Relative Something

I’m struggling with myself on what to write about this year’s “Jaunt With Jim” bike trip. Part of my sense of storytelling is strongly attached to chronology of events, and that has me inclined to want to go back to the very first day and describe events in the order they occurred. At the same time, the most recent events are fresh in memory and seem to hold increased value over something further removed in time.

Jim presented a cake for the newlyweds at breakfast the first day.

The moment that Gary and I pulled into the school parking lot in Chatfield on Friday the 11^th, the first people we see include my very good friends with whom I have shared the most continued interaction over the years. What story could be more worthy of telling than the amazing news that Curt and Suzanne immediately share? That very morning they went to a little church in Iowa and got married! They are sporting matching shirts that declare their new status and will spend the week, which newlyweds traditionally reserve for a honeymoon, riding bicycle with us. The “Jaunt With Jim” ride is just the kind of adventure that attracts this kind of behavior.

But regardless my inclination toward chronological storytelling, I am interested in entertaining a move away from my pattern of excessive orderliness in processing. I didn’t consciously plan for this trip to involve a theme, but one did seem to materialize. Steve noticed that I didn’t write about my prolonged pre-trip planning and packing phase like the previous year. That is because it wasn’t the same this year. I performed a last-minute review of the lists I have been keeping and reusing since the early years, and then I just stuffed it all in my duffel. I would refine the organization in Chatfield.

I think part of me was trying to knock me out of my old patterns; to try practicing being more in the moment. Personally, I find this trip to be a VERY hard place to take on such a task. I’ll expand on that later. Then my sister, Mary, made a comment about deciding not to put my tent up for me one day because she wasn’t sure I would be satisfied with the way she did it. I was “anal.”

That was good for me to hear. I have no interest in creating that impression about myself to others. There are definitely times I have made fun of my tendency to exhibit behaviors that remind me of the USA Network television detective, Monk. How many times must I have uttered the phrase, “a place for everything, and everything in its place?” In reality, for any sense of order I am able to achieve, there are equal parts of disarray that I live with that certainly help offer some balance. I wonder how often the disarray part of my life appears as the impression others perceive?

Chaos in the duffel

With so many people to greet and visit that first night, I end up giving less attention to my ‘system’ of managing the various details involved with comfortably navigating a week-long group bicycle camping adventure. The first thing I discover to be missing this year is my travel watch for checking the time when I awake in the middle of the night in the tent. I rally to solve the problem with a perfectly functional, though less convenient solution. I can use my iPod. I will just suffer the brightness the display beams into my night vision.

I have always found this trip to require a lot of thinking ahead. If you want to be comfortable, make sure you drink enough water in advance. If you drink enough water, make sure you visit the restroom before you leave any rest stop! When you pack your duffel in the morning, make sure you leave out anything that must be with you on the bike during the day. If you are going to walk all the way to the shower, make sure you think ahead about what you plan to wear after you dry off. Did you even remember your towel? Did you bring your money with you for the walk to dinner?

For all the freedom from planning that this trip offers, with the route assigned in advance, food menu selections determined, place to sleep set and wake-up whistle automatic, I see now that I still make an awful lot of mini-decisions all week long. Stories about some of our adventures will follow in the days ahead, as time allows.