Going Alone

The Good Life Meditation The Good Life Meditation is my daily effort of recounting, considering and developing my personal life objectives and principals. I perform the action of verbally listing and describing these points each day, typically at dawn, as a start and readiness to the coming day. AFFIRMATION OF HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS I must recognize respect and abide the rights of individuals and minority groups within society such that these are not compromised in the pursu

As I have no one to pray to, I’ll instead suggest an admonition to myself: Let my footsteps be slow today, to delay the world in its orbit, and force time to better measure and dispense its precious ration. Let my mealtime portions be small, let me endure the healthy want of food in proportion to my usual excess. Let me then grow lean and strong as a consequence, better able to survive, endure, and appreciate the true suffering of those without. And let my thoughts be very fe

How blind I was to the desert muse before Japan. Though I could never find her voice while I was away in that exotic land, surer still her absence had I never gone. If I’d remained in Japan my sight would have continued its myopic plunge into the familiar, the green and wet mountains and valleys there rising and widening in scale and contrived importance, ossifying at last into a world view of comprehensible dimension and satisfying importance. I would have at last died in my

The wild places of the California desert have proven so much more potent a fount of inspiration than the mountains of Japan. I suspect though that this has more to do with the characteristics of desert than any condition of place or quality of time. Learn more about my personal philosophy The Good Life Visit my main YouTube channel Find me elsewhere Send me a message From the original archive First published on softypapa.wordpress.com on March 5, 2017. Original text, photogra

My muse is blind, deaf, mute and dead. She is the inorganic fact of reality. The inanimate ambition of entropy. The chill, dark waste between the stars. The uncaring substrate of physics and chemistry; bound, secured and destined towards some emotionless mathematical end. The Good Life Meditation is my daily effort of recounting, considering and developing my personal life objectives and principals. I perform the action of verbally listing and describing these points each day

06-28-16 10:31 AM I’m going to buy an old fashioned mercury thermometers to use in tracking my body temp during summertime desert hikes, and keep myself away from the dreaded 104 degrees F. I wonder if that’s been done before? 06-29-16 4:40 PM My work day is done, and it’s time to commute home and strategize Friday’s desert inferno hike. I’ve got a scheme in my head to take on the open desert when the heat isn’t looking. But there’s no room for error, so the plan’s gotta be

Over dinner tonight Emily described our Desert Inferno Hike (118 F / 47 C) with the words “the hot air was hurting my face.” I thought this a worthwhile and interesting observation to share, as it brought back a memory I had nearly forgotten. A recollection of being far from safety in identical conditions, trudging alone through the sand with hands swollen like mittens, mouth dry as paper and a canteen deserted of hope. Emily’s experience was brief, abrupt and over before any

It looks like Emily and I got lucky with our extreme temperature encounter yesterday, as today’s high in the same area is only 104 F. I wonder if she and I will ever have that chance again in this lifetime. #desert #heat #extreme From the original archive First published on softypapa.wordpress.com on June 5, 2016. Original text, photographs, links, and embedded media preserved. View the original WordPress post

One day five or so years back I was exploring an abandoned trail in the deep mountains near the Japan Southern Alps. It was the height of summer and the danger of giant hornets was very real, as was the threat of moon-bear and wild boars. But my most immediate threat were the dinner plate sized spiders which sat like knowing mountain gods upon broad leaves which bent deep with their weight. The spiders were everywhere, and the fact that few ever came this way meant the trail

Nothing warms us to one another, and makes us long to be with family and friends, than the discovery that we’re all we’ve got. A friend sent an article to me listing and explaining the benefits of being alone. I’d add to the list the opportunity, as Henry David Thoreau said: “…to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” But the trick isn’t just being alone, you need

I sometimes found antique trails in the mountains of Japan. Pathways which connected high mountain villages before the age of roads, when the fastest way to the other side of the mountain was along steep ridges and around tall waterfalls; through dense forests haunted by moon bear and fierce boar and giant spiders and resounding with the hum and whir of insects. The best way to pick up such a trail was to ask the oldest man in the village “how did folks in the old days get to

While living on the road as a teenager I often found myself sleeping under bridges, in open fields and secreted away deep in the hollow of unfamiliar wilderness. Finding this transient shelter in the desert brought back some interesting memories and reminders of a time when shelter meant nothing more than being out of sight. —- My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of the experience of life with me. I’m available on social med

While exploring this past weekend I made this video at the site of an old immigrant camp along Route 66. Fans of John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath may be moved by the sight of an actual “Okie” camp where struggling families hoping for a new and better life in California stopped to spend the night in the open desert. The bit of pottery I found and tried to read is from the “Edwin M Knowles China Company” in West Virginia with a trademark dating from the 1930s. This si

My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of the experience of life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at dinnerbytheriver@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LylesBrother On Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/109050782163582511388/posts Instagram: http://instagram.com/softypapa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin

My hiking goal today is the crash site of a United States Air Force KC-97G Stratotanker. This tragic accident occurred 06/26/54 at night on the west flank of Box Springs mountain resulting in the loss of all fourteen airmen on board. Though I don’t know the exact location of the aircraft I have a rough idea and will try my best to locate the site which should be apparent due to wreckage. This is an emotionally sensitive endeavor. Here’s a link to the video I talk about in thi

My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of the experience of life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at dinnerbytheriver@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LylesBrother On Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/109050782163582511388/posts Instagram: http://instagram.com/softypapa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin

My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of the experience of life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at dinnerbytheriver@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LylesBrother On Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/109050782163582511388/posts Instagram: http://instagram.com/softypapa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin

My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of the experience of life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at dinnerbytheriver@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LylesBrother On Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/109050782163582511388/posts Instagram: http://instagram.com/softypapa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin

My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of the experience of life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at dinnerbytheriver@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LylesBrother On Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/109050782163582511388/posts Instagram: http://instagram.com/softypapa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin

My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of the experience of life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at dinnerbytheriver@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softypapa Find me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LylesBrother On Google+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/109050782163582511388/posts Instagram: http://instagram.com/softypapa LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin