Seven Random Facts

So, Jen tagged me for this one. I'm not going to pass it on to seven people because I don't read 7 blogs regularly, I read maybe 5, most of whom are tagged by Jen already . . . . we're lucky that way . . . .

1. My last three cars I owned in the six years before moving to the island cost $800 - combined. I gave two of them away (still running) and I sold one of them for $300 just before moving so my automotive costs for those 6 years was $83.33/year - fairly typical for my adult life. I did buy one new car once (loved that Subaru until I hit a moose at 60 MPH) but generally drive beaters, the crappier the better. I have only paid someone to work on a vehicle twice in my life - once they screwed me over without fixing anything, and once I simply didn't want to do the job (replacing an in-tank fuel pump). DISCLOSURE #1 - Goldfish likes beaters too but has not had me around until recently to fix her cars, hence the Honda Element. DISCLOSURE #2 - Motorcycles don't count, I have probably spent more on them over the years than cars :o)

2. I have four big goals for the next 15 years - to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine; to ride a bicycle via the Northern Tier Route across America from Annacortes, WA to Bar Harbor, ME; to ride a motorcycle from the top of Alaska to the tip of South America; and to drive a boat from Dutch Harbor to Maine via the Panama Canal.

3. I have a tatoo of a sea turtle. I have always loved the ocean and the water.

4. I have been in all of the United States except for Louisiana. Don't ask me why I have missed that state, it's a mystery to me as well - but I think it's kind of cool I haven't seen them all yet. I've been to Mexico and all across Canada and have always felt a guy could spend a lifetime exploring North America. DISCLOSURE - Goldfish does not necessarily share that view so I'm heading to the DMV soon to get a passport. . . . . .

5. I've been approached by bears, charged by moose, and almost bitten by a shark but the outdoors has never hurt me and it is where I always go to recharge my batteries. The more extreme the situation, the more I generally enjoy it.

6. I was a deckhand on a commercial salmon fishing vessel for four years in the 90's and continue to love boats and the fishing industry. In commercial fishing I had a strong sense of being connected to the process of feeding people and found it tremendously satisfying on a very deep level. I fished during some of the years affected by the Exxon Valdez spill which still has not been settled and am excited to be out here living on the Bering Sea where the pollock fishery is the last great sustainable fishery left in the world.

7. Jen, I know the answer to the quiz . . . . . .

The picture is indeed me, taken by my Dad in 1966 at the World's Fair. I look pretty happy, right?