The Drive
The feeling of driving a car packed for a weekend away on a winding road through the most beautiful parts of the country cannot be measured.
ADVENTURE ART CLUB | DAY 18 | 9.18
HIGHWAY 200 TO HIGHWAY 83
TO SEELEY, MT
Today, I’m driving along two-lane Highway 200 then Highway 83 North to the Seeley Lake area to meet a group of wonderful women for a multi-day birthday celebration. I’m excited. I’m working on reframing what I label “stress” as excitement because typically I’m running around or running behind, feeling pressure, before every trip I’ve taken in recent memory.
I’m a person who makes check lists. Writing things down helps me organize what needs to be done to prepare for adventures away from home. I write lists of “To Do”s, grocery lists, lists of items I need to bring with me. For group adventures, I’m usually one who volunteers to make or bring something. It’s usually something labor intensive. I make food from scratch, which is lovely, but that’s just one more task to accomplish before setting off….one more thing to remember.
I’ve never been good at just “showing up” places. I’m always doing, always working.
That’s something I’m working on…
I’m trying, these days, to remember that my value is in my presence, not what I physically bring to a gathering. However, that growth is easier said than acted on. I hate arriving anywhere emptyhanded, and I’m not accustomed to being carried by others. Perhaps all this preparation is the result of some form of anxiety. Who knows…
Yet, inevitably, any stress or anxiety of preparations leading up to a gathering melts away when the wheels of my car get rolling. As the miles fly by me, stress melts away, replaced by eager anticipation. Mountains appear and fade to the left and right of me. I watch the light play on the landscape. I take note of waypoints and landmarks I know on the journey. I usually listen to music or dig deep with a podcast and learn something.
I love the roads that connect us Montanans, each one set beneath our glorious sky. I love the feeling of traveling with one hand on the wheel, capable yet relaxed. I love fading sunsets and the birds above that fly with me. I love the journey!
I love that on drives, there’s nothing to do but just….be….for a while. Take it all in.
And I love that small flutter of anticipation when wheels meet gravel at my final destination, just before plunging into a whole new context.
The container for this weekend is one of joy and celebration. I am meeting all women who, I notice later on, have an instinctive way of creating circles for conversation. No one is left out or obstructed. There’s a sense of care that pervades. Wordlessly, circles form and conversation flows in the living room, around the dining table, and on the front porch over coffee in the cool morning air.
Everyone here has over-prepared, over-cared, just like me, and we have enough food and drink for a week of adventures. (Or More). The meals are amazing, with many contributors, and the recipes often speak to that woman’s longstanding family traditions. Sunday Sourdough waffles. Bear-battered pancakes that start with a crisp crack of a can in the morning. Three different kinds of delicious taco meat to choose from. Angel food cake made from scratch. Homemade peanut butter. We want to share with others, so we prepare. We carry. We offer up freely. There’s love here. Openness. We talk about everything - no topic seems off limits.
As much as I love the liminal time of the drives that bring me places, I also love the adventure of gathering. I appreciate these quests to connect in small circles.
Adventure greets me on the road and joins me again when I reach destinations. Like our circles, adventures are seamless. One journey transitions us into the next.
Love & Gratitude,
- Christina
