Adventurers Club of Los Angeles
I received these words in an email from Frank Betush of the Adventurers’ Club in LA. I was so impressed with his succinct summary of the appeal of solo adventuring, I wanted to share.
“I religiously enjoy solo bike touring – miles days and weeks of open road, long periods at a repetitive task. You used the term, ‘liberating’. Yes. Turning pedals or pulling oars becomes a mantra as deep parts of the Cortical Dominion are exposed, purifying introspection. I concur with your view of solo journey psychology. It is not ‘aloneness’, but a sacred time to speak to ‘self’.
Some brows furrow when you speak of another trip, though few among those seasoned faces at the club who share your addiction. It is not wonder-lust. I leave on each new tour, not desperate to see the opposite side of the globe, but to spend more quiet time with that human within. Once introduced to that internal persona, failing to embark, might we not forget our mental-selves?
Best luck and may ‘The Oar-Force’ be with you on future trips.
Frank Betush”
[Photo: I don’t have a photo of Frank, but here is one he took of me]