Top Highlights

• That trip holds warm memories of my dad and we bonded then. Later I would learn that bonds need maintenance to endure.
• had learned that if a relationship is weak to begin with—like mine had been with Dieter—then it will only get worse when stressed. Most important, companions matter more than goals and objectives.
• Intense outdoor experiences either strengthen or extinguish bonds between partners.
• Peggy often balked when I pushed her toward her limits on those adventures. Her overprotective father, worried about the safety of ten kids on a middle-class income, had never bought Peggy a bike, never taught her to swim, never set up camp away from the road, nor allowed her to take a chance that might result in injury. His strategy had worked. “O...