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Tales of Adventure pt1 before/after Tales of Adventure part 1 Should I Stay or Should I Go? -------------- It was a friday like any other. From seemingly nowhere, it entered my head that I had promised myself to go on a hike, up at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, long ago. The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I struggled with it. I went and got my hair cut, 90 percent sure I wasn't going to go. A 10 mile hike over rugged terrain miles and miles and miles away from any civil service is nothing to sneeze at under the best of circumstances. But I promised myself I would be up to it by this time. The last thing the girl who cut my hair said was, "GO!". I went and got gas, went home, sent out a scathingly dirty email, and suddenly found myself packing. I blinked and I was at the Straights of Macinaw, with the suspension bridge towering over me in man made majesty. I wondered if this was the last time I would see them. I blinked again and found myself in the hotel room, hundreds of miles away, writing the following, only to find I was true blue fucked out of any internet acess: I'm in a hotel. On an adventure. Far from home. I'm here tonite at the Harbour Pointe Lakefront Lodging in quaint St. Ignace Michigan. It overlooks the water, in the distance, the Mackinaw Bridge, majestic in its towering suspension bridge way and Mackiac Island, home of no car engines, only horses and victorian homes, glitter. Harbour Pointe Lakefront Lodging. Nice place, low rates. The front desk clerk is either new or kinda' slow. Took him a half hour at least to get me a single room. But what a room! Foyer, refrigerator, cable, coupla' beds. Running water. Terrace. Tomorrow I'm going on a hike at the top of three hundred foot cliffs, the same cliffs Longfellow talked about in Song of Hiawatha. Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. I've been there before. Its a rugged test. If I pass, its like winning the superbowl to me. I will start my summer with excellent karma and the belief that I can do anything. If I fail, I don't know what happens. Its miles and miles away from anything civil. No security net. Nobody knows that I'm here. No services reach out there. I did make the promise to myself long ago that I would come here on this weekend and do this. I found myself troubled today, thinking I would blink and end up hundreds of miles away on some sort of a quest for enlightenment and a trial of life. If I cannot keep promises to myself, what good is my word? So here I am. 10 mile hike tomorrow. I shall meditate on the meaning of life on the highest cliff, the most beautiful of places. Hopefully as I quiet myself, the universe will open itself enough to me that I might catch a glimpse. Pitfalls abound, yet I face the future with a brave face. My thoughts are disorganized. I will collect them all later, if and when that is possible. Hopefully, I will be at the Harbour Pointe Lakefront Lodging tomorrow nite, with a fresh outlook on life and the gleam of adventure in my eye. And I struggled off into a fitful sleep of nightmares.
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