Monday, June 10, 2013

Why Visit the Forest?

I can't speak for anyone else. But, for me, life in a crowded place become tiresome after only a short while. I get sick of the constant push of the people. Their voices grate on my every nerve. Each time I try to move from Point A to Point B and I'm blocked by an ambulance or an accident or just an old-fashioned traffic jam I die a little.

Table Rock Mountain State Park, South Carolina.

So, whenever I can, I have to get the hell out of the city.

Sure, just traveling to the countryside helps a little bit. But I can still hear the engines and smell the stink of diesel fumes. The call of the birds is partially hidden even there. Winds blowing through the pines takes a back seat to the constant hum of the goddamned roads.

No. None of that. I have to get away. Really away. If not into outright wilderness, at least into the general vicinity of such.

Hospital Rock Trail, Jones Gap State Park, South Carolina.

Only then can I relax and feel comfortable.

Sanity needs a recharge.


4 comments:

MarkGelbart said...

Before my wife became disabled and I had to take care of her 24/7, I used to work as a route manager for the local newspaper.

I'd be stuck in a car for 6-7 hours from about 3-4 in the morning to 10-11 am, then I'd have to sit in the office for an hour, huddling with stupid hick supervisors.

In the afternoons I had to return for solicitation or collections.

My whole life was one long traffic jam.

That job sucked.

Remember that movie "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas? He was an unemployed worker stuck in a traffic jam when suddenly he left his car and went on a rampage.

I rolled on the floor laughing at that movie because I could really relate to how that character felt.

James Robert Smith said...

I can sympathize on the job front. I once made my living driving up and down the eastern seaboard buying and selling old comics. I'd make crazy drives that would drain every last molecule of energy and sanity out of my body and mind. It's a harrowing and horrible way to make a living--behind the wheel of a motor vehicle. Certainly not for me.

Kirk G - The Thrifty Rocketeer said...

But then how do you get to all of these wildlife, outdoors locations that you photograph so much, JRS?

James Robert Smith said...

I take breaks. I don't get as many of them as it seems.