I Love the Unknown

"They ask him, 'Hey where is this bus going?'
And he said, 'Well, I'm really not sure.'
"Well then how will you know where to get off?"
And he said, 'The place with the most allure!'" - Eef Barzelay

In my experience, there are few things that are more interesting than being completely and utterly lost. In some cases I can imagine that being lost might be pretty terrifying, but I'm not talking about the horror film kind of lost that involves dark alley ways, deserted cabins, and some creep-show wearing a ridiculous mask. I'm talking about the best kind of lost. The independent, liberating, "I don't know where I am, and I don't really give a shit," kind of lost.  So yesterday morning was just like any other Tuesday morning in Belgium, which means that it was just like Monday morning. So I decided to mix it up a little bit. I woke up, had some coffee, and then got lost. 

Yes. It is as easy as it sounds. All you have to do is follow a few simple steps. Well, one step really. Leave your house with nothing except a garage door opener, an ipod, and your human powered vehicle of choice. So I did just that. I grabbed Lucille, my trusty, rusty, green 3-speed, and took off riding. I would like to note that I still do not have a cell phone, nor do I know the number for 911. I know, it's shocking. You spend your entire childhood learning to look both ways before crossing the street, trying to remember not to take candy from men with vans that have no windows, and memorizing emergency phone numbers just to grow up, move to Belgium, and discover that 911 isn't universal. Shit. On top of not knowing the number to dial in case of an emergency, I also do not know my address, nor can I really even pronounce the name of the street that I live on. I don't have a map and I most definitely don't have a Tom Tom. For those of you that don't know what a Tom Tom is, it is a GPS device that Americans spend hundreds of dollars on so they can attach it to their car and have some guy with a British accent give them directions. However, even if I did have one, I don't think that Tom Tom would appreciate me attaching him to Lucille and expecting him to give me directions while I ride my bike at 12 km per hour. Anyways, this is how my adventure began.

I began my bike ride by heading down a bike path that I had previously discovered. The cool thing about Aalst is that if you leave the city center and head into the residential areas, you will find that there is a bit of a rural feeling to it. It is where the outskirts of the city meets with the countryside and creates this great inbetween. Plenty of trees, and houses with huge backyards that contain goats, chickens, sheep, and even mini horses. People have expansive, beautiful gardens just a few minutes away from the center of the city where the winding cobble stone streets are packed with apartments and stores. I reached the end of the bike path and usually I just turn around and head back, but instead I decided to act on impulse and turn right onto the nearest road. 

I literally had no idea where I was going. It was awesome. I ended up on a road surrounded by fields filled with cows and corn, and I couldn't have been more thrilled. One cool thing about being in a country in which you don't speak the language, is that I feel like breaking the law is more acceptable because, if caught, you can feign ignorance, smile pretty, and try and use sign language to explain that you can't read Flemish words that are composed of 20 letters each. This being said, I clearly decided that trespassing was the next step in my adventure. I parked Lucille (and by parked, I mean I put her in a heap of grass on the side of the road because she doesn't have a kick stand) and wandered down a dirt road into someone's corn field. Seems like a silly thing to do, but I had nowhere to be, no one to see, and I had never been in a corn field. So why not?! It turns out, that corn fields are really nice places to visit when you spend most of your time in cities. Everything is quieter and you sorta feel like Alice in Wonderland when she takes drugs and shrinks. Maybe you have hung out in a corn field before, but I haven't, and so this was my very first experience being surrounded by gigantic grain/fruit/vegetable (graitable? fregetain?) plants. No one can decide which category to put corn into, so I created my own. So now I can cross two things off of my bucket list, I visited a corn field and created a new scientific classification. I think that I probably deserve a pat on the back for that. 

Next, I retrieved Lucille and headed on down the road. I ended up riding into a small neighboring town, and pedaling my way through all the side streets. I can't explain the joy that my bike brings to my life. I am like a little kid at Disney Land. It is totally absurd that such a simple thing could make me that happy, but it does. I ride around like a complete idiot- smiling at people, singing, whistling, and just generally enjoying my lostness (lostitude?). If I were a resident of this town, and I saw myself riding around, I would probably think that the local crazy had been hitting the booze and then somehow managed to escape from her cage. But clearly I'm not concerned with what people think of me or I wouldn't be riding around on a dirty bike that squeaks and looks like it was built in 1875 compared to all the other bikes that are pimped out with baskets, shiny paint, and snazzy storage compartments. Basically, it looks like I'm driving around in a Geo Metro while everyone else cruises in Aston Martins... not that Aston Martins are built to cruise... but that isn't the point. Well actually I don't have a point, but that's ok because this is my blog and having a point isn't a requirement.  So I'll just tell you how I feel. Being lost in a random Belgian town on a 3-speed bike, is kind of like taking your soul, coating it in kerosene, and throwing a match on it. Fiery, awesome, magical, and totally liberating. You think to yourself, "if I don't ever make it home then that's probably ok, especially considering there are plenty of corn fields that I can sleep in". If you have never experienced that feeling or had that type of conversation with yourself, then I suggest you quit your job immediately and pursue soul igniting ventures as soon as possible. 

Needless to say, I eventually found my way home because it turns out I'm not totally stupid, crazy, or drunk, and I do have a general sense of direction.  It was a very well spent couple of hours, and I highly recommend that everyone get lost every once in a while. It turns out that lostitude is super underrated and I definitely plan to spend more time in that state in the future. 

Happy trails! I hope that you spend some of them in any or all of the following ways:

absent, adrift, astray, at sea, cast away, disappeared, disoriented, fallen between cracks, gone astray, hidden, invisible, irretrievable, misplaced, nowhere to be found, obscured, off-course, out the window, vanished, wandering, or wayward. 

Ciao!