21st Century Adventures

21st Century Adventures

Adult nonfiction
If you were like me as a child, reading Huck Finn made you want
to raft down a river. Lucky for my parents we weren't anywhere near
one. If you're like me as an adult your thirst for adventure hasn't
waned. Only the number of sentient beings counting on you to not take
too many risks has grown exponentially. If you're lucky that is. I
am happy to be tied down by a husband, three children, a tuxedo cat,
and scads of friends.
We are, however, free to travel in our minds and imaginations.
Recall last year we enjoyed and learned from the adventures of Bob
Greenfield in Dude Making A Difference? This year I discovered two
memoirs of dudes hitting the road and off road to really go the
distance.
"That's how I felt about Deadhorse. That we shouldn't be there.
That this place was meant to be still and silent, unbothered and
undeveloped. The giant drills, the mud spattered trucks, the rusty
oil barrels, the big diesel-run complex. It bore a special brand of
ugliness--the ugliness of a place existing in complete disharmony with
its surroundings. The oil was finite, and Deadhorse was temporary.
We'll make a mess of the area for a few decades, then leave the
corrugated mess to the cold and wind forever after. And we are not
real inhabitants--just suckerfish along for the ride, desperately
clinging to the belly of the great oil-filled beast."
Ken Ilgunas, author of Trespassing Across America, was in
Deadhorse, Alaska in 2011 when he had the above epiphany. He was a
dishwasher for oil workers in a place with "no churches, schools,
families, or anything that would make it resemble a normal American
town." As the weeks dragged out he'd become increasingly apathetic
until a trip to the ocean with a friend hit unexpected snags. To get
back to their camp they had to sneak through some off limits drilling
places.
The next year Ilgunas set off to hike the path of the then just
proposed Keystone XL pipeline, a project that, in his mind, perfectly
symbolized the twenty-first century. For the first time regular
citizens were opposing a fossil fuel installation in a battle of
industry vs. the environment...a battle that was far from decided when
he set off on a walk from Canada to Texas.
Ilgunas' story contains quite a few adventures. He had to
outrun a 1,000 pound moose with a 40 pound pack on his back. The
weather didn't always cooperate. Clean water was sometimes hard to
come by. People could be unpredictable, particularly when he was
trespassing on private property.
But some of the most interesting parts of the book are Ilgunas' musings.
"It seemed a terrible shame to meet my end in Iowa; I couldn't
imagine anywhere more disappointing to die. [reviewer's note: another
strong candidate for best opening sentence!] If I were a betting man
I'd have reckoned on the most dangerous thing in this state being
sheer boredom. Corn, beans, corn, beans...a cow...corn, beans...the
scenery hadn't changed for weeks, and I was slowly dissolving into
stimulation-deprived madness...my current predicament, then--
attempting to escape through cornfields from a gun-toting alcohol-
soaked rancher--was not something I expected."
That's the first paragraph of the prologue to Leon McCarron's
The Road Headed West. When you turn the page you see that the drunk,
armed, and potentially homicidal rancher was not the only danger
McCarron faced at that moment in time. Dead ahead was a tornado.
"...A group of trees swayed, snapped, and were swallowed like
twigs. Next, a small lean-to for livestock crumbled, and this too was
sucked in a heap of corrugated iron and bricks. A similar fate (with
only slightly less bleating) was promised to me if I kept going, now
just a mile away."
Talk about being between a rock and a hard place!
The summer of 2008, the start of a global recession, was not the
most propitious time to be a newly minted college graduate. Those of
McCarron's peers who had landed any kind of job were far from their
chosen professions. Some went back to graduate school, hoping for an
economic turn around and racking up more debt. In contrast he chose
an innovative option--crossing the pond (from England) and biking
across America from Atlantic to Pacific and then down to Mexico.
McCarron's chariot of choice was a bike (named Lola after the
Kinks' song) with a trailer attached on the back. Food money was
carefully budgeted. Sleeping was in a tent. Invites to share a meal
or sleep in a home or other building were cherished.
McCarron quickly discovered that he was part of a loosely knit
fraternity of long distance cyclists. He alternated between solo
stretches and time spent with at least another human.
Basically he never knew what would lie around the next corner.
Neither do you. Therein lies the immense appeal of the book.
As much as I loved reading both books, the mostly solitary
nature of the author's journeys did not appeal to me in the least as a
personal option. I could see myself going out with a group to help
out in the aftermath of a disaster. In grad school I would like to
chaperone alternate spring break students. I do plan to visit
Victoria in Ghana. Only I'm gonna wimp out and take a plane. It's a
little too far to swim.
Adventure, however, does not always involve travel. According
to Oprah Winfrey, "The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live
the life of your dreams." I am persistently, insistently, and
consistently working toward acquiring my masters so I can work with
college students the rest of my life. Whenever I have a chance to
learn, to network, or to show what I'm made of I go for it.
On a personal note, on the day to day I'm living the life of my
dreams. I enjoy the class I'm taking. I'm very involved with the
students and their groups. Yesterday was the second day of coming out
week. We had a really good tea party centered around the issue of
coming out. But the highlight for me was when we got to build rainbow
bears and dress them in UMaine tee shirts. The bears are kitten fur
soft in cotton candy colors with little paw rainbows. I named mine
Two Spirit. Everyone was so happy creating and talking about our
bears. Being a part of it all was a dream come true.
A great big shout out goes out to the UMaine students who bring me so
much joy and hope.
jules hathaway



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