Maybe it’s a pilgrimage, a spiritual quest, or an inner journey, out there.

Maybe it’s a little crazy. The greatest adventures often are.

Maybe it’s a midlife thing.

Maybe it will be all of those. Or none.

Maybe it will just be a long quiet ride.

And maybe that will be enough.

~

Rather than tell you what it is, it’s easier to explain what it is not.

It’s not a set challenge, route or target.

I’m not setting out to prove anything to anyone. No ego. No goal. No destination.

Just riding my horses, around the West.

Getting time in the saddle. A lot of time. Getting to see this big bright beautiful world. And hopefully falling in love with life again.

For this trip, it’s not about getting somewhere. It’s just about being. Out there, on the road, or the trail, with my horses.

It’s all been done before. Bigger, badder, longer, faster.

I’ll let the horses determine my pace, my route, the miles, the places we stop with good grass and clean water, safe spots to weather storms and avoid traffic. That sort of thing.

And it’s not about leaving something behind. Not my husband, for without him, I would not have the chance to do this. Not my grown son, for without him, I would not have the courage. Not my dogs, for without them, I would not be alive. (That’s another story.) Not even the place, the ranch, the community with which I live.

But that’s what I’m doing. Leaving them all behind, for just a little while.

It’s just a matter of months. A matter of miles. A matter of making my way around the West.

We’ll see where the road leads.

And we’ll see how it changes me.

Because you know, it seems like every time we set out on an epic journey, when we finally get there, when we finally get to that point of saying, “yes, I have arrived,” we are not where we were when we began. And often, we are not who we were.

But that’s a long ways away.

First, I need to start.

~ ~ ~

#horseadventure #spiritualjourney #wildride