from the road

We are mighty in our cities of glass and steel secure among the crowd. We are arrogant in our belief that we are somehow in control.

To truly feel how insignificant you are, step away from the crowd and wander alone for a time. Wander in the landscapes of the world away from the familiar. Stand as a solitary being in the middle of a field surrounded by grass taller than your head. Walk among the trees of the mountain or through the rocks on the riverbank. Stand on the shores of the ocean in the midst of a storm.

You are but one part of a world you cannot fully understand.

Let go the arrogance of the city dweller and embrace that while you are powerful in your own way you are not omnipresent.

Humility will serve you better than the false sense of security and confidence found in familiar places.

Get outside. Get away from what you know.

We left in “IRV” (our RV) with no plan, just a basic destination and no timeline to get there. As we began driving on unfamiliar roads through unfamiliar landscapes, I began to relax. One night sleeping at a rest stop on a mountain highway and I am strangely refreshed and inspired.

I write too slow for the thoughts in my head. I photograph in an effort to preserve this feeling of rightness I have. I worry that both forms of expression will not do justice to the contentment I feel with the open road ahead and my family all around me.

I look out at a vast and changing landscape that brings something new around each corner. We pass ranch land and boarded up towns, open fields dotted with mountains in the distance, and other drivers on their own journies. We are on our way somewhere, but in no rush to arrive.

What is next? Who cares?