As The Crow Flies

Sometimes when I’m sitting in my cabin, my mind turns to having a pet: a dog or a cat. I forget how much work and money a pet takes. I forget that a pet will tie me down. That I can forget about hiking or travel. And sometimes, when I’m snug in my cabin, I think why do I need to go anywhere? I could just stay here, build my cob house, plant a garden and have a pet. Sounds nice. But I know the need to roam will rear up in me after awhile and I will be antsy for adventure.

For taking long walks on ice and packed snow, nothing works better for me then screwing sheet metal screws in to my shoes. I get the kind with the hex nut head, 3/8 inch long for the toe and 1/2 inch long for the back of the shoe. For complete instructions visit http://www.skyrunner.com/screwshoe.htm. I don’t have a hex nut attachment for my cordless drill so I used my screwdriver’s hex nut driver and did it by hand. The screw driver is called a 6 way all in one screwdriver.

Last year I went through 2 pairs of Yak-Traks: they broke after about 2 weeks of use. Then I tried a pair of light weight instep crampons but they were always slipping up and I had to stop and adjust them all the time. Then I learned about the screw shoe. When spring came I just took out the screws and my running shoes where fine.

NOTE: Change into screw less shoes before walking on nice floors.