Landlore: Alternative Travel Lifestyles

Whenever I prepare for a journey I prepare as though for death. Should I never return, all is in order. This is what life has taught me. ~ Katherine Mansfield

People travel to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and they pass by themselves without wondering. ~ Saint Augustine

Sayward at Quacks Crossing 2,500 miles with a U-Haul (from Daytona Beach, Florida to San Diego, California) is no small undertaking. Doing it in under 60-hours is what you'd call "impressive". Now, add to that a night resting up in Lafayette, Louisiana... 'n then add a nine-hour stopoff in Austin, Texas to hang out. If we're still talking about making the trip in under 60-hours, then that's what you'd call "legendary". Sayward 'n Mark made the trip look easy. As I said in my previous post , most of the travelers I know don't even set foot inside the States... so it was awesome when I got an email from a traveling friend called Sayward saying that she was going to be stopping off in Austin. W00t! With such a full day (and all the surrounding thoughts), I'm going to break up this post into three parts: An ATX Gathering , Life on Replay , A Game of Connect-the-Dots . All of them intertwine to tell a story thru time. An ATX Gathe...

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls. ~ Anais Nin

"Goodbye Summer. We miss you. Write soon. XOXO ~Life" Song of the Day - " Sidestreet (Mary J Blige) " by ZitanB [ Free Download ] "title" by artist Make no mistake, I am a whiny little pansy when it comes to winter. Not that Austin has a winter. If you showed our weather from December thru February to someone in the Dakota's, they'd call this "fall". Me? I call this "not summer"... 'n that's all that matters. It's NOT! Summer! Did I mention the "whining" part? Fortunately, "not summer" ends when the month of February comes to a close... at the latest, the beginning of March. The above collaboration is a tribute to summer... in all it's warmth and hazy glory. But this winter *ahem* brought a warm surprise. A fellow traveler and a bright soul stopped off in Austin for a few hours on her way West. As most of my traveling friends don't even set foot on American shores, it was a special ...

The longest journey Is the journey inwards. Of him who has chosen his destiny, Who has started upon his quest For the source of his being. ~ Dag Hammarskjold

Most people have that fantasy of catching the train that whistles in the night. ~ Willie Nelson

Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. ~ Helen Keller

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Strange, is it not? that, of the billions who Before us pass'd the Door of Darkness thru,   not one returns to tell us of the Road That, to discover, we must travel, too. ~Edward Fitzgerald's " Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam "

© Global Images, LLC. I make no joke when stating that this man has literally lived out of a teepee in the heart of winter. When peeps ask me if there's anyone out there who's more hardcore than I am, Sharif is the person I point to. When last I heard from him, he was hitchhiking from one boat to another across the Atlantic Ocean... on his way to Antarctica. He made it as far south as Argentina before turning back. When I heard from him again, he was collecting votes for a contest on mountaineering. This wasn't the first time he's flexed the power of his community, nor will it likely be the last. No, the first time was when Cloudveil held a contest for who had the best skid crib. Sharif's video tour of his home in the teepee on the side of the mountain has since become legend... and it won him the contest. The Teton Village Teepee When I first met Sharif, he and his two friends had hitchhiked into Reno to meet up with my sister Gaea 'n I. My sister and I ...

Do not seek death. Death will find you. But seek the road which makes death a fulfillment. ~ Dag Hammarskjold

I know I'm not the only one who writes to a specific playlist. Gotta have a soundtrack. I know a few of my favorite writers do... 'n I'm no different. In the age of the iPod, I have entire playlists lined up for different times of the year... 'n for different stretches of road. For writing, I wanted something a little different. I'm 58-pages into writing the book. I was doing fine with the playlist I had... then along came a spider named Kraddy. I saw Kraddy play at Burning Man two months ago. Root Society Underground has a 30ft dome... 'n Kraddy almost tore that dome down with how riled up he got us. There were people climbing on the dome itself... 'n everyone was shaking it by jumping up 'n down at the same time. The coordinator had to cut the power to the volume while they pulled peeps down off the dome 'n calmed everyone down. Once we'd calmed back down, they turned the volume back on... 'n Kraddy picked up right back where he...

"Moss, Shadow & Light" by Kantiki [ here on GoogleMaps ] There are more than 12,000 different types of moss. Not one of 'em is out to kill ya. That makes moss good peeps... 'n soothing to walk on. At least 10,000 of those types are found in Otterberg, Germany. Now that's a lie... but I'm sticking to it. Besides, it feels like there are that many different types in Otterberg. In terms of property ownership, the moss quite literally runs the city. If a house can power itself using spinach [ link ], then I think Otterberg should tap into their plentiful moss environment and wire the city that way. The moss wouldn't mind the attention... and the city could claim itself as the first moss-powered city. It'll happen. I can feel it. The legend says that moss only grows on the north side of a tree. It's cute... but it's wrong. Moss'll grow anywhere that there's water 'n shade. Otterberg is a city of shadows... and water is found a...

