Arches Mountain Biking Go Pro Video

I went to the thesaurus, trying to come up with a synonym for my disease of Wanderlust. It's so overused, Wanderlust, and as we all know overuse wears things out, even words.


Synonyms like nomad, migrant, roamer, gypsy, drifter, and vagabond each congers up a slightly different mental image. Tramp, transient and vagrant all have negative connotations; I wouldn't call myself a tramp. 


My thesaurus and dictionary were of no help so I delved into my soul for a better answer. Who am I... really, what one word explains an insatiable need to seek out less familiar places? It sounds so "male," but I see more and more women with similar "needs." This synonym must be unisex. 


Explanations of who we are tend to hide out in the bygone days of childhood, so I decided to take a little trip down Memory Lane... turn over some rocks and see what I could find. Well, my parents, of course; they were wanderers. I don't know if there is a gene with the "big dubaya" on it but my sister and brother showed signs of wanderlust at a very early age. 


Our family moved around a lot in search of "Gods Will," so I never really learned to become all that attached to "home," or school or even friends; those all proved to be things that were replaceable. I learned to be content playing alone and most times preferred to. 


I remember riding my bike from 52nd street on the eastern edge of Phoenix all the way downtown... fifty two blocks in summertime heat just to play on elevators and escalators in the high rise hotels and office buildings and to see what was "in there." I was gone all day and don't remember getting in trouble for it; a different time. I explored the vast desert and Papago Mountains in my "front yard" with the same enthusiasm... turning over real rocks, looking for scorpions and tarantulas to tease... with long sticks, of course.


After rummaging around in the drawers of childhood for nearly an hour the most suitable synonym for Wanderlust that I could come up with was "Curious." I am Curious with a capital "C," and somehow survived public schooling and college with "C" intact. I didn't fall so deeply into mind numbing ruts of good little "short-leashed" Proletariat/Communists that I couldn't break free and choose a better, more self-directed way. 


As children we are naturally Curious... we need to test the length of our "leash," want to see what's around the next corner, over the next rise or "downtown." We are driven to explore and learn and risk. Albert Einstein often brushed off the mantle of brilliance we placed on his shoulders by saying, "I have no special talent... I'm just passionately curious." Indeed.


Curiosity led me "home" to Colorado. The irony is that it also takes me away. The sun sets differently over the Pacific than it does in The Crevice, so I must go there and take it in. Teton mountains are unlike Rockies and beg exploration. Lovely Ouray is an adorable Victorian village, but is there another that would steal my heart? 


I'm as geographically and topographically Curious as Albert was curious about physics. He was so focused on his love of science and math that he failed to get into university the first time around due to poor scores in language, geography and history. Well whatdayaknow... if Einstein can "specialize," so can I.




Now, here is a final Go Pro video wrap-up of a mountain bike ride from our boondock camp into Arches National Park near Moab, Utah... through the "back door," so to speak. If you enjoy it please click the Facebook icon and share it with others. Every "share" helps to spread both Curiosity and the BCB. Thanks!!!!!


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