Road Trip – WildernessPunk

WildernessPunk: Mule Creek

Been a rough week.

Years from now this will just be a crazy week we vaguely remember, except for the families of the people our president illegally murdered to help bury the largest protest the US had ever seen. For us now, we are living it. Should we be angry and fight against the polished shoes of fascism, or should we be clinging to our personal norm?

Still, what can we do daily? Does reminding our closest peeps what a shitshow our country is on Facebook each day matter? Is it preaching to a choir or just beating people on the head? “Guess what, the administration is evil.”

“Yeh bro, I think we know.”

No one hasn’t made up their mind by now. If you find someone, I’ll by them a beer and then Title-36 them.

Instead of planning to topple my regional headquarters of ICE, I’m prepping to take my boys up into the mountains surrounding Mule Creek New Mexico, so I guess I’m sticking to norms, unless going to Mule Creek isn’t normal. I suppose I’ll figure it out.

***

Yeah Mule Creek wasn’t too normal. Funny thing about the internet and maybe AI. I Youtube searched for Mule Creek New Mexico. First hit was the top 10 restaurants in Mule Creek. I stopped watched halfway through because A) I have already seen enough to satisfy any normal appetite and B) I knew it had to be non-sense and it was. You can’t even get a warm glass of water there. There were also videos about Obsidian Ridge. I saw no evidence of such or anything approaching a road or sign. So much for the innerwebs I guess. With AI it’s just a well of BS now.

Better news was finding a forest of tall ponderosa trees just begging to be camped under which I can get to from my doorstep in the scorching desert to a tent spot in less than 3 hours. So better than Flagstaff and with, even better, no Phoenix to drive through. After that we ran into forest fires and problems, but if I wanted to bum people I out would just get you to think about where our country is headed…oops.

Let’s circle back to what a normal person is expected to do when your government is evil. In my eyes it’s always been pretty fucking evil, the curtain is just pulled back now. Some people say tRump has riled up hatred, really? We never had hatred before. Have you heard of the KKK, indigenous genocide, how about slavery? Please, we must face the facts, about one in three people are, well sorta, fukin evil. Either that or so easily misled and brainwashed, it has made them follow an evil paradigm.

How do we fix this? Can We? Education and travel usually work well, but I’m sure you noticed the Make America Evil Again gang is doing everything they can to condemn education.

Still, is converting the misled what we should be doing? It might seem fun, but it is a lot of work and mostly doesn’t work. When you are sitting in your home it’s hard to engage with what you could do to combat the growing fascism in the USA. Should I turn down the thermostat, paint a sign, or write my congressman? Screw it, I’m making a sandwich.

But again, is this what we should be doing? Am I still allowed to post a pic of my cat when our county is behaving in an evil manner and destroying lives right in front of us? I bet you think the Germans living under Hitler should have been doing more than talking about the weather. Should I fight back or is my mental health and my family’s where I should focus my efforts?

Am I asking too many questions while providing no answers?

I guess it comes down to making sure we remember what the decent parts of life are. The world could be looked at as a swirling cauldron of hate and misery, but it is also full of hope, love, and beauty. There would be no reason to fight if there was only the shitstorm.

Sometimes living well is the best revenge. Show people your choices led to a fulfilled life and assisted you in raising healthy children. Lead by example and remember Talk – Action = Zero.

Things we can do to help save the World, our County, and our Sanity:

Research how much energy/waste your habits and hobbies cost and act accordingly
Buy less and boycott billionaire brands
Compost and grow a garden
Dumpster dive and reuse instead of buying new
Support local
Do your best to waste as little food as possible
Tackle political issues in a one on one manner in person
Pretend your cell can’t get online
Wake up at 6am each day
Avoid the internet and social media
Determine your sleep needs and then stick to it
Point out evil when you see it
Live like a Warrior fighting for their future
Don’t embrace hate
See beyond the binary talking heads of politics to the real issue
Do everything and anything you can which isn’t plugged in
Fuck AI

Just a few ideas. What do you think? Did I miss something important to you?

