Only 393 days left before I step off the edge of sanity. My phone has what it aptly, in this case anyway, calls a D-Day counter. You can put up to 8 different days and it will give you the day count from now until that date. You can also put one of those counters on the "home page" of the phone so you see it every time you look at your phone.... 393 days.
Past history tells me that when preparing for something like this a good method is to make sure you do at least one thing each day that moves you toward your goal...no matter how small that thing. Of course at least once in a while you have to do a bigger thing, NASA didn't get to the moon by simply recalculating the distance every day.
This will be a pretty new experience..I've never done much backpacking. It's true, I've spent a lot of time wandering around on non-paved surfaces, surrounded by trees, but this is a bit different.
I've hiked quite a bit. I've camped quite a bit. I have not combined the two very often. As much as I like being in the woods, I also like that cold beer, hot shower, and pillow top mattress at the end of the day... I'm thinking those things will be in fairly short supply in the highlands of the Ozarks.
My hiking has always been with a pack with just enough stuff in it to survive the night if I got lost. Contrary to some rumors that keep circulating around...I've never been lost. I prefer to stay in the Mark Twain mindset... "I was never lost, but I was confused for 3 days one time."
When the first civilian GPS's became useful due to the removal of the selective availability function, Cyrilee bought me one almost immediately..as in removal on May 1, I got my GPS on May 11. When I was first learning to use it...not having a good grip on how to not get "confused" while using it, I thought... it might not help me stay found...but I'll have this cute line drawing of where I was at. I've gotten better at using a GPS since then.
Almost all of my camping has been industrial strength camping. I've camped with the Girl Scouts (I was a leader/trainer for them for about 6 years) but none of it involved being much out of sight of the vehicles. My camping in Hawaii was at MudFest...we had a chafing dish and propane grill, not exactly 'light' camping. We did however have a blast up there...literally.
So this will be new...over the year or so I have to learn how to get enough stuff on my back to live for a week or so "out there". I know it can be done...others have already done it, I just have to get that info in my head.
First step... it would appear that the gods have favored my foolishness. Right after I decided to launch into this, I discovered there is a free seminar on backpacking at the Lewis and Clark store this coming Monday. Time to get thee to a classroom.
..take care...migoi
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Dear Migoi,
ReplyDeleteI have read with much interest your mumbling about a planned long walk and, as one of your self-appointed loved ones, have only one response -- ARE YOU NUTS?! For those of us who have long held admiration and faith in your tightly bundled gray matter (for which judgment is not always an accompaniment, mind you), there now comes to mind the tradeoff between the proverbial new look-at-me-I'm-young-and-virile sports car of typical midlife crisis dudes and a little 3-week stroll alone on a 165 mile trail. Now as much as I appreciate the fun of walking slowly on the trails of Hawaii, annual Mudfests, deciphering the control panel of your trusty GPS, and 2-day seminars at the local backpacking mercantile,I hardly consider these as proper prerequisite steps. A 4-day "test the water" wilderness backpack with a buddy, perhaps. Survival school, maybe. Written permission from a licensed psych who has done an in-depth profile on your certifiability, absolutely. Since none of your other loved ones have posted to this rumination, I have taken it upon myself to address the issue. Call it payback for all of the political "discussions" where you mercilessly baited me. The gauntlet is thrown down (in this very public arena -- which, of course, I am estatic about). Question one, what in the world is wrong with the darn sports car?
Never fear, Anonymous. By the end of the 13+ months before d-day, I will have refined my ability to exit on the trail to the point of being able to survive the walk.
ReplyDeleteThe trail is divided into 8 sections of various lengths that can be walked in 2 to 3 days. My plan is to "practice" on those sections so that when the time for the long walk comes along...it will simnply be another stroll of slightly larger proportions.
My biggest problem might be surviving the treadmill. I just spent an hour walking on the treadmill, finished, stepped around to the front to turn it off...and promptly ran my head into the the bottom of the stairs that come down to the basement.... man, that hurt.
Thank you though for your concern... not to worry, I've got a wool blanket and a plenny cans o' beanie weinies...I'll be fine...
..take care...t
ps.. wish you were close enough for me to bait you into some more political discussions...you ran off to the great northwest before I was finished.
