Sam's Vision Quest

As many of you are aware, my husband Sam is off on a solo trek through the wilderness of Northeastern Oregon right now, pursuing what most of us would call a Vision Quest. While many of you think he’s totally insane (and that I must be too for allowing him to do this), I have to tell you that I support what he’s doing 100%. In fact, I’ve been engaged in my own quest in my own way for some time now. Besides, tell me just how I would stop him? Draw all the money out of his bank account? Let the air out of his tires? Be a complete bitch on the subject and insist that he “just forget it, or else?” Please! You all know that’s not me, and perhaps you don’t have the kind of relationship that Sam and I do. We don’t tell each other what we can or cannot do. We can raise objections, if we think the other person is totally off his/her rocker, or if the budget won’t support it, but we have pretty generous limits in our marriage. If it’s something that we really want to do, and we are willing to make the requisite sacrifices of time and money while meeting our other obligations, then our attitude is, “Hey, go for it man!”

I did have two requirements of my own before Sam left on his trip: (1) He needed to have some way of letting me know where he was and that he was all right; and (2) He had to have extra insurance to cover any possible rescue efforts or injuries he might incur. I did not feel these were unreasonable requests, nor did he, so Sam bought a Spot Tracker at REI and paid the subscription's costs of activation and tracking, plus he paid for the accompanying Lloyds of London insurance that went with it.

Sam has been planning this trip for at least the past year and possibly even longer—and I mean PLANNING. Down to the last little gnat, if you know what I mean. While he’s gone, he plans to take a bundle of photographs for at least one book he wants to write, and today I decided that I would keep a journal of sorts too, printing out each Spot Tracker message and the locator photos that go with it, so I can record Sam’s journey in my own way. For some reason, neither of us has ever been able to access the Spot Tracker shared Web page (I always get a “Server is busy, try again later” message), but that’s okay. I AM getting the E-mails whenever the beacon sends a message.

So Honey, have a great time! I know you wish I were there, and so do I, but that time will come. This is your time to do what you need to do, and those experiences should not always be shared with someone else—at least not at the moment when you are engaged in doing them. I look forward to hearing all about your journey and looking at all the incredible photographs when you return. I know they will be awesome.