See you behind the dumpster while I’m loading discarded pallets.

Dak is asked to hunt down renegade clones. His main problem, he’s dating one.

WildernessPunk- Organized Chaos

Traveling always reminds me of writing and WildernessPunk, or is it telling me I should be writing some WildernessPunk? I was a bit pleased with my WP jumpstart last summer and my writing jumpstart in general. As I have mentioned before, while the rest of the world worked on unfinished projects and novels during Covid, I did the opposite and almost quit writing during the pandemic. Yep, I’ve always been one to buck the crowds, or perhaps a backwards man.

This pause has passed for me, however, for as I experienced the closest thing to writer’s block I’ve ever felt while trying to finish the last book of my 10 book Eternal Aftermath Series, I have now neared the completion. This book has been on hiatus for over two years. I shouldn’t give myself to much credit-I’m not done yet, but finishing a project I started in 2010 won’t hurt me.

Currently, however, I find myself waking up early in an attempt to get words on screen before my family follows suit here in our little hotel room in Silver City New Mexico. I’m not on some epic, change your life, trip. Nope, just more to throw some chaos and variety into my boy’s Fall Break.

Yet what is chaos really, and is it a positive thing? Obviously, chaos is too chaotic to be good all the time. Ha ha. Entropy is more like a force of nature which can give you the best day of your life or leave you wracked and ruined. The question is, can we control chaos? Perhaps control is the wrong word, it might be better to ask, can we use chaos as a positive tool to aid us, and increase our life’s enjoyment levels and productivity?

I often see it work, or should I say not work, the other way. We all wish to have a good time, but often people in my generation try to stay loose and keep things more open ended, like preparing too much for an event which is selling out. Yeah, this would be fine if we were all immortal, lived 2000 years, or didn’t have one of our friends move to another state every six months. In this world, I, at least, prefer to maximize my chaos with a technique one could call Organized Chaos. Yep, I know I might have pissed off a few readers with that one but hear me out.

Say you have an event coming up. I don’t care if it is asking people over to BBQ, trying to get your buddies to meet you at a show, or planning a kid’s birthday party, I feel the event itself injects chaos into the world. Why? Because if you’re aren’t doing something different, then your chaos level is low. What’s more chaotic; staying at home on a Saturday doing some of the same things you did last Saturday. or heading out and doing anything else or creating some difference in other people’s lives by having them get out of their ‘same ol’ by heading to your place?

Yeah, yeah Captain Obvious, so what?

This is where Organized Chaos comes in. So, if we can agree, going or doing something different is more chaotic than doing the same ol, and agree we want to maximize the fun of anything we plan to do, Organized Chaos is the best way to get this done. No, I don’t want to go with the flow and hope for the best. Sure, I enjoy chaos, but being surprised by how badly things go is not something I’m into.

Again, we only have so many days on this planet, if I’m planning something, I need for it to go as well as possible. I want to come in strong and give it my best shot. I’m being chaotic by creating this event out of nothing, but if I’m going to the trouble to do so, I want to do it right. Being half assed isn’t the same as chaotic.

Allow me to explain. Say I want to invite people over for a feast. The last two Saturdays I just hung out and did chores, so inviting people over is much more chaotic than what I could do. I don’t mean to get all mathy, but let’s just say an average weekend has a chaos value of 100 (Come on we’re always doing something weird (I hope)) Now let’s say for each person who comes over to my feast the chaos value is increased by 50 and I invite 10 people.

100 + (10 x 50) = 600

So, in general, I have a chance to increase my Daily Positive Chaos sixfold.

Daily Positive Chaos: The beneficial aspect of increasing the variety one experiences which heightens the productivity and joy for an individual during a 24-hour cycle.

Now let’s imagine that instead of being somewhat Lawful and planning this well (yes I said it) I just assume the chaotic threads of the universe will just flow my way and only 4 of the people I invite actually show up.

100 + (4 x 50) = 300

So, although my slacker attitude about getting things done could be labeled chaotic, for I was leaving the attendance to fate, the results are not. In fact, I have lowered my Positive Daily Chaos by 50%.

