The Traveling Widower

Category: wildlife

Includes posts about whales, hummingbirds, or anything specific to viewing wildlife

  • Keep On Keepin’ On

    “The only thing I knew how to do”
    “was to keep on keeping on”
    Tangled up in Blue, Bob Dylan

    May 10th, 2026

    This post started out as a personal whine about aging, and morphed into a composite of those strange thoughts that randomly bounce around in my head, along with some geeky hiking and photography stuff. Sorry, the blog is my replacement for having someone to talk to in the morning.

    Maybe I really should get a Golden Retriever. They are good listeners, as long as you have snacks in your hand. 

    A man sitting in a chair with a mug talking to a golden retriever in a living room, featuring comfortable furniture and a coffee table with books and candles.
    How did this guy and his dog get in my house?

    One of the problems with being ancient is that the damage from all the sports and dangerous activities we undertake through the years is cumulative. The human body was designed for hunting and gathering, and has not really evolved much beyond that in the last million or so years. Eventually, parts of our bodies wear out – knees can only take so much abuse from running, basketball, tennis and other fast movement sports. Shoulders are the same, especially for baseball and racket sports. How many tennis players do you know who have had one or two shoulder surgeries? I’ve had one, and I suck at the sport. Broken bones in various parts of your body  can lead to painful arthritis as you age. I’ve broken lots of bones, which complain most every morning, especially when the weather turns cold and damp. Hips wear out from a number of activities. Maybe sometime in the far distant future, there will be a sub-species or two – the current Homo Sapiens, sort of the generic person still limping along in their 70’s, a new and improved model,  Homo sapiens athleticus, and then maybe one at the other end of the spectrum, Homo sapiens couchpotato, sort of a cross between a human and golden retriever.

    The good news is that while our bodies may not have evolved, our big brains (for some of us at least) have come up with replacements for a lot of the parts that wear out – sort of like replacing worn out parts in your car – an Autozone for the over achievers in athletics. It seems like so many of the tennis and pickleball players out on the court have one or two replacement parts – knees, hips or shoulders. Heck, some people have replacement heart valves and are still motoring along. 

    I’ve done all kinds of damage to my body, but somehow or another, I have avoided having anything replaced so far. That’s not necessarily a good thing – I wish one of my knees was wrecked enough to replace. But with my usual bad luck, I’ve inherited a wonky nervous system from my mother, and have something that cannot be fixed with a replacement part. Nerves. 

    I was diagnosed some time ago with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy, a condition where the long nerves in the legs degenerate (and arms too), misfire, and eventually stop working. I already wrote about this condition in a previous post, so I won’t bore you with details, just that the neurologists have no clue what causes it, or how to cure it. Lucky me. I currently have issues with mobility and balance, which are not going to improve, and will continue to get worse over time.

    I have to be extremely careful hiking, and have opted out of more difficult hikes on the last few National Geographic trips. The night time photo shoots in Arches National Park were a bit frightening for me, since my balance was way off in the dark, especially when we had to hike to rocky, awkward setups for our gear. I wound up holding on to the tripod most of the time, to have a point of reference. 

    This year, I should be OK with the remaining trips – only two have significant hiking, all of which are in the daylight and on flat terrain. Running away from the Kodiak bears might be an issue though.

    Next year may be more problematic as a few of the trips have some moderately difficult hikes. I have yet to book any trips for 2028 – there are quite a few I’d like to schedule, but I have to think about what my physical limitations might be in a few years. Bummer. Switching to Viking river cruises is not the answer for me. I’ve had to give up drinking wine and martinis – I’m not giving up on travel. My bucket list does not seem to be getting any smaller since I keep finding new, interesting places to go to. 

    But, there is a non-surgical, potential solution to my problem – not replacement parts, but body augmentation! I give you…..

    …..The Robo-Traveling-Widower!!!!

    An elderly man wearing an exoskeleton and hiking gear walks along a rocky mountain path with a golden retriever dog, surrounded by a scenic landscape of mountains and trees.

    I’m serious about this. There are a couple of companies which are developing exoskeletons and one or two are already available. One in particular, the Hypershell from a company of the same name (https://hypershell.tech/en-us), might be something I look into as the wonkiness in my legs progresses. It’s sort of like an electric bike – it provides extra oomph to your legs when you need it. The top-end version is light weight (carbon fiber), with a small battery pack, that can handle up to a 30km hike, which is much further than I walk/hike on a given day. For $1800, it would be worth it to keep me on the trails. 

    For now, I’ll just rely on my latest REI purchase for hiking stability, collapsible carbon-fiber hiking sticks from Black Diamond. Yes, I now have four sets of sticks (one was my wife’s). I’ve been jamming a pair of heavier, aluminum poles in luggage on most of my trips, and I’m  desperately trying to lighten my load for the next trips. The new sticks are like tent-poles – they split into 3 connected segments, and take up much less room. New toys from REI.

    Adjustable trekking poles with blue accents, placed on a textured gray surface.

