Saturday, February 23, 2008

Slingshot Effect

Sometimes I wonder how I manage to keep rolling.

Last Friday I headed for a calming weekend on the Ozark Trail, near the devastation of Johnson Shut-ins... Bell Mountain Wilderness to be precise. Leaving St. Louis at a balmy 50 degrees, I found myself on the trail in the wilderness area crunching away on 5 inches of snow topped with an inch of ice. A fatiguing trek for sure. The temperature was in the upper 20's. After building a nice base camp, collecting downed wood, building star fires and settling in things looked pretty mellow if not a radical change from St. Louis.

Saturday evening the skies opened and a torrential downpour ensued until dawn. The ice and snow was rendered snowmelt, and Sunday morning it was time to go home to catch a plane for Manhattan. Except for one small detail: the tiny streams I had crossed Friday were now waist-deep torrents of frigid water. My exit was delayed as I erred on the side of caution. Crossing the last stream with the aid of rope-up, I headed home for the airport, wet and delirious.

From the wilderness to the chaos of 7th Avenue in less than 24 hours slung me into a physical/spiritual/mental change of existence pretty damned fast! I had just enough time to get used to the balmy NYC weather when I boarded a train to Philly and was stranded in amajor snowstorm. I'm packed up and heading home to High Ridge. I'll get home, groove on the family, spend some time in the Audubon Greenway (my back yard!) and then back to NYC.

I'm getting too old for this shit (not!). Resilience is everything! And they say acid takes a lot out of you. Compared to my week of environmental ups and downs, a healthy dose right now would seem like nothing more than a shot of whiskey on a cold morning.