“There is pleasure in the pathless woods.” —Lord Byron
While reading the latest issue of Gray’s Sporting Journal and enjoying a rainy Sunday morning, I came across the following stroke of advertising brilliance. The caption read, simply, “Remember how hot it was in the city last summer?”
Submitted Photo
This past Saturday morning, I was dreaming of duck hunting at Noxubee while deer hunting at our farm in Louisville. We didn’t get drawn to duck hunk that morning, but this was a nice consolation prize.
Now, while I didn’t call the number to purchase a summer place on the lake in Vermont which was, no doubt, out of my budget range — what with its location only a short five-hour drive from the Bronx and only three from Boston — I did ponder the proposition.
The genius to me was the advertisement’s appeal to our basic desire to often times be “somewhere else.” For the target audience of this ad, “great fishing for lake trout, rainbow trout, and stocked Atlantic salmon” would no doubt be very alluring, and while it didn’t inspire a real estate transaction on my end, it did hit home as I had spent several hours that morning making plans to be somewhere else this coming spring. In fact, I had even spent time in a tree stand the prior morning having “somewhere else” thoughts.
I would hazard a guess that, like me, many of you spend time regularly dreaming of being somewhere else. Perhaps you envision a lake house, a beach house or a cabin at the hunting camp or in the mountains. I wonder how much of our lives is spent in the endeavor of longing to be somewhere other than where we are?
Life, in many ways, has always seemed backward to me. For instance, how should an 18-year-old be expected to know what she wants to “do with the rest of her life” when making college or career choices at such an early age. Frankly, decisions of such magnitude would be better served by the experiences garnered from a lot more living.
Submitted Photo
Sunrises on the AT are one of the “somewhere else” experiences that I often dream about — like this sunrise over the mountains of North Georgia.
Moreover, why do so many work all their lives, scrimping and saving in order to retire and move to their dream destination, only to finally arrive there with not much living left to do? It just seems backward to me.
I’ve mentioned a favorite quote of mine from Theodore Roosevelt before and, in light of this discussion, I think that it bears repeating. The quote actually seems to originate from Anglican cleric and evangelist George Whitfield, who said, “I would rather wear out than rust out.”
So, what am I saying? Don’t dream? Don’t plan? No, by all means, do both! I believe dreaming and planning are two of the guideposts to life. All that I am saying is follow through — give life to your plans and live your dreams. In the words of author Pam Houston, “It’s hard for anybody to put their finger on the moment when life changes from being something that is nearly all in front of you to something that happened while your attention was elsewhere.”
Obviously, I love the outdoors and I love to write. Why else would I be featured on this page? However, years went by before I decided to pursue the writing dream, years that I can’t get back. Again, give life to your plans and live your dreams and do both now.
Submitted Photo
While duck hunting several years ago, I captured this well-camouflaged doe walking through the flooded timber at the Noxubee Refuge. Noxubee was my first real duck hunting experience, and I often dream of hunting in the timber during my “somewhere else” thoughts.
For me, a perfect example of living out your dreams is the hunting or fishing guide. I’ve always been a bit envious of hunting and fishing guides. These men and women take their talent and love for a chosen pursuit and turn it into their livelihood. That type of dreaming takes the old saying, “Love what you do and you will never work a day in your life” and makes it a reality.
Saturday morning, I sat in a tree stand deer hunting, but I was dreaming of what the duck hunting had been like at dawn at the Noxubee Refuge. Dan and I had ventured up in the wee hours of the morning in hopes of being drawn for a duck hunt. Unfortunately, our number had not been drawn, and instead I spent the morning watching deer filter through a sunlit pine plantation, hoping that a big buck would wander through.
One day later, I spent the early part of a rainy Sunday morning working on the logistics for a couple of adventures this spring. While enjoying the lights of our newly erected Christmas tree and a warm cup of coffee, I applied for turkey tags and studied the Appalachian Trail map in preparation for a spring Osceola hunt in Florida and a hiking and fly-fishing trip in North Georgia. During that time, I was not at our dining room table, I was “somewhere else.”
Dreaming is one of the elixirs of life, an elixir that is incomplete without the drops of sweat required to make it happen. Take time this week to hatch a few new outdoor dreams and then start putting in the time it takes to give those dreams legs. Until next time, I look forward to seeing you out there “somewhere else” in our great outdoors.
Email outdoors columnist Brad Dye at braddye@comcast.net.
Credit: Source link
