"Skunk Dreams" Louise Erdrich

     This past June my family and I went on an amazing camping trip. We packed all our necessary items -- clothes, food, equipment, and the like -- and took off across the mid-west in search of a higher elevation and scenery that isn't so flat and corn-filled. Traveling through the mid-west via Nebraska sure wasn't going to provide us with the altitude and terrain we desired so we plowed straight on through to Colorado. Whilst in Colorado we hiked through the mountains and camped in the wilderness. We saw everything from mountain streams to porcupines and marmots. As Ms. Erdrich would call it, we got outside. Not just to the urbanized fields, or to a remote city park, we ventured out into the middle of America's backyard and simply lived. 

     Though the experience and the trip was real enough, the whole thing seemed oddly dream-like. It's too surreal and spectacular that I just can't believe I'm actually there. Camping makes me feel free, everything is as it should be, nature and I are working as one. It is my paradise, the only place I feel I really, truly belong.

     I completely and totally understand Louise's feeling of longing for something as simple as a horizon, or of her love for the sound of the trees, or even her esoteric fascination with skunks and the content of their dreams. She simply has found the thing in life that makes her feel at home and even at peace, no matter what form of animal has crawled on to you to get a good night's sleep.

--A_Walk