Strolling Amok

A Realization Dawns

Originally posted 10/27/2012

It finally came to me – camping is campfires, and tents in mud, and wet sleeping bags, and cold snaps, and cook stoves that won’t light, and violent storms. It’s usually a reduction in personal hygiene and patience. Often, the later stories of camping are more fun than the actual camping was. Not always, but when the weather or the spouse or the kids just didn’t cooperate. When it works, it’s glorious, building something in the soul. When it doesn’t work, it’s fodder for entertainment or pity. Camping is elemental living, specifically living away from home with its accouterments and comforts.

People in recreational vehicles such as motor homes and travel trailers like the mighty Enterprise aren’t “camping”. I may be in a dispersed camping area in the Arizona desert, but this is hardly elemental living. We’re living in transportable homes, however temporary or permanent. A weekend, half a year, or decades – it makes little difference. This isn’t roughing it. When everything is working, we have Read more…

That Statement is No Longer Operative

Originally posted 9/13/2012

The title for this entry is a quote from Ron Ziegler, Press Secretary for President (tricky Dick) Richard Nixon, serving as a way of admitting that “he lied” without saying it directly. You know, weasel words. If the situation around it had changed, he would have said so and blamed that. But, the underlying situation hadn’t changed, and so came his explanation for the change in direction.

I’ve been preparing the ancient Innsbruck camper for extended dry camping with the assurance that I’d be able to stay onsite until it was completed, the target departure being mid-October. Hooked up to clean water and electrical power, progress has been good. Plan the work, work the plan.

Alas, the assurance and the resulting schedule are no longer operative. Instead of six weeks to fabricate and mount an unusual home-grown solar panel system, extend water tank capacities, and build out the interior for full-timing, I’ve now been given just Read more…

The Sea Change

Originally posted 8/20/2012

In our journeys through life, not everything works out as we hope it will. I’ve been called inordinately tenacious (among other things) but sometimes, hunkering down and doing the best you are able during the bad times isn’t enough. Of course, the greasy underbelly of “tenacious” is “stubborn” with just a hint of “dullard” thrown in, but let’s stick with “tenacious” because it sounds more like a positive quality.

Obviously, not every decision is ours alone to make, not every event is within our control, and not all of us are equipped to properly handle the full scope of life’s challenges. Doing the best we can sometimes gets us through, and sometimes not. I’m a slow learner, but at least I’ve finally managed to pick up on the full depth of Read more…