Going Alone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgcxnZEwhEkMy desert home offers few amenities. So I pass the time watching mountain shadows grow long across the desert…feeling hot wind gust beneath the bridge onto my skin…listening to the sound of infrequent trucks and cars rumble by overhead…and writing down the thoughts I wish to leave behind.Here’s what it’s like to write the opening section of a book chapter under a bridge below historic Route 66 in the middle of the California desert i

Long ago, I remember learning of a famous astronomer who used the walls and ceiling of his study as a canvas to write down thoughts and quotes he hoped to remember. His words are there still, in an upper chamber of a small castle turret in Europe, which he used as his retreat to consider the world and the cosmos. Inspired by his example, I’ve decided to make use the very old wooden beams of my Route 66 writing bridge to remember which chapters of the new book I’ve completed,

Come ride with me through desert heat from Siberia ghost town to a dormant volcano crater. We’ll follow a mile-long train as it glides downgrade from Klondike summit towards the lowlands of the Colorado River basin, passing along the way a large volcanic cinder cone on the left, and a smaller cinder cone on the right. We’ll make a brief stop at the lone salt cedar tree which marks the spot of the utterly obliterated Bagdad ghost town, before finishing up at Amboy Crater in 11

As the family began to fall to pieces – grandpa dead and buried besides the road, Tom clearly of a mind to leave the family, Rose of Sharon’s good-for-nothin’ husband showing his true colors…and just when the girl is on the verge of giving birth to their first child; and of course now, with grandma dead and her body up top of the truck with the children, what’s to happen to the family?? What will become of the family? These were the facts and circumstances going through ma Jo

A San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputy once told me that if all the bodies scattered across the desert on either side of the highway along Routes 15, 44, 66 and 395 were to suddenly stand up, then the desert would all at once appear as if it were populated everywhere with man-sized cactus. I’m currently averaging two new grave or body discoveries a year during my desert outings; and though I can’t always be sure that what I find is a grave, there’s usually enough evidence t

Japan is a land of waterfalls. And with a history so long and deep there’s usually some mystery or wonder to be found around, over or within each and every waterfall we encounter. Even very deep in the mountains I’ve always followed the sound of falling water to discover what Japan had in store for today. #LostJapan In this episode of Lost Japan I’d stopped by the side of the road to examine what appeared to be a structure swallowed in the forest greenery. After that, I spott

An interesting option we’ve uncovered for Emily’s future is the idea of going back to Japan for college. It seems Japanese universities are keen to admit foreign students, which fact Emily might leverage by talking out of only one side of her mouth. This is especially intriguing to me, as college life in Japan is very different from the experience in the USA. In Japan, the four years of undergraduate study are the halcyon years of life, a time to be lived and enjoyed fully, a

I’ve discovered an almost boyish delight in helping my daughter plan for college. Though in a way, the experience is like assisting someone prepare their own surprise party – as too much help or meddling might spoil the delight of the surprise. Besides, details like where to go and what to study are secondary to the far more important task of locating professors, peers and circumstance which can help Emily to deconstruct the worldview of adolescence, and then provide her the

In the few years we’ve been here, the small area between the coastal mountains and the sea has become as pleasant a home to our family as any we’ve ever known. An abiding principal of our lives is to always live where we can enjoy the smell of the sea: be that in Humboldt County, Santa Barbara County, Shizuoka Prefecture or now Orange County. Sometimes, as the sun starts to go down, it’s nice to meander to the shore for a reminder of why we chose the beach life: In Humboldt C

This was one of the very first videos in the Abandoned Japan series. The location is roughly 30 miles deep into the rugged coastal range on the east coast of the Japanese island of Honshu. This area was my usual haunt during my Japan adventure years, and I was at the time travelling along the only road into a very remote area I sometimes referred to in my videos as the “Deep Mountains.” Over the years I’d routinely drove past the old house featured in this video, though I’d n

Some hikes are remembered for the landscape and experiences along the way, or for the emotions felt or challenges overcome. Other hikes are recalled for what is lost in the wild, and for the recognition that we ourselves are less important, substantial or permanent than we might have fooled ourselves into thinking. This latter gain may haunt our remaining days like a broken tooth we can’t help probing with our tongue, or a troublesome limp we know we’ll never overcome, or a p

Detecting a pattern and consequence in the email I receive. My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of The Good Life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at softypapa@gmail.com My book is available here: Going Alone is an independent approach to living, uncovering what is real, and making peace with the facts of what is true no matter how the truth makes us feel. I upload at leas

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. SIX OBJECTIVES 1. Be Always Ready for Death 2. The Good and Effective Use of Time 3. The Development and Maintenance of Good, Sound Principals 4. The Cultivation of Good Emotional Reactions 5. The Perfor

Life’s surface-level risks distract us with their nearness, and the apparent certain consequence of their neglect. All the while the deep risk of refusing our better nature wait to ambush us and those we love long after we’ve forgotten who we ever really were. I just spent the last hour on the phone with a stranger who lives deep in the darkness of a cave. He’s got his family down there with him, along with $300,000.00 cash. His mom’s there too. He says they’re all miserable,

The desert offers no comfort or reassurance of truth or certainty in the things we believe; which must instead stand or fall to ruin on their own merit, or lack thereof. 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. SIX OBJECTIVES 1. Be Always Ready for

After more than a decade of searching, I think I’ve finally found Mt. Wildness—though I won’t know for sure until I get there (the view from this photo is from 30 miles up). The hike will require two nights into an area where I’ve never been; with approach and return via different routes. I’ve only two—maybe three—opportunities to try this year before the Desert Killer returns in late March. And to think all these years I thought this place was in Japan… My name is Kurt Bell

I’ve begun a new series on YouTube covering career options in the fields of project management and business analysis. I got this idea since our family recently began planning our daughter’s transition to college and discussing with her various career paths she might consider. I thought it would be fun and helpful to lay out my own field for her to review, and to make this information public for the benefit of my younger YouTube viewers who are still trying to sort out which w

I discovered all that remains of the gas station and cafe at the California ghost town of Siberia. Sal and Ruth built this place in the 20’s out of mortar and desert sand. The combination home and business had two gas pumps and a service garage with a maintenance pit. There was a separate door into the cafe which had wooden floors, and where Ruth served her customers on fine decorated china. When traffic on the old highway at last gave out, Ruth and Sal made the tough decisio

Failure is always enlightening… I guess I should have known I wasn’t much of a match for the desert cold—especially if I don’t even bother to wear pants. This particular adventure didn’t take much out of me…which is a disappointment…as I always prefer to return from the wild less than I was when I came. I didn’t go far enough this time…didn’t get clear of the relative safety of the ghost town called Siberia…where even the ruins of humanity offer some comfort and protection. Y

Come ride with me to discuss motovlogging audio configuration, the benevolence of Victor and MULLY, and the regaining of footing after a long career break. LET’S RIDE! My name is Kurt Bell and I am delighted that you have taken some time to share a little of The Good Life with me. I’m available on social media at the links below and can be reached via email at softypapa@gmail.com My book is available here: Going Alone is an independent approach to living, uncovering what is r