High Impact American...Redundancy

I believed that I could be a "low-impact American". Low impact on our natural environment was the goal. Decades later I understand the ridiculousness of such a concept. If you were investing a couple of months into backpcking the Appalachian Trail, The Pacific Crest Trail or bikepacking across this country, you would have a new view on what it is to be a low-impact American. The entire concept, lowering your impacts on the environment is possibly unAmerican. So, how do we work our way out of this conumdrum? Become a tidy homeless person? Which is exactly what long distance backpackers and bikepackers are practicing. However, how do we behave when the pilgrimage is over? Self-propelled adventure pilgrims have educated themselves about what it takes to survive...the difference between needs and wants...an increased awareness does result from such an effort. American society will however, suck you right back into a wasteful lifestyle...and your environmental awareness will undoubtly fade. I've done this. I've been conscious of my impacts...lived simple through bicycling and hiking full time, eating out of my organic garden and avoiding high-impact behavoirs like flying high above the earth and being pulled by a motor down the river or across a lake. However. I have taken several steps backword over the last couple of decades. Living in a remote location and creating a child will do things to a person who wished to live a low-impact lifestyle...motor vehicles, can't live without them now. Far-flung travel with hopes of inspiring and enriching the child...unavoidable!

What A Summer!

My turn to go under the knife...we've all got something to be removed, replaced or re-alligned. Last August we didn't sell a bicycle or a kayak. We didn't sell a helmet or a t-shirt...We were evacuated, our town was destined to burn to the ground. We zipped back to the upper Midwest to say goodbye to my mother and to console my sisters. Our first Summer vacation ever. The Dixie Fire came right to our doorstep, then it turned and blowtorched it's way to the Lassen Volcanic National Park, directly north of us. What a Summer that was. This Summer is hot and extremely dry but thunderheads are building above me as I write this. I am hoping that the rest of this season is far less eventful. The supply chain seems to be fixed. Our bicycles seem to be coming from Taiwan, Cambodia and Vietnam...not China. The quality is still very good but the prices have jumped considerably. Kayaks are in and the lakes still have water and good views. Time to cut it here...sounding like the Chester Lake Almanor Chamber of Commerce.