Road Trips

Originally Published 9th August 2007

I enjoy running. Or at least, at one stage in my life despite being one of the worst long distance runners I know, I have somehow always enjoyed it. At first the pain seem unbearable, but after a while time seem to loose it meaning, your legs numb and seem to continue moving by itself. The mental state that is sometimes addictive and I personally contribute as the single biggest reason I loved running.

Long distance drives has a similar effect on me, but in different ways. My perception of the horizon slowly changes and colours seem to take on a different meaning. The feeling is almost spiritual, as if the Heaven's Lights shone just on me for that instant.

I was driving in a mountainous terrain just before dawn, had been driving for almost eight hours non-stop through the night, I was exhausted but at the same time uplifted. Every cold morning breath I breathed in revived me as much as watching the sun dawning through the thick fog. Beams of light broke through the fog and right in front of my eyes the mountain range around me reveals itself. For the crescendo I watched the sun rise above the mountains, a hundred times larger than I remembered it to be. It's rays filtered by the fog was gentle and I looked upon this object of a thousand shades of white, yellow, orange and red. This scene was beautiful beyond words and I felt the urge to stop and worship this perfectly explainable phenomenon

Mindless driving seems to calm me down. Something inside of me settles down. It calms the restlessness in me and I look within myself during that time. Someday, I feel as if I should just drive the old Merc down one road and just carry on driving. Forgetting about possible aspirations and ambitions, at the same time forget about problems and anxieties.