By Chuck Woodbury
PUBLISHER SINCE 2001
Many RVers are explorers at heart. I am. When I set out on my first extended RV trip (many decades ago), it was to explore. As an aspiring professional writer, it was to search for stories to write — people, places, things. I just expected they would show up as I traveled the backroads, which, eventually, they did.
I have since explored places farther away — Europe, Asia and even down under in New Zealand. What wonders I have beheld. What fascinating people I have met. What beauty I have seen.
But now, I want so badly to explore beyond our “pale blue dot.” I see the photos from the Mars rovers and it makes me crazy. I want to go there, but I know I never will. I was born too soon.
But I still deceive myself just enough that I can hope that while I can never make it to Mars, perhaps I could make it to the moon. I realize the probability is a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of one percent. Still, that’s enough to maintain hope (especially after a few glasses of wine).
Now, from NASA, comes word that work is underway on the first permanent base on the moon. Scroll up to see the rendering. Seeing such an image drives me wild with desire, like a starving man being shown a photo of a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate shake.
And look at the illustration of the two astronauts out for a ride in their rover, that looks sort of like a dune buggy. In a very broad sense, it could be said they are recreational vehicles. They are definitely made for off-road, which we call “overlanding,” which is obvious considering the moon has no roads.
That illustration was my inspiration for the headline of this article, which you may call click-bait if you wish. I maintain, though, that there is truth in it. The moon settlers who will travel with those vehicles may do it for science, but there is no way they will not be doing what you and I do when we explore unknown places, enjoying the scenery.
If I lived back at the turn of the 19th century, I would have volunteered to join the Lewis and Clark expedition. What was out there in those vast unexplored lands? If I were born 40 years later, I would have been on the first covered wagons headed to the promised lands of the West.
RVing and wanderlust go hand and hand. I’ve had my fill of both. But there is never enough, and I want more. I sometimes get angry at myself that I am too damn old to ever make it to anywhere beyond our itty bitty corner of the universe here on Earth.
I want to be the first RVer on Mars.
Chuck Woodbury has written in his Roadside Journal for more than three decades. His earliest work is available in his book “The Best From Out West,” available at Amazon.
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