I am not the same having seen the moon shine on the other side of the world. ~ Mary Anne Radmacher Hershey

Tim Ferriss is gearing up to release "The 4-Hour Body", which means an insane number of quality posts on his blog. Because travel is one leg of his holy trinity, he's been on a roll lately with travel tips 'n stories that require sharing. This time, he's invited Tim Leffel to guest post on his blog. Leffel runs the Cheapest Destinations Blog and, true to form, covered eight different exotic travel spots that you can afford... but that you can't afford to miss. Here's the article: 8 Exotic Destinations You Can Afford by Tim Leffel, hosted on the blog of Tim Ferriss

If you already read Everything Everywhere , then you're familiar with Gary Arndt. Gary is a prolific traveler and an excellent writer. Less than a week ago, he wrote a guest post for the blog of Tim Ferriss titled " 20 Things I've Learned from Traveling Around the World for Three Years ". He opens the post with: On March 13, 2007, I handed over the keys to my house, put my possessions in storage and headed out to travel around the world with nothing but a backpack, my laptop and a camera. He then jumps into a photo-infused buffet of life lessons learned across the span of more than seventy different countries. Don't miss this excellent read!

see more Epic Win FTW If you're anything like me, you owe this peep a dollar as well. This is the best sign I've ever come across... and I've seen (and made) a lot of 'em. Word has it that our dear hobo here was spotted in Vancouver. The comments on this photo over at Epic Win FTW make for a fun read as well. This is seriously some creative signmanship.

Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence. And where we had thought to be alone, we will be with all the world. ~ Joseph Campbell

I am a pasty white gringo. I have two shades: pale and strawberry. When traveling in the Middle East and Central America, you can see the sun shining off 'o me from a mile away. I stick out. I get asked all the time: "Are you American?" I muster my best offended tone of voice, then ask in their language: "Are you callin' me white!?" Americans have a bad reputation abroad... and we've earned it. My humorous approach to what could become a hostile situation has made me some of the best friends I've come across in this life. Racism and oppression come in many forms... and it is the traveler who has the opportunity to crack those close-minded ideals right back open. We meet so many people... often across many diverse lands... 'n that gives us far more opportunities than most peeps to challenge racist assumptions wherever we're traveling. Hurly over on Thumbs Up Canada is doing just that. He was recently featured on The Martlet by Kristi Si...

"Portal" by Kantiki Otterberg, Deutschland is a city built with rust, moss, shadow and stone. When the mortar begins to fail, they scrape off the rust and moss and layer on more stone and mortar. If the foundation weakens, they fill up the entire bottom level of the house and wall up the door (see above). Then the moss creeps back in... and then the rust. The moss is everywhere. It's not a question of what is and is not green, but what shade of green is it? Before I found Otterberg, I thought cities with such ancient character were a thing of the past. But Otterberg has embraced its past. You can read more than a hundred years simply by staring at a wall in Otterberg. The family that took us in when we landed in Otterberg would go on walks with us... sometimes in the woods... other times in the city. What history was left out by the architecture was filled in while walking the streets in conversation. Christian -- the father of the family and a landscaper by trade -- ...

Installing the "Life Is Travel" Widget (estimated setup time < 3min) Kicking off the first entry in the "Better Blogging" series. I want to help other travelers get the most out of their blogs (Facebook likes, organization, etc.). Of course, Other bloggers are free to peek in as well. The first is this widget. It auto-adjusts to fit into almost any sidebar or even a footer, then links to the Wayfaring Bloggers page. The same code that put the widget at the bottom of my sidebar put the widget at the end of this blog entry. Installing the widget is EASY! Choose your blogging platform : • How to Install the Widget on Blogger • How to Install the Widget on Wordpress • How to Install the Widget on a Different Platform How to Install the Widget on Blogger 1. Copy this code: <div style="margin: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center; border: 0; border-top: 2px #000 solid; border-bottom: #000 1px solid;" id="l2ttopdiv"><a style="m...

"New Mexican Brave" by Kantiki [ here on GoogleMaps ] [ non-mod on Panoramio ] Sadly, I didn't survive my first meeting with the native tribes of America. Shortly after pulling out my trusty soul-stealer, the warrior (above) reared back, knocked an arrow and introduced a new opening into my chest. You know... so that I could breath better. Good peep! Now... that's not what really happened... but it's how I like to remember it. For those who don't know, Santa Fe is one of the richest cultural hubs in all the South-West. They have so many art galleries and museums that they've set aside an entire hill for even more museums. This is one of two towering statues at the very top of that hill. A single day spent on Museum Hill isn't enough to take in all the tribal folk art, native legends and rich heritage. But... in that same day... one can wander down from Museum Hill to the capitol and read the names of every tribe that once was... once lived and ma...

This is an incredibly beautiful photo with no small touch of surrealism. As this site will become at least partially commercial, I've removed this piece of art from the site. Don't miss a chance to check out the original [ Here on deviantART ].

