I Had a Dream, I Stood Beneath An Orange Sky

I'm back in Abilene from the expedition to Big Bend. That is really beautiful country, and because it so far out of the way, it is incredibly uncrowded. The longest conversation that I had with another human being from Sunday morning when I left to this afternoon when I returned was a "good morning" or "have a good one" in passing on the trail. Yesterday was my longest hiking day, and I think saw 1 or 2 people the entire day. It was a great time to sit and think about what has happened in my life these past 6 months and to look ahead at what is to come. One of the downsides to camping alone is that when it gets dark, it is no use sitting outside, because that is just the same as sitting in the tent. Therefore, you spend about 11-12 hours in the tent each night reading, falling asleep, and trying to fall asleep.

I would like to offer a bit of a tangent statement for those people who decry Abilene as one of the ugliest places that they have ever seen. Let me tell you something, you do not know what ugly is until you drive through Monahans or Fort Stockton, Texas. That is ugly. I have not seen that many shades of brown since the San Diego Padres uniforms of the mid 80's. The folks who live there would trade aesthetic surroundings with the inhabitants of the Key City at the drop of a hat. I digress, but I thought it warranted mentioning.

I took three books with me to read during the trip, and I think that if you look at the books that I selected, you will learn a lot about me. The first one was, of course, the Bible. The other two are probably less obvious: "Eiger Dreams" by Jon Krakauer and "Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield. I have read both of these books before, but when I looked at my bookshelf on Saturday night and mulled over which books to bring those two jumped out at me. I chose "Eiger Dreams" because of its content concerning outdoor adventure and the reasons that people head for the great empty and untamed places in our world, and I chose "Gates of Fire" because it contains much of what I wish to cultivate in myself and to understand about the things that drive me and make me who I am.

"Gates of Fire" details the stand of the 300 Spartan warriors against a Persian force of 2 million at the Battle of Thermopylae. The Spartans held the pass for 7 days against the great foe, and killed an estimated 20,000 Persians in the process. The book examines the basis of the Spartans skill and the physical, spiritual, and most importantly emotional foundations that enable and drive people to be able to withstand and thrive in the most distressful of circumstances. There is a running discourse in the book about what the opposite of fear is, and the answer is one that brings me great hope as I look at what the driving forces in my life are and the person that I would like to become. I will not give the answer away, because if you are reading this, you need to read the book. It is one of the most powerful pieces of literature that I have ever read. Go out and buy it. Seriously.

Current listening: "Four Songs EP"-Alexi Murdoch.

For those of you who recognize the song lyrics that I took for today's post, you have probably heard the song "Orange Sky", but for those of you who have not, go listen Alexi Murdoch at his website. You can find the link here.