First Post – WildernessPunk

I found myself out of the cyber loop for a while out there in the Lilly Ponds. Friday night I spend alone. I wrote, hiked, looked at frogs, you know, the normal things. I did take a long mountain ride down the Sycamore trail. First time for that one and in the drizzling rain, it was well…awesome.

Biking It

Later circumstances forced me to defend my camp while alone. My habit of talking out loud alerted the sheep herding dogs to my presence. These half feral monster sized beasts barked and growled as they attempted to surround me like a pack of wolves. Some shouting of my own and moving at them with my war club clenched in hand sent them packing, but only after a minute standoff, which I guess this Boneman won.

Lilly Fields Forever

Wooks did make it and lucky for me (even if he did beat me 3 games to 2 in horseshoes) he did, for that would have been a long ride of twenty miles into town after I would have been forced to stash some gear. Instead, I put my cooler etc, into the storage unit and plunged back into normal, well at least as normal as my life gets, humanity. An attempt at jacking up my gear and getting work done, became a fun bit of the social at east side Historic. I learn some useful factoids, and even double gear up while I eat three bags of croutons.

Next day, no tour, no money, some low spirits. I set myself to hitting the Cyberpunk world and then do a few tasks to take advantage of this thing we call civilization, while also prepping for a quick turnaround to camp I. Along the way I find a giant unopened bag of trail mix. Accorded to some paths of mysticism such an event would mean the Gods favor my current quest. So since it was a double mystic Day of Yig, I’ll send the All-Father serpent my thanks.

More power-cyber slamming for the touring company and I’m ready to bum a ride out to Camp I. Jeremy hikes up to see it with our touring mutt mascot. I forgot the ice, but what would life be like if everything went smoothly.

I finished my fifth Chronicles of Jack Primus book out in the woods. See, I’m doing some writing out here. New Primus E-Book here I come.

Camp I Day II

An unused road leads down to some powerlines. I discovered that if I’m willing to walk down these powerlines about half a mile, my cell reception rocks. Not all-important to me, but good to scout out resources. No water, no random supplies other than a giant spike and two nails.

Managing to slam some writing and prepping for some of my cyber-business, which actually does pay a few bucks and you know what, I think it’s about beer:30. Which is good since my water is running low, due to the lack of my frozen bottles of ice.

3PM

Jeremy arrives with two bottles of chilled water and tells me a hurricane has been tearing up through Mexico and is ranging through Arizona. We both looked at the dark arrowhead of clouds moving east to cover the land in shadow.

Clouds

“I’m here with the van if you want to pull out.”

“No, I’ll ride it out. I’m ready.”

“How about any gear?”

“Nope, I think I’m ready for whatever might be thrown at me. Bring it on. I’m going to ride it out.”

And…Yeah…It was a big no show. Not so much as a drop. So I went mountain bike riding until the trail disappeared.

Where did the roadd go

Great day though, Clouds came in and gave me some shade.

Smile

When I woke up today, I really, really wished I didn’t have to leave. Maybe this whole WildernessPunk thing is dangerous for me. I may never want to come back.

Morning

Thanks for listening and return to see how the Punk side goes this week.

Grab some of my Skin-Punk fiction here

Bike Camp I

8/1/16

After three full days of packing, moving, cleaning, and a few spikes of harsh doses of unneeded drama, I and my two compadres have escaped from the Canyon Apartments, with our property and lives. Some of my dignity may have remained behind, along with my modern standard of living.

Water in wash

How will I look back upon this strange summer of torment and freedom? Will I lay curses at my feet, or feel forever thankful that I allowed myself the life of a writer, even if a mostly unsuccessful one.

As I finish loading up and locking down the life I once knew, I leave most of what makes a modern American behind in my storage unit. Some people might consider me about to live off the grid, but this will not be the case, for although my body, that force of existence that must be at all times present somewhere, will be a traveling through a chaos of locations and styles of adaptation, I fully intent to stay on the grind at least in cyber form.

talon

This brings up the next topic, Cyber Punk. The meshing of cyber space and man’s understanding. The blurring of lines where you end and an internet reality begins. How real is your cyber presence and what skills and powers does it possess? More recently Steampunk is gaining in popularity, the idea of a fantastic creativity manifesting during a more romantic time, such as the Wild West or Gaslight London. Splatter punk and Zombie Punk have also been batted around. Splatter Punk, are the hardcore horror fanatics, while Zombie Punk is the concept of living through the terror of a zombie apocalypse and discovering methods to survive and often thrive through such adversary.

The idea of punk could be summarized as taking control of something once denied you. Punk Rock took and made their own music, style, and morality. Cyber Punks take what they have the power to control on the internet. Steampunk is only limited by their creativity.

Perhaps what I propose has been accomplished and is currently being done, but instead of distracting from my little experiment, more people on board could be making it more valid. What if we could add a new type of ‘punk’ to our lexicon? Perhaps one more grounded in reality, but in most ways swimming against the current tide of our mainstream in the US.

Morning Walk

What I speak of is Wilderness Punk. This is the concept one could embrace nature, enter it, live off the land or at least with it, but somehow maintain a cyber presence, a writing presence, and perhaps thrive while doing so.

For me it will be starting today, August 1^st 2016. I set off to be a man between two worlds. One foot in the wilds of Northern Arizona with the other foot firmly connected with the entangled web, with all its advantages and curses. Will my writing slow or explode, will my various projects and marketing efforts thrive or will the trials and challenges of an outdoor environment slow my other e-efforts? I guess we will be finding out together.

Cliffs of lava