ERE Marching Meetup Series

[Smashter]

In

No weight for me this time, still getting over a lingering hip/back thing

[brainstorm]

Me too! I think we're at 5?

I'll just have the weight of my water and food and such. I was thinking of making some raw cookie dough that theanimal shared, and if it turns out well I'll be happy to share with yall

[Scott 2]

Still in. Weather looks promising - high 30's to low 40's and sunny. Cold enough to keep casual bikers home, but still comfortable.

I biked the loop Monday. The gravel's in good shape. The recent rain has the waterfall full. It's a good picture spot. The porta potties are open and getting serviced regularly.

[Dave]

March #6 in the books.

A cool gray morning, we traversed the radioactive ( ) lands surrounding Argonne National Laboratory via the 10 mile Waterfall Glen loop trail. We saw walkers, runners (including a lady with two babies in a stroller), bikers, and roller skiers. I only saw one other rucker. Wildlife sightings were sparse - no white deer, despite my hopes. @brainstorm brought @theanimal's cookie dough recipe, which served as a delicious endcap to the hike. @Scott 2 shared local lore and geography.

Excellent company as always, and really great to have @brainstorm join us. I really liked this hike.

If anyone is ever passing through Chicagoland and wants to do a walk, please reach out in this thread and see if we can set something up! Lots of great places to hike in Chicagoland.

[Scott 2]

Great to see Jacob and Dave again, as well as meet @brainstorm. He's a live player and on track to do the thing. Watch this space over the next couple years:

viewtopic.php?t=13227

My Garmin says we went 10.2 miles at an average moving pace of 3.7mph. Doing the loop felt easier with good company. I did not ruck and am glad the other guys were weighed down. I remain impressed with Jacob's work capacity. It's a testament to decades of consistent effort.

Dave told me about his experiment using Samsung Dex to go mobile only. Looking further, Samsung is well ahead of the Pixel docking. Hearing about Dave's nomadic lifestyle, offers a strong reality check for my own assumptions as well. Much untapped "freedom to" remains available, waiting on my growth. Something about discussing it face to face, hits different.

I've strayed rather far from the ERE approach, and so there's a bit of imposter syndrome in attending. But I'm glad to have made it out. The marches are a fantastic opportunity to connect with accomplished, interesting people. Attending early in my accumulation phase would have been pivotal.


When I got home, I mentioned talking about the secret waterfall. My wife shared this picture, from our visit a couple years ago:

[Dave]

Beautiful. If the undergrowth isn't too extensive, it would be cool to see this next time!

[Ego]

Bangkok Marching Meetup
Wednesday, November 27, 7:30AM
Meeting Point: Nana BTS station on the soi 8 side of Sukhumvit. A short stroll down soi 10 will get us to Benchakitti Park. We can then decide on the route. Benchakitti is connected with Lumpini park by the green mile so it is likely we will also walk to/around Lumpini. Weather is likely to be clear and 84f/29c at the start and is not expected to go above 94f/34c. All welcome. @Ego & @OutOfTheBlue attending.

[Ego]

@OutOfTheBlue and I had a great Marching Meetup in Bangkok. We started at the Nana BTS stop and walked down soi 10 to the spectacular, newly expanded Benjakitti Forest Park, then down the Green Mile to Lumpini Park and back. My garmin watch clocked us at 19km for the walk for about 3.5 hours. I suspect we could have talked for another four hours non-stop.

Everyone passing through Bangkok should reach out to @OutOfTheBlue. He is exceedingly kind, extremely interesting and a wealth of info on Southeast Asia. I especially enjoyed learning about his super-frugal Bangkok lifestyle.

[Dave]

@OutOfTheBlue and I had a great Marching Meetup in Bangkok. We started at the Nana BTS stop and walked down soi 10 to the spectacular, newly expanded Benjakitti Forest Park, then down the Green Mile to Lumpini Park and back. My garmin watch clocked us at 19km for the walk for about 3.5 hours. I suspect we could have talked for another four hours non-stop.

Everyone passing through Bangkok should reach out to @OutOfTheBlue. He is exceedingly kind, extremely interesting and a wealth of info on Southeast Asia. I especially enjoyed learning about his super-frugal Bangkok lifestyle.

