Life Happens For You

I had planned on staying at the last campsite another night, but my fears about the Italians were confirmed when I returned from the waterfall. I could hear them long before I could see them.

A tent village, set up a stone's throw from my own pitch, on a 10.000 square meter meadow. Morons cutting down trees, living trees full of green, with an electric chainsaw. More music, more animalistic screaming.

I'm used to fast decisions. In ten minutes, I had packed, not without murderous looks in the direction of the Italians. They knew why I was leaving. And so I even packed the firewood I had gathered and cut that morning. If you're this anti-social, I'm this petty!

A quick bath in the river to wash off sweat and anger and I'm in the driver's seat, kicking up dust as I leave the hooligans behind. As I do, they turn to me, gleefully waving goodbye. Even my patience has its limits, so I roll down the window and answer their gesture with less ambiguity: my middle finger.

I had wanted to make a short video of driving up the access road to the campsite - very borderline for my Volvo's ground clearance – but now I just wanted to put distance between myself and the Italians. It's as if I'd known that things were about to get a lot more borderline!

Following the road deeper into the national park, I pass a few official campgrounds. But I want to be in the boonies. On my map, I see that I've passed the fork of the offroad trail to Përmet. Just this morning, I got the GPS trail from the family I spent the last night with. The track isn't completely Volvo-suitable, but now it helps me escape the tourist circus.

I keep my eyes peeled for access to the river bed next to me and find it after about a kilometer. Will this work? A light tickling on the underbody – yes, the ground clearance is at its limit here. But it works!

With the help of live surveillance video from above (my camera drone), I see live and in color which track will lead me to a level site next to the water.

I climb out of the car, suddenly breathless at my luck. A stony river bed, surrounded by mountains, the first stars twinkling in the failing light of day – vistas I thought I'd only see once I got to Alaska – this is by far the most stunning campsite I've ever found.

I almost feel sorry for the Italians that they didn't find such a beautiful site. Grazie, ragazzi!

"You can only connect the dots looking backward." (Steve Jobs) You never know what good things will come from this bad moment. Don't let life happen to you, trust that it's happening for you.Read more