The Call of the Wild (Highway)

The Evolution of a Night:

It began with Caitlin and I planning to get into the spirit of Into the Wild. You know, building a shelter, starving in the wilderness, maybe bringing a broken down bus into the basement. What that ended up being was, of course, us watching it in the basement with a short pot roast break and lots of blankets.

What "getting into the spirit of Into the Wild" turned into, though, was spontaneity at its finest. I remembered a 24 hour coffee shop in downtown Denver, Leela's, and mentioned we go there. I don't exactly know why, but watching a man close to my age live with so much energy and passion, the most I could do at that moment was abandon my eleven p.m wind-down to bedtime...and get caffeinated.

Long story (and trip) short...Denver wasn't quite enough. After hanging out on big leather couches with our coffees amongst the hipster kids with their fedoras and mohawks, Caitlin mentioned an even better coffee shop, Alley Cat, back in Ft. Collins. Blame it on the good conversation we were having...or the caffeine...or Chris McCandless...but my brain turned off and mouth said, "hey...you want to go?"

We glanced at our cell phones, and the time was around midnight. Caitlin looked at me and said, "Yeah!"

So we turned up Spoon, pressed on the gas peddle, and drove all the way to Ft. Collins for coffee and huge bean bag chairs, returning home around four in the morning.

And I have to say that the conversation Caitlin and I had was one of the best I've had a in a long time. Caitlin's blog covers a lot of what I thought about it, especially how reconnecting with someone after so long is such a weird and amazing experience. But more than that...last night reminded me how refreshing it is just to...be. To think, hey, getting up and going would be nice and then doing it. Instead of thinking myself into a corner, to entertain a thought and then to do it.

I sincerely believe that everyone has a spark in them that wants them to get up...and go. To explore, and ask no one's permission. I don't think I'll have too many opportunities to do this, to feel like I'm living in a Tom Petty song. So I'm certainly glad I did.

I'll highlight with a couple anecdotes;
While we were sitting on a little platform in Alley Cat, I was laying on my back while we debated what we were going to paint one of the ceiling tiles as (they allow customers to paint or decoupage or whatever on ceiling tiles for free) and playing This Side quietly, feeling very in a creative bubble...when a guy comes up and says, "Are you going to play a song?"

I look up, probably awkwardly due to my strange position on the bean bag chair, and say, "Oh, not very loudly! Do you want to use the guitar? You can, I'm just fooling around."

He pauses, and looks around, and says, "No...I don't know how to play."

At this point, I didn't really know where to go in the conversation. So he says after a pregnant pause, "What do you know how to play?"

I glance around, and notice there are at least four other people playing guitars in corners, and start to get the picture. I list a few bands, he nods for a few. And then he asks what I like to play. I re-list the bands. It gets quiet again. Caitlin is clearly laughing silently at me. He starts to ask other questions about me, clearly not getting the hint that Caitlin and I were in a creative groove. So I make some sort of polite closing statement and he leaves. We re-enter our creative bubble, focusing on the ceiling.

Then...about five minutes later, the same guy comes over and stands in front of me and asks, "Can I sit with you?"

I don't think I've ever said "no" to someone in that situation. Then again...I've never been hit on at two in the morning by a man I didn't know at all.

But I explained that Caitlin and I were in a private conversation, and he left again.

But really...it was a totally new experience.

It was worth it, though, because what would an adventure be without quality characters wandering in and out?


End Anecdote.

Thanks, Caitlin. From Denver to Ft. Collins, we are two rogues answering the call of the wild...or at least the call of caffeine.

How Life Can Turn- The Appleseed Cast

I Gotta Move- Ben Kweller