[at-l] Rucks present and future

[spiriteagle99 at hotmail.com (Jim and/or Ginny Owen)]

This is the second part - and finally gets to the point of the exercise.  IF 
you read it.



Rucks ? present and future

This year (2006) was our 10th ?Ruck year? ? and there were about 70 people 
for the Saturday night feed ? and a whole gaggle of thruhikers for the 
?Thruhiker?s Bull Session.?  I expect there?ll be a few Ruck-graduated 
thruhikers out there this year.  And personally, I expect great things from 
them.  As the old saying goes: Just Do It !!!  As Marsha said ? 
(http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/at-l/2006-January/010061.html )

Again, the SoRuck outdrew the Mother Ruck ? and once again, I know it was a 
success because I was there.  
(http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/at-l/2006-January/009557.html )

And once again, Mags will be organizing a 2006 Rockies Ruck.  
(http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/at-l/2006-January/009337.html )

And the ADZPCTKOP has not only continued, but thrived ? I understand that in 
2006, the event will be by reservation-only because they?ve outgrown the 
facility at Lake Morena.

This has been a really truncated view of the last 10 years of Rucks and 
Ruck-offshoots and derivatives (also known to some of us as ?Rucklings?).   
Yeah ? I missed more than a few things ? but with 10 years of history behind 
us, there are just too many good memories to pack into even a LONG, LONG 
post.

At this point, the Rucks have become a hiker tradition.  And they?ll 
continue as long as there?s sufficient interest for ?someone? to pick up the 
challenge and organize them.  If that interest isn?t there to the degree 
necessary for someone to step forward (i.e. ? bite the bullet) and do what 
it takes, then the Rucks will die.  This year the PA Ruck was a great 
success because when I got too overwhelmed to ride herd on all the cats, 
Marsha stepped up to the plate and picked up the pieces.

To a large degree, this has been a nostalgic and largely painful goodbye on 
my part to the Rucks and, in part, to the list.

Long ago and far away, I told the list that my purpose on at-l ? and the 
other hiking lists was governed by the following Sufi mantra:

>How do you follow the Way ?
>
>Go where you are sent
>Wait till you are shown what to do.
>Do it with the whole self.
>Remain till you have done what you were sent to do. Walk away with empty 
>hands.

And, as with the list, so it has been with the Rucks.  As I recently told 
Ginny ? what I intended to do with the Ruck(s) has been done (although not 
necessarily in the way I expected) and now it?s time to walk away.  And walk 
we will - as long as is possible ? as long as life and knees and health hold 
out.  Ginny and I have done our part in starting the Rucks, in propagating 
them  ? and in keeping them alive.  Now it?s someone else?s turn.  And it?s 
our turn to hike.

One of the lesser known truths in life is that those who contribute most to 
any project or endeavor eventually become the greatest impediment to 
progress, whether through pride, ossification of the brain or just plain 
lack of imagination.  This is true in business, in science and engineering, 
and in particular, for organizations.  It?s even true for ?organizations? as 
loosely knit as the Rucks.

All that being true ? some of you might have noticed that Marsha did a lot 
of the organizing for this year?s PA Ruck.  To a large degree, that was due 
to a lack of time and energy on my part ? and to her willingness to pick up 
the slack.  For that she deserves a huge vote of thanks from those who 
attended and benefited from the Ruck.  So let?s hear it for Marsha.

More than that ? Marsha has volunteered to be the point person for next 
year?s Ruck.  I believe it was Greenbriar who first proposed that someone 
other than Ginny and I get involved in the Ruck organization. I was about 
six steps ahead of him on that, but he was right.  I hope he ? and others ? 
will do what they can to help.  I hope that Spur will continue to be the 
keeper of the Ruck website.

But ? all that being said, for the foreseeable future, ?I? will have no 
control over, nor any direct influence in or involvement with the Rucks.  I 
find it somewhat disconcerting that we said that about the CDT workshop 
after the 2004 Gathering and nobody took us seriously ? so there was no 2005 
CDT workshop.  I hope y?all take us seriously about the Ruck because we 
won?t be in any position to pick up the pieces next year.  For the next 
couple years we plan to be hiking ? I?ll be retiring in April, we?ve sold 
the house and are heading out for another CDT thruhike (with a lot of 
variations on the theme).  In 2007, we?re planning a cross-country road tour 
(we?ll plan to stop and annoy a few of you along the way ? but only if we?re 
invited), with a stop to thruhike the Arizona Trail, hike through parts of 
Utah that we missed last time, continue north to the Canadian border and 
then walk the Great Divide Trail.

After that ? well, as I keep saying - so many trails, so little time.  All 
of this, of course, assumes that my knees keep on doing their thing.  If 
not, then we?ll make alternate plans.  We may even show up at the various 
Rucks ? and possibly even wash some pots and pans.  <g>

For the list ? we?ll be here for a while, but don?t count on a lot of 
participation from us.  I know ? you didn?t anyway.  What we will do is to 
check in occasionally and let you know sorta where we are.  What we won?t do 
is to keep an on-line journal.  We?ve found that doing the on-line journal 
thing changes the hike such that it?s less than it could be; changes the 
journal such that it?s less honest than it should be; costs time and both 
physical and emotional energy; and keeps us from ?being? completely in the 
world that we go out there to ?be? in.  We?ve been there and done that ? I 
won?t do it again.  So, for our hike(s), you?ll hear from us ? but not 
often.  We love you all ?
Walk softly,
Jim




http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/