Tues June 8, 25th day Glacier Nat'l Park

In the 70's Stewart Alsop, wrote a piece in Newsweek comparing Nixon and John Mitchell with G Gordon Liddy. It was titled The Phoney Tough and the Crazy Brave. The phoney tough were Nixon and Mitchell, who's toughness never involved any action that required the removal of one's tie while Liddy's bravery extended to asking (supposedly seriously) on which corner he should stand in order to facilitate his assassination for knowing too much about the Watergate break in. I think the gist of the article was that the phoney tough just had no capacity to comprehend the crazy brave. I do think that toughness and bravery do have a kind of natural link. Alsop's pairing comes to my mind from time to time such as the last 24 hours as I have had to address what to do about Marias Pass. I am sure that I am not crazy brave, but I am not so sure that I am not phoney tough. (Incidentally I believe that Alsop was recognized for his personal bravery for his service in WWII.)

Some discomfort, such as cold and hard physical exertion seem to me to be a part of this exercise I am on. But risk of death or bodily harm are not welcome to me, nor have I any right to expose myself to such. I have decided to abandon the idea of riding over Marias Pass. Perhaps the physical difficulties should be accepted as part of the deal, but I think there is real potential for disaster given the road, the traffic and the conditions. On Wednesday I will try to hitch a ride.

That settled, today I rode about 35 or 40 miles through the park up to the point where the road through the park, the Going To The Sun road, is closed. As I got higher, the steady rain became steady snow so that by my arrival at the closure my windshield, (fairing) was coated with snow so it could not be seen through. On the way back I stopped in at a fancy lodge for a late lunch and warm up. Wet and cold it was.

I got back to my motel at about 4:30. The woman who runs the place is the personification of cheery kindness. She offered to fix my dinner and when I demurred, she came up with a water boiler and a cup of noodles soup. Later she came to my door to tell me that she has friends who might be driving over the pass tomorrow and if so they would take me. She will be pictured.

Snug, warm, well fed, with reading material and half a crossword puzzle. It is at these pleasant moments that I miss my life partner.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T