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57 Below
I was terrified
“There is really only one thing that can kill you,” he said with a big TA-HA-HA of a chuckle and then waited for my question.
Pat was a stout, balding man who was quick to fill his face with a bright, beaming grin and provide dry notes of encouragement during our training. In this regard, he turned serious.
“What usually kills people in this activity is this cavity right here,” he said and put his finger on my forehead. “Panic will always hurt you down below. Don’t let it in. ”
During the 2020 pandemic, as people restricted their activities, I decided to travel. Fear of COVID created an abundance of space and even moments of unexpected solitude in many normally busy areas. In others, it was life as usual. The void created the perfect time to experience new things.
I climbed mountains, drove through endless plains to visit small towns, and sat in once-bustling airports that were now quiet, and empty. We watched the pandemic spread from the sickly areas of the East Coast and methodically roll through the vast distances and geographies that briefly insulated carefree and uncompromising rural areas of middle America and beyond. I met any potentially constricted area with a healthy dose of preparation, caution, and even panic.
