Author: Eric

Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day 11: Wednesday, August 11
Check out a new bar, Pic’s Pub, Holyoke, MA

I was due for an easy day on the adventure scale, so I was talked into venturing to a bar that I’d never been to as today’s adventure. Pic’s Pub in Holyoke is apparently an historic fixture. It’s one of those bars you find in many cities in which people all seem to know each other, you can wear shorts and t-shirts and everybody’s chill. I didn’t love Pic’s. For one thing, not a good beer selection. Their taps went more for the tried-and-true Budweiser-type variety. I’m not a beer snob but I prefer a little flavor at least. And the service was pretty bad…waited a long time to get noticed, then to get served at all, and finally a really long time to settle up. Can’t recommend this one, but my impression clearly won’t hurt Pic’s business.

Adventure: Check out a new bar
Distance traveled: About 7 miles driving
Challenges: Keeping cool while waiting forever for service.
Risks: At this place: getting in a fist fight.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 1.5
Highlights: People watching. Leaving.

Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day 10: Tuesday, August 10
Bike ride, climb Mt. Tom, etc.

Mt. Tom is like my training ground. It’s close, convenient, and provides a range of challenges for a quick workout. Climbing up the access road from Route 5 to the reservation parking lot, about 900 feet, provides a decent exertion – just enough to get you breathing hard. According to my Strava, I rode 22.2 miles in one hour, 26 minutes. Once up there, a ride along the two-mile reservation road, affords a series of gorgeous views of Easthampton and the Valley far below. It’s one of my favorite rides.

Adventure: Bike climb, Mt. Tom, and extended ride around the mountain
Distance traveled: 22 miles ride
Challenges: Climbing up Mt. Tom, about 900 feet of very steep pumping; dealing with drivers on Route 5 eager to get home.
Risks: Riding off the edge of one of the many dropoffs along the reservation road; getting hit by a speeding driver along Route 5.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 6
Highlights: Beautiful views. A good workout. Also, it’s a fast ride, and conveniently close to my house.

Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day 9: Monday, August 9
A visit to the dentist and eye doctor

Ok, you might call this adventure-lite day. But I just spent a full week of physical adventures every day, and it was back to work today, so I decided to count my dentist and eye doc appointments as the adventure for the day. These might not fit everyone’s bill for adventure, but, I argue, they still have all the adventure components. I’ll spare you pics of these slightly ignominious mini-adventures.

Adventure: Dentist cleaning appointment and eye doctor checkup
Distance traveled: 8 miles RT driving
Challenges: Dentist: sitting back in a medical chair, trying to remain calm, holding my mouth wide open while a bright light shines in my eyes and a stranger digs in my teeth with sharp instruments. Eye doc: holding my eyes wide open while a stranger drops stingy liquid into them, then shines piercingly bright lights directly into them; then endure the burning sensation and blurriness for hours afterward.
Risks: Dentist: teeth, nerve and gum pain. Eye doc: discovering some kind of major problem with my eyes (no problems).
Difficulty scale 1-10: 4
Highlights: Highlights? A clean bill of health, I guess. I mean, I’m an adult at the dentist and eye doc, there are no lollipops.

Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day 3: Tuesday, August 3
Mt. Tom hike, home to summit RT

Mount Tom, in Easthampton and Holyoke, MA, may be overcrowded, not that tall, and sullied with its peak covered in cell and radio towers. Nonetheless, I feel lucky to have it in my back yard. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve climbed this hill and hiked along its spectacular ridge to the tower-crowded summit. For Day 3 of my Adventure-a-Day August, I did a walk out my driveway and up Mt. Tom again, this time for a sunset hike. Nature delivered with a breathtaking multi-staged sunset that underscored my appreciation once more for this landscape overlooking the City of Easthampton.

Adventure: Mt. Tom round trip summit hike
Distance traveled: 11+ miles (6 miles road/trail walking, 5+ miles hiking); 3 hours, 20 mins.
Challenges: A minor climb up 1,200 feet; fast hiking with no stops; and I forgot my headlamp so returned in low light.
Risks: Slipping and falling off the side of the ridge, with 200-300-foot sheer drops.
Difficulty scale 1-10: 4.5
Highlights: Mt. Tom always delivers for me. I’ve used this hike as an early training run many times, it starts the blood flowing with a fast walk to the mountain and a varied walk with a couple of scrambles along the ridge to the summit. Once up on the ridge, the bugs disappear, the wind picks up, and the trail wends between spectacular viewing outcrops. And after 3 hours and 20 minutes of walking and hiking without a break, I felt like I got a decent little workout.

Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day 2: Monday, August 2
A stroll through Art in the Orchard, Easthampton, MA

For today’s August adventure, I took a local crosstown trip with my mother to Art in the Orchard at Park Hill Farm in Easthampton. This is a highly recommended local activity, a stroll through fruit orchards filled with outsized sculptures by regional artists. The walking is easy and parking is free. Donations accepted, and don’t pass up the chance to buy some fresh fruit on the way out!

Adventure: Walk through Art in the Orchard with my mother
Distance traveled: Drive 3 miles, slow stroll about a quarter mile total
Challenges: Enduring hot sun for an hour plus; making sure everyone is adequately hydrated and fueled for the activity (they weren’t)
Risks: Fainting from heat and hunger; overdosing on great art!
Difficulty scale 1-10: 1
Highlights: This is a perfect family activity. You can take as much time as you want, the orchards are large and spacious, not crowded, and offer big patches of shade. The art is delightfully diverse, interesting, colorful, alluring and intriguing. And the fruit is exquisite and sweet. Not to be missed.

Welcome to Aging Adventurist. I am attempting to do one adventure every day for the month of August, 31 days, 31 adventures, some big, some small, some physical, some mental. I hope you’ll come along, or join me!

Day I: Sunday, August 1
Sea kayaking, Cape Cod

My Day 1 adventure was a 5-mile kayak trip off of Mayo Beach in Wellfleet Bay, Cape Cod. It was an ideal, moderate outing to kick off my month of daily adventures – not too difficult, yet provided some minor thrills, beauty and conversation with seals, like this guy:

Adventure: Sea kayaking, Wellfleet, Cape Cod
Distance traveled: About 5 miles in 2 hours of paddling
Challenges: Navigating a strong incoming tide current/fighting 2-foot waves; traversing open water
Risks: Overturning in open water; drowning, obvs
Difficulty scale 1-10: 3.5
Highlights: Communing with seals in the middle of the bay. Floating in the sea (inlet). Gorgeous views of bay islands, wildlife and the distant shores. Decent shoulder workout when paddling against the tide.

It’s nearly August, and in academic world where I work, that means the beginning of the end of summer. I’m not ready to concede my favorite season.

Meanwhile, not to belabor the point, but my head remains somewhere out on the adventure road between Albuquerque and Long Beach. (If you see it, please take caution to drive around.) I mean, I spent more than two months out there pedaling most the day in the open air on my coast-to-coast bike quest, and I haven’t yet succeeded in making the mental and emotional transition to home. The road is addictive.

So, amid my thirst for extended adventure, and in an effort to accentuate the meaning of summer’s final month, here’s my idea:

August Adventure Every Day.

That is, 31 days of adventure, August 1 to August 31, one per day. I am committing to engaging in some kind of adventure every single day for the entire month.

Starting Sunday, August 1, with a mild adventure of kayaking in Provincetown, I will embark on some kind of adventure every single day. Following each adventure, I’ll write a brief synopsis of the experience here, with pictures.

Mostly these will be physical/mental challenges, but not always. A few examples on the adventure calendar: 1) biking up the 3 peaks with roads in the Valley (Mt. Tom, Mt. Sugarloaf and Mt. Holyoke) in one day; 2) night hike the 7 Sisters; 3) write a short story; 4) give blood.

Adventure can mean several different things. For some, rising up out of bed every day is an adventure. Others need adrenaline. In order to qualify as adventure, an activity must contain four components:

1. Unknown outcome. Some sort of risk. There needs to be something on the line, and something to be gained.
2. Movement. Adventure should include going from one place to another, such as by walking, running, hiking, biking, boating, driving or swimming. Or it could mean mentally traveling, such as via video.
3. It should be out of the ordinary. Adventure isn’t something you do every day, or something most people do every day.
4. Challenge. Something to overcome, physically or mentally, that delivers a feeling of reward, or a literal reward, for pushing through and achieving the goal.

I hope you’ll come along with me for Adventure Month. If anyone feels inspired to join me in August Adventure Month, let me know, the more the merrier.