Frontcountry or backcountry, nothing between

Dan the supervisor told me that I lack a lot of common sense in the front country. However, he has seen me in the backcountry, and if I do say so myself, I am a backcountry genius. I consider myself comfortable in the most unpleasant situations- raining without a fire, blizzarding without food, hiking in the dark without a headlamp and the list goes on. Actually I am pretty good at avoiding these situations all together. Additionally I know my way around a compass and can read a topo map fairly quickly and cook a dank meal with a Whisperlite. Conversely I used to think that I was pretty self-sufficient in the front country until I realized that everyone’s definition of the front country is a little different. I grew up outside of Chicago is an affluent neighborhood. This is my front country. However, to Dan, the front country includes checking and changing the oil in his car, understanding how and what a transmission is, knowing how to use power tools and whatnot. I know how to get around Chicago, to protect my purse in a crowd, where the nearest Whole Foods or food coop is and so forth.  It dawned on me that I am capable of living the extremes. I am entirely comfortable being smelly in the backcountry, or seemingly pampered in the front country. I am unable to do the middlecountry. The other day Sarah (she is from Venice Beach and enjoy bike riding over driving) and I were sent out to inspect our rig. We had a checklist of things to do and a good portion of them required looking at the innards of the car. It took us about 10 minutes to figure out how to open the hood, and when we finally did we took one look at the engine and said, “yep, that’s an engine, now what?” A man walking past us took pity on us and asked us if we needed help. I immediately blurted out, “where is the oil and how to we check it?” He shook his head and laughed at us. He taught us how to check the oil and the transmission fluid. It looks like I am well on my way to becoming a middlecountry expert.