Travel, Change and the Outdoors
A week and a couple days ago I left the stability and familiarity of a home in rural Wisconsin for a place I had never been. Although I was excited to live somewhere new and work doing something I loved, I had little idea of where I might live and who I would be working with for much of the next year.
As I sat behind the wheel of my car on the way to Bozeman, Montana, my anxiety grew as I was focused on finding a place to live. The plan was to meet my fellow coworkers at a backpackers hostel the weekend before our work began with the Montana Conservation Corps. Not one of us had spent any significant time in Montana, let alone Bozeman, but we were counting on finding a place in a day to call our own. While some, especially my mother and my girlfriend, thought the five of us were being careless, I had eventually decided that everything would work out just fine. After three nights at the hostel and one in a two bed hotel room, our luck finally began; if you do not count the fact that none of us snore.
My first impression of Bozeman was that I fit in far too well. It was an unusual feeling and I was almost disappointed. It seemed as though everyone went hiking, skiing, hunting or fishing in their free time. Fortunately, these concerns quickly dissolved as I was told about future MCC work projects across the entire Greater Yellowstone Region and how little I would be spending my time in Bozeman; although, today I find myself avoiding these activities for my own solitude as all my roommates and coworkers enjoy hiking in the nearby snow-covered mountains.
As I sat in our upstairs apartment last night as I watched the movie Into the Wild, I reflected on my own place in life and quickly built a desire to be free of paying rent and returning to a place of relative solitude in nature. As today progresses, I find myself anxiously awaiting my first work project with a crew in the backcountry of the Yellowstone region. I once again I do not know where I may be sleeping or who I may be working with, but I cannot wait for that day to arrive.
As I sat behind the wheel of my car on the way to Bozeman, Montana, my anxiety grew as I was focused on finding a place to live. The plan was to meet my fellow coworkers at a backpackers hostel the weekend before our work began with the Montana Conservation Corps. Not one of us had spent any significant time in Montana, let alone Bozeman, but we were counting on finding a place in a day to call our own. While some, especially my mother and my girlfriend, thought the five of us were being careless, I had eventually decided that everything would work out just fine. After three nights at the hostel and one in a two bed hotel room, our luck finally began; if you do not count the fact that none of us snore.
My first impression of Bozeman was that I fit in far too well. It was an unusual feeling and I was almost disappointed. It seemed as though everyone went hiking, skiing, hunting or fishing in their free time. Fortunately, these concerns quickly dissolved as I was told about future MCC work projects across the entire Greater Yellowstone Region and how little I would be spending my time in Bozeman; although, today I find myself avoiding these activities for my own solitude as all my roommates and coworkers enjoy hiking in the nearby snow-covered mountains.
As I sat in our upstairs apartment last night as I watched the movie Into the Wild, I reflected on my own place in life and quickly built a desire to be free of paying rent and returning to a place of relative solitude in nature. As today progresses, I find myself anxiously awaiting my first work project with a crew in the backcountry of the Yellowstone region. I once again I do not know where I may be sleeping or who I may be working with, but I cannot wait for that day to arrive.