Am I going to have a better camping trip just rushing through a store to buy hotdogs and chips, or will we all lounge in luxury if I purchase and prepare some special dishes? If I’m visiting someone who’s going to be working during the day, will it help to coordinate with them what activities are being planned where they live so they can share the best ones with you? Have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons with a DM who was just trying to wing it?

My point is, (yep, I have one) good times can become a strange dichotomy of sorts. One must act lawfully, plan, and plot in order to increase the success of your chaotic endeavor. Stronger Chaos out of Law.

There you have it. Enjoy your next picnic.

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

WildernessPunk – Rolling

I just saw a car commercial where they make fun of a guy using VR, calling him a loser, while the handsome guy and his gorgeous GF rush off into the wilds in their new SUV. It’s kind of strange to think in most ways I agree with the message and certainly would have been behind such a thing ten years ago, but now, with all my current knowledge, I can’t help but think things such as, “Those nature lovers will pollute as much as VR guy does in an hour during their first 2 minutes of driving.”

Maybe it’s bad for my mental health, but I can’t help but notice all these things now.

Some of the most environmentally minded people I’m friends with happily fly across the USA several times a year without blinking.
People I know with solar panels on their house, who drive electric vehicles, get pissy when they find out someone is coming to their dinner party who refuses to eat beef.
I write a bunch of environmentally based WildernessPunk articles about pollution all summer, but then drive my family to Colorado.

I’ve talked about some of these issues before, such as we all have our little pet projects which make us feel better about ourselves and remove our guilt while perhaps making us feel superior to our neighbor. One of mine has always been bike riding. Yep, I rode my bike throughout six full winters in Flagstaff. Four of those while owning a Forerunner. Sure, that’s cool, but does it cancel out the air conditioning I now use in Tucson? Maybe it bought me some good karma, but it’s getting eaten up quick.

I’m not trying to come down on people for doing something I do myself. I’m more interested in investigating the phenomenon of why our minds work this way. Why do some of the most environmentally minded people I know disregard their knowledge and goals so quickly when it comes to their own behavior and needs?

Sure, driving is one of the worst things I can do to the environment, but I have kids and of course I need to get to work. What do you want me to carry a dozen bags of groceries on my back for two miles? Get real…
Of course, one plane flight equals the yearly United Nation’s goal for what a single person should be polluting in an entire year, but I’m not just going to blow off taking a vacation.
I’m an environmentalist, but my daughter is just being crazy when she says she wants to be a vegetarian.

Why is it so easy for us to disregard our own ethics and knowledge? “We all need to stop driving so much, but of course I’m not going to blow off my road trip.” Why are the vast majority of people like this? Are we all just exceedingly selfish? Do we think these rules apply to everyone but us?

Some people want to blame the government or corporations. But how many people do you know who are saying, “Thank goodness the gas prices are going up, this is probably cutting down on a lot of pollution.” Sure, the billionaires and the gridlocked governments could be doing more, but only a naïve idealist should be waiting for them to kick anything into gear. Some billionaires might donate half a percent of their wealth to something so they can have a self-congratulatory banquet and maybe some governments might spend .03% as much as their military budget on a few token programs, but maybe the one thing the mega-rich oil company CEOs and I agree with is it must come down to personal responsibility and choice.

In the end… even when an evil bastard like tRump is in office, we are still voting every day with our wallets.

So yeah, corporations care about profits more than life and politicians just want to line their pockets and egos… yadda yadda yadda… But I think the biggest culprit is not the corps, the governments, or the individuals. In the end the real villain is our culture.

Allow me to break this down, while I throw myself under the bus. I just wrote an article where I outline how crappy it is to drive and now, I’m driving over a thousand miles to take my family on a road trip.

Do corporations care? (Great he’s buying loads of gas, and spending loads of money to support various businesses-Win!)
Does the government care? (What a good American helping support our economy while engaging in a traditional American value-Win)
Did any of my friends even hint that I might be acting like a hypocrite going against what I had said just a week earlier? (Nope, not a peep. The friends I visited were happy to see me and the friends I left wished me a good time.)

