movement, movement

I’m brainstorming ideas for what we’re calling the Mantrip. Back in college some of the fellas in BX enjoyed doing what we called Mantrips. They would usually consist of a group of us guys heading out into the wilderness (or near-wilderness) to spend a few adventurous, stinky, fresh days as brothers. The main trips I remember taking back then were usually centered around the celebration of one of the involved brothers getting married. Our most memorable was one in particular for the Bachelor party/trip for a friend named Bobby Van Kirk. Anyone who spent some time in Beta Chi or even at Hastings College at all back in the day would have heard of, if not known, Bobby. That trip involved several adventures, including camping in open buffalo country, tipping canoes several times on the Niobrara, a 12 hour hike up the tallest mountain east of the Rockies (can’t remember the name, its somewhere the black hills), almost getting murdered at the Wounded Knee battlefield in South Dakota, and watching a swarm of cop cars swoop down on one our party’s vehicles.

These great memories spurred in me a desire to continue the tradition. Last summer over the first weekend in July I organized a trip for my brother, who was to get married about 3 weeks later. We got together with several other friends and spent a weekend in the Rockies just west of Laramie, WY. One of my greatest memories from a summer that was one of the best times of my life. 

So Sam (my brother) and I have decided to keep the tradition going, even now that I’m 2000 miles away. We’re currently making plans for the 2008 Mantrip, and we generally plan on taking time each summer for the rest of our lives to spend some time in nature together. Whether it stays as is, with a group of friends and family going, or whether it ends up some day just being Sam and I, I really don’t care. I’m excited for the future, and I’d encourage anyone out there to make sure they put time aside in the future for these kind of trips, even if its not camping or something similar.

We’re currently brainstorming ideas that can add some vitality and “manliness” to our trips, maybe ideas that will someday become as much a part of the memories as anything. Beards is a must, as is guns and knives. Last year we had a couple handguns, a couple .45s, but failed to actually shoot anything. (Had hoped to cook some chipmunk dinners) We’re also thinking about bringing back some of the ideas from my college days, including the “Direct Travel Clause”, introduced by my buddy Patrick back in the day. The clause basically states that when driving to your camping/mantrip destination, you take the absolute most direct route you can find from where you are. There’s a winding little trail up and down the side of a mountain or through a roaming buffalo reservation? You take that road. Shortcuts are manliness, even if it adds time to the trip. The experience is the point.

All that being said, I’m greatly looking forward to our trip this summer, likely to come about some time in August. Please let me know if any of you out there might want to come along, we’re always down for fellowship with bros.

One more thing, wouldn’t it be great to achieve this just in time for the trip? Very manly: