Rolling with the Punches

"If you want to get more out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty." — Jon Krakauer

I feel like I'm truly starting to come into this lifestyle of homelessness.

It's kind of all about rolling with the punches and adapting to whatever the day throws at you. I don't really view it as a challenge, so much as a way to really just live for the moment.

Troy's housing some Dutch Soccer coaches at his digs in Caribou. We all went mountain biking last night, then had a few beers at the pub...getting into some interesting conversation on healthcare and government. Awesome to hear views from both Europeans and health care professionals. Cool dudes.

We left the pub, and next thing I know it's 10pm. I had forgotten to eat. Only place open was McDonalds, so I grabbed all my gear and tooled over there. I got 2 McChickens, some fries, and a drink, and headed to my spot for the night. I sat at one of the benches along the bike path and ate my heart-attack in a bag.

To the person who didn't know me, I must have REALLY looked like a homeless dude, with my beard, my bike, and sleeping bag.
Thing is, I didn't care. The night was nice and quiet, and it was a great way to wrap up a good day.

This morning, I ate my breakfast by the river at Riverside Park. I saw a homeless guy on the other side of the park. There is a small homeless community in Aroostook County...somehow. I wonder how they slip through the cracks in such a small, close-knit area.

I'm intrigued by homeless people in general.
They have a story.
When I started this blog, I had this idea in the back of my mind of eventually meeting Presque Isle's homeless and publishing my chats with them.
I'll sit on it for a little while more, but it's definitely something that would be pretty cool to me.

krp

1 Down

Been a few days since the last update.
Still doing my thing, and really loving it.
Nicole came up this past weekend. Great times.

Spent last night on Mars Hill Mountain.
I biked via the railroad bed and arrived at the base of the mountain around 8pm.
Powerhiking with my pack and pushing my bike up the mountain(sweating my ass off), I arrived at the last level before the final grunt up to the summit.
As I stood there listening to the gigantic windmills, it was impossible to ignore that one of them emitted a really annoying high-pitched squeak. I opted to go down the mountain a little bit and set up camp, just out of range of the noise.

It was cool to wake up to the view...but more awesome was the ride back to Presque Isle on the snowmobile trail, as the sun was coming up. It was the perfect time for wildlife viewing.

I had a deer jump out into the trail a little ways ahead of me. Also seen were a bunch of rabbits, snakes sunning themselves in the trail, and a falcon that flew just ahead of me for a hundred meters at a time. It would stop on a tree adjacent to the trail, seemingly waiting for me, and then fly further down the trail once I got close to it again. We played this cat and mouse game for about a half mile.
Some bear sign was present. With the amount of running, hiking, and biking I do, I know that it's only a matter of time before I have a close encounter.

Mars Hill. That's Peak 1 in my End of July Peak Assault.
I have 12 more days to get at least 11-15 Peaks. My goal is 20...but that is going to be a real challenge with all the work and whatnot. I'll have to be VERY productive on my days off, I guess.

2 Weeks Down: Conclusions Drawn Thus Far

Actually, my first night was June 28th, so I guess it's officially been 16 nights without a car, a bed, or a roof over my head.

I can honestly say I don't miss any of it.

Some conclusions:
-I sleep better than I do in a bed, and actually go to sleep earlier than when I had an apartment. There's not exactly a plethora of things to do once you've set up your tent, so you just go to bed when it gets dark.

-Walking and biking to work and around town for errands is great extra time for training.

-Already, my bills are declining. I'm going to have my only credit card paid off by the end of August. That leaves 2 relatively small student loans. It just gives me incentive to go all winter..or at least until we start the 25 below zero stuff.
I have this dream of being debt free...how that will open up so many options in my life. I'm obsessed with it the idea of it.

-It's hard to "plan" the two things taken most for granted when I had an apartment: food and showers. I figured the shower thing would be easy: show up at the gym every morning, workout, then shower. Nope. It takes about 30 mins to pack up camp, then I've got anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours coming back into town. Often times, that gets me into PI just in time to get to work...and I would feel weird signing into the gym just to shower and leave. Again, planning.

-Lastly, the beard itches. I go through spells where I hate it, and then times where I kind of like it because it fits what I'm doing.

-The amount of people that have supported this mission is amazing. Almost everyone thinks it's a kick ass idea. Special thanks go out to Mel and Penny, as I have crashed in their backyards on numerous occasions on those nights where weather was bad or I had trained until it was too late to go out into the woods.

Don't forget to vote. Only half the followers have voted!
2 days until my assault on as many peaks as I can bag from July 17th to 31.
In planning, the majority might be right in voting on 11-15 peaks, simply because of the lack of mountains in the County.
I'd still like to get more, though!

Have a good day...
krp

Urban Camping

This is what I saw on my way out of town yesterday.

Weather report called for golf ball sized hail and tornadoes.

I chose to leave my tent in the backyard of mels again.

Been super tired lately. Crashed at 8, woke up at 8am.

Night of 7-12-10

Fun night.

Participated in the Ladies Ride, just to spin out my legs after destroying them at Physical Therapy. Went like 11 miles at a slow pace, then headed to Mel's for a BBQ.

The fire was hot and the beers few. Next thing I knew, it was 10:30, and time to bed it right there in her back yard.

Toothpaste again held off the earwigs.

POLLS
Ok, looks like most people think 11-15 peaks will be the top during the last 2 weeks of July. See if I can go 20+ then :)

Also, take a look at some recent video in previous blogs. Let's Re-evaluate.
BEARD OR NO BEARD?

Vote now!

dannananananananananna
TENTMAN

River Wild

Stayed on the Aroostook last night somewhere off Parsons Road. The picture of the amazing sunset you see was right before the rain came. I didn't realize there was a gap between my rain fly and the screen and I got wet. During the night I had two encounters.

Early on, somewhere around midnight, I had something big by my tent, as I could hear it's sniffing and breathing. No tracks this morning that I could find in the softer part of the gravel about 10 feet or so from my tent, so I really don't know what it was. I was a tad nervous for a few minutes. It's all part of the experience though...kind of cool in retrospect.

Beginning about an hour or so after that,I had either muskrats or otters around me all night. I must have set up camp right next to their dwelling, because they kept walking right by and bumping into my tent. Are there even otters in northern maine? That's a question for you wildlife experts, I guess. All I know is that it was some kind of large rodent. They made little whining noises.

Katahdin Trip

Had an awesome time at Katahdin this weekend. Stayed at Foster's Field, just above Katahdin Stream Campground. Hiked to Chimney Pond (shown above), and saw an awesome moose with it's antlers still in velvet. We hiked up the Saddle, and due to the crap weather, had to hike back down the Saddle as well. We had hoped the Knife's Edge would be fine, but conditions at the top weren't that great. Mostly rainy and foggy and windy. At least we hit the summit.
The next day we spent some time exploring the Tote Road and sliding on rocks in a stream, and hiking at Kidney Pond. Excellent trip.