Dear Migoi,
ReplyDeleteI am very happy to hear of the lovely wool blanket and beanie weenies. It certainly assuages many of my misgivings about your proposed stroll. Of course, being more of the tin hat and bunker in the mountains mentality, I still wonder about your current wattage. However, I am reminded that I am communicating with someone who has willingly jumped out perfectly good airplanes supported only by thin silk and string and dived in waters too deep to retrace without your little can of air and rubber hosing. I still vote for the sports car.
Or if you insist on going, please obtain a pack mule for hauling more beanie weenies. And get back on the treadmill. One hour ain't gonna hack it.
p.s. I ran off from those political discussions when I saw you pause for breath and knew I had a chance to forestall an aneurysm...
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteWhat part of my plan most worries you? Do you think I won't be able to hammer this much abused body into the requisite level of shapeliness? Do you think I won't be able to acquire the appropriate skill or knowledge levels? Do you think I'm afraid of the dark or things that go bump in the night?
I seem to remember a whole bunch of days spent walking all day in circles with no training at all..managed to gut that out. I'm actually planning on training for this.
Let's see, ability to identify requisite knowledge factors and design instruction and experiential situations for acquisition of knowledge and skills... somewhere in the deep recess of my brain (only slightly damaged) I seem to recall that I've done that before.
For those things that go bump in the night...I've got a scandium bowling ball...I'm thinking it will find a place somewhere tucked up under my left arm.
Not to worry, got it all under control...
t
Dear Migoi,
ReplyDeleteOf course I have great faith in your ability to acquire appropriate pre-stroll knowledge, pummel the soon to be 50 body into 165-mile survival shape, and gut out (whoops! no pun intended) general wandering around in the wilderness all by your little lonesome! I have faith based upon prior knowledge, my dear hilldweller! No, my unease lies not in your proven, dare I say heroic, abilities, but in the dark, insidious UNKNOWN. If you insist upon scheduling your mid-life crisis in this venue, this gentle reader (if I do say so myself) is primarily interested in your development of contingency plans for said UNKNOWN. You did mention the scandium bowling ball, so perhaps we shall begin there. A bowling ball? As in singular? As in small enough to tuck away under an arm? Hmmm, and what dimension of the expendable unit, I wonder? And how many does this bowling ball hold in the bag? How quickly can expendable units be resupplied? My dear hilldweller, the dark, insidious UNKNOWN may require defensive measures which would demand a backup bowling ball. Perhaps one that would necessitate the employment of a sling. And another small bowling ball tucked into a boot. Contingencies, dear hilldweller, contingencies!
Dear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your concern about the unknowns that I may face during my walk.
I think I am adequately prepared for the known unknowns that I may encounter. However, I will admit to a lack of known knowledge as to the known extent of the unknown unknowns that I may unknowingly encounter.
I am endeavoring to know about those unknown unknowns but currently it is unknown how long it will take to know enough knowledge about the unknown unknowns to be able to put those particular unknowns over into the known unknown column.
One thing to consider though, if you adequately prepare for the knowns and the known unknowns then an encounter with an unknown unknown can usually be dealt with using the same knowledge that you used to solve all the knowns and the known unknowns thus turning the unknown unknowns into known unknowns or simply knowns.
answers... size equals series of odd numbers beginning with the second prime number with capacity at the middle of those three numbers.. if the problem on the trail requires the use of a slingable solution..maybe it just wasn't my day and it's time to see what's next. I'm betting I can make it really expensive for the dark, isidious unknown though.
take care...t
Dear Migoi,
ReplyDeleteI have been unable to post a comment for a few days because I have been busy sputtering over your math. Those numbers really do make the hair stand up on my head. For one who exercises the full rights guaranteed to each citizen and teaches regularly about being prepared for zombies (known and unknown), you haven't taken into account (it seems to me) that on your lil' 165-mile stroll, there may be two- and four-legged zombies. Never mind the ones that slither, or sting. It simply does not compute that a sheepdog, who regularly has a higher capacity with which to deal with zombies at home or in the community, would leave higher capacity (with additional, quick to access containers) at home while on this little jaunt. I have other considerations to address as well, but they'll have to wait. I feel another bout of sputtering coming on.
p.s. Thank you for the links in your other thread-thingie. Eyes on you, buddy!
Anonymous...isn't an essential part of the whole mid-life crisis thing supposed to be an element of danger?
ReplyDeleteOne last chance to take a chance prior to settling down to live out life from a more secure position?
I'm also thinking there is probably less danger out on that stroll than sitting in the local Wendy's eating a bacon cheeseburger...zombies don't hike, the squirrels nibble on their body parts too much.
Thanks for the concern...t