Saturday, January 12, 2008

Words to live by

Sept 9th

"To Bike Ridin' and Livin'"

T.S.

Well, that pretty much sums it ups doesn't it? These words were spoken at the Wonder Lake Campground Shelter. It rained again today and we ended up doing a short hike, did a short ride on the gravel road, and hung out. We were running out of food and having fun. That day, the bus dropped off another load of campers. In today's drop off was a very fun and entertaining fellow with the initials of T.S.

I won't write his full name here because in all honesty, he may be wanted by the P-O-L-I-C-E. He wasn't a bad individual, but there was certainly something about him that made both John and I wonder. This guy not only spoke the words I wrote above, but he also left me with another saying that I will never forget.

I grew up in a small town in northern MN. We were a farming family and we often went camping, in a motor home, hunting and fishing. Well, Alaska is filled with hunters and hunting isn't exactly what it used to be. Hunters end up driving all over on ATV's with guns strapped to them. Some hire spotters that fly around in planes to find the perfect kill.

As we all hung out and told stories that night, there was quite a debate over hunting. T.S. spoke these words. "You drop a guy out in the wilderness naked with some basics to survive. If he walks out with a dead animal and some clothing, he's a hunter!"

Enough said.

2 comments:

Guitar Ted said...

Ahh.........the folks you can meet out on the road. That's one of my favorite parts about riding self supported tours. Characters seem to be attracted to you like iron filings to a magnet.

That last quote was a gem! I like that.

Jason said...

Agreed last quote was killer. I'd like to see more of that. Well, not really, but the philosophy at least. ;)