No Tent?

One year ago. Just one year. Lauri and I were headed to Colorado to ski for the first time in several years, see Ricky, Jake and of course, Wynter. Celebrate our Birthdays in fact. Eldora was a warm up for a mountain from my childhood memories of my first Western skiing.... Snowmass. Shedding my “you crash, you die” blood thinners for a few days and warping around chasing my mentor and my wife down the vast runs of Aspens larger neighbor... life was good. No, it was better than good. After skiing, 2017 had hikes into the Grand Canyon, Mountain Biking and Hiking in New Mexico, Cortney’s wedding and the monster paddle to Skagway. It is hard to believe it is all behind us. It doesn’t seem possible. We crammed it all in and 2017 changed us, changed me.


I must be changed. I must be different. I am different. We are west bound for Los Angeles. Our bags are all packed. There is no tent. No seriously, there is no tent. This plane stops in LA and the next one stops in Sydney. Yea, that Sydney. Cortney and Brett are there already. They got a head start with stops in Bora Bora and Melbourne. They will vacation longer too. Lauri and I will do 6 weeks. Brettney will do 6-7 months. They are homeless. True vagabonds. The next three weeks will be used to explore Australia. Sydney, Brisbane, Whitsunday, Cairns and who knows where else.


There is no plan. No way points, no routes, no food drops (or food prep for that mater), no bear canisters, no satellite tracking. Oh sure, there is a couple of flights reserved here and there as if to put some punctuation on a very long sentence, but we are totally flexible. I will need practice. We are considering doing some sailing in Whitsunday and possibly some Scuba Diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Maybe we will rent a SUV and explore the outback. Yea, that will be good. We will let Brett drive. You see, it’s more fun to watching him drive up a sand dune, listening to him giggle and seeing him smile and laugh with his whole face, then it is to drive myself. This will be cool. Maybe this will be a bunch of linked, mini adventures. This really is bucket list stuff. I wonder if I will miss my tent?