Date: 2005-04-28
From: Shenandoa National Park

To: Shenandoah National Park
Miles today: 0.0

Taking the next logical stepOften I realize that had I taken just one more logical step, I could have brought an encounter or incident to a more satisfying conclusion, or solved a problem (otherwise known as "shoulda, coulda, woulda.") Here are some examples.In February I passed through the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC), buying some snacks and talking to the person at the register of the outfitter's store I told him I was carrying a mini-mag lite flashlight as a backup to and LED headlamp, but that if I put lithium batteries in it, the bulb would consistently burn out in a day or two; did he know anything ab out that? Saying that was the first he had heard of it, he repeated the question to another employee a few aisles away. He didn't know anything about it either. The next day I met a man on a four-day trip, heading in the other direction, who planned to stay at the NOC. After chatting for a while, I continued on my way. What else could I have done? I could have asked him to go into the outfitter's store, thell them he had a mini maglite, but that the bulbs burned out whenever he tried putting lithium batteries in it. The folks in the store might have thought there was a sudden outbreak of customer mini maglite problems. It was about an hour after we parted that this idea occured to me.On April 23, just before leaving Waynesboro, VA, I went into the UPS store to look into mailing one of the rhododendron sticks that had helped me cross Stony Creek. I had kept the better one of the two, but didn't want to carry it any longer. Mailing tubes were for sale from a rack near the door, but the longest they sold was 42" and my stick was a bit over 43. When I asked about sending something over 42", I was told of an immediate $10 surcharge, etc., etc. I thought to myself, it's just a stick. And not having the tools or desire to lop it off an inch right there, I left with it. (I'm still carrying it ... ) What might I have done? I might have asked them if they had 42" boxes for sale. With enough width I could have packed the stick diagonally in the box. (Remember the Pythagorean theorem, c^2 = a^2+b^2?) It took me less than five minutes to think of this, but even that was much too long, since I was already in a car getting a ride back to the trail.On April 13 I was in Virginia and had just walked back to the trail from a grocery store .2 miles away. I had taken off my pack abd was eating. As I ate I watched a woman come the same direction I just came. Shoe had no hiking gear and was carrying plastic shopping bags. She wass clean and well dressed. I said hi to her as she passed. After I finished eating, I caught up to her on the trail, and suggested it might be easier for her if she got a daypack. She had a bad back, she said at first, but then continued into a mysterious and complicated hard-luck story. I wondered if I should offer her money. Before I did, she started telling paranoid storied about the police, conspiracies, Eric Rudolph (the Atlanta Olympic Park bomber), and people who sprayed her tent with toxic substances. Eventually she turned off on one of the roads the trail crosses. I had done nothing. About 20 minutes later I figured I should have asked to take her picture, then called the police at the next opportunity, saying I had a picture of her and knew which direction she was last headed.On April 27 I was in the Big Meadows store in Shenandoah National Park, and wanted to buy one of their phone cards. I had bought one at the Walmart in Pearisburg, VA, but hadn't tried to use it until Shenadoah; when I did I was told that it hadn't been activated, and that I had no options other than returning to the place of purchase to have it activated. Shanadoah couldn't provide me with a working phone card either, getting "invalid transaction" errors whenever they tried to ring up one of any denomination. I got into a conversation about phone cards with someone else in the store, who I at first didn't realize was another employee. He had worked at Walmart for 3 years before working for the Park Service and knew all about phone cards: how many minutes are deducted when calling from a pay phone, which ones expire and which ones don't, what "activiation" means exactly, and other pros and cons. He said he liked to use phone cards too. I asked him if he had any suggestions as to what I might do, but he said he didn't. About 10 minutes after leaving, I realized I might have made a deal with him: did he have an extra phone card he'd be willing to sell me? But neither of us was enough of a trader to think of it at the time.More interesting to me than what I did or didn't do in each of these situations was the anount of time it took me to come up with an action I would have been satisfied with. The amount of time might be used as a crude measure of how developed I am in eacho of the four areas touched upon in each of these examples: slow in the humor area, much quicker in the basic analytical thinking, slower again in social skills, but then reasonable fast in wheeling-dealing and street smarts.