A thousand steps have breached my back, but no one’s path before has left a trail so disharmonious with the tracks she leaves behind.

It’s night— sky starless, streetlights absent, roads barn of human life except for the neon sign illuminating in the distance. There is a sensational pull of light mimicking the insect attractions to all that glows as we grown closer to its source. It’s 8:43 pm. Seems early for the world to be asleep beyond the sign that welcomes us. And welcome we are to a place none other than Burger King, home of the Impossible Whopper.

I went to the Adirondacks this summer in Upstate New York for my first time. I have lived in New York my entire life. I’ve made my way traveling from Buffalo to New York City quite a few times, but the in-between of New York was just the interstate connecting these two cities. I went from one hustling city trying to rebuild itself, to the biggest hustling city in the world.

Then, I was invited by my dear friend Julia to her family’s cabage in Inlet, New York, a small town in the Adirondacks. A cabage for all those wondering is an inventive word created by yours truly which is a house that is the combination between a cabin and a cottage. I said yes in an instant (because why would I not), and soon enough I was on my way from my home in New York to this brand new world I hadn’t yet explored.

Over the course of my trip to the Adirondacks, I am growing to realize that the best moments are those far from planned. One can plan every detail, attempt to schedule every minute, but it’s when the plan diverts to the unexpected that I find the greatest jumps for joy.

This week my friend Julia, and I went on a pedal-powered four-seated steel welded “vehicle” which is designed to ride atop the old railroad tracks in Thendara, New York.