Matcha at McMurdo
Taking a much needed break to ponder life after walking to the South Pole
Travel, like reading, ultimately takes place only in your brain - Dan Kieran
Perhaps if I had not tried to walk to the South Pole, I might have had just enough time to draw it all up. Stuck behind a desk for most of my career, I’ve spent just about all the precious minutes of my break times and lunch hours out on the open road stretching my legs. Rain, snow, blizzard, wind, wildfire smoke. Didn’t matter. I was out there through most of it taking my thoughts for a walk. Having only spent a mere 60,000 plus hours sitting in various spots throughout my engineering career in this room, that room, or the other, I had absolutely no interest in spending any more time sitting in a chair than I needed to.
Adding up all those break time miles over the last few decades, I figure that if I had embarked on an equivalent journey from the North Pole on my first day of work, I was in the home stretch for reaching the South Pole, clocking in more than 12,000 miles.
Too bad I’d be retired before making it across the finish line. But I wasn’t sure exactly how one would set up a ribbon across a discrete point like the South Pole anyway. It’d probably take an engineer to figure that one out. Instead, I moved the ribbon up to where a finish line made more theoretical sense. Someone else can pull the last few miles for me. So where did that put me on my long walk? Right at the doorstep of McMurdo Station, the Antarctic research station down on the Ross Ice Shelf at the edge of the continent.
Good thing my buddy, Jack, works here! Maybe I can stop in for a hot cup of matcha and catch up to see what’s really been happenin. There would be no other fitting way to end my journey as he saw me off when I left him at our rental house to head out for my first full time job out of school with an old beat up copy of a treasured book tucked underneath my arm.
Sorry, Jack, but I couldn’t march through my professional engineering career with that classic stuck in my hand. But now that I’m ready to pick it up again, I wish I had taken it with me on this long walk all the way down here to Antarctica. Maybe I can borrow your copy, cuz I know you’ve still got yours. I’d love to tuck away over to one of those couches over there in that dark nook and settle in for a long read with such tired legs. But, first, I want to check out all those things you were showcasing on that documentary I saw a few years ago.
Yeah, lets head over to check it all out, but first I need to rest my feet for a few. Yeah, over here in these chairs at the table in front of this chessboard. Let’s just sit, catch up, and ponder life over a cup of matcha.
And that’s when it hit me. I actually did make it to the South Pole. While Jack went to go get the book, I had time to pencil it all out sitting right here behind a table with a notepad and calculator in hand. Just like old times. The math all added up. I had made it to the South Pole a while back and was now working my way back up north on the other side. Sweet!
So that’s the only take away, folks. In your minimalist ultralight adventures, no matter how big or small, don’t forget that you’ve always got the most essential thing with you: your noggin. Do we really need anything else? Well, yes, the basic necessities like food, shelter, clothes, air, water, etc. Maybe a good book or two. But beyond those few things, no, we don’t really need any of them. Not when it comes right down to it.
Your head is the most valuable piece of “gear” to take with you. No matter whether you’re moving or sitting still, let it take you for a ride. Try adding a bit of matcha or java to see where your thoughts lead. What you might find is that you really don’t have to go anywhere physically to reach the same mental states that you settle into deep in your adventures. You just might be able to get to those same spots sitting in front of a chessboard, a cup of tea, an old friend sitting across the table from you, or lounging back in a couch that swallows you whole reading an old beat up copy of a classic.
And there we have it. Isn’t sitting idle while your thoughts travel far and wide the ultimate form of ultralight minimalist travel? Time to throw away those gear lists, my friends, and go take your minds for a walk. Thank you for reading.
