A Modest Proposal

 

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet;

This is not done by jostling in the street.”

-William Blake

 

Preface

As I said during ManShare this year, my family and I started a Sunday afternoon tradition during quarantine of going on a hike around town and then coming home and baking cookies.  It was a great tradition and I hope that we start it up again.  I don’t think I mentioned this, but Laura and I got really deep in the hiking game, researching various hikes in Tennessee, across the country, and even the world.  At night, we’d watch hiking videos on YouTube. 

Riveting stuff, really. 

One channel we really got into was by a guy named Kraig Adams, who makes his living going on these incredible hikes all around the world and producing really beautiful videos of his time on the trail.  His videos are almost meditational. 

Here’s one most pertinent to the creation of this blog and the source for this proposal.  Take 21:00 in the next day or two and watch it: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3595IuY0kgE

 

The Information

Before this video, I had never heard of it, but the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) is a 100-mile loop-trail, bisecting the borders of France, Italy, and Switzerland and takes you all the way around the Mont Blanc massif.  Each night is spent either in a hotel in a town or in what is called a refugio, where food and lodging is available. Depending on speed, the hike is usually done in 9-11 days. 

 

The Background

When Laura and I first saw this video, we decided that we had to do it.  But it was more in a “oh, we would like to do this, but probably never will” type of situation.  But we’ve watched this video more than once.  We’ve watched other videos about hiking the TMB. We’ve looked at itineraries online for hiking the TMB. And we’ve moved into a more solid “we’re going to hike the TMB and we’re going to put a date on it so that we actually start working and saving towards doing it” type of situation.

On the night before WOM, Ross stays at our house and this year we showed him this video and told him we were doing it.  There was some fun back-and-forth about him and Kristen joining us, but we just assumed he was being polite.  Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago and I get a lengthy Voxer from Ross saying he showed the video to Kristen and that she’s all in.

So that got us thinking…

 

The Proposal

Who: The Men of EDNA and the women who love them

What:  Let’s hike the Tour du Mont Blanc!

When: Summer of 2022 (next summer)

Where: France, Italy, Switzerland

Why:

1. Because we’ve always talked about a big EDNA trip;

2. Because doing this with as many of you as possible would only make it better;

3. Because mountains were made for climbing;

4. Because we’re not getting any younger;

5. Because that Biden stimulus is coming

Obviously everyone is in a different situation with kids, finances, vacation time, etc, so we’re not thinking that everyone would join in (although how awesome would that be?!?!), but the proposal has now been made and cannot be taken back.  So sit with this for a minute. Watch that video.  Show it to your woman. Do some research. Ask some questions.  If you’re interested, let’s talk.