Sometimes travel does not answer the question - what is there to see? It does not fulfill your bucket list, it does not impress your social media, it does not make you sound cool when you talk about it to your friends unless if they are nomad-hearted too...
Some travels are for the soul, for slowing down our life and feeling each breath, and being grateful for it. Feeling each movement around us and being able to get that time to be truly single.. being able to have a conversation with "the self" - where there are no boundaries and no one around - where there are no responsibilities and no judgment - where you don't exist but where the biggest existence is - in understanding self. To get the chance to think about who am I?
We were fortunate to be able to buy a new car in the August of 2020. An SUV was my dream - to be specific, an SUV with mud all over it from all the offroading it had done.. finally that we were handed over the car, the world felt in place. We drove it carefully home like you would bring a newborn baby home...
Within a few hours, something was kindling in our hearts - curiosity, excitement .. or whatever it was, I really could not understand it but we found ourselves making the plan of going out for a short drive to test it. It seemed pretty obvious - well, anyone would do it. who would not like to test out their new car
We started.. as I put my seat belt on, I knew there was something crazy in the air... Just did not know what.
We kept driving - the afternoon went past, the evening was lovely and I started out of the window and we kept driving. Then came the night we kept driving. I asked my partner where we were going? - not because I was tired but because I felt like a little kid whose birthday party had just started. He smiled and said - wherever the car takes us... one of the best travel statements I have heard - gives me a sense of surprise, excitement, and curiosity at the same time...
It was late at night somewhere around 2:30 am and we pulled over. As the engine stopped, I opened the door to come out and opened the lid of the water bottle to drink water. As my head titled upwards, I saw one of the most amazing sights of my life - the bright stars right above us - so close, it seemed I could touch them. The milky way was right above me...
I kept looking at the stars for hours. I felt a sense of peace in the surroundings that were difficult to find in our normal lives. We realized we were at a lesser-used highway - at a rest stop at a place which we were not too sure of we could hardly see the signboards - after investigation and thanks to my partner's amazing sense of direction - we were able to find the name of the place - It was called "Ranking springs"... We had traveled almost 12 hours to reach the place and did not realize it.
Sometimes, the camera cannot do justice to what your eyes witness and this was one of those moments. I could feel my breath. This was one sight I wanted to see since I was a kid and here I was feeling it right where I was without any plans. I felt grateful, I felt alive. I felt blessed that I have eyes.
We decided to spend the rest of the night there.. but had plans - to open the panoramic roof of our new car and watch the stars as we doze off in the backseat of the car.. Just as we were ready to hop in and retire for the night - we took another look at the mesmerizing sky that seemed closer to us now and we saw a shooting star move from one side of the sky above us to another almost as though trying to show off and award us for having the courage to live life.. The universe was smiling.
We were cozy inside the car and I did not realize when I dozed off looking out to the stars from the panoramic roof.
When I woke up, we were driving through a national park in the dark and all I could see was the red unsealed road in front of us..I dozed off again and woke up to find myself home.
I had checked off the items in my bucket list just on a test drive... no plans, no bookings, no thoughts.. the moto was "just go".. we will see where our car takes us and my partner was right - our car did take us to an amazing location and on an amazing journey and created memories for me to share with everyone that would not have been possible if we had limited ourselves to "Till" where we want to go for the test drive..
Sometimes, we just got to let go.. and be crazy to enjoy the best things in this lifetime.
The funny thing is .. I came back to look up some photos of this place on google and could not find any that would be close to what we experienced that night...It would always remain a mystery trip of our lifetime.
Till next time...
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