It’s not as far as it looks

It’s really not as far as it looks. It looks endless. But it is not endless.

And we have come so far. Too far to turn back now. If it kills me, I will get to the other side of this range.

I took my three most prized possessions, the only things I had left. My pocket knife, a pen and a notebook. I’ve got the route all planned out. First I head around the left flank along the top of that ridge. It shouldn’t take more than a day. But we have to hurry if we want to get there before sun down.

The last few weeks are a blur. I met some interesting people who are going to be invaluable on my journey.

The first one was a girl I never met before. Tania. I met her on a boat. She was armed with a huge steel sword that seemed to slice through anything that stood in her way. She is a tiny little girl, but she fills a room. And she makes you laugh. You’ll spend the whole time with her laughing and laughing. She’s gorgeous. And blends into her surroundings like a chameleon. It’s quite amazing to watch. I think she has two voices and speaks in tongues, whatever that means.

The next person I met a long time ago but he keeps appearing. Adil. He’s amazingly vociferous. It’s the thing I love and hate about him. I want to put him in my pocket and carry him around with me and just let him out whenever I need to know which way to go. He’s like intuition in a person. And I have never met such a grateful person. Maybe that is why he seems to attract everything he needs to get his shit done.

I also met another rather musical person. (All these people are incredibly creative, by the way) Dwayne. He speaks five languages and knows how to play 25 different instruments. You never know when you might want to sing by a campfire when you are on a journey. Although, seriously, I considered not taking this one with me.

Yesterday, we were hiking through this massive canyon, when Adil said to Tania,

Stop, don’t move. There’s something in that bush next to the path.

No one saw it coming. We were ambushed. It hit us out of nowhere.

A pack of huge wolves.

(Just pretend this is an incredible photo of said wolves.)

I just remember reading somewhere that if you are chased by wolves, you have no chance. Don’t run. Climb a tree or stay and fight. Don’t run. They will catch you and kill you. And they always catch you. Ok. Nice advice. You try not running the next time you are chased by wolves. I’d like to see you stay and fight, Mr. whoever you are who gave that astonishingly brilliant advice.

Turns out he was right.

We stood still, mostly because they stopped running when we stood still. Four people surrounded by snarling wolves.

And in slow motion Dwayne got his guitar out, I don’t even remember how he did that, and he jammed like crazy, some heavy metal music.

And one of the wolves backed off.

Then another. Then another. And so on.

Until he was blasting this music and there were no more wolves. Amazing.

I tell you. You never know who you will need to take with you on your journey. I seriously considered not taking this guy on my journey because he just plain has too much baggage. Who plays that many instruments, anyways? Don’t people always say “focus” “Don’t spread yourself too thin”?

Well, again, don’t know. There’s some sage advice out there.