A Little Homesick. . .

Every once in a while  I see an image that evokes memories, which I think is a sign of getting old.

Last night, it was a picture of a place I used to climb rocks when I was a kid and it came from a Facebook post here. The nostalgic "ahhh" sighed out almost immediately, before the thinking part of the brain really recognized the setting.

The good folks at the Alice Springs Running and Walking Club getting ready for a 10K walk.

The picture that the Alice Springs Running and Walking Club put up is at Simpson's Gap. We - me, my brother, our friends - played there, and at Honeymoon Gap nearby, and a dozen other outposts along the way. We'd hike into the bush far enough to feel intrepid and do boy things, climbing rock towers, hunting lizards, and camping under the most brilliant stars you can imagine.

No one ever asks, but I can trace my love of trails and adventure to the Outback. Every once and a while, it comes back to me in a flash, today in a picture but more often when I run on rough and rocky trails, when the red hues are just right. Sometimes then, I'm still eleven or twelve, and it's all play.