Post by Admin on Aug 3, 2017 23:15:26 GMT
This is just an excerpt, please follow the link for the full post!
May 29, 2012
Sometimes,
all you need is a perfect field. In the field, there’s a strangely
comforting smell of sheep poop and fur left behind by the last herd that
passed through. There’s a small grove of oaks and above them, stars.
It’s quiet except the small wet wind you can hear pass you by in the
cool autumn night.
I wanted to find a perfect field. Instead, Max and I were on a busy
road surrounded by agricultural land. The road was lined with small
tracts elbowed up against one another and plotted with orderly rows of
irrigation ditches, olive trees, and almond trees. Most of the lots were
fenced in with thin barbed wire; some were guarded by dogs. Even if we
could get to them, none of the trees we saw had leaves enough to hide
our big orange tent, or the two tired people who needed very badly to
sleep inside it. It was getting dark already. For hours we rode up,
through, and over tremendous hilltops and villages, chasing the smoking
shadow of Mt. Etna while we navigated cracked country roads and
disregarded the constant chorus of honks that accompanied us. I was
physically and emotionally done with the day. But first, I had to find a
place to lie down.
Field camp.
Improvisational Accommodations Rule #1:
Be afraid, or don’t be afraid. Either way, you’ll eventually fall asleep.
“Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell
ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one
women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing
could vanquish me. … Fear begets fear. Power begets power. I willed
myself to beget power. And it wasn’t long before I actually wasn’t
afraid.”-Cheryl Strayed, Wild
training, minimal funds, and no reservations, people often ask: “Weren’t
you scared?” The questions continue: Isn’t it scary to camp outside of
legal campgrounds? To travel through strange cities where you don’t know
which neighborhoods are “good,” to have to rely on the whims of
complete strangers for basically everything? There’s an unspoken
challenge in such a question that often inspires me, in my role as the
carefree traveler in this scenario, to respond, “No way, it’s not scary
at all!” Which is to say, I lie.
www.shareable.net/blog/bicycle-nomad-where-did-you-sleep-last-night