comming back to childhood

I was hanging around the house one day and decided to go down to one of the local outdoors store that we have in Hickory, to look for some camping things.  I have been fishing every day for catfish and bream and bass and so on and so on for weeks at a time.  I had gotten kinda bored with fishing and wanted to see about camping stuff.

When my brother and I were kids we went camping on the weekends with my dad and stepmother in the mountains at a campground.  It had been years since I had camped again.  I had forgoten how much fun it was to run up and down the creeks all day and to sleep by the fire and wake up to smell that crisp mountain air in the morning. I always woke up when the dew, driped off the trees and would land on our tent.  Our fishing rods, poptarts, and a glasses of milk is all we needed to get us up and on the creeks fishing again. My mom took us camping too and we have had some good stories out of those trips. Stories I won't embarass my mom with, well maybe later. 

So, now I am heading to the store to check out some camping gear. I have always been use to the not so good gear that is real cheap to buy at a famous chain store that is taken over everywhere.... I bet you cant guess where?  I bet you already know.  So, anyway, I go in and start asking questions about tents and gear and stuff.  I am definately interested in all this cool gear but, not in the prices.  I had no idea a rain jacket could cost 400.00+....  That's crazy right?  Well, as I have gotten older, I also have become smarter too.  Cheap prices = crappy gear!  That is all there is to it.  So, I purchased a Hammock that a friend had recommended me to get because it was cool.  Thank you Chris, it was an awesome purchase that I am still using today and you were right... it is cool, especially in the winter months. 

On the way out I ask the manager Rick if he knows anybody to go hiking with.   He tells me to look on a table full of brochures and business cards and to look for one with the red and white logo on it and said to hit this guy up online.  So I did and went to a meeting and met Jeremy and a few others too.  Man I tell you this dude has got me hooked on camping and backpacking all over again.   Over the past couple years, I know I have spent a couple thousand on gear.  Backpacks, clothes, shoes, tents, hammocks, tarps, pots, pans, stoves, utencils (have to say the 20.00 chopsticks are awesome), headlamps, knives, hatchets, and Lord only knows what else I have packed away in boxes. There is no way I would trade all the good times camping with the Hickory Outdoor Group aka HOG.  Check them out if you get a chance.  I have made some real good friends in that group.

To tell you the truth, camping and hiking in the woods makes me feel like a kid again.  I'm young still but you know what I mean, where there is amazment all around you at every turn.  Cool insects and all the different rocks and trees and bushes....I can do without the spider webs that are head level though.  There is something about the way a river carves itself through a canyon or mountain range and if you think about it long enough, you can almost see in your mind how it must have looked a million years ago. Just let your imagination go like a child would and try to recreate what that mountain stream or rushing river in that canyon must have looked like all those years ago.  I bet you can do it.  That is one thing that makes the outdoors and nature so enjoyable... you can use your imagination and there is no right and wrong to your daydream. We can't control anything really in the wilderness except for what we bring in on our backs.  Nature's laws take over when you enter in and there isn't much you can do about it.  No tv, cars, noisy bars, neighbors, City life in general.  It is just you and the natural laws around you. 

It is wonderful to be able to take a break from so called Civilization and hang around in a place that with the right mental state, will actually accept you as part of it.  If you sit real still, the animals, birds, insects, and reptiles will reveal themselves once they see you as no threat to their lives.  Sit and try it!  I bet you I am right.  Don't make a bunch of noise, just sit still as you can and look straight ahead and listen.  You will see real cool things.  I have had animals walk right up to me and birds sit on limbs within reach trying to figure out what I was.  The life in the forest is very interested in what you are but you must respect the laws of nature and respect their home and they will let you see how they act when you are not being noisy and loud and disturbing their normal day to day habits.

So this blog post is about comming back to childhood.  Well it is a shame that almost all of us loose that childhood happiness.  That desire to explore and build things and to figure out what the crap made this hole in the dirt or who make this trail through the underbrush... Hmmm... I don't know but, lets go and find out attitude.  Curosity and desire are the words I was looking for.  Trying to figure out what this is and having the want to get down to the bottom of that question.  So, here is what I am going to do to regain that respect for nature and find that childlike state of mind again.

I am going to attend Alderleaf Wilderness College in WA.  http://www.wildernesscollege.com/  and take the Certification Course this September.  This blog is about my travels across the  U.S. to get to this college and to learn traditional ecological knowledge and in hopes to enrich others lives across the U.S. after I graduate.  I think that the ultimate accomplishment in life is when you can cut ties with the modern day life and totaly rely on your own mind, body and skills that you have learned to get you through to the desired life you dream of.  Self reliance is probably one of the most rewarding feelings you can ever have... I guess I have a little bit of studying and tons of trials and errors to figure that out for myself.  Stay tuned and you will find out how it goes.

The welcome post.

Hi,

If you are reading this post.... you probably are a personal friend of mine. If you don't know me personally you will after this blog is complete. OK, Across The U.S. is going to be about why, when and the adventure of going across the U.S. What and Who started me on this path of wanting to change my life?  There are many people who have influenced my way of thinking over the years but, my family has been the biggest influence.  Friends come next, and I have a few real good friends out there.  The thing that made me switch my way of thinking is the fact that I have always worked since I was a kid and haven't ever really done anything I have wanted to do for myself.  I always try to do for others.  It's time for me now.  The icing on the cake was when my wife and I separated.  Its now time for me to let go and find myself, my true self.  Maybe I should start a blog named "discovering Wilbily".  More to come... Comment all you would like.  My mom gave me the Gift of Gab so I will always have something to say....