Moab part 1

June 4, 2009

Amid scattered rain I departed from ARUP and headed for Moab. I left early hoping to make good time and get to my camp site, just north of Arches, to watch the sunset...

I have been driving at this point for four hours. I have been mulling over whether or not to go to Costa Rica with Ryan and Amy.

We are creatures of habit. We create routines and stick to them forming ruts in the world surrounding us. We drive the same roads, eat at the same restaurants, shop the same stores, amuse ourselves with the same activities day in and day out. All the while we crave something new. We dream of foreign lands and adventure to alleviate our boredom. Yet we have no idea what lies one block away from our house.

What is driving these thoughts, and my current trip, is a desire to explore and discover. I want to see and experience new and foreign things. This desire is both for the external as well as the internal: to go new places and explore lands and cultures as well to do things that confront and push my personality and mind from their hazy comfort zone.

This desire can be satiated without spending thousands of dollars and traveling to distant countries. Yes, I am driving on the right side of the road and still speaking English. (Well, except for at Carl’s Junior when I ordered my hamburger.) I am still in Utah. I haven’t even left the jurisdiction of my local government. But I am driving down a road I have never driven before. I am going to Arches, a singularly unique wonder that I have never seen in the 20 years I have lived here. These experiences are new. All of this adds up to a sense of exploration of a foreign land. I am not in Costa Rica, no, but I am where I have never been before and that is what truly counts.

I am enjoying this. This is foreign to me.

I think the desire for something new can be easily lived by each one of us just by stepping outside of our boundaries and going someplace new; even if only an hour away — even if only around the corner. Doing that, we can explore things foreign to us and have adventures as often as desired. It is within our power. And it is cheap.