Author: Bill

Another day of work and I am fried. Trying to get a deadline sewed up. The only thing I can muster is a bike ride. I get Orca out and go for a toot.

The next day I drag myself out of bed and make some coffee. When the bean perks me up I code. I work until I run into a snag. I need to think. Time for a morning walk. I take a 30 minute break to stretch the legs.

It’s smoky out so after the sunrise show is over, so is my walk. I go back to work and code until I start to flatline.

I wake up the next day in a stupor. This time it takes two cups of coffee today. I start work with half a brain. Will this project ever end?

Gosh, I better get out for a walk. I don’t like the trend. And bike tonight. I don’t feel the same when I miss bike rides.

To see something new, you must cross a bridge. For coming from what you know to the other side is the journey to something new.

It was Suggles’s idea. To go check out the state park. I was like, oh whatever. I had a rowdy day yesterday, so whatever. Some restful spinning might do the trick.

That is where you usually find me. Tagging along with someone’s hair brain idea just because I am exhausted from something I did the day before. When I have enough gumption, I am usually off to play in an activity that no one wants to join in on.

So there I am … going with the flow. And then it hits me. Wow, this is living. Why do I hurt myself to miss a relaxing day like this?

I get ripped from my wonderful stupor so I could take part in a discussion on where we are and where we are going. My reply is, “whatever, just being out here with you is all I need”.

“Ah, that’s sweet”

Yea, today I crossed that bridge. I have crossed many bridges. Tomorrow I’ll forget where I am and go searching again.

We have a open door policy when we are on the road. When possible, open the main door. Ans sit there. And watch the scenery. With a beer. With a friend.

When the sun sets is when things get real interesting. Bears come out. Wolves start to howl. Owls hoot.

I am watching nature but my eyes start to feel very heavy. The lids of my view into the world finally shut. The last thing I see. Is nature … just out our door.

Let me explain the scene. We’ve got wildflowers with some wild lands smoke in the air and the Sun is coming up. It’s this complete round ball of orangish-red. It’s like something you’d see in a Star Wars movie. And it’s rising over a bridge. I totally had to take that picture.

Now I got my shoes off and walking through the grass. Enjoying Mother Earth. And her healing powers. Flexing my arm. Now that the inflammation’s being sucked out of me.

I just saw a bumper sticker. This is SUPPOSSED to be funny? In a nutshell, it is clumping homeless, gay, and sick whales to make a point … that they are all somehow sick and this sticker suggests that the owner is empathetic to them all. What? I really don’t understand this kind of humor.

So there is a group of persons that believe that others are not like them are sick. Wow, that’s interesting. Can these people really have empathy if they can not see life with and through others?

Okay, transition to the hatred towards people that do not have a home. Sure, some are sick. But more rich people are sick. I am not sick; I don’t think. And I don’t own a home. I don’t want to own a home. I don’t want to have an address. I want to be nomadic. When I reach my goal, they will consider me a problem. What?

I know I am privileged. That some are in serious trouble and are being really shit on. I know. But I am ranting on others that see people are not like them somehow broken.

Heartless compassionless mean people. Argh. Why are people mean? Are people heartless, why do some people step on other people? Why do you step in front of people in line? So you can get something before them? I mean, you see it in nature, birds do it, animals do it. But you know what? We might be animals, but we have developed with a conscience. And compassion. Well, I have these things I feel. Just confused.

I just want to hide from people now. I’m tired of fighting. I see somebody being mean to somebody else. I will step in. But I will hide now. I’m afraid of people. Just weird, humans can be so mean. I mean, people say that children can be mean. Grown-ups can be mean. People just never grow up. Some people never grow up.

I will admit that in the past I felt the same as some I feel are mean now. That the homeless were sick, and that is why they are homeless. But I grew up. I still cannot look at some people in the eyes. Maybe I am ashamed. But I grew up.

121 miles and 37,522 feet of plunge. For me Grand Targhee goes back many, many years. I think I was at one of the first Pierre’s hole 100 and got two belt buckles. I’ve always loved this place. Now Grand Targhee hosts one of the best bike parks in America. so when we decided on which bike park to visit this summer we chose Grand Targhee.

We arrived Friday and were excited to hit up the Friday Family Night where you get a lift ticket from 4 to like 6 for $20 bucks. Super fun. We hit up Sidewinder and Bullwinkle right off the bat. Then we hit up multiple runs on Take it on Home and Shoots and Ladders.

