hey, ramblin' girl..
soooo... yer the hunter gatherer type, locked into the techno-stationary system we have built our laws up to defend...
not a fucking thing wrong with you..
you're just a victim of the planet-rape that most of the others of us are who enjoy something like the mobility that humans have experienced for the last 3/4 million years or so..
hell.. that the birds have known for 80 million. or the fish for near three Billion...
you mare goddamned wise..
you know the few good rules..
be kind as you would love kindness to be done..
& to know there is no valid rhetorical response to Ghandi's offering of "what greater wisdom is there than kindness?"
& i do not know who said “Live simply, that others may simply live”, but that gets tagged right up there with it..
whether we settle & just want to live with the calm & peace which is consequent of simple fairness, or whether we desire to travel in a way to most fully perceive & utilize what the present moment offers,
Simplicity
after Kindness
is the first tool.
those small rules make the trustworthy a little vulnerable, because good folks generally extend the benefit of the doubt to people... and, as nice as it is, and as essential as it is for friendship to exist, extending the ‘benefit of the doubt’ is one of the most dangerous actions a human can perform.
in the short term, the wrong decision mean having a knife drawn on you, or having to jump from a moving car or having your pack stolen or some such event..
in the long term it means becoming attached to a person or group that has no desire to face the difficulties of travel with the strength of personal effort and the resources it can create..
if you don’t travel alone, the first choice you make is *who* you travel with, and that first choice should *be* a choice and not simply a circumstance you’ve fallen into..
so.. for your own sake, in regards to what you *can* control, in relation to your *long term* safety, when you travel **never** become dependent upon others who do not do their fair share of work at camp-rise..
i don't say sunrise, because few of us wake then, but if some asshole cannot at least earnestly offer to help clean crap up, cook, scrape dirty dishes & to BE THE FUCK UP WHEN IT IS TIME TO DO WORK & THHHENNN FUCKING DOOO ITTTTT....
bail after the first 10 minutes you give them for their fucking coffee to hit..
fuck music, fuck poetry, fuck cool conversation, fuck good intentions & fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK fucking excuses... it dosn’t matter *how* well you get along with someone, if they aren’t being *tangibly* responsible from the outset, they *never* will be, & that means that you are ultimately *expendable*, to them.
i cannot emphasize how strong a warning that is..
you must remain safe, yes, but above being safe you must not remain dependent, unless dependency produces *discovery*..
- i’m going to digress, here, & rant for a bit about existence, & i hope it isn’t too off the topic of “Hi!!”.. but..
the ***WHOLE*** of meaningfull human existence is based upon discovery..
it's funny, i think, because kindness in fact, is a venue of discovery..
whether you are a homebody or a forager or range far at sea..
if you are kind the door is opened to everything that all other kindness is...
even pricks are sometimes redeemed, if only partially, because of it...
without discovery, the other option is to be like a yeast cell, & do what yeast cells do...
sit, shit & fuck..
that is why there are huge piles of shit in cities..
& cars..
& metal..
& fucking concrete..
the fucking yeast cells (AKA technophilic humans) take trees & mountains & air & rivers & snow..
& turn them into..
freeways..
office buildings,
urban/radioactive/toxic ruins
etc etc etc etc etc...
sooooooooooooo...
getting back on topic a little..
if you connect with people who *act* like yeast??
GET THE FUCK AWAY!!!!!!!
because ‘traveling’ yeast cells are pretty well much just as dangerous as stationary ones, except they **are more opportunist**..
that means that at the beginning they are allowed exactly ONE instance of campwork / road dawg fuck up, which they have *exactly* no more than 427.5 seconds (which is just over 7 minutes) before you decide that although you *may* still help them , you are *not* going to ***depend*** on them or OWE them any obligation..
you can still be kind, but be no kinder than civility of a good farewell requires..
i am by no means saying don’t share..
even if people may not have stuff & there may not be enough to go around, definitely share..
& i am *not* saying be distrustfull..
but i am saying that when we are simple, everything we have becomes more valuable, because it needs to be used most effectively..
shared work is the absolute acid test of community, whether 2 people in a new friendship or a city so aligned with life that it raises its own food (oh, that there could be one!)
the first thing to look for, even if you don't *need* any help in cleaning up or cooking or setting a tent or carrying water or whatever basic tasks you have the energy to accomplish on your own
is *willingness*
because sometime the only thing there *is* to share
is work..
traveling is not a dreamy thing..
it is fucking *better* than dreamy..
it is beautifull goddamned scary...
travel on *your* own terms, as much as you are able, until you find solid folks you can travel with whom you're able to comfortably align, if you chose to not be solo..
if you go with someone from the outset, choose well..
if you rubber-tramp.. well.. def talk to the gearheads on here, because as much freedom as you get from a good vehicle (horses being mostly illegal), that freedom is aided by knowledge..
the more you can fix on yer own, the better..
post us on your vehicle.. problems, type, year, advisements from mechanics, etc..
you'll get lots of feedback..
go forward, kiddo.. & howdy!!!
; )
