When Smart People Do Dumb Things

Charlottesville

April 3, 2023

I started to watch this movie last night. Like Nomadland, parts of it hit too close to home and made me feel uncomfortable. But overall, I've enjoyed the first 45 minutes. That's the limit of my concentration these days.

I won't ruin the movie for you by sharing this part. It's her first evening on the Pacific Coast Trail and she's having to look at directions to figure out how to put up her tent. In the morning she discovers she has brought the wrong type of fuel bottle for her burner to heat up her freeze dried food.

Perhaps I found those two experiences more humorous than others because I too set out on my trip not having first tried everything in the comfort of home. As I wrote about recently, a "shakedown cruise" would have provided me (and her) some assurance that we knew how to operate everything prior to departure. Fortunately, I had a truck and a lot of redundancy -- she was carrying everything.