To the happy place

In order to get the time off I need next month, I had to juggle my on-call schedule.  I am on now call for two out of three weeks this month. (Normally it is one out of six weeks)

And this coming weekend, I have an obligation I agreed to a few months ago.

For those not in the technology field, being on-call basically means I take a rotation where I have to be available 24/7 for one week at a time.

With time spent in the outdoors as an avocation, having to be by a phone can be a problem at times. I am tied to needing a WiFi setup for any remote trouble shooting.

Oh, I can run errands, go out to eat, see friends…but even taking a local walk in the foothills is not really feasible.

All told, I will be very much away from the backcountry in April.

A blogger I enjoy reading would say that my recreation inventory took a major hit.

Just to add to the frustration, work has been rather busy lately. I worked until 2 AM one night this past week.

I am cranky. Tired. And getting a bit perturbed at the work-life-outdoor balance tilting towards the wrong way. All steps towards another goal, but the interim period can be interesting.

But rather than getting more frustrated, I will go to what I call my happy place.

I get to this place by looking over maps, looking at websites related to the destinations of where I wish to explore and dreaming of how I want to use my recreation inventory.

With the exception of one Saturday (and on Sunday, a day hike is planned), every weekend has an overnight, or longer, outing planned in May.

Free time is precious. And I want to use it wisely. I want to go to my happy place. And that place is outdoors.