Discussion: XC adventure

You had a scary brush with getting lost. When you XC ski by yourself, it is always a risk. I took a fall when way out at the farthest point on an 11km trail, temps around zero...came to skiing two miles away, with glasses all twisted and bleeding from head. Could have been curtains.

Your experience may have been even more frightening, since you seemed to be confused and running out of energy...both for yourself and for your cell. Being uncertain for 33 minutes in those conditions is scary. Glad you avoided panic, and followed good trail-finding principles. Nice going.

"Uncomfortable" is more like it. The 33’ was returning the way I’d come. Energy wasn't an issue. The “Yuk” part was the uncertainty of unfamiliar trail junctions, alone in winter woods. My plan for a straightforward, pleasant ski had gone awry. The cell might not have been of any use, other than "gps fyi" stuff.

It does call up one’s being young and far-flung, casting fate to the wind to some extent. In the 90s, also skiing at Bear Brook, I made a wrong turn on the edge of the old 1/15 map late in the day. I soon came upon a camp with two snowmobiles in front. I knocked, was invited in, and eventually given a ride back to Podunk parking on a snowmobile after dark.

Ha ha! Good story! Did those 'bilers think you were going to throw away your skis and buy a snow machine when they dropped you off?

My experience is that very few Americans understand the pleasure of getting somewhere without internal combustion. After 40 years in Chicago without owning a car, I can safely say I haven't convinced a single person, athlete or couch potato, to try the lifestyle, the pleasure, and the economy that comes from living without a large depreciating, polluting, and unhealthy asset outside the door.

Gee, Clark, you have 100,000 of those unhealthy assets outside your door. They may not belong to you, but they are still out there, polluting, noisy, ready to run you down if you are not careful. I do enjoy the city lifestyle, in small doses, but I prefer the fresh air, the quiet, the views, the easy access to walks, runs, or snowshoeing in the woods.

Well no question. I enjoy getting out to the countryside too. But as I get older, I do a lot less of those activities. And I find I have increased interest in discovering all the city has to offer: store-front theater, foreign and indie films, dance, concerts, shows on their way to Broadway, ethnic foods and restaurants, chance encounters with different ethnicities, cultures, ideas and races. Always stimulating, but in a much different way than running a 10k on a country road. Suits me and Sari. But maybe not you or Bob.

And at least for Chicago, we're making the City less car-friendly every year. Traffic lanes have been converted to bike lanes all over the City. And recently passed was an ordinance permitting new residential construction near elevated train stations without providing accompanying parking spaces; their condo buyers will save in many ways, since the $330 000/space construction cost will not be part of their purchase price.

Bob, you did the right thing to turn around and retrace your step, a strategy that works well in orienteering also!
I am not sure if these "lost" episodes are a result of poor memory, or just the result of so many things packed in there that it is hard to remember what goes with what.
The no car life is something I could live. Coming from someone who has loved working on his cars since his first in 1969, and still doing work on them, racing them and enjoying their styling and mechanics, I have told my daughters they are the worst investment you will ever make.

Someday, we'll likely end up within walking distance of a suitable-sized town with one car in the garage. Hans and Lena Bengtsson moved to within walking distance of downtown Camden, ME. It's hard on O accessibility but, being on Penobscot, it has that to offer plus numerous cultural year round offerings.

Clark - I must admit that we appear to be major consumers (car) for the time being. 4 of them :-(. Two convertibles ('04 & '09), the '00 Saab 9.5 wagon in process of being replaced (but, being low and casual, doing able duty as the old dog car) and the shiny replacement ('12, 130k mi). The problem is being stuck on convertibles and my adamant wife wanted her own after I got a hardtop one that she figured was mine not ours. Someday we'll get "it" straight. After all, I also admit to being a Sierra Club member for 25 years. Meanwhile, we don't drive to as many A meets anymore fwiw.