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WildernessPunk ShitIdiot

I invented a new word. Shitidiot. Kind of has a nice ring to it, don’t you think? I swear I wasn’t inspired by Trump, okay, perhaps a little. But this word isn’t about him.

Think on it. There are two major categories of people you might not want to hang out with. Evil people and stupid people. Still each of these things on its own has some level of respectability. For instance, the wealthiest one percent. They are shit ass evil, but they aren’t idiots. The people who vote for them might be, but they are living large and are an inspiration to, so many would be evil scumbags.

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.Conversely, you have the idiot. This might be just a guy whose goals and choices are much simpler than yours. Anyone who watching more than four hours of sports a day while growing less fit themselves or the guy who thinks facts are not obstacles to slow you down while seeking the truth, falls in the idiot zone.

The evil one percenters, might by their nature, be getting more evil accomplished on a wider scale, but then again, you almost have to give them some level of respect. When they go to war with a country to steal its resources, they have no delusions about it. They have come to grips with their desires and are willing to fulfill them regardless of the consequences. There is a certain honor in just admitting, “I’m going to strive to be self-centered and take whatever I want for me and mine. Call me evil, I don’t care. I will kill, confuse, and trick my way and no rules apply, unless I get caught. Even then, nine times out of ten I’ll figure a way to forge ahead.”

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“Would you like to grab my wife’s pussy Mr. President or perhaps walk into my teenaged daughter’s room while she changes?”

Idiots can be annoying as well, but sometimes dumb hijinks are fun too. Honest laughter over nothing important can be releasing. The simple life can take a load off your shoulders. Sometimes being with certain folk is like being in the woods with friends as a kid. Hey look, a frog.

It’s when the two combine which takes reality to a new level of annoying. Yes, I know the richest 1% weld an evil which overwhelms some random dumbasss holding a tiki torch in a Klan march, but how often do most of us ever met such devils made flesh?

Instead most of us are plagued by a lower level of a malign fool and depending on how well you managed to insulate yourself for the rest of the world, it could easily be on a daily basis. If you work at the wrong place, it could be hourly or every few minutes.

I had a friend once who was an idiot. Just a dumb ass. The guy that would try to punch you and then fall in the mud. He’d come to visit and pour himself a half gallon of vodka and OJ before I would wake up and start heckling the people walking by in front of my place. Just a knucklehead. Then he tried to rape my girlfriend’s roommate. You just became a Shitidiot.

How could an evil person lower they standing to Shitidiot? Oh, it’s easy. If someone somehow believed the religion they used to control the masses was real, it would be a good start. Add to that racism and homophobia. People who believe these things are both evil and dumb, welcome to the world of being a Shitidiot, loser patrol worshipers.

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From the annoying guy at work who’s taking about how the ‘fill in the blank’ group ruined the USA, between his celebrity worshiping fixation, to both of your boss, who hates, ‘fill in the blank,’ many of us have some serious Shitidiot issues to deal with each day.

So for the more enlightened, I give you this new term to help speed through conversations so one can get to the meat of the story. “Yeah when I was at the store this real Shitidiot was in front of me and…”

You can thank me later.

Alex of the Gods

You can check out some of my fiction here if you feel inclined.

WildernessPunk 6/12/17 Glenwood

To reach Glenwood New Mexico, from this hidden river/forest paradise, one has to leave the Apache Nation and travel through a hundred miles of high desert forest. Then you drop down thousands of cliff covered feet into the arid jagged rock which rings the west side of the Gila Wilderness.

Our little group of adventurers left the forest later than I would have liked, but ended up discovering the hotel we stayed in last time was condemned. Found a newly renovated place and strangely spike the high life in the middle of potential future tribulations.

Glenwood ghost

Almost nothing in the way of business is alive in this shady ghost town. I have been coming here for over a decade and each time I see it die in stages. First time, both the hotel I stayed in and the lonely lost tavern I enjoyed, both gone. The only store in town, now gone. This trip. Sad attempts at restaurants leaves only a single pizza parlor open three days a week for four hours a pop.

Glenwood Bar

Odd to see things go ghost in just part of your lifetime, but shouldn’t this mean the rent would be cheap here? Desert shade and hey a river runs through it. Sure, a lack of money or any normal type of job might slow me down, but hey. Still, when the reality store says open, but the dust covered door is locked, it might be hard to find an angle.

