It’s sad day here, and I struggle to man up and  find the words through the tears.  I’ll do my best, I owe him that.

This morning,  I lost my only close friend to cancer…James Earle.

It’s a tough thing to find a friend close enough that even long silences are comfortable. The ability to go for long periods of time without a word spoken…tuned into the same frequency, as it were. Just comfortable in each other’s presence.

As it was though, if we were talking, we were usually laughing, sharing stories,  or cussing and grunting under the  weight of our packs as we struggled through a swamp or thick patch of forest. Never a dull moment when we were out and about.  We had taken to jokingly calling ourselves “Team Outlaw”. We were determined to hike and geocache our way. If we wanted to take a break every 20 minutes and bullshit, well, we did it. We’d find a nice spot, drop our packs and enjoy the scenery and some conversation, and sometimes silence.

He took some fantastic photos along the way,  some of them compiled here,

and a few of him and some friends taken by InfiniteMPG are compiled here.

Jim always said I was the younger brother he never had before, we were that close. I have lots of acquaintances, but only had one friend.   I’m just built that way, I suppose… not a great need for so much human contact. I find that most dogs are better behaved than most people these days. Not all, mind you, but the vast majority.

Last year, we thought we were both 20 again, and went on a 3 day backpacking trip in the Myakka Wilderness. It was hard work, as we were both seriously overpacked, but damn, it was fun. a photo or two from that trip:

Jim In Final Camp

Jim In Our Final Camp In Myakka - Close To Civilization Again

Watching The Sunset Across The Prairie In The Middle Of The Myakka Wilderness

Watching The Sunset Across The Prairie In The Middle Of The Myakka Wilderness

The last few months when I couldn’t see him hurt me deeply. His immune system was destroyed by the chemo and any virus or germ could have taken what spark of life that he had left. I didn’t dare force my presence on him. He told me every time that we talked over the last 6 months that he missed me and my antics, and looked forward to coming over again for another get together at my house.

Six moths ago to this very day, we walked our last trail together, Jim. You went with me to bury our other trail companion, Rocco, and to explore the last piece of the Balm Boyette Scrub preserve that we hadn’t mapped.  Of course we hid a pretty good multi-part cache that day as well.  We called it “The Last Mile”. Neither one of us realized that it was the last mile that we would ever walk together as well.  The terrible irony. A few pics from that trip:

Jim bringing the packs up for our last break together

We hiked hundreds and hundreds of miles together over the last 3 years, and I don’t know how I’ll ever walk some places again knowing you’ll not be by my side for the adventure. Here’s a photo of our two hiking staffs side by side for the last time…

Our 2 walking staffs at rest on the trail somewhere.

Rest In Piece, Brother, you were loved.


CSS – December 6, 2008