There are some people in this world who you almost never meet and when you do, you spend every possible second absorbing their story.

Carly, from Indiana, 24 (and I got it on the first/second guess) is one of those people.  In the previous post here, I made mention of her, but tonight I caught her heading back to the ranch where she works.

What I’ve come in contact the most on this trip to Creede, CO is a different breed of American, one that’s still very in touch with itself and the land in which we live.

That’s what one does when they’re here in Creede.  Or at least that’s how Carly (There’s more about her and others in Creede, here) has chosen to live, giving up the corporate world and finding her own personal level of solitude, warmth and happiness in something most in this world of hustle and bustle couldn’t stand for a day.

She lost her cell phone yesterday, possibly while walking around the Taste of Creede.  She said tonight that’s “almost something to celebrate.”   If I’d lost the iPhone yesterday, I’d be using the locater on iTunes to try to help find it.

But Carly has braved the stereotypes, the cultural mores of “you must work in an office” and found an inner peace that most of us only can dream of.   She said tonight that so much of her time is spent walking, hiking, and doing things in smaller groups out here in Creede, far away from the 9-5 demands of the work week.

I asked her about Timothy Ferriss’ book The Four-Hour Workweek and if she’d read it, because it seems she’s found the courage to do what Ferriss has figured out and that men like me at 44 sit back like Shrek does in Shrek IV and wonder what happened to the adventures of life.

She said she’s found God in these hills around Creede.  “If you live here and are surrounded by all of this and don’t find yourself believing in God, you’re a fool!” she said as her blue eyes’ size doubled.

This is a woman in search of passion, and for the moment, she’s living it.  She’s working with others, she’s where she feels she’s called to be, and she’s full of passion about it.

She said it was hard for her parents for her to come to CO from IN.  She has a passport and is ready to travel, but she’s comfortable where she is.  She’s thrilled about it.  Can you say that about what you’re doing and where you’re living?

Clearly, I’m struggling with it, but not Carly.  No, there’s a smile on her face as big as Texas and you can see the passion in her eyes.

I asked if she’s saving all of these thoughts or blogging.  The answer was a resounding, “No.  Donny, you can do the social media stuff so that I don’t have to.  I don’t do Facebook.  If someone I know needs a photo of me, I can email it to them. “

And so she’s off to the ranch tonight.  There’s going to be a bonfire.  And it’s a clear night.  And Carly knows where her priorities are, what her passion is, and seeing that has been one of the most refreshing things about this trip.

If more of us could chase our passions like she’s doing, oh how different our world would be.

I posted this photo yesterday saying I thought it described how I’ve been feeling, recovering from the mental agony of what’s happened to me over the past year.   Tonight I rededicate it to the passion of life I’m getting closer and closer to finding.  Thanks, Carly, for taking the time to say hi.  There are so many of us reading who are jealous of you.  Please keep the fire of passion you have burning going like the embers of tonight’s bonfire.