Getting there, cracking a beer, then relaxing until 4 was a treat. I couldn’t just sit around so went for a cross-country ride just to get the juices flowing.

And this was just day one. We tucked ourselves into bed with dreams of two more lift access days. I could hardly sleep.

He hit the first chair and hit up Tall Cool One to get into the rhythm. It is the super long green cross-country trail from the top. Takes quite a while to get back to the lodge. Once we were back, we had enough turns in to hit bigger stuff.

We hit sidewinder and took the foray into Sticks and Stones. As the day progressed Snuggles was looking more and more ragged. Soon my hands ached. These trails are rough. Downhill trails … um … we were on short travel enduro rigs. We did an extensive ride after Sticks, and then she headed to do some more flow. I hit the lifts to get in as many as I could.

We ended the day just as we did the day previous. Then the next day I repeated. A full day of downhill. The last thing I remember is looking at the lift to confirm they shut it down.

She packed me up in the van and drove me home. It is now two days later and I can finally feed myself. That was rough. The final tally was 121 miles and 37,522 feet of descent. I am going back for 4 day’s next time. In two weeks. Im going back.

We call her Charlotte. And I’m having coffee with her today out on the porch. We are waiting for the sun to come up. Inside mr. bear is finding other ways to entertain himself.

Just another day in the office and Gardiner Montana just outside Yellowstone National Park. I wonder where Mo is at right now? Is she in the Hayden Valley doing plots? Or she somewhere near the lake pulling weeds?

What am I going to do today? Well, work obviously. But after work.

Should I ride here in Gardner? Or should I go up to Paradise Valley and find a ride? Gosh! I sure have a lot of questions.

Maybe a cup of coffee could clear things up. This one doesn’t seem to do the trick. But as we all know two cups of coffee doesn’t make you any more brilliant than one cup of coffee. One cup doesn’t do it then we habituate you and it will make no difference so. That’s a bummer.

Should I quit coffee for a week? Should I just grab another cup of coffee?

Gosh, questions again. Who has answers for all these questions?

Wait, what day is it?

Each day starts out just like any other day. Go outside for a brief break upon wakening and bringing the camera to take a sunrise shot. Making coffee. And enjoying said coffee.

When making coffee this activity usually includes some grinding and marvelous smells. This will bring along anybody else involved.

Then the coffee works its magic, and the conversation gears up on where to adventure next. For me it’s just finding a road I haven’t been down and heading down it.

When that road ends, and if it does, it might just leave enough time to find another road.

That formula usually produces some paradise. The effort produces hunger.

Headed down to a friend’s place for dinner. Just another day … right?

What does a power couple do after a grand adventure? Well, besides crack a cold one almost immediately. Oh yea, and after a nice shower outdoors.

Start the grill and cook up the biggest burger to date. And in the Beartooths you just have to meander off the bench to find a place to walk No need for a sidewalk or path. Just set fourth.

You can not deny that the last rays of sunshine really set up the landscape for optimal viewing.

We meandered through this evening to a lake called Chain Lakes. I had been admiring a grassy edge for two days now and wondered what it was all about. Tonight we would check it out and it excited me for sure.

It was interesting how from above it totally looked like a marsh and wetlands. We didnt expect to get that close to the shore. But it worked out that we could wander around without too much wetland encounter.

What is interesting is that the spot I was looking forward to was not the gem of the walk. It was cool. But the other items found along the way were so cool.

And I am not including the exquisite sunset either. No, there were sub-ponds and springs. Laden with color and life. There were birds and little critters.

The coolest were the little things. The little ecosystems and floating lands of wonder. IF you just got down and looked at the little worlds. If one could just shrink themselves down there would be so much more to explore.

Standing up, I realize that in the universe it is already that way. So much to explore. Gotta love the burger and a walk.

As of this writing, I’m sitting on the porch of “Condo 1” in Gardiner, Montana. Sun is out, I’m having my coffee.

Yesterday morning I woke up I was in Livingston, Montana. Here and there never know where I will be.

Partners working in the park, taking splendid pictures.

I’m struggling just to find anything to take a picture of, just to past at the time until we can break free.

In the meantime, I drive. Fly just landed on the banner and is looking at me.

Do flies look? It turns around. Walking down the banister now. And he’s off.

Okay, where was I? Oh yeah, complaining about. Well, not complaining, just nothing really to talk about.

