September is my favorite month for outdoor activities. Missing it sucks!
How a year can change a man. Here are a couple images from just a year ago. This is from the WYBDR (story link):
This is from roughly the same time period. It’s a totally different motorcycle in a completely different place (story link):
Wanting something doesn’t make it so. I’ve taken a hit in 2025 that puts me below my level in 2024. It’s naught but a fact. Unlike current society, I’m not at war with truth.
Also, every time I bitch I know that I’m being insufficiently grateful. Gratitude is key! I’m alive. I should be overjoyed! I am overjoyed. I wasn’t entirely sure I’d see autumn.
It’s hard to quantify such things. Maybe I was overreacting. Medical people, soaked in death, decline, and misery, are cynical and worn down. Their baseline is not mine. A doctor might have a dozen patients enduring chemo and many others on the way out for things that can’t be treated at all. Maybe they did time at the ER; frantically patching together bits remaining after car wrecks and farm accidents. They’ve witnessed situations I can’t fathom. I don’t blame them that they didn’t fret much over me. As for the rest of the system, the goal seems to be to shoo the bearded whiner out the door. In the facility, I’m a hassle, if I die one step beyond their parking lot it won’t mess up their stats. Plus, a man can endure a lot more suffering for a lot longer than I was willing to ponder. Thank God (literally) I didn’t have to plumb those depths.
So, if I want to camp but don’t feel up to my usual method of dispersed camping in the middle of nowhere, what should I do? Bitch about it? Well… I do that but it’s definitely uncool. Should I dial back to a State or National Park? Good answer but I’m not ready for that either. So I did what I could. The words of Teddy R are always in my head. They come out in times like these.
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
It was a glorious warm September day. I quit letting “ideal” be the enemy of “good enough”. I muttered, “Fuck this, I need a campfire.” And headed for the door.
Stay tuned for Part 2.