So again, it isn’t politicians, corporations or even individuals slowing me down or causing me to think twice. Why, because being responsible to the environment or your pledge to it, isn’t part of our culture.

Right now, for the most part being a ‘good’ person = being anti-environment. Let me give you a few examples.

My mother is getting older, I should fly home to visit her. = I’m a great son
My kid just joined a soccer league, I’m going to be busy driving him all over this summer and need to order him some gear on Amazon = I’m a great dad.
My wife loves Colorado so I’m going to drive our family there this July. = I’m a nice husband.
I love nature so much I’m going to drive to a new mountain I have never hiked this weekend = I’m a nature lover.

What if we changed this?

I should be spending time with my aging mother, but I’m too selfish not to live where I want to.
Whatever my kid wishes to do is more important than any other concern. We are both too selfish to consider anything other than our desires.
Screw my ideals, they aren’t as important as me having a good time.
No matter what I believe, or know is right, is not going to make me behave any different than any other American?

Probably one of the biggest similarities between a tRump loving MAGA shirt wearing right wing Evangelicals and the Prius driving They/Themer is neither one is calling their friend out on any of the real environmental crimes they commit daily. Sure, at best, someone might suggest you buy an electric car, give you shit for not recycling, or tell you hunting helps protect the environment, but this is all pennies on the dollar crap. Okay, right, if you maybe do this and that you’re cutting down 3% on the damage you are doing to the Earth…amazing.

The bottom line is doing whatever the hell you want, no matter your ideals, is part of American culture. A part, which a few people give a token blurb against, but almost everyone embraces no matter what side of the political aisle you like to sit in. And if any leftist wants to claim they are better than the right because they bought an energy efficient dishwasher, they should remember that poor people use less resources and then go fuck themselves. Just so they don’t feel left out, if anyone on the right says they love America, their first step should be to drive a little as possible and put solar energy panels on your roof, unless you like giving billions of hard-earned American dollars to the fascist theocratic countries of the Middle East. Personally, I think anyone who buys a monster truck should be forced to have an ‘I heart Islam’ bumper stick affixed over their license plate.

Have I gotten my point across? Have I proven I’m as bad as the next guy? Is there a place we can go from here?

Let me try to throw this out there. Perhaps, changing our culture should be our first step in the country and is probably more important than riding your bike to work or being a vegetarian.

Okay Boneman, how do you propose we do this?

Carefully choose which of your hobbies, tasks, and requirements are the most important while keeping an eye on their Negative Environmental Impact.
Stop feeling superior and think we’ve done our part by picking one or two positive choices while still engaging in thirty negative ones.
Create a culture which encourages pro-environmental choices instead of traditional values and stereotypical self-congratulation.
Give prestige and status to people making positive choices while calling people on thinking it is okay to do whatever they wish and still consider themselves decent folks.
Be more impressed with the guy who made his own supplies out of dumpster dived materials than the dude who spent 400$ to have the same thing shipped from China.

This article could go on for 10 more pages, but then what would I write next week and aren’t we both burning fossil fuels by writing and reading this?

Lastly, don’t hate me, and try not to think of me as being a hypocrite for taking my family on a road trip. At least I’m knocked off any high horse I might have found and realize I’m no better than anyone else. I’m there with the rest of you struggling somehow to make this all work for more than another 20 years.

“I’m not telling you what choices to make, I’m just telling you every decision you make is an environmental choice.”

Alex

Bone

Grab a little of my fiction here

WildernessPunk: Mists of Babble On (California Road Ripping Part II)

I should have known, but all it took was a few days for Greg to surpass my earlier winnings with his necklace sales, well trades, which are topping 250$ and counting. Yet, competition gives way to smooth sailing as we equip ourselves in style for the journey back, not only to, but also through 1000 miles of desert.

