♫♫ Homeward bound ♫♫ And what I learned this summer.
Original Post 9/2/21
My last day. My last shift. I’m thinking bullet points. Those of you who have been here since the beginning, this must come as a blessing. But thank you for sharing my journey the last two months.
I have learned if you hike 450+ miles and gain 100,000+ feet solo in roughly 60 days, you will:
- Lose twenty-eight pounds and a couple of toenails (on the right foot only), and build callouses tougher than whale barnacles
- End up talking to yourself in the 3rd person and using a lot of profanity (ALL of the time)
- Have all other employees think you just sell meth all day at the Hungry Horse Reservoir (north shore) because you never show photos of your hikes
- Find areas of GNP you would have never found otherwise, and new wilderness to cherish
- Understand why the CIA uses sleep deprivation as a torture technique
- Wonder how many photos your roommate posted of you sleeping on the internet
I learned if you drive an employee shuttle for just over 10,000 miles, you will:
- Have transported a grand total of 242 riders, three of which ever spoke to you
- Be second only to China in CO2 emissions
- Have nothing to show for it professionally
- Have less to show for it emotionally
- Seek counselling for isolation and road rage that will cost more than your summer earnings
- Have lost hours 400 hours of your life that could have been better spent building sandcastles or a really awesome mahogany kayak
I learned if you live in an RV park for the summer, you will:
- Want to go home and remodel your shower with painted cinder blocks and mold accents
- Ask your doctor for the shots needed to travel to Africa to counter extended use of the community kitchen
- Try to figure out what your housing deposit has to do with mowing the lawn
- Realize you were the only one there working for Xanterra; it was really a homeless camp
And of course, the final statistics:
The numbers say it all. Sometimes good things do come with age, like true commitment and hard discipline. I know young Dave could not have pulled this off. But his journey was not the same as old Dave.
Or rather, they were two roads that diverged in a wood, going to the same place taking different ways. But unlike in Frost’s epic poem, this traveler did not have to make a choice. And at two very distinct extremes of my life, I am truly humbled to say it was a unique privilege to not have let a road untraveled.
Current as of: | 9/2/2021 | Last Day: | 9/2/2021 | Days Left: | 0 | ||
Category | Count | Miles | Elv Gain/Loss | Hours | Avg Grade | Avg MPH | Drive Miles |
Hikes | 23 | 267.5 | 55,630 | 114.1 | 7.9% | 2.34 | 1315.0 |
Climbs | 19 | 188.6 | 59,184 | 119.0 | 11.9% | 1.58 | 1815.0 |
Down Days | 20 | 290.0 | |||||
Final Totals | 62 | 456.1 | 114,814 | 233.1 | 9.5% | 1.96 | 3420.0 |
Work Stats: | Miles Driven | Passengers | Pass Per Mile | Gallons | MPG | Fuel $ | |
10598 | 264 | 40.14 | 630.6 | 16.81 | $2,147.12 |