The Trip

I've been asked where I'm going; now that is somewhat of a loaded question. Where I am going physically/geographically/travel-wise is not completely decided. I think the plan is to go first to Colorado, then down south towards the desert, perhaps Arizona. After, we head towards California in the San Diego region, then hopefully loop all the way back up towards Montana, The Dakota's, and end in Minnesota. Really, its all guesswork at this point.

I've been working on going on this trip for several months now, and it has become some sort of symbol, full of symbolism. It is more than a vacation; more than a trip. It is a searching, a longing, a journey. When I leave, I leave everyone and everything behind for however long it takes. I need to be engulfed by my actions. I need to forget my world for the bigger, broader, more immense world of which I will surrender myself to.

Things in my life are losing their worth. People are losing their appeal. I am less enthused, day to day. Rejuvination is sought for, not guaranteed. I need to rejuvinate and venerate my soul. I need to find something; I need to know that all of that in me that once shone brighter and hotter and fueled me further is still capable of combustion. I won't dare assume that this will be my solution, but it will give me a start. I don't think people ever fully realize what else is out there for them to obtain. There are millions of other people, thousands upon thousands of miles of land that have not been seen firsthand, nor experienced. Television gives us the illusion that we have seen many distant lands and so we can say, "Africa is beautiful, I've seen it." It is a common fallacy. You will never know what a place is to you until you have invested physical presence in it. You must taste and feel the air. Smell the wild and unchecked scents that flow into your lungs . You must feel the earth or water beneath you. Touch things, see things that see you back. Cameras capture the images of the world for our viewing but they are never quite so truthful as with the photographer. Everyone else must sit through the story behind the image, but the photographer, the capturer, need only remember. He holds the story, and that is perhaps the most important of facts. So I am going off on a whim of panic to hold onto what I feel is the most important feature about myself, my heart of creation, to take pictures; to make a story of a few months otherwise found to be of the everyday, ordinary kind. I cannot say that this event will forever change my life. it is very well possible that events before or after this excursion are the life-changing kind, and that this is only going to be the wheel turning to the next stop. I don't want to think about it like that, either. It will be the absorption of everything I see, smell, hear, feel, taste, and touch. I will open the gates of consciousness and take it in and in and in until I can no longer stand it. Then I will return home and try and piece it all back together. That is the trip, to me. Where I go means nothing. What I do, and what happens are everything.

-C.A. Dominick