Still, the trip isn’t over. I have sad goodbyes to make. Although if this cat doesn’t stop walking on my computer, some of them might become a bit easier.

cats

And yes, goodbyes are sad and bad, but sometimes you have to pull the band-aid trigger and just move everyone to the next chapter of their life. For some a new chapter, for my daughter, I think it will be the beginning of the next novel.

california lake

Hills of mist lay drenched in fog as we race south and away from the lands of wine and weed. Soon, even in the most populated state, we leave the people and homes behind. A small outpost, like a boat floating over a sea of grass, allows me to discuss Lovecraft with an interested father as we get one more day of rest before heading into Mojave National Preserve.

california mists

The upcoming downlow:

I have never been to the MNP
With the government shut down things will either be locked or free?
Do we have enough gear for a January camp?
Will Greg just sleep in the car?

cali

Seventeen hours later and I have the answers to all those questions.

After driving into the Mojave, we manage to find a Dollar General and stock up, such as we can. Figuring topping off the gas can’t hurt, I head into the K, because hell, an extra sixer can’t hurt either. A heated conversation is going on as I approach the counter.

Hipster Costumer: “Yeah man, I love M and Ms.”

Neck Tattoo Clerk: “Hell yeah, I eat a bag every day. But I just eat three at a time, so I can savor them, but I eat a whole bag every day!”

Hipster Costumer: “I’m going to go home and nap, but when I wake up, I eating this whole bag!”

Neck Tattoo Clerk: “I fucking LOVE M and Ms!”

At this point they look over to me to make sure no innocents witnessed the man on the job drop the F bomb over his love of candy. They see me with just a sixer of beer at 2PM.

Hipster Costumer: “Holy shit dude, you’re tall. I thought I was tall, but you are like a giant.”

Neck Tattoo Clerk: “And look, he’s got beer. This guy is ready to party!”

Hipster Costumer: “Yeah, he must need to drink a whole six-pack to equal us drinking one…”

cali mount

Eventually I get, beer, gas, and laughs and then rip back onto I-40. The mists we’ve traveled through change to rain. Captain Mysterious and I reach an unspoken understanding we will be in a wet camp, with little available in the way of wood. Any wood which can be found will also be drenched, so two people with limited gear, could be hard pressed while exploring the largest desert in the USA.

cali desert

Two hours later, we take the exit into the Devil’s Playground. Worries over the Government Shutdown turn out to be unneeded for the lands swept before us barren and unpopulated. The fog covered mountains looming over the desert confirm this was a strong choice no matter what the outcome. However, despite its beauty, the lands prove sparse and there will be little obvious resources available to help us through the January night.

cali majove

Heading north, we moved deeper into this no-man’s-land or NML. Then I spotted a sixty-foot com tower. “I got an idea. The dirt roads leading to these towers are always better maintained.” And when you have a Honda Accord these things become so much more important. My guess proved right, and we reached the tower without incident. Upon arriving, we discovered two things.

A single fire place sized log.
The road continued.

After grabbing the log, we continued as well and struck gold. A mile past the tower was a giant tumble of boulders with a fire pit. We stopped and as the clouds lowered over the mountains, we got the fire lit before the rains grew stronger, which they soon did. The place proved to be amazing. The fire remained traditional and small. We kept it just big enough to cook on and take away the shivers of the soaked jackets.

cali fire

Intense events should have a meaningful climax and for me, camping out in the mist shrouded desert in a desolated and unexplored piece of this country proved an excellent way to end my 2700 miles power trip to drop my eldest, Katrina, off at her new home town.

cali cliffs

Trips should leave you refreshed and yet anxious to get back to your lives and the projects and goals which infuse your existence. A great trip will spark new ideas and solutions, along with jumpstarted energy to complete your dreams.

Perhaps we need the pause to be able to focus those dreams. Only by being temporarily removed from your steady life and locale can you realize how you wish to improve it and why you should do so. Travel inspires and reminds one how small our corner of the universe is. We are only one story within the billions, but this makes it no less important for us.

I also think stripping down our possessions helps with this. In the USA many seem to feel we are what we own. But when you’re standing in the rain with the only jacket you have, eating the last of the food you possess, it clears you of the excess. Possessions are just what we surround ourselves with, be they shirts or selves, we encase our bodies in what we own, but in the wilds, we have little of this. Perhaps therefore it’s one of the finest ways to figure out who you really are?