I think it’s time Moe and I go to a bike park. Get out of town.

Get out of one of the town’s. Get out of all the towns. Just get the hell out of here.

I just finished a great ride. A quickie hour and a half. I put my bike into the van and rushed towards the front door. It was about to storm and I wanted to stay dry.

I heard that noise. Something like tires in gravel slowly coming to a stop. But I made nothing of it and just wanted to get inside.

As I was jumping inside I saw the Ranger. I thought to myself, “cool, my partner works in Yellowstone, maybe this person knows the van and wants to chat”. I waved and headed over to chat.

“Did you see that note”, gesturing towards the van. It started raining.

“No, I was…. out for a ride and just got back”

“My colleagues left it. They knocked and knocked. You would not answer the door.”

“BECAUSE I was out riding my bike”

“Yea well … now that I have you here, what do you know about the new trails at Travertine?”

I was still confused why he didnt believe me that I was out riding.

“Someone hand built trails … on private property! What do you know about that?”

I got into our van and texted Mo what happened. I joked that if I was not home in ten minutes, then I needed to be bailed out of jail.

Private land? What the hell, I just parked on a public road in a pullout to go for a ride.

When I got back home snuggles shown photos of a place, we used to adventure at. Taken over by telecommunication companies with cell towers. In Yellowstone Park, no less. What is going on?

The rest of the night included beer and ranting. Even the grilled burger didn’t improve the mood. Usually the evening spent preparing for the next adventure. Pouring over maps. Deciding where to go.

I fell asleep planning to leave Gardiner. Broken hearted. I thought it was so cool here. But I do not belong.

I must break out. That lack of a special place is my driver. I leave my apartment and start spinning up the street. I cross a walking bridge and really I notice nothing. I am in my head. There is so much in there it feels like a headache. I turn left.

It’s all automatic to me. I spin along. Affecting the world without knowing it. I roll along, not paying attention to the smaller things. Thinking about my work day and how lazy I feel. I need to break free.

“Hey, bro … get off the pavement. Head east”, I hear coming from the lagoon as I pass over the bridge. I stop and look. Is there a troll? Boon-docker under the bridge? Did I hear that?

It is a way off, but I see it because I can make out its eyes. They roll back down and focus on a little swimmer just below the surface of the water. Surely the creature didn’t just talk to me. I head East.

I pass the hospital and stop at a gate, open it and follow the fence line. It is hard to focus on my issues now. I can’t just roll along. I must pay attention to the pitfalls on the surface and avoid the pesky cactus here and there. When I reach another gravel road, I start up that. And I climb.

It is not my special place; I know. But it is a place for right now. I look forward to the next section of my journey. The next ridge. Heading down the other side. Passing flowers along the way. I stop to contemplate turning around. My gravel bike may not be the vessel for ripping down this singletrack. To heck with that, I drop the ridge, now totally focused on the terrain. One false move and I slip out of control and possibly crash.

I make it to the bottom of the hill without incident except for multiple grins. Clouds gather and I turn and join another gravel road. This valley is more exciting with a threatening storm on the horizon. Not my special place either, but close.

Today’s work and its mind sucking effects have all but rattled out of my head. And I continue. Maybe I will find what I am looking for if I just keep riding. Hours pass and vast patches of meditation make the measure of time non-existent.

I ride back into full sunshine and know maybe I need to return home. Not that I have to, but I felt that a burger and a beer might be something nice. At the next fence-line, I head back. Another fence, another barrier. Like work. A barrier to my special place.

I will not find my place tonight. But I will. For now, I must return. Tomorrow it is back to the grind. Not that I think about it now. Because I have found a lot of things that are more relevant. More things that grab my attention. Ot are nice to get out of the grind once in a while.

What were you doing today? https://williammartin.com/0000/08/09/

What are your recent highlights? https://photos.app.goo.gl/wQr6FZiW6o3kmsh47

Photos anyone? https://photos.app.goo.gl/NbvTXTi6a8uSdu7x6

Just ride up the road to Jardine, go past the town, and start adventuring.

I mean, don’t park at any turnouts because the local Forest Service Office seems to want to ticket you for camping. Even though you’re just parking for two hours. They think you’re camping will get a nasty note, but if you leave from town, it’ll be fine.

Just go nosing into the woods and you will find wildflowers, Old Mines. Animal tracks some frogs.

Or … just maybe things you wouldn’t think about.

But most of all, you will find Adventure.