Author: Edgar

Rides Around: Love Bug

Edgar, Travel

We’ve received some great feedback on the “Baja Down the Baja” posts.  Thank you all for your comments, and for coming back week after week for the next day’s adventures.  We’re working on the final leg of it now, and have some great information and pictures to share with you this weekend.

The comments on the TSY page and the Facebook page have given us good insight.  This community enjoys interesting vehicles, and particularly Volkswagens.  This was also extremely evident during our trip, as people would honk and hoot and photograph the bug as they saw us roll by them on the highway.  So we’ve decided to feature a different rig weekly, and would love some participation from the tribe.

I’ll go first, but if you see a cool ride, please snap a photo and tell us about it.  If you have a special connection to your personal mode of transportation, we’re interested in that story too.  Maybe it has a name.  Maybe you remember your first car, your dad’s truck, the plane that dropped you in the Amazon, or that bike you always wanted and finally got.   It’s great to see how folks get around, and hear the stories behind the ride.

The first rig we want to feature is the “love bug”.  We found this flowery ride cruising the streets of Bucerias in Nayarit, Mexico.  It appeared to be a daily driver for the man behind the wheel, who was not afraid of expressing himself.

The Rig: 1960 something Beattle

The Location: the main drag of Bucerias, Nayarit

The Driver: a sensitive stranger

The Special Circumstances:  We were in a bug, when we spotted this bug, and appreciated it along with a guy driving behind it, who was also… in a bug.  Random VW parade.

Edgar~

Rooted in Beauty

Edgar, Travel
Mr. Kilmer’s 1913 poem still resonates today.  It is a lovely and classic piece that brings reverence to wondrous creation and our journey through it.
“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a
tree.”

 

-Joyce Kilmer

Quality

Edgar, Surfing, Travel

We (as individuals) are responsible for our actions.  That being said, we also own their knock on affects.  Every action we have affects others, directly or indirectly.  Simple physics, “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  The world around us is changed by our presence in it.

Pause, and consider the gravity….

Not too long, we do not want sucked into a black hole.

In construction there is a saying, “Today’s quality is tomorrow’s safety.”  People that are building nuclear facilities say things like that, well..,we hope.  We should all carefully consider the quality of our actions before executing them, because we are ultimately defined by our actions, not our sentiment.  The road to hell was paved, by masons, w/ good intentions.

I am a hurricane survivor and so is my motorcycle.  My motorcycle (a KLR 650) was nearly perfect before hurricane Harvey.  It had 2300 miles on it and not a chip of beautiful orange paint was missing.  When the system was spinning up into a cat 3, I decided I would be spending my hurricane days in Mexico (surfing).  The storm shifted, so all of the Texas surf was going to be blown out by gale force on shore winds.  No reason for me to stick around (and Mex was firing off), so I “secured” my things.  As any (first world) natural disaster survivor knows, the best way to “secure” is to insure.  (I should probably trademark that one.)  I know that now, but pre-Harvey I didn’t.  The bike was uninsured (liability) and unsecured, but physically I did what I could.  I put it in a 7’x7′ Lowes plastic shed next to my 38′ 5th wheel and locked the door.  This, my friends, is NOT secure.  Harvey whipped up into a real nasty little creature, and I went surfing in Mexico.  As I was traveling out of town, the storm started tracking more easterly (towards mi casa).  Less than ideal.

Before leaving, I had the bike in the shed and next to the porch.  I had several boards outside, and “secured” under the camper.  I decided to up my level of security for the boards.  I put 5 boards in my bathroom and shut the door.  My longboard went in the shed w/ the bike.
When the storm blew through, it flopped my 5th wheel over and onto my shed, presumably crushing my beautiful, orange, uninsured, dual sport.  Again, our actions dictate a lot of things, and some things we would/could never consider.


