Week Total: 0
Back when I started all this training business, I made the goal to hike 25 miles every week and 100 miles before I left. As the sun rose on Monday, I had a total of 84 miles completed and only 16 miles left to reach my 100 mile goal. There was no doubt in my mind that the 100 miles would be mine. My hiking friend Lil’ Buddha arrived this week so that I could train him to take care of Smart’s Mountain. The work load was stacked against us and then the week unfolded into a series of calamities and mini-disasters.
First, Lil’ Buddha got pulled over driving my truck on his first day in Ukiah. The crime? Driving a little lost and looking ethnic. On Wednesday as I’m attending a memorial for my beloved band director Rowland Nielson, Lil’ Buddha has to dash to Oakland to retrieve some hiking gear. Aparently TSA removed items from his suitcase without notifying him and they were about to throw them away after the 48 hours grace period. This week Buddha washed the 14 dozen eggs. I completed a long work week on Friday. And the major schedule crusher was the realization that a bear had broken into the chicken pen Saturday night. So all those miles I was going to hike on Sunday were taken up with burying chickens, repairing the pen and prepping for the inevitable return of the bear.
And yes the bear came back. I was up late working on all the little details of leaving for 6 months when I heard the crunching of metal. Buddha fired a couple warning shots and we could hear the bear crashing away through the forest. Only problem? Now Mr. Bear has crashed through the garden perimeter fence is his mad dash fleeing the scene of the crime.
So all this is a reminder that not everything works out as planned and that you have to roll with the punches. I leave Lil’ Buddha with a bear mess. He’s the most capable person but I feel bad for leaving him in the middle of such a stressful situation.
Journey Return 