Besides being a awesome song, it also references my latest and greatest ideas, partly inspired by a book I just finished reading. “A Walk In The Woods” by Bill Bryson is a amazing book not because it’s award winning (although it was New York Times Bestseller) but because it’s a tale of an everyday guy and his buddy on a trip across the Appalachian Trail. Through this book I discovered why my brother loves to hike.
I personally have never really enjoyed hiking. Whenever the family would go out on an outing or something I would be the one not enjoying the whole hiking thing. My parents and younger brother loved it. I never enjoyed it. I always was the one making us turn back because my feet hurt or some other malady. There was some truth to the pain. It hurt like a…well, fill in the blanks.
When I saw this book in the middle of the Albertson’s book isle (I know, I’m living it up) I decided it was time to start reading again. In my younger years (read: middle and high school and some college) I was a voracious reader. I would take Jurassic Park and get through it in a day or less, no problem. I didn’t skip either if that was your next question. I just simply love to read. My creative brain imagines the situations and I immerse my self in that world. I just love it.
The book itself is a quick 394 pages but in it I found probably (because I don’t actually know, I’m just guessing) the reason why my brother and family love hiking. It is something that puts you outside your world and into the unfamiliar. Sure, there are maps, trails and markings but there is a small sense of adventure when you go hiking into the mountains, hills or whatever natural world you have outside your city.
There is a sense of life and of something else flowing right beneath the surface. Tonight I took my second walk in two days. Mind you it was just a walk around the block for about thirty minutes but I really actually enjoyed it all bundled up and feeling my heart moving something faster than lazy white boy. Reading Bill Bryson the whole hiking in the wilderness away from the world helps you see life for what it really is and I’m sad to report that Bryson (and myself as well) don’t think the Rat Race is what life is really all about.
Needless the book sent a spark through my brain. Hiking, walking and the like is something I could do to help lose the weight the Philippines had layered on my already white whale-esque body. I expect Captain Ahab to show up at my door and threaten me with a spear or something.
It’s not that bad actually, but it helps me to think in those terms. I don’t want to know what Ahab is gonna do with that spear…but I suspect it’s something unnatural. I need to motivate myself to get out and exercise and not just on a machine. Get out and live life as much as you can. Especially here in Denver where the wonder of nature is less than two hours away. Trails, hiking and campsites are there for the taking. I want to do that I want to move outside of my apartment life.
First I need to get to the point of taking a walk every day for a solid week. Then I can start looking at trails in town while eying the mountains. Spring and Summer are stumbling our way. The smell of the summer weather is wafting through the sleet and snow and calling my name.
Gotta start walkin’.
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