In many travelogues, there is a section where you can find out more
about the writer. I don't see a need for that.
I think who I am is pretty well covered in the stories
themselves. However, somebody asked me, "What is this Mr.
Moose
thing all about?"
That I will tell you about.
Mr. Moose is sort of my alter
ego. It isn't related to
Bullwinkle, though maybe a little bit to Mr. Moose of Captain Kangaroo.
My family bought a resort in northern Minnesota (about 150 km.
south
of the Canadian border). One of my parents was more
enthusiastic
about it than the other. My mom said, "Well, we're moving to
northern Minnesota. Nothing up there but a bunch of moose
turds." And so it became my motto, "Peace Through
Moosepoop." If everybody adopted this as a way of life, the
world
would be a better place.
I started mountain bike racing about two years later and did
so well
in my first race that I started racing expert class in my second
race. In my fourth race I placed fourth among the
experts.
Later that day I went to see some of my friends who
worked at a restaurant. They said to the owner, "Hey John, he
placed in expert class. Why don't you sponsor him?"
John
asked me a few questions about racing. I thought he was just
curious about it. He then said, "Ok, I'll sponsor
you! Go
out and get yourself a shirt made." So I did. I got
a
custom airbrushed jersey that had the Team Moosepoop emblem pictured
above emblazoned on it. I wasn't sure how he would react to
his
business being associated with moosepoop. He loved
it. And
so it entered the annals of history.
At this very moment, you may well be thinking, "Uh...thank you
for
sharing that."