Cali Josh.jpg

You can grab some of my fiction here. Heroes who strive on a different Path

Bone hat

The End of WildernessPunk?

Okay, so it is not like I haven’t hinted about this. Everyone has pluses and minuses in Life. Responses to responsibilities, gifts and people gunning for them. Okay, maybe you don’t have all those things, but I do. If it was just me, and I’ve said this too, I’d be off so deep, I’d be losing the punk, but instead, since I’m not as free as I could be, it looks like I’m closer to losing the Wilderness.

Wildernesspunk 1.jpg

And I fucking hate it.

wildernesspunk-2

I’m not a wimp and I’m not bowing out because I want to. I could keep on going. Fuck this bullshit flowing in all directions around me, once humanity is involved, um… do you see who’s running for president? I’m so ready to throw in the towel on this modern world of crap and eat ants, but I’m a father and my kids will end up tortured and insane if I don’t do everything in my power to fight back against the lies, the system, and the darkened evil thrusting me into this situation in the first place.

wildernesspunk3

Okay, a little focus Boney. So besides what may or may not happen, I need to think about the viability of WildernessPunk. What allows it to exist and what pushes it into the realm of watered down hypocrisy. Believe it or not, I have some integrity. I wouldn’t feel proper writing about WildernessPunk while sitting in a heated room and watching the rain crash against the windows.

wildernesspunk4

So what’s a Boneman to do? I don’t want to drop the flag of WildernessPunk, but then again, I have no desire to be a poser, spewing about experiences and such which aren’t real, let alone challenging. I know I tend to wax on about concepts which could be considered around a warm wood stove, but I think some of the impact of WildernessPunk has been knowing I’m writing in the woods and posting the blasts while resurfacing within Wifi-ed coffee shops and pubs.

wildernesspunk5-5

Is there a middle ground? What would give me the right to continue? Is living in a rat bag hotel close enough? …Naw. Crashing on a friend’s floor? …closer. Can I pick it up if I head into the woods for a weekend? …Maybe, but it still lacks the impact of taking a long term commitment to the low tech surviving from high-tech model.

wildernesspunk5

Perhaps I can finish the horror and free my balls from the bear trap, so I can start again. It very well could happen and it might end up being more intense.

Another option could be starting up something new, something different, something… but damn it I really enjoy the whole WildernessPunk concept, from top to bottom, it’s rewarding while being challenging and fuck it, it’s mine.

Okay, Boneman, time to get it together and Constantly Kick some Ass in a new way. Maybe gear up some in the process. Living minimalistically might be romantic and certainly easier to roll around on a mountain bike, but one of the advantages of falling back into the real might be an ability to gear up for a more serious exploration of WildernessPunk. Having Hot Spots, solar charging, and maybe even a tent, might change things. I could go deep, but still be e-jacked.

wildernesspunk-8

So instead of the woods, I sit here today within the Hotel Monte Vista. The leaves of gold falling like snow over the wet streets. One more night, then a new page.

wildernesspunk-88

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

wildernesspunk8888

Grab some Skinjumper-Punk here and help support your friendly WildernessPunker

wildernesspunk-88888

Camp 5, Road Tripping, and Saying Bye to my Short-lived Wheels

Okay, so this is by biggest break since starting WildernessPunk, but there was a good reason for this. Give me a moment and I’ll think one up.

Boneatah

When one has a ride all the time, you get comfortable and move at a different pace, but when one strangely has an unexpected ride, knowing you only have the vehicle for one more weekend sends the sparks flying and you have to determine what would be the best use of the ride over those days.

For me the obvious answer was… Tucson.

desert-ii

Let’s face the facts, this WildernessPunk thing I’m doing would not be for everyone and does not come without its challenges, but after all the hell I’ve recently endured, I have been embracing Dionysus over Apollo. Can this go on forever. Should it? Well yeah, but some pieces would have to fall into place very well and one can’t count on perfection giving you an O, so it’s more than a little possible, my life could change, I might have to start grinding and could have to obtain a rectangle of some sort.

