Dreams, Adventure, And Risk: Part 2

Some years ago I wound up idly watching Emporium Outdoors. The host and his charming dog were rambling about in a Honda Pioneer. (*Note: he has since evolved through an Argo, a tracked and untracked CanAm, and now he’s in a Jeep… the vehicle is not the journey.)

There’s so much harmless fun in seeing someone having happy little campouts in the Canadian outback. The idea took hold.

Could I regain a thing I’d lost? I’d done much camping and even more rambling about forests in earlier stages of life. All that got put on hold for certain family obligations… all men know this story. Yet here I was, emerging on the other side of my allotted time… if a dude and a dog on YouTube can ride an ATV to a campsite why couldn’t I?

This is the dream. It resides in many of us.

That’s all it takes. You simply gaze at the Universe and think “there is this thing I wish to do, how shall I act upon that idea?”

Everyone has their dream but not everyone takes the next step. A third are lazy and never try. Another third don’t get the chance; unavoidable external forces keeping the leash tight. Most of the rest let finances or inertia chain them to a couch. A few… the madmen, do it.

In this case, it was perfectly attainable. An ATV and a dog. Well my ATV is very old and unsuitable. Then dog died. That’s OK, I knew that was coming.

I sought a new and tougher ATV to facilitate the dream. I test drove several. They weren’t weird enough for my tastes. I went so far as to test an Argo and wind up getting bitched out in a ditch in front of some guy’s house. (Not my finest moment.)  I settled on a specific CanAm but my fiscally conservative mind was visited by the Joker and I knew I couldn’t spend the scratch.

Then I watched this. FortNine knows how to explain the dream:

Fast forward a few months and I was rolling about on a TW200. The adventure had begun. As with all adventures there were mishaps. Almost immediately I misjudged both myself and the trail and I’d submersed it in water. Later I smashed it against trees, leaving my turn signals in tatters and terrifying my mirrors. As this was happening I’d upgraded safety gear and various bits on the machine. I got a better front tire and adapted my pavement skills to dirt riding. In short I was doing what I’d set out to do.

The dream is not to get there… it is to journey.

Everything coalesced this summer. It’s my second year of dirt bike riding and stuff just seemed to work out. Nothing too adventurous. Nothing too fast. I’m not going to impress anyone… which is fine because that’s not my purpose. I was out exploring; enjoying nature. What better thing is there to do?

I wish I could take the whole world on a nice relaxing campout. Society has spent two years cowering in fear, and it’s doing them harm. If not physical, most definitely spiritual and mental. Rather than go down with the ship I started swimming. I routinely leave the world behind. It’s not that hard once you start doing it. The real enemy is inertia.

A gallon of gas and I’m in heaven. The tiny tank is cheap to fill and will sputter down the trail to a world of peace (and fun). Check out my “Walkabouts” stories and you’ll find 36(!) posts about just this year’s ramblings.

Here’s the cheap little toy that got the ball rolling. Isn’t that the cutest bike you ever saw?

None of this is without risk, mind you. Oh heck no. Soooooo many ways things can go wrong. But that’s the adventure part of the dream. Adventures are risky. The trick is to mitigate, anticipate, adapt, overcome, and learn. Alas, sometimes when it all falls apart you just plain take the hit. This is what separates the adventurer from human barnacles on the couch of life.

There’s a thing I didn’t anticipate. Unexpectedly, I was inspiring people.

I wrote about my adventures… however mild and peaceful they are… because people enjoy them. I hoped to make people happy. In this, the time of a manufactured global COVID panic, it’s nice to hear about rabbits and pine trees.

Just as Filthie building a balsa RC plane makes me think I may do that sometime, other people read about my ridiculous little bike and thought they might do that. Like I said, most people don’t take the leap, but some to. At least two of my readers actually did.

Look at this happy photo a reader e-mailed me. Is that not a fun little adventure in the making?

Did I mention risk is part of this. The barnacle on a couch stays perfectly safe until they die of heart failure… but the adventurer is not safe. Here’s a photo a different reader sent:

Daaaaaaaamn.

Let nobody say I sugar coat things! Also, this particular photo has inspired me to do something else this spring… buy more safety gear!

Anyway, life is never safe but it’s always glorious. Do what you can while you’re still standing. I’d also like to add a sincere thanks to the two readers (who remain anonymous) that contributed the photos. They’re both in good humor and I’m glad to hear it.

They’re adventurers. Good for them.