The one thing which is progressing in this town is the recently remodeled, Los Olmos Lodge. One can tell a lot of love, thought, and sweat went into making a relaxing gathering of cabins near both the river and several frog covered ponds. I love my frog friends. With this couple striving to open a restaurant and re-open the general store, they have more work ahead. Yeah, I offered to help, but might be taking nine months before the caretaker’s job opens. Ergg.

Glenwood swamp

Is there such a thing a fate? Why were my thoughts drawn here so often over the past few months? Still the nearest place to buy beer is 20 miles away and uphill. That could prove pretty rough.

Funny how me staying here today is a reality check of sorts. There is no place to buy food, ale, or anything else. If I didn’t bring it with me, I don’t have it. Unless I go hunt wild game, going to be hard to increase the larder.

Life without a store… (Or I have food I bought at a store with me.) still feels weird to need to stock up, not be able to, but yet be in a place where people live. Look there goes two now? I wonder if they brought their own dinner?

Glenwood pool

Could this be what civilization means. Spending money on food. Maybe it just is that simple. Water, food, shelter.

I have some cans of food several years old, which have already been used today. Another odd thought, I worked for a company, I haven’t been with for over a year, but today, I will be surviving off this old effort. It’s my older son’s 6^th birthday weekend and he’ll have a few days in the rough lands, half steaming desert and abandoned shops with a little pool time thrown in.

Glenwood Green

So I’m shutting this down so I can live off the corpse of my former life as this place of luxury and fun battles against the tide of the crumbling forgotten years which surround it.

Glenwood Stage

You can grab some of my fiction here, which I promise has nothing to do with this.

Glenwood Frog

New Year: WildernessPunk

I sit for a moment in the airport. Big beer/Small Salad. Pausing, I try to think on what the New Year will bring. What will it mean for me and the rest of the people and animals wiping around the universe on this giant glowing ball of life.

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Sitting within such a crowded place teeming with people tends to make a person humanocentric. I think most of us tend to be this way more often than not. Whether for good or for ill, our lives circle around the importance of our own species. I suppose we shouldn’t beat ourselves up for this, since I’m sure bobcats mostly think about bobcat things, and sharks do their own dance through the depths.

Yet this type of thinking gets us into trouble. On the money-making side of the street…what do the homes of field mice and birds matter if I can convert this stretch of forest into an apartment complex and make 500 grand. “Hey, don’t come down on Mark Moneybags, he’s creating jobs too.”

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I also don’t intend to let liberals of the hook. They make layers and layers of rules and regulations in the hope of perfection through litigation. “Oh, we need to stop bullying and there was that extreme example of Blah so let’s rake everyone through system who does 5% of Blah. We created all these jobs to monitor Blah and even though it isn’t a problem most of the time and is happening less than ever through the entire history of humankind, they have to justify their salary somehow. Guess what, whether those kids were bullied in fourth grade or not, won’t really matter in sixty years when they’re rotting away.

Why search for perfection in a social environment? Because the population is growing so large we’ll all soon be sharing a bed? Why be so selfish your needs trump the needs of the environment and animals. I suppose we all do it, the animals do it too, they just aren’t as good a destroying the world as we are.

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Are you expecting an answer from me? There are a hundred, maybe a thousand answers. There is an issue though. We are bombarded with all the things we can do to help ourselves and the world. Usually we pick the easiest thing for us and then harp over how big a difference we’re making.

I’m a vegan, so it is okay for me to commute 50 miles five days a week. I’m a bike commuter, so it’s okay for me to eat steak. My new 500,000$ home has an energy efficient dish washer. Well guess what, fuck you, if you even bother mentioning this to me. You can commute by bike to work, be a vegetarian, have a compost pile and still have a negative Earth Balance.

Hey wait, what, did MDG just make up his first new term of 2017? Well yes, I did.

Earth Balance: The balance between the positive impact and the negative damage one commits against the True Environment.

The chances are…you, everyone you know, and possibility everyone you will ever meet will have a negative Earth Balance. It might be possible to have a positive Earth Balance, but even that could be nebulous. How many whales would you have to save to cancel out 10,000 miles of car exhaust? Such things might be a subjective and difficult thing to measure. Perhaps and activist who saves 200,000 acres of forest in Alaska could sit on their laurels and make it to the grave in the positives, but let’s face it, the vast majority of all people in every country take far more than they give.

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An interesting side note, on an individual basis, usually the less money you have the less you pollute.

More vehicles = more CO2
Buying more food (And Meat) = more waste.
More vacations = larger carbon footprint.
Better jobs/better housing = Longer Commute
More machines = less things done by person/animal power.

