I just finished Bob Doucette’s new book: Outsider: Tales from the Road, the Trail and the Run. It is an account of his life with an emphasis on his love for climbing mountains, trail running, hiking, and fitness. He covers a lot of territory in this slim volume. How he and his brothers grew up loving the the outdoors and  being fit. How he pursued his journalism career hard and neglected his health and then how he realized that he needed to make some changes and became intentional in his pursuit of his goals and chose the hard way to do things. He talks about the concept of wilderness and its importance to him and others. He also discusses spirituality and the loss of his brother and the tests to his faith that brought.

One of the many trails on Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness.

Bob weaves through this several tales of his adventures. Getting caught on the mountains in a rainstorm, road trips with friends, problems encountered and dealt with. He has climbed many of Colorado’s famed peaks over 14,000 feet tall and makes some of them sound like a good walk and others sound very scary. He is a talented and competent writer and he tells his story well. He is a little self deprecating I suspect as I think some of the exploits might be a little more exciting than what he lets on. This book is a great read about a man who loves the outdoors. I give five stars out of five. You can get in on Amazon here.

The Tetons in Wyoming

Doucette is a resident of Tulsa, works in journalism, and spends much time at Tulsa’s Turkey Mountain Urban Wilderness and  a couple of years ago worked behind the scenes in support of the fight against city hall to allow an Outlet Mall on the mountain. He has a blog, Proactiveoutside, where he writes mainly about outdoors issues.  If he isn’t working you might be able to find him at his gym lifting the big weights or running the trails on Turkey Mountain.