The Best Campsite in the World
We woke up slowly with the sunrise to the mellow drone of semi-trucks. All of us snug in the happy camper, awake but in no hurry to get up. Our next stop is the Rocky Mountain National Park and the day was stretched before us with opportunities.
We had a long day driving the day before with only a few rest breaks. The first stop was at register cliff where hundreds of names and dates are carved into the rock as markers of travel from the times of the Oregon trail (and the 1980’s). The second stop was to play a round of disc golf among the cottonwoods at Romera Park. Romera park was completely empty of players; a nice change from the crowded tee pads of the east coast.
We spent the night in a McDonald’s parking lot along with 20 or so truckers. We backed-up the camper through a gravel parking lot to overlook a grassy valley and ate taco salad while the sun went down. With most adventures in life, your experience is dictated by your perspective. As you view the world you make choices and you decide what to see. As I write my words down on paper, I have more choices too. What do I share, how do I describe it, and how do I feel about it? I’m writing this now sitting on the bumper of our camper. My belly is full of coffee and eggs, watching a family of pronghorns. They are lying in the grass facing north away from the traffic and noise of the parking lot. They look away from the trash, broken bottles and acrid smell of diesel — and wow!-the smell of a trailer crammed full of cattle. There is a jackass driving through the parking lot in his big white truck, laying on his horn. It’s 7am. The pronghorn family doesn’t react, as we all watch the sun slowly brighten the rolling grass hills. The foot high grass has some dew from the night before and it’s twinkling like a sky full of stars.
The world is dirty, smelly and loud; full of people making bad decisions. But it’s also amazingly beautiful and full of moments of joy. It’s your choice which world you choose to see.
See you soon, Jon & Heather
