WHAT THE HECK ARE WE THINKING?

How does a type A Obsessive Compulsive Workaholic retire? By finding a pleasant activity to obsess about, which will involve her husband in something that he has a passion for, and that will keep him from complaining that her newest scheme “is not retired”.

Several years ago, we watched a PBS special The National Parks, America’s Best Idea. MY idea while watching that program was to travel the United States moving from one National Park to the next… and in order of creation. Well, that’s a lot of parks (thanks to folks with much more vision than most have now), and if done in order of creation it would involve quite a bit of back and forth travel. It certainly fit the obsessiveness dynamic, but didn’t inspire me enough to want to retire.

A few years ago Chuck, always the one who chooses which videos to order from NetFlix, ordered a movie called “The Big Year”. A cute movie about obsessed people.

A couple of years ago, Chuck took advantage of an early retirement from the US Forest Service and buckled down to finish his PhD and play golf (if you know Chuck, you know which one often takes priority, so he finished his dissertation one day-ish prior to the deadline which would have required that he re-take his prelims-something he vowed NEVER to subject himself to again). One of his golfing buddies, Ron Christian (thank you Ron!), took him on a few birding trips. Then Chuck & I did some bird viewing trips together. I loved it, but was still not inspired enough to want to retire.

Somehow, over a year or so, the obsessive idea of visiting each National Park, our growing enjoyment of birding, and our subconscious using the Big Year movie, morphed into a “Big Year Our Way” fixation, and we started thinking seriously about how we could make a big year happen.

So we shall see if we can:

1. Become real birders-Chuck spent 20 years in the Forest Service immersed in everything Red-Cockaded Woodpecker; he can certainly identify that one and many Eastern birds- others need more practice! I have been an occasional bird looker and need to ramp up all of my skills to be considered a true birder.
2. Inspire others to go for it! If we can turn out a respectable big year WITHOUT having birded since we could crawl, anyone CAN do something similar. Inspire others to get out and enjoy our public lands; travel, camp, and adventure in the parks, forests, and areas preserved for us (and of course for the wildlife) with such forethought.
3. Prove that beginners CAN do a respectable big year with the right tools-The tools available to birders become more incredible every day! Check out the tools that we, as novice-ish bird watchers, are using to fledge into true birders, and which we believe will allow us to complete a respectable “Our Way” Birding Big Year in 2015.
   Our tools:
   1. Transportation & Housing- We will “sprint” around the ABA area driving and camping from our Sprinter Crew Van “DIY Conversion by Chuck Hess”.
   2. Software:
      1. iBird Ultimate digital field guide- Truly Ultimate with the recent BAM (Birds All Around Me) upgrade.
      2. BirdsEye, BirdLog, NARBA- Wonderful tools that put ebird into our palms, and help point us to those code 3,4,5 birds (in case we are nearby).
      3. Good Sam’s Club Trip Planning Tool- OH MY what a great tool.  Our first 7 months are mapped out birding hot spot by birding hot spot.  The quote “no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy” comes to mind, and although birds are in no way the enemy, the Trip Planner allows us on the fly tweaking and re-routing.
      4. Anytime Fitness Locator- Although both Chuck and I are under 60 years old (not saying how much under) regular exercise beyond hiking will be important to us.  We will certainly take advantage of our membership while we travel throughout US and Canada.
      5. WFSU Public Radio App- Undeniably the best Public Radio Station in the land… and their App lets us stay connected as we travel!
   3. Hardware: Swarovski scope and tripod (The folks at Eagle Optics are wonderful), 2-Cannon 70D cameras-one picture ready and one scope ready(Hunt’s helped us pick out just the right equipment) , Zeiss (carrie) and Pentax (chuck) Binoculars, Iphones 5 & 6Plus (the better to see iBird and BirdsEye with), WiFi Hotspot & Laptops.
   4. Written field guides: Second Edition Sibley Birds, Crossley ID Guide and Crossley Raptor ID Guide, the Warbler Guide.
4. Learn to be retired– Chuck is “all in” to the retirement lifestyle. I have been in the business world where ‘make a plan and work the plan’ was my mantra, and where I was a wee bit competitive; a big year seems a logical transition for me.
5. Visit as many of the great ecosystems, found in the American Birding Association (ABA) checklist area (North America north of Mexico), as we possibly can.
6. Enjoy this 31st year of marriage and our first year of dual retirement, spending close to 100% of the year together, without driving each other crazy or to a divorce attorney!

Can a tortoise and a hare, or the differing philosophies of “it’s about the process” vs. “it’s about the goal” find balance?

A “2015 Big Year Our Way” will be our testing ground.