A Walking Habit

Saturday, August 23, 2008 -- Camp Soldner near Three Lakes, MI

A lively thunderstorm blew through the area last night, waking us up and scrambling to close windows. The weathermap shows this string of storms is pushing out ahead of a cold front that has already dropped temps from the lower 70's as the storm started about 3am to the lower 60's this morning. Nice but cool weather is projected for the next 4 or 5 days.

We've been busy around the camp and I haven't been diligent with the blog updates. Much of our first week here was spent helping with various work projects. Last year I wrote that my impression of the way a true "Youper" (a person from the U.P. of Michigan) views summer -- as a brief warm period that's used to get ready for the following winter. Building and remodeling projects up here are accompanied by an urgency not found in warmer places. And the woodshed needs to be filled with newly cut and split wood -- a Youper never has enough cut and split wood. You're a rich man in the U.P. if your woodshed is larger than your house and it's filled to overflowing.

Yesterday was our first full day of being here alone. Dennis and Laura, Dar's brother and sister-in-law who own the camp, and Cal and Marion, Dar's Mom and Dad, were here for most of our first week. While we really enjoy being with these guys we were ready for a little solitude as a balance to the frothy activity of all the recent wedding related stuff. It's this solitude that's good for the soul, that allows time to think instead of just react, that provides perspective.

Before we began this nomadic lifestyle I was a diligent morning walker. I had developed the habit of walking for exercise, 3 or 4 miles, most days of the week. But moving into the bus-house and being in different unfamiliar places gave me an excuse for not walking and I lost the habit. Yesterday I decided to stop being lazy and get back to the routine. I'll have to develop the habit all over again and writing about it here provides some additional incentive to stick to it -- who wants to fail publicly? So I did 2-1/2 miles yesterday and repeated it again this morning. It's a start.

T