Pavlovian Conditioning at Pratt Lake

The Pavlovian conditioning was cemented after my last backpacking trip (see Backpacking, Hunkering Down, & Bookreading).

The stimulus: the desire to read a book.
The response: the need to head to the mountains for a solo backpacking trip.

Backpacking, hunkering down, & book reading...again.

My desire to head to the mountains coincided with the long Labor Day weekend. Knowing that holiday weekends are synonymous with an exodus to the mountains, I decided it best to begin my trip early Friday morning and to return to Seattle Saturday afternoon.

Ingredients for a Tenday

Recently, I've been noticing myself thinking: "Today is a tenday."

"What is a tenday?," you ask.

Well, for starters, I should clarify that the term is my own device. I never intended to create the word; I just started using it.

Now, imagine a scale that ranges from 1 to 10. At the far left of the scale is the 1, which represents "not-so-hot." At the far right of the scale is the 10, which represents "flippin' fantastic." Given that scale, a "tenday" is used to describe a day that is a 10.

"Today is a tenday."
Coming across the words of Mary Oliver, chalked on the front steps of a home.

For the record, I experience sevendays. And fivedays. And occasionally, though rare, onedays as well. After all, it's very much part of the human experience to have ups and downs in life.

Fuck-You Money vs. Fuck-You Time

A few days ago, I got together with a good friend of mine, Justin. We met at Caffe Ladro in Fremont, bright'n'early at 7am. We talked virtually non-stop for two and a half hours, pausing briefly only to breathe and to sip our drinks.

As we hadn't seen each other in two months, we had lots to share -- new favorite podcasts, interesting developments in the world of technology, and profound insights about early retirement. Justin also filled me in on his recent bike trip to Cuba, and I apprised Justin of my recent bike guiding experiences.

I had really been looking forward to guiding bicycle trips for a local company this summer. However, after guiding the first two trips, I realized that the company wasn't a good fit for me. The company had some business practices that I wasn't comfortable with. And so being the principled person that I am, I decided I would no longer work for the company.

"It must be nice to have fuck-you money," Justin said, with a covetous smile.

I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows: "Fuck-you money?"

Sometimes Good Things Fall Apart

As you may recall from I'm Officially Homeless, I had been waiting since October of last year to guide tours with Bicycle Adventures. My first two tours, which occurred in July, took me Bicycle Adventuring through Glacier, Banff, & Jasper National Parks.

Sadly, after leading my first two trips, I came to the conclusion that guiding for Bicycle Adventures was not a good fit for me. With all due respect to Bicycle Adventures and the guests on my trips, I'll simply say that the company had some business practices that I wasn't comfortable with. And so after returning from the trips to Glacier, Banff, & Jasper National Parks, I informed Bicycle Adventures that I would no longer guide for them.

As you can imagine, coming to this realization was quite a disappointment. After all, I had waited nine months to lead my first tours with Bicycle Adventures. Furthermore, I had made a handful of sacrifices during this time, keeping my calendar open so that I could lead as many trips as possible with Bicycle Adventures. The most notable of these sacrifices include:

Bicycle Adventuring in Glacier, Banff, & Jasper National Parks

Immediately after returning from A Roadtrip Through California and Oregon in mid-July, I guided two trips for Bicycle Adventures.

The first trip was an 8-day ride from Glacier National Park (in Montana) to Banff and Jasper National Parks (in Alberta). The second trip was a 6-day ride through just Banff and Jasper National Parks. Both trips rode along The Icefields Parkway, a route I have wanted to bike for a number of years. There were two guides on the trips -- me and Laura (the head guide). We took turns every other day driving the van and riding alongside the guests.

Below are some photos from the trip:

Binoculars at Lake Louise.
This was my favorite photo from the trip.
I later saw this same image hanging in a hotel room where we stayed.
I guess I have an eye for a good photo!