Face it, those folks washing their clothes in the stream are kicking your ass.

So how can you increase you positive Earth Balance in the New Year? Is it even really possible? Well first off, of course it is. You could sell everything and start growing crops. You could donate money to the nature conservatory. I’m not telling you to do that, but if you aren’t bed ridden, we all CAN make changes, but if you have a good job and three kids, we need to be realistic, right? No…Yes. Do we?

Remember I’m not trying to tell you I’m perfect, but I am willing to think outside of the death machine. Together it is possible. What we think is impossible can be the possible. What will be your first step to help our wild?

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For a while I’ll remain a very hard man to track down.

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sweet-dreams

Fall… into WildernessPunk

It is 9/21/2016… and Fall has begun. With it comes uncertainty and with this comes the need for me to either figure out a way to seriously step up my game or make different choices.

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First Day of Fall in Flagstaff

I never intended WIldernessPunk to be merely a journal of my exploits and issues. My goal, as stated, was to really mix living within nature as much as possible (True Environment) with the juxtaposed concept of not only communicating my thoughts, findings, and adventures to the world online, but also making the money to survive through my writing and my online promotion business ShareStorm.

However, with Summer now over and me living at 7,200 feet in elevation, certain luxuries I’ve enjoyed will be quickly disappearing. Chief of these will be my ability to live with great levels of comfort in a minimalistic camp without a fire. I also have financial responsibilities which will be requiring me, should have been requiring me, to earn more of that elusive green.

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If I wasn’t grounded into this reality, you would most likely see these posts fade into the mists of the web as I packed up a few belongings and set off on some questionable quest, such as walking from Flagstaff to Tucson heading through Payson, Roosevelt Lake, hitting Globe and then trudging down route 87 through the old mining towns. Damn, wouldn’t that be an epic journey. But it is one that won’t be happening. (Or most likely won’t be.)

Back to the seasons. This year has seen my life changed and defined by the seasons more than any year I have encountered. Winter = hardship within my long standing employment of over 13 years, but no serious changes in my long standing status quo. Shortly after spring began, 97% of what most people consider their ‘Life’ was removed from me with a single lie. The rest of the Spring proved difficult as I was monitored by the state until, quite literally the day Summer began. Summer found me more released from their erroneous bondage and I became in many respects freer than I’ve been since my freshman year in College. Yet this summer was divided between having housing, which once lost, begin this experience we call WildernessPunk.

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The Summer also became divided into what some might call bad luck vs. good luck or rough sailing vs. calm waters. I found it somewhat strange that my ill luck occurred before I moved out of my place and once I started WildernessPunk so many things fell into place, so close to perfectly, it made me nervous from time to time. Now, with abrupt timing, just as Autumn begins, some annoying complications have hit me. Again, I guess it’s back to the Real World.

Still, I have little to truly belly-ache about. Over the past seven weeks I have lived more and experienced more road trips and moments of bliss than some people get in a lifetime. Not matter what one might say, I’ve been a damn lucky guy.

I would like to point out that Wildernesspunk is certainly not over. If for no other reason than I’ll be staying in the wilderness for more than a while yet. Things could change, but they haven’t changed yet.

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One thing that has changed however, will be my touring around. After my last climax, which I just returned from, I’ll be buckling down in Arizona and as the weather increases so will my determination to ride this through.

Oh, you want to know about my last Climax, the finale of my blasts across the west? I’m not sure how much is proper to disclose. My E-Book training turned out to be informative, inspirational, and over all beyond enjoyable. A perfect way to end my longer trips. A butterfly in my stomach turned into a butterfly in my soul.

Now is perhaps a bit of a calm before the storm. I sit in Wheeler Park just west of downtown Flagstaff as the clouds roll in. A bluegrass band is practicing on the green. I have 5 hours until my class starts.

What do you think I should do first?

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Thanks for your attention. I’ll be back at this soon. Tune back in to see what direction the Chaos tips.

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Boneman

A Real World

Yellowstone goes beyond great, but we strangely see our only moose while eating dinner a block from our cabin. The kids are a real joy as is seeing such wonder with most of my family. Over all, I’m a pretty damn lucky guy.

I find myself being the most persnickety of our lot as we balance majesty versus the swarming crowds. I realize these masses of roving folks are nature lovers too, with perhaps a few braggarts and people fueled by accomplishment obligations. However such things are usually not my way of rolling.

