Happy 80th Birthday To Willie Nelson

Happy Birthday, Willie.
Hopefully, many more to come.
You are the original Man Of Wander, the gypsy and his guitar traveling around the country for decades, singing for your supper.
I got to see Willie perform seven years ago. He opened for John Fogerty and then did a couple songs with Fogerty during the main act.
Thank you for that and for being the symbol of the threadbare gypsy soul in all of us.

Urban Hiking (away from all the urban)

 Dog and I walk a lot. She is my urban hiking, urban exploration buddy.
We decided to get away from the buildings - it was her suggestion, I swear.

The Failed Dreams Of A Hippie Commune

These houses sit on a couple hundred acres, along a private gravel road about twenty miles from where I live in North Texas. There are maybe twenty or so houses on the land.
They were built by members of a commune but, for whatever bad luck and other circumstances, the commune failed.
Most of the houses are still abandoned, but there are people living in some of them. They are off the grid, taking care of the land together as members of a co-op.
There are no electric lines, no water or telephone lines. No sewer system. The people in the houses get their electricity from wind turbines and solar panels. They are using propane. They have dug wells and buried septic tanks.
The houses are built from rebar, chicken wire and cement.
From the road, you would never know they even exist.

First Camping Trip Of 2013

Sunset at Lake Ray Roberts State Park near Pilot Point, Texas

2nd Post

Okay, I don't know how often I intend to post. Once a week? Once a month? Once a year?
Who cares? Seriously? Who gives a shit?
I know that I spoke of an epiphany - my epiphany. It's not that complicated (in print at least)
I have a limited amount of time on this planet. I am dying (you are too - deal with it - accept it)
If I live out my life expectancy to the age of 78, that means that my life is half over. Half. That is such a sobering thought that, for now, I am going to simply leave it at that. And what did I do with the first half? Let's not even get into that right now.
And what of life expectancies? Do they include people who are bedridden, who have to buy those little plastic containers that help the older folks with the health issues to separate their Monday Tuesday Wednesday Et Cetera pills into something more manageable?
I don't want to go out like that.
Do I deserve happiness? Do I deserve the opportunity to chase the things that I feel are important?
I don't know. Maybe. Maybe not.
Maybe if we all chased our dreams, there wouldn't be anybody left to serve me a cup of coffee and a pancake at 7am on a random Thursday morning in Missouri.
I ponder this. The older I get, the more questions I ask. The more questions I ask, the more answers seem out of reach.

The First Post

First post. Ok, where to begin? It's not like I'm gonna get a million hits today or anything, so I guess I might as well just try to. . .  flow.
Ok.
Who the fuck am I? Well, I am a goddam writer and adventurer trapped in the body of a guy in his late thirties, trying to hold on to his second wife and his five kids (two of those are step kids, just an fyi for the child support office in case something bad happens to my marriage).
My oldest kid is 19, my youngest is 7. I am pushing 39.
I had an epiphany a several months ago. I am still exploring it internally.
Next time I post, I will make some sort of attempt to articulate it.