Weighing it.

I like it when my wife, Cathy, laughs.  Most of the time her laughing is infectious, but on rare occasion it can be downright annoying; like when I’m standing naked in front of the mirror wondering what happened?    Such was the case when some time ago, upon informing my bride that I had decided to embark upon an adventure of sorts by checking off one of the items near the top of my bucket list and hike the Grand Canyon from rim to rim and back, she began laughing.  Now, considering my track record, a couple of haw-haws could possibly be considered in order, but rolling around on the living room floor like a New York City break dancer is, I think, a bit much.  Wetting herself in the process is definitely overboard.  After her excessive mirth had subsided and she changed her pantaloons, my sweetheart looked me directly in the eye and said, “Absolutely not, Buster; you can get that outta your head right now!”

Eventually, but not without considerable charm and a marathon effort on my part, she finally caved and gave me permission with one condition.  That condition was that step-son Jason must hike along with me for the trip.  I think her belief was that it would facilitate identification of the body by the recovery team.

At any rate, after several tries at obtaining a permit from the NPS, this year I finally managed to snag one of the coveted beauties, and after great anticipation (on my part, not the Park’s), the day has finally arrived, and in the morning we jump in the truck and head for Arizona’s Big Ditch to begin our four-day hike.  I have pared my pack down to forty-six pounds; underwear and an extra shirt are highly over rated anyway, I think?  

But the really odd thing here is that the more I decide I can do without on this trip; the heavier my pack seems to get.  I’m pretty sure that some foreigners are involved, and have somehow cleverly changed our nation’s system of weights and measures by making them much more than they really are.  I’m also pretty certain forty-six pounds didn’t used to weigh this much.  This pack is more like eighty pounds.  If my theory is true; I can’t wait to see how much they've added to fifty-four miles! 

See ya in a week!