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snab snib tells us about
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2020-03-15 at 1:13 AM UTCthe fun stories of when you walked 2500 miles across the US in 4 months
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2020-03-15 at 1:16 AM UTCdon't you mean part way across
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2020-03-15 at 1:23 AM UTCdont really care just read he said that ina thread and want stories god dammit
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2020-03-15 at 1:38 AM UTCit was about half way. i had been in a really good boxing gym for two years and was in peak shape. i spent 250 dollars on merril shoes and some people at an orthopedic store analyzed my gait. i started with an alpz outdoorz commander freighter frame. i used nalgene waterbags. i had a military sleeping bag with 2 stages of bags at first, inside the bivvy, and rolled it up in a compression sack with two tarps, one big, one little, strapped to the bottom of my ruck.
at first i was carrying about 80lbs and it was retarded. i had a fucking ableton launchpad with me. i left that somewhere. i left pots and pans somewhere, too, becuase it's smarter to just buy apples and peanut butter and tortiallas. stuff you can eat without prep. i could 'make camp' in about 45 seconds, drop my ruck, pop the sack, dump it out, kick out tarps and sleeping bag, lay down and sleep. if it was raining, i had paracord and carabiners and tent stakes, and i could always run a line between two trees, or use four trees and fly a tarp. and, a couple times, i just crawled under the tarp, in fucked up shrubs, and laughed about how wet i was. i usually had an umbrella strapped to my pack, though i kept losing it. and you can open the umbrella, toss a tarp over it, and curl up around it, and be pretty dry.
don't give hobos the time of day. they're fucking crazy.
met a dude in cincinnati that got blown out of a 3rd story window by an IED in iraq. he had like 50 snakes in his house. he showed me them, and his liserds, and his poisonous ones, and we bathed some of them. i ordered pizza and bought smokes, we played titanfall all night on his giant TV in his apartment. i was at walmart buying a storage thing when he asked if i needed a shower and a place to sleep. i didn't really, but he seemed cool. i washed myself with a water bottle and hit every laundromat i came across. i kept about 4 pairs of clothes on me, and lots of socks.
bad socks = broken feet. bleeding sores. you gotta use duct tape, needles, and super glue on your feet, until they turn into total leather.
the east coast is easier than the midwest. lots of shrubby tree places to sleep. the midwest puts all shade behind barbed wire.
you learn what you don't need real fast when everything you own is on your back.
i navigated by demographics mostly, i'd used google satellite view to look for places that were between rural and suburban life. you don't want to go through the sticks, but you don't want to go through the city.
i'll add stuff as i remember it as long as peopel aren't fags.The following users say it would be alright if the author of this post didn't die in a fire! -
2020-03-15 at 1:39 AM UTCi'll post the website entries i made, back when my website was still up...
March 29 2014
Everything is lined up, packed and repacked, weighed and measured. All the tarps folded and ropes stashed, carabiners clipped and food packed and clothing cleaned and folded. Checklists checked and to do lists done. Co-worker group hug performed - they gave me a card - I was touched. I'm gonna miss the bakery in some ways. Business cards being printed as we speak. -
2020-03-15 at 1:39 AM UTCMarch 30, 2014
The death of the world! into darkness we're tossed!
as winters dread hand clenches land into frost.
in the cold the trees shiver, and weep as they grieve.
of their great flaming mantle they shall soon be relieved.
the people are frightened, they cloister away,
for the sunlight grows dimmer with each passing day.
their faces grow paler with each passing day...
for starvation's grim chalice sits aside every plate
Frozen and comatose, the land lies asleep,
beneath a blanket of ice - the snows gentle creep.
lulled into slumber by the colds piercing gaze,
no warmth and no comfort from the suns feeble rays.
no mercy, from the cryptic chill in your bones -
either sorrow or death shall first turn ye to stone -
if not the flesh, then the tears, on your face, turn to stone...
and so too your soul at the winds ghoulish tone.
