Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Farewell Oregon

The summer of 2012 saw my presentation to and submission of my thesis to the University of Oregon. My time there was at an end. With a position in the US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on the horizon, I found myself headed to the Big Island of Hawaii. I would be living on Kilauea and working on Mauna Loa. I didn't know when I would fly again.

In Oregon I had rediscovered flight among countless other things of which I am grateful to have been a part. From snowshoeing and skiing to running, playing dodgeball, and paintball. I had crashed my motorcycle and resurrected it. My new home had been more than just the cradle Maryland had been. In Oregon, I had thrived as a person.

Leaving behind a place I had finally begun to call home stung. It was nearly as the difficult as the time I moved west from the East Coast. After leaving my apartment and saying good bye to my friends, I threw my glider on my back and departed. The flight was twelve hours with two layovers. I landed in the dark. Even in an age of modern maps, GPS, radar, and transponders, I still tried to wrap my brain around the idea that our plane was going to land on a very small dot in a very large ocean without enough fuel to turn around should we miss our mark or any other improbable circumstance occur. I arrived in the land of perpetual summer and sat alone at the airport until my ride showed.

This video is a farewell tribute. Oregon, I shall return.

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