An Analogy

“Backpacking imitates life. Don't we all seek to figure out exactly what we need, no more, no less, and then strive to be strong enough to carry it with us?”

“I like that, rg.”

“No.”

“yes, yes. i think so.”

“running girl - I observed in Scouting that if a young person learns to backpack, it helps them in many ways.

I like your analogy.”

“Very telling indeed. It almost sounds like something the real Buddha would say.”

“well put RG.”

“Did you steal that from a fortune cookie? I would swear that I read that the other day down at the Master Wok....or maybe Jeff Spicoli said something like that....”

“such a pondering moment...”

“I gotta go with bacpac.....um, no!”

“Nice thought RG.

Alisdair McIntyre wrote a book called "After Virtue." In it he described what he felt was a cardinal noption of the ancient Greeks - that essential virtues could be cultivated through certain kinds of practicies. Perhaps backpacking can be one of those practices.”

“To workout shortcomings by the loads we bear. Not resting in who or what we are.

With each mountain, transformed. That, until the end, we live a life of strife in exchange for a temporary immortality.”

“Lets go yankees!!!”

“ped--I love the idea of "cardinal noptions". hehehehe”

“I often thought backpacking was like cheesecake. So then I got this idea about driving a cheesecake truck,
'Cause I figured at the end of the day,
I could take some of the leftover cheesecakes home
And I love cheesecake
So I went to the cheesecake company
And they asked me if I could drive a truck
And I said "Yes"
And they said "You're hired!"
So the next day I got in the truck with all the cheesecakes
And I drove about a block and I just had to have a cheesecake
So I pulled over and opened the truck
And I got a cheesecake
And I also took another one for later
And I took one to bring home
And I took one for my friend Farm boy,
And by that time I had
Eaten one of the cheesecakes so I took another one
Then I figured I might as well stop at my house
To drop off all the cheesecakes
So I take five cakes to eat on the way
and I drive another block and a half to my house
Now it's lunchtime so I eat ten cheesecakes
And a cheesecake for desert
I should point out by the way
That all of these cheesecakes were very delicious
Anyway I decided that the only thing to do
Would be to eat all the rest of the cheesecakes
And hide the truck somewhere
And leave town
And I miss everybody a lot
But I'm not really sorry,
'Cause they were very delicious cheesecakes”

“D
e
e
p
!


But I like it! hi rg, see ya soon! Yo bear”

“rg: just remember, the "p" is silent.”

“In life I seek to have much more than I need.”

“aawww, you are so cute, running girl!”

“The thing I love the most is backpacking strips life down to the basics…food, clothes, shelter. Walk, eat, sleep! Anything more and the complications take away from the whole experience.”

“Okay Artex, you are right. Let me revise...Don't we all seek to find out exactly how much cheesecake we need, no more, no less, and then strive to be strong enough to drive the truck?”

“For some reason, I always have too much cheesecake.

Don't understand why, the damn things are good. Maybe I should just make smaller ones.”

“I had never thought about making a cheesecake in my Outback Oven. KEWL!”

“Enertia Trail Foods has a cheese cake that is so good you'll just wanna rub it in yer hair!”

“Why, so the bear will bite your head off and get it over with quick?”

“i'm sending you my address right now, bitpusher. LOL!”

“Don't we all seek to figure out exactly what we need, no more, no less, and then strive to be strong enough to carry it with us?

You can't be serious. If you aren't, then it's actually pretty humorous.”

“If I could figure out a safe way to send you one, I would, lyra!”

“contraband!! ;-) that's so nice...but i'm just kidding, me and a whole cheesecake would be dangerous.”

“Yes, dangerously satisfying...lol...

I suppose I could make a small one and freeze it, then overnight it, lol...”

“Not really.

I think most people are confused about the difference between ‘need’ and ‘want’. If we all strived for exactly what we ‘need’ our economy would collapse overnight.

Perhaps backpacking is an analogy for how you think life should be – but it ain’t.”

“see, now you're thinking, bloodypoo! ;-)”

“running girl, I like that.

I sometimes think about how heavy my load is and how I'm stuck with what I've got once I set out.”

“I gotta get a smaller springform pan...”