And then

I had meant to add this quote to our final post, but forgot until just this moment. I don't think anyone will really see it, but you are a lucky one and still check our blog even though we are home! Joe and I both read "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer near the end of our trip. This quote is from that book. It paints a perfect picture of a traveler and how we both feel, though we did return...

As to when I shall visit civilization it will not be soon, I think.

I have not tired of the wilderness, rather I enjoy its beauty

and the vagrant life I lead more keenly all the time.

I prefer the saddle to the streetcar and star sprinkled sky

to a roof, the obscure and difficult trail leading into the

unknown, to any paved highway and the deep peace of

the wild to the discontent bred by cities.

Do you blame me then for staying here, where I feel that

I belong and am one with the world around me? It is true

that I miss intelligent companionship, but there are few that

mean so much to me that I have learned to contain myself.

It is enough that I am surrounded with beauty.

Even from your scant description I know that I could not

bear the routine and the humdrum of the life you are forced

to lead. I don't think I could ever settle down. I have known

too much of the depths of the life already and I would prefer

anything to an anticlimax.

- Everett Ruess, 1934, in a final letter written to his brother before wandering into the Southwestern wilderness never to be found.