Thirty Years

I talk with a lot of different people in my job, with lots of different opinions, but the one thing they all have in common is that they all tell me they have been involved in what ever their activity of choice is for thirty years.

I hear all the time "We have been camping in this spot for thirty years", "What do you mean I can't drive on this road? We have been driving it for thirty years", "I have been hunting here for thirty years", "I have been hiking this trail for thirty years". It really does not matter what their age is. I have had people that could not be older than 30, tell me I have been coming here for you guessed it 30 years.

Why thirty? Why not twenty or thirty five? I think somebody needs to write a thesis on the link between the the time period of 30 years and the human mind. I guess twenty just doesn't sound quite established enough. I mean anybody can do something for twenty years. Maybe forty just sounds greedy, like your pushing the limits of believability?

So today when I stopped and talked to an old couple on a four wheeler with a very large gun I was not suprised at all when they told me "Hey Forest Guy we have been hunting these elk for thirty years". I was suprised when the little old lady wearing a pink visor explained to me that she was having trouble shooting at moving targets so she had missed a couple of running cow elk earlier in the day.