I’ve run two marathons in my life. The second marathon I ran, I called, “When the Chickens Come Home to Roost Marathon.” Actually, the name everyone else chose to call it was, The Air Force Marathon. First, why did I run it? Well, the answer is, I wanted to impress the man who I would…
“I am a jogger!” says no one today. OK, there was a time, many years ago that I referred to myself as a jogger. In 1978, I was attending college in Portland, Oregon and started jogging. Prior to that, I hadn’t even thought about jogging. I was a Long Jumper in high school and ran…
I was scrolling this morning, and I happened to see a reel from a therapist that had a list of things to avoid in order to take care of your mental health. The first one was: Stop scrolling first thing in the morning. First, I think he’s right. Second, it’s a little ironic that someone…
My very first trip out west was in January 1979. I was headed to college in Portland, Oregon. I was raised around a little snow in Southern Indiana, but I know it’s not Minnesota or the Rockies. I’d recently been discharged from the Air Force in September, spent six weeks visiting my parents in Southern…
It took 13 hours, but I finished my second Rim to River to Rim of the Grand Canyon. When I finished, the first thing I did was call my wife and tell her that I would never, ever, under no circumstances, ever do it again. “I know you Bear,” she replied, “Once you recover, and…
I loved working at UPS. I was a load supervisor on the South Ramp. Mind you, that was 30 years ago. If you ever worked there, I know you would agree that the ramp was organized confusion. And yes, it was stressful. At any given time, there were dozens and dozens of aircraft, 747s, Airbus…
I’m not a Catholic, but I felt the loss of Pope Francis. I’ve been reading Thomas Merton lately, and I think Pope Francis was that kind of Catholic. They rejected certitude and coerciveness in religion. They supported a more tolerant and inclusive Catholicism. There was healing in their message, at least for me. Toxic Religion…
Having a Kansas Moment I hate driving through Kansas. I can see many heads nodding in agreement. But I do love road trips. I’ve driven out to Colorado several times. Three times in one year during the pandemic. It took my back six months to heal up from those road trips. Why do I dread…
My First climbing Experience The first time I used a climbing gym was in 2002 at Rockport. My climbing partner and I did the initial training for belaying on Top Rope. There were no auto-belays then. Auto-belays are like a tape measures that you hook onto and it retracts as you climb. But, if you…
Several years ago, I was invited by Quest For The Outdoors to share my adventures in Canyonland National Park. So much fun. People were amazed by some of the facts about Canyonlands. It’s about 350,000 acres, which is about half the size of the state of Rhode Island. And it’s remote. The Maze District-Range Station…
