I really needed to get away… ⛺

And so I did. I got up to the remote back country had a fire, listened to some podcasts, drank some beer and watched the snow fall when I awoke on Saturday morning. That was quite the fire I had last night, with flames jumping five feet in the air as the snow fell from the sky. Just a dusting and not real cold, but I brought a shovel just in case.

Maybe I was a bad person for insisting on getting away but I really needed to have some time away, alone, away from the city and my dirty old apartment in the city. A change of scenery from the local parks and places, one where social distancing meant not seeing another human being rather than not just six or in my case 10-15 feet apart, stepping up into the brush where the ticks can probably get me and I can get very sick from Lyme disease again.

To hear the birds and the creek run along, the grunt of the deer and the owl at night. The woodpecker and rumble of the distant automobile. I was actually surprised how much traffic there was, I thought with everything shut down you’d see a lot less. Beats the horns and the sirens of the city. Plus in the city they don’t let you have big fires or shoot guns. But in the wilderness who cares as long as you pack out anything that doesn’t burn and your not destroying public property.

I get the message, “Stay Home Save Lives”. It’s probably not a bad one. I intentionally made sure to have fuel and food I would need for the trip and all kinds of supplies necessary in case of emergency, so not to use public accommodations. I washed my hands carefully each time I went shopping earlier in the week and minimized trips. I did the best I could do with the circumstances.

I just needed to get away. Day after day at home became such a drone and I didn’t know my next chance for escape. Every week in late March and early April looked promising but then the forecast changed. Plus who knows coming next on the Governor’s dictates – a travel ban or closure of the forest preserve? Hopefully not be I could be locked out for weeks if not months. So I got away for two nights.