Matthew Alan Thyer's Blog, page 2

WTAF?

I saw this bingo card the other day for thru hikers. It’s funny because it’s true. It’s not like the weather, when you talk about a long hike there is almost zero potential common ground and most folks will vacillate between disbelief and an uninformed attempt at humor.

But then there are those that want to know the “Why?” of it. Why do you want to hike thousands of miles? What possible motive could you have for doing something like this given modernity’s many comforts and conveniences. I...

Shakedown, Breakdown, Takedown, You’re Busted

In the middle of January and with 60 cm of snow on the ground this post feels oddly obligatory. I can’t really go shake down my three-season pack, not without much travel. The travel I have scheduled for the next couple of months is mostly tied to moving our house and doesn’t get me any place warmer.

That said, I have been putting a lot of thought into what I’m going to carry on my #PCT thru-hike. You can check out my packing list at the bottom of this post. Even cooler, as I tweak it and add...

The Anxiety

I woke up this morning well before the sun and stewing in it. Today is the second of two #PCT permit days and I drew a late window to apply. This means that for any of the 15 available per day NOBO permits between March and June, or the 15 SOBO permits between late June and the end of July I don’t even get to request my ticket until the queue is fatigued.

“Okay,” I remind myself “just get a permit and you can look at modifying it as the spring comes on and others drop out.” It’s always a ...

The Mother of All Updates

If it helps, consider this post a Christmas letter from my family to yours. We usually don’t write these types of letters and haven’t made it a routine to send holiday cards, but this moment in our lives coincides with some significant milestones and events happening in the world around us.

We’re Selling Our Home in Montpelier, Vermont

Yes, you could own this 1967 craftsman-style home in the heart of Vermont. We’ve made several improvements, and if circumstances were different, we would ha...

The Long Trail

I’ve spent that last two years and change sitting. Both literally and figuratively and I want to change that. In 2022 a lot changed for me.

The original plan was that I would have spent the bulk of that summer walking SOBO on the Pacific Crest Trail. I was still dealing with a long-term aphasic episode and recovering from a series of radiosurgeries on my brain so physically the whole PCT was a reach for me. Then, after I’d been compelled my own physical limitations to pear back my thru hikin...

Walking in my own footprints … sort of

Yep, it’s been a good long while since I updated the blog. Lots of goings on. We’re now located in Vermont. We’ve been flooded twice. And I’m once again gainfully employed. These facts are just some features of the otherwise rock-studded moonscape that is my life.

There’s also this stone. I’m currently about 30 pounds overweight. Apparently, this happens when international travel, age, and a rediscovered love of breaded foods conspire against a person. I just haven’t had the time or ene...

The Trouble with Waterproof Panniers

Right now REI is selling Ortlieb panniers and bags at a significant discount. Anywhere where people talk about bicycle touring, they’re talking about this sale. This is because, for touring, most people opt for the plasticized canvas bags because of their remarkable ability to keep things dry.

I have used these panniers for touring and for daily commuting in one of the rainiest places I’ve ever lived. And they work great.

Until they don’t.

The problem with waterproof bags on a bicycle,...

Why Can I Eat Bread?

I have been categorically unable to eat bread and gluten-containing things for about fifteen years now. At first, my body’s reaction to gluten foods was mild and so I merely limited my intake of those things, but as you’d imagine things got progressively worse. Then much, much worse. An errant gluten-noodle in my spaghetti bowl could send me ping-ponging between the bathroom and the bed for days. It was debilitating and caused me no end of anxiety for the most common sorts of eating you could im...

State of Mind

When this post goes out into the world there will be less than 36 hours left before I once again load up my little collection of possessions and my dog and fly to Paris. There is, of course, a metric ton of anxiety banging on the walls of my ice fortress. “Ho-de-door. Ho-de-door.” Most often, this is me dealing with all the stuff in front of me. Did you clean the sheets? Is absolutely all of the dog’s paperwork sorted and ready? Do you have a ride to the airport?

There is a fair amount of lo...

Fly in the Ointment

I was supposed to be in France already, but I’m not. This is the tale of what happened.

Last Saturday at about this time of the evening I was driving my dog back from the island. I felt like I was on the downhill side of a nasty Las Vegas bender. Worse, it was all emotional. I had no clue how I was going to deal with the fallout from the veterinarian visit I’d just been through and worse I had no idea how I was going to break the news to my son and wife later that night.

Checkpoint: now is...