TWO HAPPY CAMPERS

Gunnison National Forest //

I wake at dawn to the truck rocking back and forth.  All I can think is that there’s a bear outside and it wants something that we have.  I wake Mark up only to have him say in the most calm and assured state, “it’s a cow”.  Ah yes, of course, that makes sense.  It’s not the first time free-range cattle have enjoyed our truck as a back scratcher.  Mark goes outside, runs her off, and gets back in bed. 

It’s Saturday and we’re feeling grateful to have found a spot that isn’t within dust’s reach from the main road.  All day ATVs, side-by-sides, dirt bikes, and trucks leave a plume of dirt behind them as they drive down the road.  We managed to find a pretty ideal place to call home given the popularity of the area.  

Come late afternoon, we welcome the arrival of family that has driven out from Denver to camp with us.  I love when friends and family send us a text saying something along the lines of “where are you guys, we want to come camp with you”.  Sometimes I wish we had the freedom to roam outside of Colorado during the summer months.  However, being anchored to the state for a four-month period of time has created some predictability in our whereabouts.  That predictability allows family and friends to know when they have a good shot of being able to meet up with us.  Those opportunities for quality time with loved ones satisfies the little bit of need that I have for stability in our lifestyle.  

The weather all weekend is about as good as it gets.  The icing on the cake is the crystal-clear, vivid blue sky that remains free of wildfire smoke for our entire time here.  The Sawatch range treats us with breathtaking sunsets thanks to alpenglow that bathes each tree-less peak in deep shades of purple and pink.  

Thanks to our having company, we remain in our camp chairs long enough to watch each star appear in the sky, culminating in the illumination of the Milky Way.  The moon won’t rise until the middle of the night, and there’s zero light pollution for 360 degrees, making for some of the best star-gazing you could ask for.  You’d think stargazing would be a regular pastime for us, but we tend to live a pretty common evening routine.  By dusk, we’ve turned in for the night to watch a show, read, and go to bed.  Dark night skies have become so commonplace for us that we tend to take it for granted.  Being in the company of city-dwellers who rarely get these opportunities reminds us just how incredible it is to bear witness to the unobstructed night sky.  

Spending the weekend with family offers a good reset on my perspective on life.  Amber & Jon are the same age as us but have taken an entirely different path in life.  Our allergy to conformity is palpable when in the company of two people who have devoted their lives to higher education and building prosperous careers.  And yet, even with the great divide in our chosen lifestyles, we all have found ourselves in a confusing “what’s next” stage in life.  It causes me to wonder if this is what your 40s are about, no matter what path you’ve chosen.  What I do know is that this thread of similarity between our very different lives drives the point home that there’s no right or wrong way.  Everyone makes something different with life’s canvas.  And we’re all just fumbling along, trying to figure it out as we go.