Have you ever wanted to wander?
Have you ever had the urge to leave the beaten path and just go exploring in the wilderness? To leave the safety of the hiking trail or road and walk through dew-soaked, waist-high prairie grass and copses of young trees? To head away from civilization just to see what's out there, hidden by trees or hills? Just to see what it's like? To see what it smells like, what it sounds like, what the ground feels like beneath your feet?
It's finally cooled off for the autumn season. The road I drive along to get to my inspiration spot (which I've talked about here) is lined with wind-rustled grasses between the road and the river, and tangerine-colored leaves and red-tinged smooth sumac peeking between the green of the forested hill on the other side, and I just want to stop my car and wander. To walk from the road down all the way to the river for no reason but for the adventure. To climb between trees up the uneven slop of the hills as if I was exploring an untouched wilderness.
When I was a child we lived in an old house that had once been a two room schoolhouse, situated on a rural road up against a sprawling Virginia forest. My brothers and I would often disappear into the forest to play, imagining adventures and pretending we lived out there in the wilds. We found a pond hidden among the trees and often looked for frogs along the edge. A few times we walked so far we found a trailer park tucked in another part of the forest. We always steered clear, avoiding civilization like we were feral children. I have such fond memories of that time.
For the last year I keep having story ideas that are a variation on the same theme of acquiring a house on a piece of rural property and discovering something magical in the forest on the property. My car notebook is full of different scenarios that bring someone to this rural property, different magical elements for the character to discover, from a hidden settlement of elves protecting the last bit of deep forest to an estranged magical family waiting for the prodigal child's return. Does that say something about my mindset in this moment?
There's no place to safely stop along the road where I want to, so I can't indulge in my daydream. And while I have wilderness survival training from my time in the military, I'm hesitant to actually take the step off the path without preparation, without a map and compass. Without safety measures that defeat the idea of an adventure like in the rpg games I play or the books I read and write. I'm too civilized to feel safe outside cell coverage on my own.
Thoughts to share? I have a contact page now!