That looks like a fun and beautiful route to walk, glad to hear March #7 was such a success! Solid pace there for a walk partially through an urban area, well done, fellas.

Any pics you'd be willing to share?

I am going to be in Chicagoland briefly in January before I head to Oahu for a stretch. Is anyone interested in another march on the 11th or 12th of January? If not then, I may be able to do something in early March.

[Ego]

Any pics you'd be willing to share?

I would certainly be willing to share a photo if I had taken any. Unfortunately, I didn't take one. Maybe OOTB?

[OutOfTheBlue]

Same here. Was so engrossed with our talk&walk that it didn't occur to me to take photos of us or the surroundings. Maybe regrettably on hindsight, especially toward the end, when we came back to Benchakiti park and went through the extended elevated walkway (skywalk). Lovely sights from up there!

At some point, we did touch on the subject. I remember saying that while photography itself is great (and I'll add here that, much like painting, when pursued as an art form, it can actually help train the eye), systematically taking snaps, especially when collecting sights/experiences with an eye on their later social media sharing/consumption, can actually get in the way of living these experiences!

Just two people walking and talking. One of them with many years under their belt of walking the talk!

[Smashter]

I cannot make the 11th or 12th of January, so I’ll hope to see the crew again in March

[brainstorm]

I am going to be in Chicagoland briefly in January before I head to Oahu for a stretch. Is anyone interested in another march on the 11th or 12th of January? If not then, I may be able to do something in early March.

I'm free both days and would love to meet up. Perhaps the Salt Creek trail system that was mentioned a while back?

[reepicheep]

Walking in Washington state?

Unlikely to be up for something so strenuous as to engender blisters. Up to five miles at a leisurely pace doable in variable terrain.

[jacob]

I'm free both days and would love to meet up. Perhaps the Salt Creek trail system that was mentioned a while back?

Salt Creek seems like the easiest starting point given that it's <3 miles from ERE HQ. ERE HQ is, in turn, ~2 miles from the end point of the pink line on the L-train. If the preference if for walking through areas of "look how much those crazy people spend on bricks and 2x4s" aka Riverside, this is about halfway to the start of Salt Creek. Salt Creek itself is mostly a bike path in a long green tunnel much of which follows the river.

[Dave]

Either (Salt Creek trail/Riverside dwelling tour) works for me. Any preference from you two on location?

We're still a bit out weather-wise, but preferably would shoot for the 11th and fallback to 12th if need be.

[brainstorm]

Fancy dwellings sounds fun (but no strong preference). It seems feasible to mix in a bit of both if we'd like.

To offer a concrete suggestion, how about Andrew Toman Grove parking lot at 9:30a on Saturday? Open to counteroffers. It will be chilly, so I'm surely bringing a balaclava

PS – free admission at the zoo this weekend

[Dave]

Those details all work for me!

Given start time, I lean towards a 7-15 mile walk.

Happy to provide shuttle services from ERE HQ / Pink Line stop near ERE HQ (or if there is another nearby stop on the way to the meeting point).

@jacob, @scott 2, others?

[jacob]

Starting at the Andrew Toman lot , I suggest walking south on Des Plaines and getting over the river at the 31st bridge (it has sidewalks) and onto the Orange route. The orange route at this point is just a bike path on the side of a heavily trafficked road.

If we turn left, we'll be able to get into the animal prison yards. I've been there before on off-season free days. I thought it pretty depressing, but maybe that's just me. At these temperatures most of the outdoor pens are probably closed but some indoor buildings are open.

If we turn right, we follow the orange trail north and then west to Forest View Dr(*). Then a short skip onto the Red Route which is the "long green tunnel next to the River" and go right for as long as we want. Then back again.

(*) Street parking here (along Forest View) is also a viable starting point. That would be my recommendation.

@Dave - Shuttle service would be appreciated.

[Dave]

Given that @jacob is familiar with the trails there and recommends it, let's park on Forest View and start there.

@brainstorm - Do you plan on meeting us there, or would you like a pickup near ERE HQ/nearby public transit? Forest View Drive doesn't look that long, but we could get a little more precise on where exactly to meet if doing that vs. driving in together.