Day 436: Getting back at er'
“In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.
On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”
Nevada, 2014. 50mm f/1.8 Nikon F5 1/8000 ISO 400 35mm Kodak Gold
Day 436. I guess Day numero uno was when I reached Chula Vista back in December 2014. I was running out of time to go down to Baja California Sur. Not in 2016. Time is all I will have next Fall.
So here what happened. First step was to get rid of the wonderful car (Lexus LS460 AWD) with three electro-locking diff. This car was too good at forgetting its identity of being a car. I'm driving a car or is the car driving me ? It left one wonder. Lexus, only once.
Driving a Lexus barefoot isn't the same ecstatic experience as driving a Jeep barefoot.
The plan was to do an outdoor trekking expedition company in the Yukon last summer. It didn't quite happen and it is alright this way. Other opportunities appeared. Life is all about turning on a dime and being flexible. So I'm going back to Day 1 dream. Nothing makes me feel more alive than an open stretch of road leading to the unknown. And with my current work contract ending in Fall 2016, I am free to feel the fresh air of Mehico.
Appropriate overland expedition truck. 85mm f/1.2 Fuji X-Pro-1 ISO 200.
Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. 50mm f/5.6 Nikon F5 on ISO 400 Kodak Gold 35mm
So as of today, it is Day 436 of my big "fuck-it let's do it" life plan. Coffee is being drank, letters are being typed and ideas get whip around more than ever before.
Where shall I go ? Plan is to reach Terra Del Fuego at some point with the Jeep. Really unsure when I'll cross the Darien Cap. But I know where to get started: Going south. Baja California. La Paz. Everywhere actually in Baja. To do what, that is also unsure. Go diving. Driving on beach, drinking beer, listening to Taylor Swift, eat some fresh fish. Where to go after ? Not a single clue. Who knows where I'll be on Day 801 ! And that's makes the journey so exciting.
The ferry between La Paz to inland Mexico runs at $1000 US. I might just decide to skip Baja California and go straight to Panama City.
Basically, I do not know where I am going, I do not know what I am doing, I do not know exactly when to go, but I know how to drive. And that's all what matters here. As Robert S.Pirsig in Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: “Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive."
85mm f/1.2, Fuji X-pro-1 ISO IDONTCARE,