hitch hiking

A few weeks back Buddha and I were attempting to hitchhike clear across Montana to Missoula, which is an 8 and 1/2 hour drive, roughly 500 miles. We drove the 'trusty' Jeep to Highway 200 to give ourselves a 45 mile head start. I figured we could set up a post along the highway with the security of our car being a couple hundred yards away. Oh yeah! Did I mention that Buddha hates walking?

While standing on the side of the road we try t

o make ourselves look as pleasant as can be. Buddha has to be lying down so she doesn't seem gigantic and I am standing tall and confident thumbing it like I've done it before. What was m

issing in this equation was the variable of our location. Garfield County. It has been said to be the most desolate region in the lower 48. Hmmm... that doesn't make for very much traff

ic.

2 hours go by. About 20 cars drive by. Less than half of

which are heading west, the direction we want to go. It's now 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, all most time for rush hour. I'm staying optimistic. Buddha is sleeping on the white line trying to will us west. A man heading east pulls up in a late 70's, blue, beat up Ford F-150 packed full with his life. He uncoils out of the driver's side and mumbles about having to take a break from something. About how a 4-wheeler messed him up real bad and about how he had to get to town so he could get some pills. From the looks of it he had already been medicating. He offered me a beer and asked where I was going.

Mark Beebo had been everywhere. The San Juan Islands, Texas, Florida and he kept coming back to Garfield Country. He said, "It doesn't matter where you are because it's where you are that matters." He loaded up and left Buddha and I there on the road waiting for our ride.

4 hours went by. We packed up our gear, headed into town and caught the football game and some socialization at the bar. Better luck next time.

As humans we look for external objects to satisfy us. It could be a new gadget or a different apartment. It could be a move across the country or a fat chocolate chip cookie. Whatever it is, we hope it brings happiness. It's the 'grass is always greener' mentality. Mark Beebo taught me something that day on Highway 200 that is going to help me figure out who I am, where I need to go and how I need to develop internally through the mess of externalities to be eternally happy. To find out what really matters.

Where I am.