You're Too Old to Listen to the Really Old People
You're Too Old to Spend the Rest of Your Life on the Couch: Let's Adventure!
Be careful whose advice you take
Really old people are old in attitude. They decided they were ancient at some arbitrary age and sadly, try to paint everyone else with that load of baloney. The people I most love to write about don’t listen. They just go out and do.
Back when I began my adventure career in earnest at 60, there was no shortage of folks who argued that I was too old, a woman, blahdeblahdeblah. You can’t do what you want to do.
They were all dead wrong.
In fact, the more people blather about how I’m too old/female/name-your-limitation, the more likely I am to just go out and do it.
That’s just one reason I write this newsletter. The other is that there is no shortage of stories about other people living extraordinary lives. They just go out and do it, and in doing it, demonstrate the lie of ageism.
The more examples we have, the better.
I recently did a piece on a river guide who will soon be 73. That will be in a slick publication up here in the PNW, and I’ll be writing my own story about Ted Brownrigg separately for Too Old.
This article highlights a fellow Substacker’s story about Ted.
has become part of my community; I’ve referred Ray Glier to great athletes. Today Ray’s story about Ted came out. I wanted to share it with you as a great example of what’s possible.Ray’s story is superbly well-written, but he also has a terrific subject who brims with stories that make your hair stand on end.
My client, Todd Gilstrap, who is the ops guy and owner of Oregon River Experiences (ORE), made Ted a senior lead river guide. That’s no small thing in a business which favors teenagers and kids in their twenties. Todd’s boss (who has since passed away) originally hired Ted, but Todd didn’t have to keep him.
He did. Having a mature, capable guy on the river that older travelers can relate to has been an excellent business decision. Road Scholar channels a lot of business his way. Ted’s a key reason why.
When you and I do an adventure with an outfitter, almost always it’s the guides who cause us to want to head out with them again. The guides make the trip, most especially if there’s an accident, emergency or “out-of-boat” experience. Their competence is what brings us back.
Todd also took a risk on me, allowing me to do three trips this year to learn the business and to write stories about rafting from a first-hand standpoint. He didn’t have to, because the ageism in the adventure industry is deep and thick.
So is racism, but that’s another article.
I ended up learning a lot about rafting, seeing how terrific this sport is for people with disabilities and mobility issues. For my writing dollar, it’s one of the few true adventures that folks well past fifty can still enjoy without needing to be in super shape. Or even barely in shape. I’ve seen it.
The joy I have seen in people who are infirm or nearly immobile is transformational.
Stories like Ray’s piece in Geezer Jock are a great reminder of three important things:
-If you’re hiring, never EVER assume that age= infirmity, or that a number automatically means that someone can’t do the work.
-Never assume that you, Dear Reader, are out of the mix because of age. If you are willing to do the work to be in shape, to stay active, there is no reason why you and I can’t do some pretty amazing things. You may not be a river guide at 73, but there is a place for you in a world you create, not that society dictates.
-Above all, Dear Reader, especially if all you want to do is go play, river rafting, whether for a half day, full day or multi-day, is the one wonderful adventure where you and I at most any age can indeed enjoy the thrills of white water, be safe, eat well, sleep like children under the stars, and come home with so many stories.
At the start of this season, my feet were not working well and hurt all the time. I had real concerns about my body agency. I too started my first trip with trepidation. Then I was schlepping heavy boxes, huge containers of water and throwing my back into helping out.
Sore feet were a minor distraction. I learned how to stand in the front of the boat and effectively surf some of the rapids, using the balance training from my BOSU ball to stay upright and out of the drink. I felt like Supergirl, sore feet and all.
When we are immersed in Nature, many of our irritations just leave. They stay gone while we are distracted by beauty and immersed in the experience. I’ve become a serious fan of river rafting for that reason and will write more about the people with disabilities that I have observed on the river.
For now, please enjoy the story about Ted. There are so many of you who are doing much the same kind of thing and are too often unheralded. I’d love to know your story and tell it.
No matter how old you are,
Let’s play.
Thanks as always for reading my work. If you are regularly inspired, please consider supporting this newsletter.
If you know someone who needs a good adventure, please invite them to read Too Old as well. You never know what might come of it!
Yes, you are right. I just posted my story on substack about my 2 weeks locking through a few dozen locks on the Erie Canal in a 24' trawler with my husband. I'm 72. Hope to do it again in the next couple of years. I can't imagine just sitting around doing nothing.
Julia, if you rafted the Salmon in July, you were in my back yard! We live on Panther Creek. I love in the summer, when we drive to Hwy93/North Fork and beyond, or drive to Colson Creek (have only been to Corn Creek once) watching the rafters who probably put in probably at Spring Creek or at Shoup and possibly go as far as down to Corn Creek. The Salmon River has really dropped the past 5 years, and with the mud slides 8/5/23, a result of the 2022 Moose Creek Fire (we were here that whole summer as it had moved from NFork to here and beyond 139K acres) there sure are some new sand bars that made a few areas of the river pretty interesting. I hope it was a great trip. It's been a warm summer here.