I firmly believe that a man, a guitar, and the open country of west Texas can supply an endless amount of great ideas, thoughts, and revelations. Before the beginning of my freshman year of college I took a leave of absence from my job of two years, much to the chagrin and worry of my parents. I then got together with my four best friends and we traveled to west Texas in one white 2000 4-runner that had a hell of a lot of character and heart to it. We began our travels as any intelligent melodramatic 18 year old boys did, we began with as many songs and games as we could think up to play in the car while talking about every person we knew collectively. Boys like to think they are different than girls when it comes to gossiping. In a sense we are, although both sexes do gossip men tend to do it and then confront the man about it or just forget about it. Women they never forget and never confront until absolutely necessary. Anyways, the journey began with a drive that the five of us were more than ready for. We had known one another a minimum of 4 years with some of us having known one another almost 8 years. We took classes together, did sports and activities together, and knew everything there was to know about one another. But we did this trip for a much larger reason than one last who rah before we began college at five different universities. We did this to learn about ourselves in a much more rich way.
The five of us had always been religious, insightful and generally educated members of society. But we knew that college would test every measure of our values, call into question every moral and probably change them. So we arrived in El Paso Texas to drop off our car and begin our quest. We knew we wanted to hike so we put together some packs full of camping gear and clothes, pulled together some cash and we began our trek to somewhere. We hiked for hours each day often times playing guitar when we took breaks and writing constantly the different things that came to us during our trek. The notebook I had I can say was filled up with different questions, thoughts, and emotions that will not be shown to anyone for quite some time. Our nights consisted of talking about what we thought all day or just simply playing guitar and listening to the wilderness that was so raw and uncensored. We knew that we were living a life that was not plausible or sustainable. So we began to head back after a few weeks of this trip and eventually arrived home much to the joy of our parents who in hindsight were the most facilitating parents I could ask for. They allowed me to do this trip to discover something and to do it with my best friends by my side.
The lessons that I took away from this adventure are numerous and dear to me. But one overarching umbrella that all my thought involved or pertained too was the idea of togetherness. As solitary as I have been in my life at times and as alone as we were on that trip, I never got over the fact that so much of life is interaction. Humans can’t be self sustained; we need one another in some facet of our lives. The image that will never leave me is waking up to a sunrise on the top of a large hill, looking down on the world beneath me and the sun penetrating my eyes. The morning dew being lifted in front of me, the earth waking up all around me. All I thought was this is meant to be shared.
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