Hmm. I'm anti-establishment.

My wife gave me an interesting piece of news last night. She said, "I just figured out something about you. You an anti-establishment guy. I never dreamed I would have married someone like that because I'm so pro-establishment."

I don't think she was asking for a way out of our relationship (though I have misread things before), but I do know she was right about at least some of what she said. There is no one more pro-establishment than the love of my life. If someone posts a rule, she will bend over backwards making certain to obey it. It's almost comical. So, at least in comparison to her, I'm anti-establishment. Maybe that's why we are such a good team. Over the years I've delivered a lot of great adventures by forcing her to occasionally walk on the grass. Over that same period of time she's warned me back onto the sidewalk a few opportune times. Then there was the night when we (along with six others) found ourselves on foot, a mile from our vehicles, on the Serengetti Plains. That was great fun until we realized that we were surrounded by a pack of salivating hyenas. Where was the sidewalk on that day?

And now that I think of it, in a macro sense she is also correct. (She always is.) I would never have taken the risks I have if I didn't have a tendency to overlook the obstacles that rules and customs can impose. Just look at how those risks have paid off. If I hadn't gone off-roading with my career there is a fair chance I'd have established a secure and stable living with a six figure income over the past ten years instead of the tenuous, edge-of-the-seat living that I have provided my family. What fun would that have been? I'm glad I thought this through this way. My wife won't know how to properly thank me once I explain everything to her in these terms.

So, speaking of off-road careers, I'll continue with my story about how I managed to manufacture the fix we're currently in. Once circumstances dictated that the only way my book would be available before the 2004 Tour de France was if I self-published I became a whirling dervish, gathering funds, working with my typesetter, hiring an artist for cover design, reading books by Dan Poynter and others regarding setting up such a company, joining Publishers Marketing Association and taking advantage of the opportunities they presented, contracting a printer, and much more. By early January, remarkably, it was obvious that I would get the book out on time. There was just one problem. How would I make the world aware that my new tome existed? Oh boy, did I still have a lot to learn.

Until next time,
Dave