Your best short story about an active lifestyle change

cecreech

One of the motivating factors in "getting out there" is that I want to appreciate the life that I am living. I suspect that some of you feel the same. If you do then I invite you to post a short story here to inspire us all. In the end its not just about calories, its about life. I think that changing our lives is based in a hope for more and better life. Change means that life, up to now, has not been as fun or good as it seemed. I had one of those "ahah" moments a couple of years ago. I share it with you now and ask you to inspire us all as well.

Lightening

It was late spring in Argentina, South America, and my sons and I were hoping to make a camping trip to another campground in another town riding the back roads of Argentina and through small towns along the way. It had been a long winter and we had already ridden the 15 mile trek to the local campgrounds many times. We camped on the Uruguay river on the beach of Nandubaysal near our home in Gualeguaychú. The week finally came when the timing was right.
By now, we were big fans of the best bike we could buy in our town. It was an all aluminum, hard-tail mountain bike by an Argentine company, Zenith. We were outfitted with locally made tents and locally made panniers by Halawa, we just knew we were so very, very cool. My sons and I are all bi-lingual and had lived in Argentina for over three years, we knew this would be the trip of a lifetime and so off we went. We loaded down our bikes and headed out of town on what used to be the main road to Brazil, called “the road of death” by the locals because of the many accidents that occurred, and bandits that used to roam, on that long stretch of dirt and gravel road that stretches for over 500 miles up to Iguazu. We were going to pass up from Gualeguaychú to Concepcion del Uruguay and then on to Colon where we would camp for a few days and ride back. The trip would take us on a trip of over 100km one-way. It was the longest trip we had taken together.
As we travelled along the sparsely traveled loop out of town the sun began to rise and the world seemed more and more simple. It was my boys, the day, and me. I had my camera along for evidence of a good time. I was getting back into shape as I cranked along the undulating hills and across the plain. We were to experience all sorts of what seemed to be unusual wildlife and people as we road along the road. This is an area where the capybara and the emu run wild. In some areas, the sky darkened with birds as they went happily from field to field. When we stopped for rest in a park, we listened to the local parrots complaining in their nests about the heat of the day. We would stop in small country stores along the way in very small farming crossroads communities to eat lunch and take a siesta on the porch afterward. We pasted a rural school full of children all dressed alike with a horse and buggy arriving with another child. It was like stepping back in time.
When we rolled into the town of Concepcion del Uruguay, where we thought we might spend the night. We thought we had plenty of time to trek on to Colon and so we pressed on together. The dirt road was discontinued for short distance out of the town and so we road out onto the main highway which has replaced the old dirt once but retained its infamous name, it was there I caught a nail had had to repair it on the side of the road. I was not happy about the nail or the delay because now I knew we would be riding into town in the dark. As we approached the small tourist town of Colon it was dark but we were in for a surprise that would live forever in my mind. We kept running into these swarms of bugs. We were very happy that they did not bite us but they would occasionally force us to stop and look out across the fields around us. It was then, when we looked up, that we saw what we were running into in the dark. They were lightening bugs. Millions and millions of lightening bugs suspended in the air. The low lights of the town created a glow in the distance and the little lightening bugs were illuminating us with wonder. It was like a suspended ocean of soft light that hovered in the air all around us. I wanted to stop right there but we moved on and as we approached the town the streetlights replaced the lightening bugs but some how they just were not as brilliant.

cecreech

One of the motivating factors in "getting out there" is that I want to appreciate the life that I am living. I suspect that some of you feel the same. If you do then I invite you to post a short story here to inspire us all. In the end its not just about calories, its about life. I think that changing our lives is based in a hope for more and better life. Change means that life, up to now, has not been as fun or good as it seemed. I had one of those "ahah" moments a couple of years ago. I share it with you now and ask you to inspire us all as well.

Lightening

It was late spring in Argentina, South America, and my sons and I were hoping to make a camping trip to another campground in another town riding the back roads of Argentina and through small towns along the way. It had been a long winter and we had already ridden the 15 mile trek to the local campgrounds many times. We camped on the Uruguay river on the beach of Nandubaysal near our home in Gualeguaychú. The week finally came when the timing was right.
By now, we were big fans of the best bike we could buy in our town. It was an all aluminum, hard-tail mountain bike by an Argentine company, Zenith. We were outfitted with locally made tents and locally made panniers by Halawa, we just knew we were so very, very cool. My sons and I are all bi-lingual and had lived in Argentina for over three years, we knew this would be the trip of a lifetime and so off we went. We loaded down our bikes and headed out of town on what used to be the main road to Brazil, called “the road of death” by the locals because of the many accidents that occurred, and bandits that used to roam, on that long stretch of dirt and gravel road that stretches for over 500 miles up to Iguazu. We were going to pass up from Gualeguaychú to Concepcion del Uruguay and then on to Colon where we would camp for a few days and ride back. The trip would take us on a trip of over 100km one-way. It was the longest trip we had taken together.
As we travelled along the sparsely traveled loop out of town the sun began to rise and the world seemed more and more simple. It was my boys, the day, and me. I had my camera along for evidence of a good time. I was getting back into shape as I cranked along the undulating hills and across the plain. We were to experience all sorts of what seemed to be unusual wildlife and people as we road along the road. This is an area where the capybara and the emu run wild. In some areas, the sky darkened with birds as they went happily from field to field. When we stopped for rest in a park, we listened to the local parrots complaining in their nests about the heat of the day. We would stop in small country stores along the way in very small farming crossroads communities to eat lunch and take a siesta on the porch afterward. We pasted a rural school full of children all dressed alike with a horse and buggy arriving with another child. It was like stepping back in time.
When we rolled into the town of Concepcion del Uruguay, where we thought we might spend the night. We thought we had plenty of time to trek on to Colon and so we pressed on together. The dirt road was discontinued for short distance out of the town and so we road out onto the main highway which has replaced the old dirt once but retained its infamous name, it was there I caught a nail had had to repair it on the side of the road. I was not happy about the nail or the delay because now I knew we would be riding into town in the dark. As we approached the small tourist town of Colon it was dark but we were in for a surprise that would live forever in my mind. We kept running into these swarms of bugs. We were very happy that they did not bite us but they would occasionally force us to stop and look out across the fields around us. It was then, when we looked up, that we saw what we were running into in the dark. They were lightening bugs. Millions and millions of lightening bugs suspended in the air. The low lights of the town created a glow in the distance and the little lightening bugs were illuminating us with wonder. It was like a suspended ocean of soft light that hovered in the air all around us. I wanted to stop right there but we moved on and as we approached the town the streetlights replaced the lightening bugs but some how they just were not as brilliant.

ali106

wow!!! that was beautiful!!!!! I almost feel like I saw those beautiful lights too!!!!

thanks for that!!!
hugs!
ali

Shannon023

I'm basically monosyllabic, but I enjoyed your story.

Thanks for sharing! :flowerforyou:

BreaNix

Sounds amazing.

cecreech

Ok, so I guess I will have to write another! :blushing: More later, I wish I could show you to pictures I took.