Will WIldernessPunk continue? I’ll just have to see how it plays out, but I can tell you I won’t be talking about work and TV some day in the future and calling it WildernessPunk. Certain standards will be kept.

darkness

I was approaching a point and it was, since the cold cometh as well as other situations, I may not be able to continue with my WP ways forever, so it might be time to starting thinking about going out with a bang, reaching a climax, taking it home, and all that. Yellowstone is hard to beat, when discussing climaxes, but since I’m still going, I guess it wasn’t my climax. I might not know what it will be, however a trip to see my oldest friends and poker it up, with even me nerding out and running a first level D + D game was pretty dope. Cactus, poolside, friends, food, and just being a dork was damn fun. I’m so glad I headed down there.

castle

Sometimes the soul needs chaos, but the relaxing kind. Chaos doesn’t have to be a bouncing Duffy Duck, it can be chill and perhaps chilling in some luxury. Chaos often means you’re just putting yourself in a situation which doesn’t occur often and I don’t make it down there often enough, so there I went.

I might have one more climatic trick tucked away, but I will keep it hidden for now.

On the way down, I figured I’d move a few miles behind me before I set up my tent, so I gave a small tribute to my father by camping at the lonely old road called Dugus. My father had known Old Man Dugus. In some respects, I live in Arizona because my father took me out here when I was a kid because he used to spend his summers out in Dugus, with his park ranger uncle, when he was a kid.

dugus

My favorite story about was how Dugus used to catch gila monsters and fatten them up in a barrel, because for Dugus they were a well worth the wait and he considered their tails a delicacy. They were also live in garbage disposals. Camp 5 was nothing too fancy, but it put me an hour closer to my goal and provided me with a fog filled sunrise.

fog

I did manage to get out to the Sonoran Desert more this trip. Wooks and I set ourselves to hiking into the Tucson mountains. I thought we had an early start, but going from high elevation to low doesn’t make up for that pounding heat. Still since my Eternal Aftermath Series has many scenes which take place in this mountain range, the more exploration I can do to scout out for my novels the better.

saquaros

So after my last dose of out of town fun with my pals, I’m back up at Camp 1. The car is gone and so is the sun. I’ve got too many things to do to avoid heading into town. The Real World is nibbling at me, hovering around the edges. It will be interesting to so how quickly things might change and how long I can ride the WildernessPunk.

trail-smaller

Please swing back by and discover which path of Chaos my foot falls n next.

Grab some Skinjumper-Punk here and help support your friendly WildernessPunker

camp-1-sunset

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.

August’s End

Down days are sometimes as good as the adventures. Relaxing. Soaking it in. Pool and Jacuzzi. Seeing a movie in a place that serves up giant mugs of nut brown ale and lets you take it into the theater. Now that’s living.

The rest of the Griffiths clan shows up, except my children. Seeing my nieces makes me want my sons here all the more, but if everything went like it should, we’d have no Punk Rock.

It’s time to leave the desert behind us, at least for now. Jagged cliffs and rolling sandstone will be replaced by dark mountains and sprawling forests.

Steam cliff

A long drive takes us away from the city, the people, and the endless convenience. Although I’m not saying that having a two floor, four bedroom cabin in the forest on the edge of Yellowstone isn’t pretty damn convenient. Having time with my nieces is a blessing, but is also a reminder of the constant knife in my guts. Why I was not allowed to bring my children so they could see their cousins is a mystery and a real crime in my eyes.

Still life without hardship gives us no challenges to overcome. No conflict = no heroes. If writers need to suffer, I’ve managed to pull that off. Still, no need to complain, I’m experiencing some truly spectacular things and in many ways I’m riding on a serious wave of luck, good fortune, and adventure.

I’ll have to see how this continues as we prepare to drive two vehicles into America’s first national park.

I end up being the driving road warrior for the family. Also since I’ve been to Yellowstone more than anyone else (more than half the people have never seen Yellowstone before) so I’m able to AZA it up a bit and be a tour guide for everyone, which I enjoy.

