The sense of wonder....

The sense of wonder...


When I was a boy, I loved having a place to escape to.  It could have been a couch cushion/blanket playhouse, a cardboard box or the woods.  I never had an 'official' tree house or a tree fort, we moved too much to keep something permanent like that. But I did have lots of spaces in the woods where I could pretend.  To me, those places provided a powerful sense of escape and wonder.  They gave me that feeling of independence and of being grown up.  I liked to imagine that I was out there left to survive on just my wit and outdoor skills, armed with only a pocket knife and a stick.  Of course, even deep in the woods, I was never more than a ten minute bike ride from my home, but imagination is a powerful thing.  As I grew older and more 'busy,' I gradually spent less and less time  playing and more and more time being a 'grown up.'

When I was in college and for several years before we had kids, I would take a week or two and solo backpack through parts of the Appalachian Trail on the east coast.  I loved everything about those trips.  I liked planning my route, packing my food and backpack and sleeping under the stars in my hammock.  Those trips were my 'escape' as a young adult.  A chance to reflect and recharge.  Even a bit more recently, I have gone on overnight camping trips alone to have that time to just 'be.'  There's nothing better than the woods on a crisp and cool morning while the sounds of the forest wake you from your slumber.

This 'space' to 'be' gets harder and harder to find as you get older and responsibilities creep into your daily life.

I have also always loved road trips.  The romantic sense of self-sustaining road exploration has been as much a part of my background as those solo backpacking trips.  I went on a trip through northern Canada with my high school buddy during college and recently drove around the entire island of Iceland with a friend.

Somewhere in between those road trips and solo backpacking trips and tent camping with my family,  I came across a photograph of a teeny tiny camper being pulled by small vehicle.  I wasn't sure what it was, but I was intrigued to say the least.  There was something about it that made me think of those tree houses and the feeling I got in the middle of a great road trip.  One thing was for sure,  I knew that I was going to need to find out a lot more about them.