Have you ever “hit the wall”, as runners say? That feeling that your energy is gone. There is no more. Hitting the wall always comes when we are not quite done. There are still several miles left to run, bike, or hike. And we must complete those last few miles. We have to get home, or at least back to the car and motorized transportation. Hitting the wall isn’t limited to Continue Reading
A Tale of Two Canoes
I just drove 1600 miles round trip to pick up and bring home a canoe. This canoe is nothing special to look at: an old beat up aluminum boat. Wooden planks reinforce the thwarts, signs of its years of abuse. Its keel may be broken, resulting in a slow leak. It is a heavy canoe, weighing at least 90 pounds. It is not designed to be carried, and does not have a portage yoke. It Continue Reading
The Reward of a Sunset at the End of a Long Day
I am not looking forward to tomorrow. If all goes well, I will be driving 9 hours and covering over 500 miles. If I get up at my normal hour, I am scheduled to be driving through or around Chicago at rush hour. Great timing. Did I mention that I will be doing the drive alone? So I planned something special with which to end my day. I hope to end tomorrow by sitting on a Continue Reading
Alone in a Tent, or Am I?
There is something in my tent. I know there is. For two nights now, that soft scratching noise has come from that corner of the tent. That corner just happens to have the supposedly empty stuff sacks the tent was packed in, all jammed inside the largest stuff sack. I look anxiously at the bags. Yes. The sound is definitely coming from there. Wait. Did the bag just move? Is Continue Reading
Joy in the Midst of Patience
I am not a patient person. Yet I want many things which require waiting. Or, more accurately, I want many things which require extended efforts. I want my knee to not hurt anymore. My physical therapy should rehabilitate my knee under the guidance of a medical professional. I want to go backpacking. Our backpacking trips have been put on hold because of the Continue Reading
