side of the highway in the Nevada desert in the middle of nowhere for 3 1/2 hrs waiting for a tow truck. Oh the highs and lows…
HIGHS: We climbed the most exhilarating hike of our lives (1,000 foot drop on both sides with just a chain to hold on to) on Angel’s Landing in Zion National Park and stayed with incredible friends drink/laughing/contemplating life late into the night. LOWS: slept in 11 degree weather in our tent, stranded on the side of the highway for 3 1/2 hrs, and camped in a junk yard with a broken down school bus and loud pleating goats on either side of us. Oh week one.
Today we discovered the lowest low yet… our engine died. Completely dead. Dust. Done. Game.Over. You know when you are sitting in the lobby of a mechanic shop, drinking bad coffee and waiting for bad news? Mechanic Mike turns the corner to announce our worst fear: ” you need a new engine”. And just like that: you hit your lowest.
There is something about the HIGHS and LOWS of this week that pull out your character. You can’t sleep through life because it demands all your attention. There is no space for the concept of procrastination or expressing your personality based on your comfort level. It doesn’t matter if you’re an introvert or extrovert, a 3 or a 2, a engineer or a manager, when there is steam coming out of the hood, you better think and act fast and smart.
We spent a full week at the mechanic as they repaired our vehicle. We slept in the junk yard, ate ramen soup and rode out the low. We pulled ourselves together and pulled out our budget spreadsheet and made a plan. We had to restructure the trip to account the the expense and keep our spirits up and count our blessings. We are together. We are safe. We are moving forward.
Maybe we won’t be waking up to a gorgeous sunrise in Zion tomorrow, but the thing about highs and lows is they always swing back. Things usually get really bad before they get better. Looking forward to the high around the bend..
Vueltamerica 