    And while I’m on the topic of reducing my luggage weight, I was depressed the other day, so flipped a coin as to where I should go shopping – REI or Mike’s Camera. That always cheers me up. Seriously, I had been considering buying yet another lens for some of my upcoming trips. I currently rely on two lenses – the new 25-200mm Tamron lens for most everything other than wildlife (all the rose garden photos were shot with that), and the big 150-500mm for wildlife. But, there are trips where I don’t really need the reach of the 500mm – the Natural Habitat lead for the Kodiak trip said you only need a big lens if you want to get a picture of a bear eye ball. I decided maybe I need something in-between, like a 100-400mm lens. As it turns out, Sony has that lens, and Tamron has a 50-400 for half the price. Off I went to my favorite camera store (only one in this area) to compare the two. Fortunately, this also happened to be the day Mike’s Camera has their annual sale, and had rep’s from all the major manufacturers in the store. They brought out both lenses for me – the Sony was over a pound heavier, and was older technology. Easy decision to make. My camera closet is getting crowded with gear. 

    But now I’ll be a bit faster with less to carry, when I have a Kodiak bear chasing after me.

    A man running along a beach, holding a camera, as a large grizzly bear charges toward him. The scene is set against a backdrop of mountains and a forested area.
    Run Forest, Run!!!

    I’m so excited about that trip.

    Peace (I hope)

  • Moab Wrapup

    Silhouette of a large rock formation against a starry night sky filled with twinkling stars and distant galaxies.

    April 22nd, 2026

    I’m writing this whilst comfortably crashed at the Doubletree hotel near the Salt Lake City airport. A nice warm chocolate cookie and a comfortable chair have revived me from the four hour drive from Moab this morning. I was running on vapors by the time I got here. I have enough energy left to do some writing, have an early dinner, and then maybe watch some of the NBA playoffs before falling asleep. I have an 11:00 flight home tomorrow so I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn for a change.

    Tuesday was my last day in Moab, and I was really feeling the effects of six days of sleep deprivation. I did not get back to the hotel until 4:00AM that morning, so I was pretty much trashed that day. I gave up any thoughts of doing a 7th Milky Way shoot, and the same for sunset at the park at 8PM. After yet another pseudo breakfast at noon (I discovered my favorite gelato shop, Elsie’s,  also did late breakfasts), I settled for one more low-energy tour of the park. No long hikes, just a drive around to see a few features i’d driven by, but not stopped to photograph. A cold front was moving in, and clouds had already started rolling in by the time I left for the park so I was glad that I went out for that last shoot the night before.

    First stop of the day was the Courthouse Towers, a huge block of sandstone, with some great views of the big wall formations across the road. Spectacular scenery.

    A towering sandstone rock formation against a blue sky with scattered clouds, showcasing the natural beauty of the desert landscape.
    A scenic view of towering red rock formations under a blue sky with scattered clouds, surrounded by desert vegetation.
    A scenic view of rocky formations under a partly cloudy sky, showcasing reddish-brown cliffs and a sparse landscape with low shrubs.
    A panoramic view of unique rock formations against a backdrop of mountains and a partly cloudy sky.

    After that, I headed back to the Windows parking area – I had already been on two of the trails there for the Windows and Turret Arches, but want to see the spectacular Double Arch as well. It was just a short walk on a packed gravel trail to get to the base of this feature. Most everyone climbs up the rocky base to get into the arch – I scrambled up a bit, and found a very comfortable boulder to sit on. I was too woozy to go too much further on the steep, sloping sandstone. I made it this far without doing any damage – I wanted to make it home without any new cuts or bruises.

    A large red rock formation with a prominent cave-like opening, surrounded by desert vegetation and a clear blue sky.
    A view of two large sandstone arches in a desert landscape with a clear blue sky.
    A desert landscape featuring red rock formations and sparse vegetation, with a gnarled tree in the foreground and a blue sky dotted with clouds.
    A snake with a patterned body slithering across a sandy, rocky surface.
    A scenic view of unique rock formations in a desert landscape, featuring towering red sandstone structures under a partly cloudy sky.

    Funny thing about Arches – I had not seen any wildlife at all either during the day or at night, other than hearing some owls one time. As I was walking down this trail, a young couple in front of me came to a stop and shouted – snake!!. Sure enough, there was a very pretty, six for snake slithering across the trail. It was not a rattler – I have yet to identify it, but it was nice to see something other than ravens. 

    I was about done for the day after that, but I had wanted to see one other area on the way out – The Garden of Eden, which has a jumble of sandstone fins and spires. I was way too tired to hike around the area, so I just watched a couple of rock climbers, attempting to work their way up a nasty looking crack on one of the spires. The lead was really struggling, and I did not really want to see him fall, so I left and headed back to town. 

    View of unique rock formations in a desert landscape with blue skies and scattered clouds.
    A landscape featuring large red rock formations, including a tall, slender rock topped with a round boulder against a blue sky.
    A tall red rock formation in a desert landscape, with two climbers scaling the side and a cloudy sky in the background.

    I really could have gone for a good martini, or a good IPA beer or two at one of the many brewpubs in town. But, I’m sticking with my cardiologist’s orders, and settled for a really lousy non-alcoholic beer with dinner. At least the ice cream was good. I think there were more ice cream and/or gelato shops in Moab than brewpubs. Nothing wrong with that. I tried four of them – maybe I’ll go back there again to try the rest.

    I’ve got a lot of thoughts about this trip bouncing around in my head, but I’ll do another post tomorrow…once I’m rested and home. Maybe I’ll have some of the Milky Way photos curated by then too.