SummerTroll

Saturday, August 13, 2016

South Lake Tahoe Scenes

South Lake Tahoe, NV - Samsung Galaxy s6

Pine Needles - Samsung Galaxy s6

Friday, August 12, 2016

Utah & Nevada Road Scenes

Black Dragon Canyon, UT - Samsung Galaxy s6

Salt Wash, UT - Samsung Galaxy s6

Petrified Reef, UT - Samsung Galaxy s6

Great Basin Forest Fire, NV - Samsung Galaxy s6

Highway 50, NV - Samsung Galaxy s6

Thursday, August 11, 2016

The Trail Less Traveled

Tree, Roots & Rock Formation
Garden of the Gods,
Colorado Springs, CO
B&W - Samsung Galaxy s6

After my incomparable experience at Carlsbad Caverns National Park on a Sunday, I was hoping the Sunday following the Tiny House Jamboree would boast similar results at the Garden of the Gods. That hope was in vain. Maybe if I had gotten up at dawn, but that wasn't to be either.

It's obvious that some people find comfort being in a crowd of people and if I were people watching, this was an excellent opportunity. But I wasn't at Garden of Gods to see people. Like the thousands of others there on Sunday, I wanted to witness the artistry of the Earth. I couldn't fault these people for wanting to see the same visions I did, but I wanted to.

Rather than pout at the people crowding the trails, I took Robert Frost's advice. When the crowd surged right at the trail fork, I went left. As the tides changed and the school shifted right, I went left. When I got stuck in a flock, I slowed down until it passed.

Being with people doesn't usually bother me, especially if I'm traveling with other people. Having companions, either friends, family or strangers is part of the experience and it's built in to my expectations. However, I have noticed that when I solo travel, I have less of a desire or threshold for engaging with others. Hence my annoyance at all the people in my way.

What I failed to realize until the next day, all those people were pushing me away from the popular scenes and forcing me to venture out into parts of Garden of the Gods that I would not have otherwise visited. When I slowed down to let a group pass, I saw more beauty. Because groups were blocking paths, I often made loops twice to take in the whole view - enriching my experience.

Garden of the Gods is a visual and physical experience. I posted pictures in an earlier blog article, Garden of the Gods. The reality is, it's hard to take a bad picture here because every angle is unique and beautiful.

Again, thanks to the mass of people, I learned to stop and rather than tap my foot impatiently for the group to pass, I stood and looked around myself. I didn't just stare straight ahead. I turned my head from side to side, up and down, and turned my body completely around 360 degrees. I found myself backtracking, thinking, "How did I miss that?"

Prior to this adventure, I would have considered myself an attentive person with a visual awareness of the world around me. Now, I'm not so sure. It took these moments to show me that I had indeed fallen into a trap of looking straight ahead, keeping my eye on the ball, and other similar euphemisms. This is not to say that looking ahead is a bad trait. Think about it. A human's most natural motion is forward. The human head easily rest in a position that provides a clear front view.

Even though the forward motions and views are the most natural, humans can and do move in other directions. Side to side. Up and down. Reverse.

More valuable than witness the beauty of Garden of the Gods, I was reminded that my straight ahead approach needs to be balanced out with patience and awareness of what I have passed by.

"...I took the road less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." ~ Robert Frost

Colorado & Utah Scenes, and Arches National Park

Colorado Scenic Stops

Rock Texture - Samsung Galaxy s6

Cliff Face - Samsung Galaxy s6

Lake View - Samsung Galaxy s6

Cliff Wall - Samsung Galaxy s6

Utah Scenic Stops

Cedar Trunk - Samsung Galaxy s6

Cliff Edge Cedar - Samsung Galaxy s6

Rocky Climb - Samsung Galaxy s6

Tree Alley - Samsung Galaxy s6

Utah Sky - Samsung Galaxy s6

Shrub, Trees & Rocks - Samsung Galaxy s6

Arches National Park, Moab, UT

Arches Monuments - Samsung Galaxy s6

Arches Monuments II - Samsung Galaxy s6

Skeletal Tree - Samsung Galaxy s6

Sunset on Rocks - Samsung Galaxy s6

Trailhead - Samsung Galaxy s6

Tree Regrowth - Samsung Galaxy s6

Wind Carved Stone - Samsung Galaxy s6

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Geeking Out at the Tiny House Jamboree, 2016

Photo Credit: Carla Adkins
Photo Image: Bryan Adkins hugging Dee Williams of
"The Big Tiny: A Built-It-Myself Memior"

For this DFW Tiny House Enthusiast, the Jamboree was practice in remaining cool in the face of meeting and talking to those who inspired me. And I know I wasn't alone in this. I felt like I was holding it together well when I met, talked with and briefly hung out with Lina Menard of the Niche House. She gave me her freaking card! Unbeknownst to her, the Niche House graced my computer screen saver for several months. You can see why when you click on her website www.nichdesignbuild.com

Several friends were introduced to Jay Shafer by another longtime DFW Tiny House Enthusiast. I admit to feeling mild envy for missing that. (It's okay though because I ending up meeting him anyway. Strangely, we didn't talk about tiny houses but my ability to lip read and eavesdrop on converstations from across the tent.)

