About a month ago, my friend Jesse decided that out of all his friends, I was the one most qualified to be crazy enough to say yes in joining him to conquer The Walls of Jericho: a 7 mile hike on the border of Alabama and Tennessee.

With neither of us ever having been there, he warned me: “It’s a pretty treacherous hike. It’s supposed to take at least 6 hours. Some people aren’t able to complete the hike and have to be airlifted out of there.”

He had me at “airlifted out”.

I confirmed my interest: “Six hours? I bet we can do it in five.”

So this morning, like any normal people would do on a Saturday, we woke up at 5:30 AM to ensure we would be starting the hike in time to be done before the forecasted thunderstorms would arrive in the afternoon.

Something I particularly enjoyed about the hike through the Walls of Jericho was how muddy, and therefore how comically slippery it was; as we trekked along the side of a steep cliff with river rapids below. It was great!

I have recently learned that “if” I am high maintenance for a man, it is because that on a daily basis, I require being A) physically challenged, B) intellectually stimulated, and C) socially connected.

Confirmation: Jesse chose the right friend for this hike! You can imagine it was 5 hours of constant deep conversations.

I had agreed to drive if he would buy our well-earned lunch.

About halfway through the hike, in the likeness of Shaggy and Scooby-Doo, we began imagining what would make the perfect lunch after the hike.

I then asked Jesse, “Have you heard the Jimmy Buffet song, ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise'”?

So we made it happen.

We had secured our cheeseburgers in paradise, having completed a 6 hour hike in 5 hours and didn’t have to be airlifted out.

Saturday well spent!