Lanterna Rally

Author: Barry McAlister

Publisher: Author House

Published: 2014-11-07

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 1496949854

After a ways I could see a huge boat mostly buried in the sand, while examining the boat it seemed to have been a cabin cruiser about 65 feet long. Then walking about 100 feet south of the boat I was stunned to find a human body, not something you see every day. The person was mostly a skeleton although hair was evident on his head; jeans and shirt were tattered and the skull looking toward the sky where I could see some primitive dental work. After a couple more frightening traverses, while hanging in space, I thought we had passed the most difficult situations, wrong again! We came to a place where you're climbing along the cliff face with no more than 4 inches of rock on which to place your feet. That accelerated my heartbeat a tad! While hiking on a narrow dike I came face to face with a Bison almost blocking my passage. As I walked past he charged me. I yelled "Stop That!" and he stopped about 2 feet away. Few people have a desire or capability to experience 'the edge'. For most of my life I professed, "To experience life as close to the edge as possible to death, as this is the only way to live a life to its fullest." Being up here, among 12,000 foot peaks, in the enchanting time before sunrise, will always remain as a consummate memory in my mind. I was filled with a delightful wonderment. Then there came the serene Alpine Glow as the sun embraced the mountain peaks. As John Muir would say, "A noble experience." The sun would occasionally pop out, followed by dark clouds and usually hail or sleet. I didn't care; I was wet; in a numbing trance and reduced to taking baby steps forward-'one step at a time'. Around 6 pm I reached the road, which was back down at 10,000 feet. I had only traveled 8 1/2 miles, but on the most difficult trek of my life. We had chased the Gator near shore; I jumped from the boat in knee deep mud; struggling through the mud I grabbed the Gator with my left hand and immediately he came around and imbedded his teeth in my right arm. Just as quickly he let go and I loaded him into the boat. Mostly I was concerned with infection, but a little Rum in the holes took care of that.