At one point I thought I saw Jay Shafer at the ticket tent and nudge my buddy, "Is that Jay Shafer?"
"Who's that?" Cue the bug eyes.
"You don't know Jay Shafer?... Founder of Tumbleweed tiny house company. Now runs Four Lights... One of the founders of the tiny house movement." All I got was a negative shoulder roll. I rolled my eyes. This is a geek out as described by the Urban Dictionary, "an intense excitement and knowledge of specialized nontraditional culture."

Another friend related that she was having breakfast with her family when she saw Deek Diedrickson and Jay Shafer... and they "spoke to her." Now what they said, I don't know but when the people who started a movement you love speak to you, does it matter.

I hesitate to use words like "heroes" or "idols" because the terms are too worshipful and it removes their humaness. I look to these people because in so many ways they are ordinary people who where moved in a direction or commited to a goal that the average society finds counter traditional. Moreover because these are ordinary people, it instills in me a belief that I too can commit to an ideal not readily accepted by society. So instead of "heros" or "idols," I prefer to the term "movers"

Another DFW Tiny House Enthusiast, Bryan, got to meet the person who moved him, Dee Williams (see image above). I've listened to her Ted Talks and found her to be inspiring as well. She wrote a book, The Big Tiny: a Built-It-Myself Memior which highly recommend.

Seeing the tiny houses at the Jamboree was a great experience. All the different designs proved to be fertile ground for new ideas. For me, it doesn't make the Jamboree any more or less special than the Earthday Dallas Exhibit or Tast of Dallas expo; although, there were about 5 x more houses. The Jamboree is special because there is such a large collective gathering of like minded 'movers' mingling amongs us.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

When Does a Vacation Start?

Does a vacation start the moment you set out on the road after filling up that first tank of gas? The point of no return.

Or does it begin when you pull out the suitcase? The pack and load.

Or is it the moment you realized the vacation is 'x' days away? The countdown.

Maybe it's all of the above. Vacations don't have solid start days and times because the anticipation of the vacation produces a sense of excitement and releases positive endorphins. But what happens when the anticipation of a vacation gets interrupted?

I had the not so pleasant experience of having my vacation plans interrupted by car issues. In the course of doing my due diligence before venturing out westward, I got my oil changed. This is two days before my vacation is scheduled to begin. The same evening after the oil change, a series of scary lights lit up my dashboard. My endorphins plummeted and by anxiety skyrocketed. I really tried to focus on the silver lining, "At least the lights came on before the trip and not during," but I was stressing.

Worry #1 - What if there's something really wrong with the car and it cost a lot of money to fix. I won't be able to go on my vacation.

Worry #2 - What if they can fix it but have to wait until after they come back from vacation before the part is put on. I can't go on my vacation.

These two thoughts were cyclones in my brain interrupting my sleep.

I took the car into the my trusted mechanic and since he was planning on going on vacation the following week, I knew I had to wait. The car was dropped off and a friend took me to get a rental. This was the first hit to my vacation budget.

I called the mechanic later in the afternoon and he did not get a chance to look at the car yet. This meant the vacation schedule was taking a hit now because I didn't have the car to "pack and load." Additionally, I no longer had a sense of anticipation since I didn't know when or if I would be getting the car and leaving, no "countdown."

A few years ago, the New York Times published an article "What a Great Trip! And I'm not Even There Yet"in which the author says, "Taking a vacation won't necessarily make you happier. But anticipating it will."

To get ready for this trip I built up a playlist on my AmazonPrime Music for the long haul drives. I even put some tracks together specifically for the national parks I was going to visit, lots of Enya and Celtic Women for Arches National Park which ending up being perfect. I improved the design for car camping this summer, such as adding a cargo net to the interior roof of the car and fabric screens for the side windows which allowed me to leave the windows down for ventilation and block out bugs. I mapped and remapped the route for the trip, Skyped with my pals that I planned to visit, and created a new travel journal to record my experiences. Stephanie Rosenbloom says, "Doing this allows us to build up positive expectations, to relish how enjoyable the experience might be."

But what happens to all that anticipation when the much lauded vacation is suddenly in jeopardy? All I can tell you is it's not fun anymore and fraught with disappointment. But there's not much that can be done when stuck in vacation purgatory. I made a Plan A, Plan B, all the way to a Plan G but having a plan does not build the anticipation back up.

Turns out the car issue was an easy fix. To get it back and save money on the rental, I had to scrabble with my work schedule and a friend's schedule to drop off the rental and pick up the car. Then rush home for the pack and load. All the rushing, scrambling and last minute errands added to my anxiety as I tried to stay as close to my original countdown as possible. The anticipation never fully recovered because it was drowned by the stress.

That's why I'm making the most of my vacation journey experience, because, contrary to the New York Times article, this vacation will make me happier. It started the moment I filled up the tank and reached "the point of no return."

* Fun Information. NPR did a talk about vacations, "The History of the Vacation Examined," that's worth listening to or reading.