Running in the mountains.
That’s where it’s really at.
Time to get the kids to bed….and no time for posting on a blog.
Where’s the time to run in the mountains?
We watched the AMA show….the American Music Awards….and, much to my surprise, the Marcus King Band wasn’t featured.
I’m not really surprised.
I’m being facetious.
Every pretty boy punk and vacuous entertainer was featured, but a band with real talent that should be a household name someday isn’t up to being on a show like that.
They don’t deserve to be on a stage with all that other useless noise.
They need to share a stage with real musicians if they’re going to share one at all.
They’re so good!
And….the lead singer and guitarist, Marcus King…. is 20 years old.
Man.
This is a band to watch.
I hope that I get a chance to see them live before I can’t afford to do it anymore.
Here’s a link to their website…..check them out.
It’s Sunday….and time for another episode of Iohan Gueorguiev’s “See the World” bicycle tour videos.
“This video covers December 2014 – March 2015, cycling from Breckenridge, Colorado to San Diego, California. Along the way I visited many of America’s National Parks and when possible took backroads.” (from Iohan’s description on YouTube)
This series is one of my favorite things that I’ve seen lately.
I like Forestyforest’s videos a lot, too.
You can find them here….
This series is so good!
It’s good to know that there are decent folks like Iohan out there in the world.
What a trip!
What’s that quote from the movie Blade Runner?
The one at the end where Rutger Hauer’s character talks about the things his eyes have seen?
Thanks for recording your trip, Iohan!
Thanks for sharing the things you’ve seen!
Here’s a video about Alvaro Neil, the biciclown, who quit his job to travel the world by bicycle
He brings joy to the people he encounters along his way with his clowning.
Alvaro is a cycling clown.
He went from being a lawyer in Madrid to travelling the world by bike.
He left security for something better.
Alvaro Neil will touch a lot of lives in the 10 years and 100,000 kilometers he’s planned for his journey.
Anybody who figures out a way to do things a little out of the ordinary is so interesting to me.
Alternative lifestyle is a term that occasionally has some weird connotations.
You have to ask yourself, too, just what is “alternative”?
We breathe….we live….and we should have a right to follow our hearts.
Although some people are threatened by what they don’t understand, different doesn’t necessarily have to be weird.
It’s great to see someone who lives in a different way like this.
I’ve said it before….the world is a big place…and noticing and appreciating the life you live helps to make it bigger.
Maybe that’s what it’s all about?
Perhaps you can pursue adventure and live a life of daring and bravado.
Maybe you do the same thing day in and day out.
We have to appreciate the lives we live.
That’s important to understand.
We need to know that.
Check out more about Alvaro Neil at www.biciclown.com
It is dry where we live now….uncharacteristically dry….and our forests are on fire.
This prolonged drought is unusual for this area.
Our forests don’t usually burn like this.
This video is about how forests heal our spirit.
Our forests will heal after these fires, but it will take a while.
Our spirits will heal from the damage these fires caused.
The air here is full of smoke.
The smoke comes over the ridge….and it comes up from the valley below.
The sun is orange through the haze.
Sometimes, it almost looks like the moon at twilight.
We drive with our headlights on in the early afternoon.
There is a lot of smoke in the air, although where we live isn’t close enough to the fires to be threatened yet.
Here’s a map of where the fires are:
Dry air seems to happen more often now.
These fires happen more often when it’s this dry.
Maybe this is the beginning of the new normal?
I hope not.
Ahhhhhhh. This is amazing.
Here’s a Vancouver Island couple who built their own home… on a homemade island.
That is pretty darn cool.
And, as the artist and owner/builder, Wayne Adams, says in this video, it was all built with a hammer and a handsaw….no power tools.
This is inspiring….but it doesn’t surprise me that an artist couple accomplished something like this.
You have to be a person with some vision….and you have to be a person who is willing to work hard….to make a life for yourself on a floating island that you created.
The island is tethered to the shore by cables….a floating home anchored in place but free of our preconceptions of what a home can be.
Check out Wayne working on a piece of sculpture.
You have to be willing to work hard physically to do that kind of artistic work.
A sculptor, like a blacksmith, is a hard worker.
You know, though, if you have the money to hire somebody who builds things for a living, a lot of the time the need to make money at something like carpentry doesn’t always bring the most creativity to a jobsite.
When it’s only your job, a lot of the time it’s not a labor of love.
It’s rare to find a laborer who shares your vision.
You need to do the job yourself to really build the things in your head.
When you don’t have much money, sometimes that’s your only option, too.
If you really want to figure out how to realize your vision, you better figure out how to do the job yourself .
Vancouver Island offgrid…that’s a pretty amazing way to go….an interesting choice.
Some of your choices are made for you when you don’t have access to power and you have to boat into your homesite.
There are so many interesting ways to live.
You could build your own island a structure at a time!
A Vancouver Island offgrid home….and the island it floats on….wasn’t “built in a day”, after all!
It takes gumption to dream this big.
But, why not dream big if you’re going to dream at all?
Here’s a short Vimeo video about bike touring on the high plateaus of the Himalayan mountains….and a crazy downhill ride after a long, hard climb.
This is insane!
Oh.
My.
https://vimeo.com/190785902
Danny MacAskill !!
He’s having so much fun on that bike!
Here’s a short film called Norway:Grey and Glittering.
Joe Cruz is the guy who made the film.
Norway is where my people come from, so watching a movie about some dudes pedaling around the country is pretty interesting.
Of course, watching a movie is never as good as doing it ourselves.
I need to go deliver the mail later this morning and don’t have any money for an airline ticket.
Jenny would wonder where I was if I was on my way to Norway with a fat bike….so I better just stick with the routine and go deliver the mail.
I wouldn’t go anywhere without all the guys, anyway.
Besides, we live in one of the best areas in the world for mountain biking, so the excuse of ” I don’t have a plane ticket” doesn’t really make much sense.
I don’t have to go anywhere else to have an adventure.
We have room for adventure right where we are.
But….Norway looks pretty cold and grey!
Why not head out someday and bask in some of that Scandinavian winter?
Fat biking Norway? Looks pretty cool to me.
( A disclaimer: This guy drops some major “F-Bombs” midway through the movie when the going gets really muddy and tough….so get ready to turn the sound down if the kids are watching.)
Leon Russell passed away yesterday.
RIP, Leon.
Thanks for the good music!
Leon Russell April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016.