This is a piece I’ve wanted to do for a long time:

John Geissman bounded up the steep side of the volcanic knoll, leaving a trail of geologists panting behind him.

A tough half-mile climb above the valley floor, in a clump of oak, Geissman found what he was looking for? a piece of scientific history.

On this 1,000-foot high mound of volcanic rock in the summer of 1964, geologists found the final piece of a puzzle that changed the way we view our planet.

Geissman dropped his pack and circled a small outcrop of the rock that nearly four decades ago proved the theory of plate tectonics? that the continents move beneath our feet.

And I get paid for doing that. Remarkable privilege.