Action-packed Boise

Part II: In which we grab life by the horns

BOISE, Idaho—We stayed with our wonderful friends Kristi and Chris while in Boise. They are proprietors of a most excellent chocolate shop, the Chocolat Bar, which specializes in some of the tastiest confections in North America. Each confection is made by hand with love and laughter in their downtown Boise shop.

The Chocolat Bar's signature lemon-lavendar almond bark is sinfully delicious, although I found myself with an extreme weakness for the cherry and dark-chocolate caramels. They might be much better than a power bar on a long bike ride through the mountains, although it would be much better to eat them in a civilized locale.

We had seen Kristi and Chris for mere moments before we headed out on our ride at Bogus Basin, so we had not had time to catch up on things before we left. We did not return until just before 11 p.m. My arm was still raw and dirt covered and weeping buckets of an unsettling clearish ooze.

I crawled into the shower and began the hideous task of cleaning out my wound. An unholy poultice of dirt, pebbles and plant matter was smashed into the flesh on the lower part of my forearm just above the elbow. I used plenty of soap and friction to debride my arm. The evening quiet inside the home was interrupted by a mournful low-pitched howl emanating from the bathroom.

Thankfully we had remembered to pack the first aid kit. Two extra-large swatches of sterile gauze spared me from sticking to the nice clean sheets that evening. The next morning we awoke early. Kristi had signed us up for a morning of adventure!

These days I'm starting to appreciate that life must be lived when you can. My recent bout with the Crippling Mystery Illness reminded me of how fragile life can be, and that fortunes can change without warning as quick as a wink. Without such an epiphany, I might have balked at Kristi's suggestion for a day of fun, but now we jumped at the opportunity without hesitation.

A little while later we found ourselves in Horseshoe Bend, Idaho, at Zip Idaho, a new business offering zip line tours to the masses. A zip line is a long expanse of cable that you clip onto with a tiny pulley mechanism and harness system. A big guy like me can reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour on the 1,800 foot line that spans a small canyon northeast of Horseshoe Bend.

After a short briefing, we found ourselves practicing our zip line skills in a series of short spans up in the trees. It was fantastic! Call it crazy, but I found it inherently easy to step off the platform high above the ground and go zipping over to the next tree.

I found it even easier running like a crazy person and launching myself over the edge of the canyon on the long zip line. The only sad part is 1,800 feet goes by surprisingly quickly at 50 mph.

Zip lining is something you can do with a big wad of gauze on your arm or with a bruised or cracked rib, assuming you can use the arm on the good side of your body to hold onto the harness. While it's probably not an appropriate activity for everyone, it's appropriate for any able-bodied soul to try at least once.

Afterward we felt like astronauts or elite explorers; we had experienced something totally new and exciting that not everyone gets a chance to try. What a rare privilege.

Life must be lived while you can. Fortunes can change as quick as a wink. Carpe diem as they say.

See you on down the road.