The Idiot loves having to decide whether to add tapenade or pate d’olive to his loaf of French bread for a quick picnic lunch. Such decisions!

The Idiot enjoys kicking off his daily walks by climbing through blossoming fields on a hill near his home in Redding, California.

The Idiot always relishes, despite the fire-scarred mountains, the walk down the Buenaventura Trail to the Sacramento River.

The Idiot thrives on the smell of spring when he hikes on narrow paths along the Sacramento River.

The Idiot regularly takes a meditative walk to the center of the Peace Labyrinth, and back, on the Sacramento River Trail.

After walking a dozen miles, there’s nothing more refreshing for The Idiot than dipping both feet in the chilly Sacramento River.

The Idiot is frequently transfixed while staring upstream, or downstream, on the Sacramento River.

The Idiot doesn’t mind that there are no other people on the Sacramento River Trail.

The Idiot doesn’t mind that there are no other people walking across this pedestrian bridge over the Sacramento River.

The Idiot doesn’t mind that there are no people congregating at the gazebo in Lake Redding Park.

The Idiot is not completely antisocial. He stopped to discuss the last book in his trilogy of Mediterranean travel narratives, The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Twenty Years Walking the Mediterranean, with avid and inquisitive reader Peter Beeman, a high school friend wanting to ask various arcane questions about Alexander the Great and Mediterranean habits, at the end of the afternoon.

The Idiot didn’t mind that the last hill he climbed was the one leading through his backyard to his perched Redding basecamp.

The Idiot’s iPhone pedometer records, in kilometers, how far he hikes each day.