Recharging the Batteries

The main reason I love being in the outdoors is the sense of escape from whatever is troubling me at the moment.  It could be anything from financial worries, or stress at work and at home.  But regardless of what troubles me I can always find solace in the unrestricted beauty that is nature.  Jose Ortega Y Gasset a Spanish liberal philosopher who penned the book “Meditations on Hunting “ was spot on in my opinion, when he wrote this little gem….. “When you are fed up with the troublesome present, you take your gun, whistle for your dog and go hunting.”  Unfortunately my vocation does not afford me the opportunity to grab dog and gun whenever life sends me a curve ball.  My trips afield are few and far between and because of that, the memories of the sounds, images, and smells of a hunt have to carry me through to my next one.  Knowing that, for six months I planned my most recent trip to be full of memories to last me the final five months of my deployment to Afghanistan.   Here are a few of those memories.