The Neverending Journey: August 2012

Idaho: More than just potatoes (note the "e" Dan Quayle)

Perfect example of east coast bias: I thought Idaho was little more than a flyover state of the west. Little did I know that it's a hidden treasure for those willing to put in the slightest bit of effort. Idaho boasts one of the largest percentages of public land per total land area, 3rd in the nation (just over 60%). It took us about a day to get through all the fluff and make it into the national forest, but from there we followed rivers and climbed mountains to our hearts's content.

Our highest summit yet: 7,200 ft. A man on a hike a few thousand feet down was so impressed he gaves us a couple of PBRs and told us we had to toast the top.

Our main destination is Idaho was Stanley, population: 63. This number only holds true during the winter months, during the summer it's an outdoorsman's paradise. After our massive climb we took it easy that night but I was up early for two breakfasts at the local bakery and must have seen at least 200 people role through there. We meant to do some stand-up paddleboarding down the Salmon river but let the day get away from us. The cabins where we were staying had a cycling group come through so we spent some time swapping good cycling stories, relaxed, and eventually made it to Red Lake (where we got to do a bit of paddle boarding). The lake was only about 7 miles from town but I REALLY didn't want to get on a bike, so we hitched.

Though I've picked up a hitchhiker before, I've never done it myself. Bradley told me to bring a collared shirt before I left because it made us look presentable. I laughed but did it, and am glad I did. Hitchhiking is tough. We only went a little over 5 miles each way but it involved 4 separate rides (one for each road, each way). We ran the gambit in terms of styles of cars and individuals and drank it all in, never once fearing for our safety (NOT an endorsement of hitchhiking, remember this is a town of 63!).

View from Red Fish Lake, well worth the effort!

BIKE FORREST, BIKE!

Connections can't help but be drawn between this adventure and Forrest Gump just taking off and running. I'm not sure how many times people brought this up in talking about it before I left, but I lost count at 20 (after the fingers and toes it's a struggle for me). I'm not exactly sure how to interpret this, but I generally take the optimistic side on this one. I figure at worst they're hinting that I'm a simpleton, and hell, I've been called much worse (probably in the past 1/2 hour).

All of this talk about this movie and it's main character really made me think a bit deeper about it. Though this cinematic great has a variety of entertaining elements: love, action, comedy, etc., I'd like to focus on one that's probably overlooked: fear.

Fear is a natural part of life and one we all deal with in different ways. Fear is natural and circumstantially beneficial. Fright or flight is an innate trait of the human condition, one that prepares the mind and body to respond in a way that hopefully maximizes the chances for survival. Unfortunately, this condition is somewhat antiquated in that we generally no longer being chased down by sabertooth tigers. Lacking such primal stimuli, our fear turns towards other things: fear of not acheiving what we want to acheive, fear of not being loved, fear of failure, (insert you greatest fears here). What currently intrigues me about Forrest Gump is that he showed no fear in overcoming all his adversity and acheiving so much. Rescueing comrades from a firestorm of gunfire? No problem. Underdog in the olympics? Stone face. Worst storm in the gulf in many years? Enjoy the ride. While most of us don't have the luxury of either not understanding or completely ignoring fear, I think this movie is exemplary is promoting what can be accomplished in the face of fear. (This may be a common theme so don't be suprised if there's another bit on this later).

Side note: Forrest Gump is the most interesting man in the world. Sorry Dos Equis guy, you put up one helluva fight and even a great PR campaign, but Forrest has you by a notch. On the surface, their fictional accomplishments are probably on par. It's hard to compare olympic gold to summiting mountains, or national medals or honor to having a variety of things named after you, so we'll leave the subjectivity out of this. What seperates Forrest from doble-X is love. Every time you see the well-aged man sporting a brown or green bottle he has two beautiful ladies at his side. Good for him, but what straight male wouldn't want that? (especially one in his later years). What makes Forrest more interesting is his unconditional love for Jenny. Jenny is the only woman he's ever had eyes on and his love for her never fades, despite the fact that she continually pushes him away with a multitude of acts that seemingly contradict his values. What could motivate that? How does it stay so strong? I completely understand the two beautiful women thing, but have no idea how to answer these questions, which makes in my book makes Forrest more interesting.