Books and my backpack

I loved this book so much that I sent a copy to each of my three adult sons. To be honest, I wished they were kids again and I could read it aloud with them, like I did with countless stories when they were growing up with me.

Gary D. Schmidt’s Okay for Now tells the story of Doug Swieteck, 14, who has just moved to Marysville, New York.

“I hate this town,” he says. But maybe he actually detests a father whose abuse made me want to scream, an older brother who stole Doug’s most treasured possession, and an oldest brother who used to beat him up before being sent to war in Vietnam.

Doug Swieteck’s voice is a masterful creation that will tickle your funny bone and touch your heart. This book is funny, very funny, but life for this boy is hardly fun. He finds refuge and the artist inside him at the town library, where a rare book of Audubon bird plates speaks to him like nothing else in his life does.

Except for Lil Spicer, a girl whose words would repel most everyone. Except Doug Swieteck. Doug gets a delivery job at Lil’s dad’s store, leading the boy to more tests and quirky discoveries. His oldest brother returns from Vietnam a changed man in ways that made me wish I had not judged him so harshly. His story enriches a book already full of engrossing characters and experiences in Doug’s life.

Doug Swieteck sees so much more than anyone around him, other than Lil, a librarian, and his dad’s boss. I wanted him to yell out, speak his mind, let it be known he would not stand for how others treated him. But he shows remarkable restraint, making me think he knew it was best. But, in the end, Doug Swieteck is blindsided in a way that I did not see coming.

Newberry Honor winner Gary D. Schmidt writes on a 1953 Royal typewriter and his works are timeless masterpieces, written for kids, young adults, and big kids like me.

Okay for Now is even better than the earlier accompanying book, The Wednesday Wars, which is no small achievement. I read several other Schmidt books and was especially drawn to Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy. His stories grab me like no other author has done for years.

Sue and I visit the Muir Hut atop the mountain pass named after John Muir.

It was the toughest physical challenge of our lives. You just gotta see how it came to be. Click on the YouTube links below to watch Sue’s pair of brief (I promise) shows. Look carefully and you’ll see a mule train snake up Forester Pass at more than 13,000 feet.

It began with one word: “Never!”

Sue and I had just returned after our fifth European long-distance trek. Our youngest son Chris, an avid outdoorsman, had a suggestion that came from his heart: “You should do the John Muir Trail.”

“We can’t do that. Live in a tent? Carry all our stuff?”

I paused as the reasons for my absolute answer piled up. “The elevation would kill us. No toilets? No showers? Weeks in the wilderness?”

“It’s the most beautiful trail in the world, Dad.”

In August 2021, we began our JMT south of Mt. Whitney with a plan to walk 240-plus miles northbound to Happy Isles in Yosemite National Park. We sometimes gasped for oxygen, but we coped with living at mostly 10,000 feet-plus elevation. We bathed in creeks and lakes, filtered our own water. Set up and took down our tent every day for a month.

What made us say “Yes?” Mules and packers. Mules carried the bulk of our stuff, allowing us to get by with 20-pound daypacks, which held water, rain gear, lunch, snacks and a few other essentials. Packers loaded and unloaded the mules, cooked our food, and set up a rustic privy. And much more.

Here’s your ticket to the most beautiful trail in the world.

John Muir Trail Part I

John Muir Trail Part II