Vagabond Nemophile: A Vicarious Adventure

A truly vicarious adventure that has changed how I look at life

I happened by chance to meet the author in Rachel, Nevada. Purchased the book and spent the next week reading. The book is primarily about his experience hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). It’s also about what led him to such an expedition and what he learned along the way. So many things resonated with me. For example, whatever your journey is… you have to do it your way. It may not look like someone else’s way. Not only does it not have to, it shouldn’t. I’ve experienced this on multiple solo cross-country motorcycle trips. Some people think I’m crazy because either 1. I’m doing it at all, or 2. It’s not how they would do it. Shea understands perfectly that you have to find your own path and when you do that, amazing things start happening. The Universe moves people and events around to help you and to teach you. This makes no sense until you take the leap of faith and find out for yourself. I’ve done it. He’s done it. He says, “It was chaos, yet everything was at ease, as if everything everywhere was dancing to a well choreographed tune nobody was listening to, and nobody was looking because nobody cared. Someone was caring though, because there we were.” What’s equally intriguing is the same sort of wisdom he learns from fellow travellers. Such as the stories that led to “it’s important to know what differentiates going somewhere to live versus going somewhere to die”. In terms of the writing. He starts out slow. Don’t stop reading. What you discover is that as he grows in experience his writing grows as well. There is absolutely nothing unique in his experience or writing in the beginning. It’s the usual life problems that we all experience and yet feel are uniquely our own. But as he hits that trail and is thrust into the unknown his writing expands as he peels away layers of illusions and fear. And importantly, he captures what he’s learning along the way. I can tell you from personal first-hand experience that he perfectly describes this process that we can all go through if we open our minds and hearts in a way that society does not teach us to do. If we let go of preprogrammed expectations and let life start moving through us and guide us we too can have these amazing experiences. Definitely a good book.