The older I become, the less enamored I am with the “great sense of adventure.” I’ve never been a thrill-seeker my entire life, even as a young, fearless, twenty-something. No. I think my nickname, at least in this department, should have been “Sense and Sensibility.”
I am a creature of comfort.
So when I hear of people escaping the every day, and heading on some big adventure, I wish them well and send them on their merry way. Meanwhile, I wish to have no more involvement than a big wave goodbye.
And when I hear of any adventure gone wrong? I am happy to be home, standing in my kitchen, drying the dishes.
There were two events, more than a week ago, which were fuel for my fire about this.
The first comes from Alaska, where a perfectly nice woman named Bridgett Watkins was out with her dog sled team on a 52-mile run. There is your first indicator. Dog sled team. A 52-mile run. I posture, in Alaska, you can hook up your dog sled team and take them to Walmart if the four-wheel-drive car is in the shop. However, most of the time, a dogsled team involves the wilderness. And wilderness begins with the word wild.
You don’t have to remind this to the giant moose who attacked them on their route. The moose trampled her dog sled team for almost an entire hour while Bridgett watched.
Apparently, Bridgett emptied her gun into the moose, but it was not deterred. My guess is that she had a very small-caliber gun, or she was a terrible shot. Either way, a friend had been following the team on a snowmobile. The two of them hid behind the snowmobile, and during that time, Bridgett cut free six of the dogs.
A few of them were severely injured before the bull moose stopped the assault and moved on. I haven’t heard any more on their condition, but the entire story makes me sad.
Of course, my dog couldn’t pull a Tonka truck, but I’d be devastated if something happened to him. Hence, his affinity for the great indoors, with me.
The next story happened on the same day, but this time in Colorado at a place called Eldora Mountain Ski Resort. A woman had been skiing there. A 77-year-old woman. I’m sure she was having the time of her life, whooshing down the hills, wind on her face, and all of that. Until she slammed head first into a tree. Someone came along and found her, and ski patrol was called. They attempted life-saving measures,” but she was pronounced dead at the scene.
The article reported that the Coroner’s Office will determine the cause and manner of death, but I can tell them, all the way from Ohio, what the cause of death was. The thing is, at least two other people have died at Eldora Mountain Ski Resort this skiing season. One of them was a 60-year-old man who died after crashing into a tree. Another skier died at Eldora after colliding with a snowboarder that same week. More sad stories about adventuring in the great outdoors.
I guess we all take our chances. I mean, statistically, we are probably less likely to die in a skiing accident than we are in a car accident. That’s also probably because most of us don’t ski, but we drive our cars several times daily.
On the other hand. There is a lot to be said for baking bread. And reading books. The adventure in life is where you find it. And for some of us, we don’t have to travel far to find the wonders of this world.
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“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.”
― G.K. Chesterton
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“Some adventures require nothing more than a willing heart and the ability to trip over the cracks in the world.”
― Seanan McGuire, Down Among the Sticks and Bones
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“Keep reading. It’s one of the most marvelous adventures that anyone can have.”
― Lloyd Alexander
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My sense of adventure is tremendous. Relatively.
