Durango day 2

Rafting the Animas river was awesome. The water we were floating on was snow yesterday so it was maybe 38 degrees. Captain Lou brought us through some very beautiful whitewater for about 3 hours or so. I hit a health food store (they're everywhere out here, it's great!) and stocked up on food and juice for tomorrow's big ride to Phoenix. I'll be heading out around 5 or 6am to get a jump on the heat. We just finished a great chicken dinner here at the station and I'm going to start packing so I can get up and go in the morning.

There is something about traveling on a great journey that changes you to one extent. In Buddhism they say that leaving your homeland is half of the Dharma or teaching. I would have to agree and add that leaving one's home allows one to find who they truly are; nice, mean, generous, greedy, loving, introverted, etc. There have been many times when I have been out of my element or comfort zone. As the journey goes along, I find that my comfort zones are all but vanished and I'm comfortable with anyone at anytime and anywhere. There have been times when I have been so hungry and desperate for any place that sells food that I'll eat anything. You'd be surprised how much you don't care what is on your plate when you're truly hungry. There have been times when I've been so tired I was thankful to have just a dry floor available to sleep on, but of course the awesome Fd's have taken great care of me, every night.

However, we don't need to take great trips across the country to grow and make positive changes in our lives. Maybe just opening up and letting go a little during our daily routines can bring us more peace, happiness, and understanding of this sometimes mysterious life.

I also feel like this world is a smaller place than I thought. I never thought it to be very big in the first place, but it is smaller to me now. I have met hundreds of FF's and their families and eaten and slept in many people's homes. I have asked tons of people for directions along the way, and assisted a few motorists along side of the road. Knowing more people on this planet feels good. I have met many people whose struggles and tribulations make any woe I've ever thought to be important look so foolish. I have met people who have buried their children, some younger than my own. Some have had to bury their soulmates, and a piece of their own in the process. I have met people who have lost their vision from burns and hearing from burn related antibiotics. I have met parents who feel as though there is nothing they can do for their child who is in a hospital bed in a drug induced coma. I have met burn survivors who have inspired me to tears, and many who have shown me how to find the fun in life. We all will suffer and struggle in this life my friends. Because we will all suffer to one degree or another in this life there is interconnectedness among all of here. We are not alone, we all are trying to find happiness amongst our suffering and struggles. Maybe knowing that everyone we encounter in life is trying to be happy/find happiness will make it easier to help them find that happiness, and perhaps find our own in the process.


Good night,

Mike