Personally, I love the A+ nature places of the world, such as, Bryce, Arches, Grand Canyon, Yosemite etc. Yet, given the choice, I’d prefer to head into a B or B+ region and be mostly private or even better completely alone with my group. But I’m sure this isn’t a surprise for anyone who has read any of my previous posts.

Despite the hurt of seeing so many fathers with their young boys, these blows are softened but being able to be with my family. However, all things in life are finite, and I know that soon I’ll need to juggle my way back into some semblance of the Real World or at least my version of it.

So the question becomes what’s my Real World, but I suppose this is a question which plagues all thoughtful people.

***

Pssst… I’ll let you in on a secret. I know I’m trying to sound all tough with my minimalistic camping, 30 mile bike rides, and giant breakfasts, but to be honest, sometimes my favorite days are the down days. Spending time with my family just cooking nice meals and playing silly games was just damn great. Yet, like the creak of a forgotten door, as mentioned above, the Real World approaches… little lasts forever, oh wait, does anything last forever… perhaps these mountains do or at least they will be outlasting all of us silly two legs.

Parting is so sad, it’s almost not worth getting together, but we all need to step up at such times. I have always thought there are two types of goodbyes, the dog way and the cat way. Dogs take forever and can’t let go, they make the moment linger until the last second. Bye inside, bye on the porch, a walk to the car, a conversation while in the car…

I always preferred to be more like a cat, short , to the point, and then pull the band aid off. We had something in the middle, but after we say our final goodbyes, we stop to fill up the jeep, and so does our other half. The nieces run out and hug me and my dad while crying hysterically. The little twins are hugging each of my legs and I kind of loose it too. As Mick Jagger said, “Don’t make a grown man cry.” Oh well, too late. I guess some Idaho cowboys got a show.

After almost getting killed when a slow trucker pulls in front of us, when we had no place to move, and we were doing 75, I take my dad and one of my 3 moms to SLC. Things improve. I get a hotel room and we use it for a base to snag myself a new laptop. Oh yes, WildernessPunk will live!!

One drawback in this great fortune is I will not be putting any more miles behind me, but at the time I certainly don’t mind. I get to Sharestorm, but this delays me some and the ride is long. I put in a good 7 hours before…

***

It seems good to me

To call Coyote Buttes Camp Three

Do Dah Do Dah Dee

I have now hit the second of my three favorite places in Arizona. Coyote Buttes. I have never camped out here alone before, but I’ve never camped a lot of places alone.

Coyote Buttes wasn’t discovered until the 90s, which is weird in itself, since I discovered it quite on accident less than 8 years after this high desert landscape of pure beauty became documented.

The rolling orange sandstone hills take on the shapes of gentle giant breasts and thrusting cocks as you pass from shadow to light and from juniper to cactus. Each place proves so magnificent, a person is forced to stop moving every fifty feet just to soak it in.

Despite how my former mate has done everything in her power to destroy my current life, I can’t help but feel I’m doing a tour of things I’ve discovered with her. We were always at our best together while exploring nature. Still, where I used it for inspiration, I always felt she used it as an excuse to push the Real World away. She would have embraced the wilderness side of WildernessPunk easily, but life needs goals and not just escape.

And that thought brings me back to another set of dichotomies.

Escape versus Real World

Inspiration versus Accomplishment

Brainstorming versus Completion

Will I be able to continue to balance the former with the latter? Or will the responsibly of Real World crush WildernessPunk? Things could go in the other direction where Inspiration and Escape leave me hard pressed to survive when the elements turn against me.

However tonight as the sun sets, I move to embrace the wonder of Coyote Buttes. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for listening and swing back by as the path of the WildernessPunk returns to Arizona, at least for a little while…

You can grab some of my SkinJumper-Punk fiction here.

WildernessPunk, Lost in a Sea of Woe…Shit

Wowy Owy Zowy.

So maybe making the birthday kickball game double play might not be worth how sore I am for diving onto the hard dirt, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I’m just kidding. It was great to be part of such fun. Yet, part of me feels like an outsider, perhaps doubly. Everyone there has been allowed to live the lives they choose. Firstly, this was mostly denied me for years, so it just foreign to me to have a relaxed time. Secondly, it’s just plan strange to wake up in the forest and then ride into town and hang out with people with homes and jobs.

Wupapki

Oh well, wah, more of an observation or perhaps me feeling the oddness internally.

Knowing a former Park Ranger from Sunset Crater is guiding us to both there and Wupatki Ruins on the 21^st has me bumming rides with my bike to Jeremy’s where we rise early to pick her up.

Sunset Crater

I’ve always loved both Sunset Crater and the Wupatki Ruins. I usually prefer to take visitors there as opposed to the Grand Canyon. Still having a former ranger review and give us a tour of the area is a rare treat. I felt blessed to be out there and learning so much. And, I should point out that teaching this guy about Arizona is no mean feat.

However, the shit side of the hammer begins to fall. Jeremy turns ill in the desert 60 miles out of town. Both he and I, but mostly him, have put a lot of money, time, and energy into the AZ Adventure Tours, but no money is coming back at us. I’m in a place where even a little extra money would improve my state, quite a bit. He’s stressing hard and the pressure is wailing on him.

Desert North

I’m asked to drive the van back to town. I do get some one-on-one time with the former ranger and after a few dozen miles, I share the WildernessPunk idea with her. She says, “No one else can determine the value of the path you take. It’s up to you to judge it yourself.”

Feeling honored and lucky I drop her off. I feel the draw of the forest, I mean hell, I’ve been gone from nature a whole hour. I mount up with a truly heavy pack and head out to run a few tasks.

Lava

The road is long, about 10 miles. I had managed to Power Up and walk a few miles, while making calls, plotting, and planning. But after a grocery store run, the weight of my backpack becomes epic. I feel the aches and battering I inflicted on myself the day before.

I have to first encourage myself aloud. You know, pep talk time. Then on the second leg after I hit dirt, the final resort, signing out loud, but I think the horses and a mule liked it.

More contacts, both good and bad from Camp 1, which is weird in itself, but hey, it’s part of this process. Now I sit, sore and weary. August in Northern Arizona and its already growing chilly. My torn up muscles give me some concern. I’d hate to be in too much pain to move and be trapped out here because tomorrow is a town day. I guess you’ll know I wasn’t if I post this tomorrow.

CyberPunker

Thanks for listening and turn back in to see how my the rest of the month goes before I really head north and explore the wilds of Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming?

Grab some of my SkinJumper-Punk fiction here

Cyber_Seven_by_lieggio

Wilderness Punk, Camp 1, Day 2

Out in the forests ten miles east of Flagstaff, a place where pine and oak have juniper for a neighbor. Ravens and hawks battle the still air to fly over the hills and washes cutting through the green. I sit alone in the camping chair I found discarded—just today. I’ve repaired it to a relative working order and it affords me a simple luxury I hadn’t anticipated and also brings me to the subject matter of this post.

Backside Camp

Being only one day in and still having some ice for my beer, I’m not feeling to hard pressed, so in the absence of any stressors or obstacles, I thought it would be a good time to outline the list of that I have going for me as I strive to live my Wilderness Punk lifestyle.

To keep with the punk/cyber side of things, I possess a laptop and a smart phone. Both are pretty fly and puts me a few levels above many folks who struggle out in the woods, however my charger doesn’t seem to have a place to plug into this tree. This will give me limited time to accomplish my writing and I obviously can’t post anything from here or get on the web in any way. My phone can did small things, but it has no bars most of the time. I can send a text by taking a small hike and climbing on top of a giant fallen pine, but other things need doing.

Cell Survice

Yes, some people have tech which can stream from the wilderness and even solar panels to charge their devices. Yeah, I guess I’m more Wilderness than Punk right now. Perhaps I will evolve, but currently de-evolving seems a bit more accurate.

I have a couple of sleeping bags, a couple of backpacks full of random gear like clipboards and pens. A few daggers, papers, and items to help me blend back into civilization are also housed there. My tent for reasons I might delve into later, is a farce. Holes with no poles makes, it a tent in name only. Also I have a tiny cooler, which holds maybe three cans with some ice. Yeah, I need to gear up.

Trail

Others things I have going for me are half a storage unit, which is currently about 2/3 packed and I just got a PO Box, which is awesome, but also expensive.

Then my last real luxury is my ripping ‘Giant’ mountain bike. Just got a free tune up and was running like Hermes pushed me from behind until some foul human drove into where it was parked up on the curb. A few operations and money spent and it is back to running well, although the back tire was damaged and might leave me working harder on the long rides. More things to fix, but right now I just need hold on to what I got and give myself a whole day of peace in the wilds before reality strikes and I take the long ride back into the humanity. Flagstaff my mountain island surrounded by the Arizona deserts baking in the summer sun will be calling me soon enough.

Chaos Face