Pack Creek Ranch, San Juan County, Utah
The third week of January 2024
The churn of winter weather continues – storms, followed by clear, cold days, and another windy round of snow – and in the morning the fresh tracks of deer, rabbits, coyotes, and mystery creatures.
THE MIDNIGHT RAMBLERS CLUB
Winter. 3:00 a.m. Dark. Silent. Blowing snow outside. Cold.
And there you are – wide awake – in your pajamas and robe.
Drinking coffee and feeling very much alone.
So, what do you do?
Slump into a depressed stupor and bumble back to bed?
Sometimes.
But there are times when great adventure awaits.
The World Wide Web – the Internet – provides a number of live cams that are magic carpets to take me traveling. I can see images of places around the world in real-time – with people walking about or skiing or swimming – at the same time while I am sitting in my kitchen.
Then I can shift to the live cam on the International Space Station and fly slowly over the Earth. And then move to cams on the vehicles roving on Mars. And finally, to recent images from the new Webb telescope showing unfathomable numbers of galaxies way, way out there, light years away.
The best part is that most of these websites have a marker indicating the number of other people watching at the same time I am.
I am not as alone as I sometimes think I am.
I am here – part of all this – and aware that I am not the only person awake at 3:00 a.m. – the members of what I think of as the Midnight Ramblers Club – who meet in my imagination on an irregular basis.
Is there life out there? There must be.
Is it intelligent life? Perhaps.
Is there intelligent life here?
Yes.
Do you remember when you learned about the size of the Earth and your place in the big scheme of things? I do. Age 6. When listening to the radio and hearing the cheering. But by our clock, it wasn’t New Year’s yet. My father told me it was already next year in New Zealand. And it was summer there. No way – I thought he was pulling my leg. Later in the week, I told the librarian at my school.
She showed me a globe of the Earth and explained.
I was stunned.
Welcome aboard the spaceship planet Earth Bobby Lee.
That memory comes back to me now as I watch the Earth cams and the images from the floating ISS.
And notice the count of other viewers watching at the same time.
I am part of humanity riding the big round ball.
And I go back to bed deeply satisfied – wishing my father was around so I could thank him for opening my mind.