However, when being a guide, one also has to know when to step back and shut up. Part of the enjoyment of going to a new place is the pleasure of exploring it for yourself. Telling everyone your interpretations of past experiences. deludes their own ability to feel like they’re going to a new place, which they can learn and enjoy.

Family

Funny moment when we go to the Yellowstone Ranger Museum and while looking at the replica of a ranger’s back-40 cabin, the ranger working there said, “How’d you like to live in someplace like this?”

My response is, “Damn, that would be so great! Hell, I’d pay money to live in a place this wonderful.”

I haven’t worried too much about sleep for the last week or so, but I ended up getting some problematic news. I shouldn’t complain since I’ve been using Nicole’s laptop for the last five months, ever since my last one broke while fleeing from the Flagstaff PD. But now she’s moving to Indiana and needs it back.

This could put a serious crimp in ShareStorm, which is how I’m making my money right now, continuing my writing, and maintaining my social contacts with the rest of the world as well, the Punk part of my WildernessPunk.

Waterfall

With me being financially challenged and also seeking to travel to Texas for my one-on-one E-Book training workshop, I’m not sure how I’m going to make everything work and somehow get a new laptop so my whole life doesn’t collapse.

I guess I’m back into the conflict and challenge part of life, even if I’m currently living in a notch or two below Nirvana state here in the Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming vortex.

So as I balance pleasure and problems on this perfect forest-filed morning, I sit in on a ‘writing party’ with my nieces. Plotting and planning versus enjoyment and sharing. It will be interesting to see how this works out.

Shadowbone

Thanks for listening and turn back in to see how my the rest of the month goes as I continue to explore the wilds of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, myself, and the path of the WildernessPunk?

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

Buffo

WildernessPunk Utah

I’ll let you in on a little secret. Part of the theme of WildernessPunk is a certain level of conflict, perhaps the more the better, as even the title suggests, the dual characteristics are bipolar aspects on the opposite spectrums of our current human existence. Technology versus nature, but in this case complementing each other. Yet to pull that off takes a strange effort and can be an interesting struggle.

Balancing Bone

Net vs. Nature

Freedom vs. Stability

Individualism vs. Communication

I could go on, but you understand. So just as conflict is an inherent aspect of human life, it’s also reflected in the pages of this e-quest to…okay, I’m go to stop and just throw the issue onto the fire and see if it burns or puts it out.

Yeah folks, you see the thing is… not too many conflicts afoot. Sure I have problems and things to figure out, but I’m hundreds of miles from my normal life both literally and figuratively.

Desert Ride

This could be what people call living in the moment and this moment is running pretty smooth. Perhaps some people are used to this…. If so, I’m not one of them.

Even my agenda remained smoother than desert sand after a rainstorm. After Mexican Hat we headed into Valley of the Gods.

Valley of the gods Utah

AW in oh so exciting Blanding fuels up us to check in of the secret camp site I made in the mountains outside of CanyonLands.

Canyonlands I

CanyonsLands takes us to Moab.

CanyonLands II

Today we spiked Arches and then I took us along the last of the once named Route 666, which we have taken from Kenyenta to a few miles south of Salt Lake City.

Path to the arch

One more night and then much of the rest of my family arrives. Then a new an adventure begins.

Conflict might drive much of our life, but what if we removed a good portion of it? The concept of always needing more, competition with others, and constantly proving ourselves through consumption are ruining us and our world. We have set up an artificial world, we think it’s real, correct, and makes sense, but it’s stabbing a slow dagger through our planet.

Maybe if the conflict between ourselves and others could be removed somehow. We compete with the environment, but mostly we compete with ourselves. When we compete with ourselves can we ever really win?

A warrior without conflict might just have to fight for something else. Peace, the planet, their friends, joy… what would you fight for?

Boneatah

Thanks for listening and turn back in to see how my the rest of the month goes as I continue to explore the wilds of Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, myself, and the path of the WildernessPink?

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

Tom