On Thursday, September 8th, police officers were called to The Golden Beach Hotel in Blackpool, England to remove two of its guests. The police stated: "No offense had been committed by the couple, but the manager had requested them to leave the property. We advised the couple how to go about getting a refund." When the couple requested a refund, the hotel refused. The Golden Beach Hotel has declined to comment. Hotel management claims they had the couple removed because they'd posted a negative review about their establishment online. Here is the review by "ihatemu" on TripAdvisor . The couple denied the claim, but were removed by police with no refund despite this. Management, having gone to the drastic action of calling in the police, having refused refund and having responded to the review online in an ill-conceived manner have quickly tarnished the establishments reputation. The man and his partner are rightfully outraged. They'd retired to the ...

Step 1. Get Yourself a Ginger   Everyone knows that redheads are on the endangered species list. Therefore, a cop can't just maim or open fire on a ginger. In this case, we're going with Ramona Mayhem (aka, Ginger Bee), who was the mad genius behind this entire plan. If you can't find a ginger, go with another endangered species (e.g., unbiased media, honest politicians, etc.). Step 2. Prep Your Tickets   Even if you have real police tickets (or other official documents), the last thing you want to do is show them to the police. That gets a peep put into a dark, dark place. Nope, you've gotta make your own ticket. It needs to say something along the lines of "you know what you did" or "shame shame" ...but still say "it's okay, criminals have hearts too".   Take note of the all-important "Other" field. When we were out ticketing officers and other miscreants, "Other" was easily the most used. Popular scribs for o...

"Philly Deathgreeter" by Kantiki Packing and getting ready for Burning Man. You'd think I'd be better prepped for my sixth year in the desert... and you'd be wrong. This statue in Philly always reminded me of the playa, so it was fitting to post it. I'll be away for the next two weeks... and... granting I survive it... I'll get back to posting. Oh yeah, clicking the image goes to Flickr. There's plenty of embedding options there for anyone who likes it and wants to post it on their own site. I was going to add in a little review on this place, as it was the best Mexican we had in all the North-East, but then I came across this awesome review that already pinned it over on on Mac & Cheese here . Anyone passing anywhere near Philly really shouldn't miss a chance to hit up Las Bugambilias. Mad love! Burn bright... and stay lit!

Rolf Potts is the man-dizzle. Not only did he write the insanely helpful book " Vagabonding " that launched an entirely new wave of alt.travelers, but he's now pressing the limits of travel by going without luggage across twelve countries. You read that right. In his latest episode, he went over washing clothes and tricks to drying them on top of other helpful and fun parts to the journey. It definitely has people talking in a big way about the pros and cons of light travel. And, as with most things that border on greatness, the voices behind the cons are loudest... although they simply seem to be repeating each other. If you haven't tuned in yet, here is the link to Rolf's Travels .

"Beached" by Kantiki [ here on GoogleMaps ] It's not every day that you run across a boat that's been beached... let alone in Santa Barbara, California. It'll definitely put an interesting spin on the day. On a boat-related sidenote, my friend Sharif has hitchhiked across boats before. He was originally aiming for Antarctica. It wasn't until he was deep into South America that he turned back. Still... frakking made it from Alaska to South Am by hitching boats. He's one of the few travelers that I consistently give props to for outdoing myself.

While in the current world it's rather hard to believe, there once was a time when America was almost "the good guys". This poem comes from that time... 'n it's a reminder of hitchhiking soldiers and the importance of the road in terms of the war. This is the cause, democracy and right, That enlisted the Nation in all its might, That called our boys, staunch and true, That need the food, munitions and stores, That make up the load, That travels the road That Jack built. From " The Highway Magazine ", V9.N1, 1918

[Speakeasy, TX, San Marcos] Rivendell Restaurant & Gardens : When the first elvish settlers moved into Texas, they planted the young seeds that would become Rivendell Restaurant & Gardens. Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. Only a few thousand years after the elves passed on the restaurant to human caretakers, the restaurant closed... and San Marcos lost one of its premier attractions to the city. This Tolkienesque experience was a restaurant with every wall painted in murals of fields and forests, with trees that poured water in cascades down their stumps and with sofas formed of stones. The cats had likely been bribed by the cooks to stay away from the tables where customers dined on savory sandwiches made from fresh-baked bread. Wandering the tiered gardens after the meal was a refreshing way to let the tummy settle before heading down to the San Marcos river for an afternoon swim. I can attest to the fact that there's still an elf here and there near the river... or at l...

"Bear Canyon Trail" by Kantiki [ here on GoogleMaps ] [ fotomod on deviantART ] W00t! Just found out that there's a Sabino Canyon Blog [ Here on Blogger ]. With how vividly the canyon captures the beauty of the desert, it's no surprise how many people praise the area. If you're passing anywhere near Tucson, Arizona, then don't miss the chance to love up some o' this rocky, thorny, blasted goodness.