Texas is not known for surf.  I tell people I surf in Texas and they ask, “is there a ocean in Texas?”  I don’t get into the whole geography thing, and how Americans are notoriously poor at it, as are Australians, but I do mention that the Gulf of Mexico touches Texas.
Anyone who surfs the Gulf of Mexico appreciates longboards and their necessity.  I got mine in Galveston (the stoke in this town is incredible).  It was shaped by Mark Wooster.   I bought the board off a used rack at a local place, and the shop owner bragged on Mark and his boards.  He said that Mark took care in building a solid board.  Quality.  The shop owner was right, and Mark is a stand up guy.

Mark Wooster saved my KLR.

When the storm knocked my 5th wheel onto the shed, the 5th wheel contacted the northwest corner of the shed first.  That is where the elevated nose of my board was.  As the shed crushed from the weight of the trailer, it rotated the board counter clockwise and lined the board up perpendicular to the shed, spanning over the bike like a joist carrying the trailer’s weight, and keeping it off the bike.


To the layman, it looked like a pile of crushed rubbish, but after some creative rigging and tow truck operator finesse, the bike was recovered virtually unscathed.


I dressed the bike out w/ panniers and a surfboard rack, and now it resides in Mexico.  It is great transport, but every time I see it, my heart thanks Mark and his attention to detail.  I am convinced, a lesser board would not have taken this load.  The board did sustain some damage to its fin box, but is still rideable, and so is the KLR.

Thanks Mark.  You do good work, and I appreciate that.

Edgar~

Everyday Adventures

Edgar, Travel

Traveling and adventure are defined by our perspective.

Indiana Jones had some of the most marvelous adventures that an on-looking thrill-seeking adolescent could ever imagine. When he wasn’t teaching class, he kept us captivated by roaring through the jungles in paramilitary vehicles, rescuing people in peril, and claiming booby-trapped riches for himself; what a wonderful existence.  It makes us wonder what his average day was like. Was it hum drum monotony around the university?  I don’t think so.  I believe he found wonder in it.  Professor Jones did not get bored because of his perspective, not his profession.

Most of us live fairly routine lives, and certainly all of our lives are common to ourselves.  We are used to our own activities, and this can be misunderstood, by us, as boredom.  This can lend to looking for greener pastures, and distract us from appreciating the beauty and adventure we are surrounded by daily.

A lot of us take on a different persona on vacation.  We appreciate a meal, are more outgoing, linger at a sunset.  Why not do that daily?  It’s free. It’s fun, and it’s simple.

Just a slight redirection of light, and the form is changed.

What is Yoga?

Edgar, Yoga

In Sanskirt (a Hindu language) the word “yoga” loosely translates as “unite” or “attach”, but its etymology centers around concentration.  Yoga’s origin can be traced back to 5th and 6th century India. It was also originally tied directly to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The original practice was somewhere between a form of physical worship, sacrifice, and prayer. It was a manifestation of commitment and faithfulness. A true yogi, in this sense, w/ this level of commitment, could do miraculous things w/their body. In the 19th and 20th century yoga found its way to the west, and like all things, it was changed by its trip.

The timing of yoga’s arrival to the West had a significant impact on yoga, as well as the West. Imagine the year of our Lord 1801 U.S.A., and in strolls this very visual Eastern-based, focused, controlled practice. In the face of a Protestant or Catholic, at that time, it would have been a rough sell, and it picked up a stigma. Let’s skip ahead…

It’s 1960 baby, and yoga found a niche w/the fringe. This association, through the 60’s and 70’s, did not help bring help bring yoga into mainstream. It remained an outlier, changed and maturing, but not accepted. It was a misunderstood adolescent struggling to find itself in the West, much like the West of the time.

Today yoga is still not consistently defined due to these residual connotations and its own growth. We can accurately say yoga is a physical activity that requires an elevated level of concentration ,intentionally prompting a unique level of consciousness. We can also say that these things are good for you. It requires discipline and focus to practice yoga. We can say, focus and discipline, are needed for success and yoga can help you practice these things.

I think there is still some confusion to what level yoga is linked to spirituality or religion, and just like spirituality or religion, that level is dependent on the practitioner.

Yoga’s diversity lends to all levels of physical aptitude and subsequent health benefits. The different practices will also require various levels of concentration. Like all things, the benefit from yoga is a direct result of energy imputed, and if the yogi chooses to praise the Lord in this fashion, I say Glory be.

 

Edgar~

First Trip

Edgar, Travel

Since I can remember I have looked for the truth.  In this, I have not readily accepted what people tell me as fact.  I like proof.  I want fact, but I prefer it w/ data.  This has led me to “challenge authority”.
This has put me in an interesting group, slightly outside the herd.  I have lived on societies’ fringe, at the edge of firelight’s glow.  This has made me a seeker, a traveler, and made me search for the truth.  Like other travelers, what I seek is an understanding, but unlike many, I understand this has a price and accept the ride, and its lesson, is worth the cost of admission.

I remember running away from home for the first time.  I was about 5.  I had a disagreement w/ some level of authority at my house. I acted on the emotion provoked by this circumstance, threw on my spider man costume (it was just after Halloween), packed a bag, and hit the road.

We lived on five acres, and out on a rural route.  I headed down the drive and then North.  I went for what seemed like forever, and finally came to rest in the neighbor’s lawn.  I remember the grass was cool, as I sat in it, w/ the sun setting.  I opened my bag, and took out some candy to eat.  My first meal on the road was fabulous.

As I sat in the cool grass, eating sweets, in that solitude I felt a grand independence and peace. I was alone, and apprehensively excited about what lie before me.  I was at the edge of the firelight, excited about exploring the dark.  In this, I found peace, and an appreciation for my soft warm bed.

I packed it in, and returned home from my first journey.

I returned w/ a new understanding of life and self.  Since this, my wanderings have grown, but they are still filled w/those deep and colorful thoughts and feelings.

Travel thrills me and continues to enrich my mind, spirit, and soul.

Edgar~

Create

Edgar, Surfing

To consume, or create, that is the question?
Whether nobler to think, and work, w/end in mind,
Or lay and wait while others decide.
The interesting bit about questions like these, is they are being asked less frequently.

I recently took on a very interesting project.  I wanted a fish board, and I wanted to make it my own, so I found an excellent shaper and we started the process.  It was an interesting and very rewarding journey.
Surfboard shapers are interesting cats, and collaborating w/ them is a fun experience.  These folks are truly artists, wrapped w/ eccentric notions of crafting vessels ridden to a realm that comes and goes one time.  They understand, first hand, this powerful experience and the importance of shaping the ships that can propel surfers and evoke the fleeting feelings derived from spending seconds in a time and space that will never exist again.  These people are something between foam alchemists and boat builders, and they are shamens to their tribes, feared and revered.

Needless to say, I approached my shaper w/the notion of a board, some humility, and some good old fashioned green backs.  Turns out, this method of motion is mostly successful…  I mean it.  (I couldn’t resist one more “m”.)  Anyway, there I was standing in a space I had never been, trying to express sentiment, action, and motion that has, at best, a very crude language.  We began.

I brought three boards that I enjoyed riding, to the mystic.  We talked of local weather, and different breaks, paddling, hydrodynamics, eras of art, clean lines, different philosophies of different things, sustainability and even lightly dabbled in politics.  One of the best pieces I took from the talk was, he wanted to build the board I needed not the board he wanted for me.  That is really what we need from our shamen.  We need them to help us w/what we need, not w/what they want us to have.  Accepting what they want us to have is not sustainable, and will not take us to these beautiful but fleeting places consistently.

After our chat, I started considering the details of what I wanted, and even put a crude sketch together to discuss the art.  One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.  Being easily entertained, keeps one content.  We roughed out the foam blank, decided on retro twin fins, and I left the Master of the craft to do just that, craft.

Time rolled by, as it has, and will.  I waited….

Then the call came, and I went.  We met at his shaping room, and I realized we had brought notion to life.  The unreal was birthed into reality, and a surfboard was born, Bluefish.   I was very happy w/ the creation on many levels, and happier still when I caught the first mushy undersized wave on this artwork.  It was fantastic.  It was skatey, fast, and held a line.  We did it.


I do appreciate repurposing, well, most everything, but creation has its place.  It should be considered, especially now, in this age of mass production where unfaced capitalists nearly force plastic garbage, disguised as something fun or useful, into our homes and lives only to be put into the trash pile (best case) soon after it was purchased.  They happily take the proceeds from the consumer, slightly pay the producer, enlist advertisers to continue ensnaring us, and use the net proceeds to experience the finer things in life.  We, collectively, should recognize this and act.  We deserve better.

Create!
Build your own!  My own what?  Build your own whatever you cans.

Edgar~

Exploring a Wave

Edgar, Surfing

The exploration of a wave is an odd concept, particularly for someone who has not considered it.  The landscape of every wave is different and fleeting, but it is a landscape full of folds and slopes and raw power.  Each wave carries its own colors and smells and tastes and sounds unique to its moment in time. In it, is the life and death of a place that is wondrous and powerful.

To explore this land takes patience, focus, and understanding.  It takes dedication and sacrifice to achieve the level of skill required to inspect God’s fleeting artistry.  You must understand where to draw speed, where to take cover, and how to exit. There are many vehicles to explore waves, and all provide a different journey and perspective, often as unique as the wave itself.

As short as a breaking waves’ life is, throughout that span, it constantly changes.  It is a fleeting planet, a falling star, whose exploration takes the ultimate pioneer.

Some say it has all been done, that there is nothing left to explore, those folks don’t surf….

Edgar~

The AK 47 Philosophy

Edgar, Surfing, Travel

The AK 47 is a gas-operated assault rifle developed in the late 1940s.  It was the brain child of
Mikhail Kalashnikov.  He was a self-taught tinkerer, and at 26 he built this masterpiece.

The AK 47 was designed as a weapon of defense, but it has played a major role, on varying sides, in almost every military conflict since its invention.

I know a lot of shooters who turn their nose up at the AK 47.  Usually for the same reasons: it isn’t accurate; it is clunky; it has quality issues.  For AK owners, those are difficult arguments to dispel.  Two things can not be taken from this rifle. It is cheap (in bulk or individually). It is reliable (before and after abuse).  The soldier has to have reliability, and the provider has to be able to afford them.  For these two reasons, the AK 47 works.  Things that work are wonderful, and function can be more important than form. This is the first part of the two-part AK 47 philosophy.

When I look at the gear I have (and keep), it has one thing in common; above all else it is functional. If it does not work, it does not stay. Why would it?

I don’t want to hang out on the beach w/a sexy hot rod short board while some mushy surf is firing off.  I wanna paddle out and ride that slop! I want a board that will work for me, even if it is not as cool to carry around.

It is the same way w/my motorcycle (KLR 650), truck (93 Toyota Landcruiser), snowboard (beautiful 165cm kona wood Element), etc.  Some of my gear looks cool; some of it looks mean; and some of it just looks used, and that is the point.  This is the second piece of the AK 47 philosophy.  Tis better to participate than to contemplate.

This does not advocate hopping in w/out thought. It is very important (and fun) to plan and scheme and consider consequence, but life is dynamic, and waiting on perfection can lead to no execution.  No execution is not consistent w/an adventurer’s heart.

In the age of the consumer, it is easy to loose focus. Ads and articles swirl around telling us what we need to spend our money on, so they can increase their profit margin.  I hate to sound jaded, but some of these manufactures may not care about us as individuals.  So we need to look after ourselves and our own philosophies.

My suggestion, look at your budget, understand your needs, and get products that work.
Keep your end game in mind.  It is very easy to get stalled out on the shopping section, but don’t.

Get your gear, and go do!
See you on the battlefield.

Edgar~