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Well, I have officially moved from Painesdale, MI.   I am now located in downtown Houghton, above the Four Seasons Tea Room.   It has been quite the moving process.   I have collected so much crap to the point that I am almost embarrassed.   I threw out a good 10 garbage bags of stuff that were not salvageable to Goodwill or St. Vincents.  In the meantime, I restocked Goodwills inventory as well.  It felt good to get rid of all that stuff, however, it made me realize how much of an environmental impact I am making.   I hope to do better with a minimalist approach on collecting crap I really don’t need.   We’ll see how that goes…I am hoping that limited space means a limit on material possessions.

Anyway, I posted last week on my buddy Tom hiking around Lake Michigan.   He threw in the towel early, and I went to go pick him up in Oshkosh Wednesday Night/Thursday Morning.  Here is his explanation on bailing out of his journey:

So I left on my walkabout around a week ago. Yesterday, i decided that this adventure was no good, and i needed a new one. So here’s why, what i’ve been up to, and what i plan on doing next.

So I left last thursday and had a jolly ol time through the UP. I made 150 miles in three days. (never mind how) and reached Menominee pretty quick. I had found the lake, things were good. Shortly after (and after buying a new pack because some tool swiped mine – just the pack, all other gear intact.) I set out for walking. On the first day, i saw 1 mile of beach. On that mile was a prissy park and some normal beach. I passed the park, and then walked on the beach for a bit. After that, the beach disappeared and i found myself in a marsh. I tried for an hour and a half to pass the marsh, trying this outcropping and then the next. I was working back down the peninsula because i knew it had to turn to solid ground at some point. (the only alternative was to wade a quarter of a mile through chest deep muck) When i finally worked my way back to solid ground, the place i could cross over, i was back at the park with the people walking their dogs.

So i walked on, a bit discouraged, and hoping to re-join the lake soon. Directly after the park were homes built right on the lake. To walk along the beach, i would have to be in the water, or hop fences to go from yard to yard. So i decided to walk on the road and join with the lake later on. I saw only houses and road that day. The next day, it was more of the same. I saw nothing but houses and highway, and lost the lake half way through the day. The next day, i kept walking until about 1, when a truck driver asked if i needed a ride. My thoughts: “Well, i haven’t seen the lake in a day and a half, i havent been able to walk on it in two days, and i’m bored out of my mind.” So i said yes. He was making two stops, one in the little town a couple miles up the road of where i was, and one in Appleton. It was decision time, keep going or truck down to Appleton where i know a friend on co-op. Well the night before i had made a list of all the reasons to keep going around the lake and all the reasons to pick new directions, and i’ll list them below. I went to Appleton, called Mena, met up with her and crashed in her dorm style house thing. That’s where i am now.

Now on to the reasoning:

The lack of walking space made me question my motives, once i opened the can of worms of whether or not i wanted to do this (having experienced a sliver of it) the choice was pretty obvious. Here’s my thought process:

Reasons i wanted to go on this trip:
1) Explore – There’s nothing to explore, it’s all houses save for the State and local parks, which is not enough area to make me walk the whole lake.

2) Prove i can wander – Done and done. I’ve proven i can live out of a pack and do so well. I had no discomfort or difficulty getting 300 miles from home in 6 days. I lived on the fly, and went where i felt. I even got an offer of a place to stay for a week and some odd jobs i could do for some cash. #2 accomplished. I also gathered a few good stories, ask me about those sometime.

3) Fun – It’s not all that fun, i can walk on roads anywhere. It’s not very challenging either, almost too easy. Yes the pack is heavy, but i’ve carried heavy packs before, i didn’t need to prove to myself that i can walk long distances, i already knew that.

4) Experience the “open road” – I have and will continue to do so this summer. I’ll tackle the unknown and live where life takes me. When it really comes down to it, the walkabout was way more structured then what i’m planning now.

5) Meet people – It’s a pretty crappy way to meet people. I had one conversation, over and over and over again. I detest small talk and that’s all i got. There are much, much better ways to meet people than this.

Then i made a list of reasons i should change directions:
1. I want to do more than one thing this summer. The idea of one activity for four moths seems bleak now.
2. Freeze dried food. Fine for a week, beyond that….don’t go beyond that.
3. Need people. Solitude is great, but it does get lonely out there.
4. Tired of trespassing. I couldn’t light a fire the whole time I was gone for fear of being spotted and thrown out of my camp.
5. Music!
6. Books!
7. Ticks!
8. Boredom. I’ve seen enough houses, thanks much.
9. Pack stolen. Cost to morale as well as wallet. Also, the idea that more than my pack (like my entire camp) could have been gone is scary. And by scary i mean terrifying. It’s just stuff, but its the most useful stuff i own. And it’s the stuff i chose to keep me ALIVE.
10. I realized all i’d miss out on this summer if i didn’t go out and take advantage of all life offered over the next 4 months. Rather than walk, sit, sleep, walk, sit, sleep there are SO many things i can do. I truly feel like i would be missing out if i had kept going, and probably wouldn’t forgive myself for it.

Reasons i thought of to stay on Lake Michigan:
That you would be disappointed in me. I’m not disappointed in me, i’m happy with my decision. Like i said, Adventure was always the name of the game. Lake Michigan was the where and walking was the how. I’m only changing the where and the how. So you can be disappointed in me if you like, but it doesn’t make any sense that way. The disappointment should come if i decided to be stubborn enough to keep walking even though i was unhappy and bored.

If you are disappointed, then don’t say “He thought he could and he couldn’t”. That’s not accurate. The downfall was that i thought it was there and it wasn’t. So yeah, i’m bummed that Lake Michigan isn’t walkable, but on the whole i’m not disappointed at all. I’ve got a slew of adventures to go on, horizons to chase, and friends to see. Way, way way more than the original plan.

I don’t consider anything here a failure, simply a change of direction. Morale is as high as ever, i consider my adventures still underway, and am excited to see what’s around the next corner.

So now i’m going to bum around Oshkosh, and catch bus into Houghton tonight. I should be home tomorrow morning, where i can regroup, repack, and decide where to go from there.

I have to give him all the credit in the world.   His week long journey is full of stories, and it is absolutely amazing that he was planning on putting his whole life on his backpack for four months.   Fortunately, I have the luxury of having another friend around for a good portion of the summer.

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