Bucket Lists
By James M. Jackson

You know them, right? Bucket Lists: a compilation of the things you would like to do before you kick the bucket.

Since I am at the stage in life where I am closer to kicking the bucket than not, I’ve had many years to chip away at my list. Periodically, I add new things. Occasionally I have had to drop something off my list as no longer practical. For example, since the time I was a Boy Scout, I wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. It would take a whole summer (something I never had available until I retired, given that I preferred earning money to crossing wishes off my bucket list). By the time I retired, my left shoulder could no longer take the weight of a pack for any length of time. For a while, I considered hiring people to carry my gear. I finally decided my objective was more than just walking the roughly 2,200 miles; I needed to carry my own gear to satisfy my wishes, and so crossed it off the list as unattainable.

Some of the bucket items were easy one-offs. My partner, Jan, gave me a hot air balloon ride as a birthday present. I went parasailing while in the Virgin Islands years ago. Those kinds of things appear on my bucket list because I want, or at least am curious about, the experience they offer.

One of my biggies was to visit all fifty states in the United States. I polished that off when I visited Alaska in 2008. Jan still has a few states to go, and so I have on MY bucket list (because she doesn’t have such a thing) to get her to remaining ones. I’m using that as an excuse to justify attending the 2017 Left Coast Crime in Hawaii.

One long-time bucket list item was to experience the northern lights. I temporarily removed that item when I first saw the aurora borealis up at my place in the wilds of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (where I set Cabin Fever). I have seen them a few times since, but at a latitude of 46.40N, it happens mostly for short durations or during winter when I usually bask in Georgia’s relative warmth. Nice, but not awe-inspiring. I added back onto the list a desire to really experience them. Jan has never seen them, so as this is published, we will have nearly completed a trip that takes us to Churchill, Manitoba (58.80N). Churchill is smack dab in the high aurora borealis belt. We expect to have several evenings of great views that will last for much of the night.

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