Shake Those Dice and Roll 'Em

Everyday we face risk and uncertainty. Some risks we can control, or at least minimize, others we can not. With good judgement and decision making, most of us make it day to day just fine. Oh, but it's this whole good judgement thing I keep getting hung up on.

Here's a little example. On most of my running, hiking or kayaking excursions the issue of how much water/food/gear etc is always an essential series of decisions in which I like to think I find a way to do the most (miles, days, what have you) with the least (gear, food, material items in general). Usually this works out very well for me.

Well we had a little backfire lately. I believe it happened on the Little River float trip. As per usual, I show up for this 3 day trip with a food bag that looks like it could fit in your back pocket, shelter-less and with a trifling amount of fishing gear. Perfect. The problems arose with my choice of water purification. As I have now learned, a few hasty drops of chlorine dioxide just prior to consumption will not treat river water which is flowing through a cow pasture.

What was the result of this poor decision you ask? Well, typically I'm an endurance fiend. Running, biking, and hiking near the point of compulsion in my life. But for a few days, my feats of endurance consisted of crow walking back and forth from the couch to the toilet. My life began to verge on the monastic, no solid foods for days... I even began to think of white bread as an indulgence.

Fortunately for me some magic beans known as anti-biotics made their way into my life and I'm now routinely running myself to exhaustion instead of the bathroom. Not to say the mental effects have totally subsided, I become nervous with every slight tremor in the abdominal region and begin surveying the room for the nearest facilities. Shall we chalk this up in the lessons learned category of life? I think so. I always knew not to drink the water when you're in Mexico, apparently the same rules apply in East Tennessee.