Now once, now again, we look up from our fright,
and smile, although, we still shiver at night.
for we feel that winter is less cruel then it seemed,
as we laugh on the yuletide, our faces doth beam.
huddle together against the winds hellish blast,
the winter is dreadful, but surely shall pass.
the cold - the snow - the frost can not last
and our hope is rekindled by a rare blade of grass.
Our spirits uplift, flowers rise from the ground,
and we joyously hearken to melodious sound
of happy birds warbling, flitting through air,
and delight in the life that is new born and fair
what could song add to the tulips rebirth
could poetry ornament the song now in earth?
the sound of hope shouted, rings loud cross the earth,
as nature rekindles the seasonal hearth.
Behold now the earth! clothed bright and verdent!
no memory left of the winters stiff burden.
the sun is not frightened, he dances and plays.
now shimmers with joy, blesses us with his rays.
warm breezes caress with sighs happy woods,
and the trees rustling murmur is soothing and good.
the future is bright, yes, it promises good.
for roses now grow where the snowbanks once stood!
Oh how we revel in the heat of the day,
amongst the vinyards, bachannial, we frolic and play.
sharing life with our lover, happy careless and free,
and then drowsy from warmth rest in the shade of a tree.
so filled with mirth, much too much to laugh
we glow and we love in the bounty we have.
whispered to loved one, all we wanted, we have.
and calmly watch blossoms down the stream gently raft.
Dancing and cider beneath the orange harvest moon
are a bittersweet pleasure for the summer ends soon.
those careless days that we spent with our friends -
they fade into memory and come to an end.
bright little thoughts, cherished, remembered.
for the rest of our lives they will glow like an ember.
for now the suns fire burns to a smouldering ember...
and at every dusk, haunts the march to december.
Jack-o-lanterns, burning bright in the chilly autumn air
send shivers down many a spine with spooky flickering stare
the ringing of the reapers bell, halloween - the thinnest night.
a ghostly omen, grim and forboding the winters blight.
tracing a grave spiral, the leaden, mortal chains.
spin round and round as deep blue sky fades to an iron grey.
saturns weight, upon our shoulders, remind us of decay.
revolving back again, always impelled forward to fate. -
2020-03-15 at 1:39 AM UTC4 1 2014
And I'm off. I've found a secluded little wooded area and pitched a tent. I'm eating matzo with peanut butter. Took gnc recovery pill pak. Waiting for it to sink in. Feels very fun. Listened to bertrand russels history of philosophy the entire 6 hours I walked today, from leibniz to kant. Well, halfway through kant.
Anyways. Its a big exciting change. The future is a bright shining question mark. What a great image.
Beautiful weather. Pretty tired. Will sleep nicely.
Thus went day one. -
2020-03-15 at 1:39 AM UTC4 2 2014
I stopped at a target in fayettvile, had a hot dog and drank tons of soda, free refills. lots of good campsite locations around here. beautiful day. beautiful country. -
2020-03-15 at 1:40 AM UTC4 3 2014
I found a beautiful valley just south of kassonta drive off of gates road (145), north of pompey. I tied a cord between two trees and made a ridgeline pup tent - very proud of my skills with cord, I just used the whole 50 feet to prevent cutting, and wow! It has the tension of a bow. Might be camping out through predicted rain tomorrow, which is fine; I have lots of food, water, and electricity.
The valley can't be seen from satellite, and the stream at the bottom is rapid and clear, very loud. This location is idyllic. Will definitely upload some photos, I'm on phone right now, will have to transfer from Canon to phone via laptop.
The valley was so steep, that, weighing 250+ pounds as I do, with my pack... I had to fall back a little and slide on my butt to get down it. When I ascend, I'll have to carry each individual piece of luggage up the hill, and lash it all up up there.
I'm learning a great deal about dew and condensation. My goretex bivvy is doing a great job; it dries with twenty minutes of sun and even when saturated its not actually retaining enough water to wring anything from it - it just vaporizes, and the inner bags stay dry. My bodies moisture dampens them more then ambient moisture.
When I first woke this morning, I went to the free library in fayetteville to charge my devices and chat online. Talked to some old people. I like old people. Especially the ones that form flocks in public places and then derive enormous satisfactions from very simple pleasures
Met some dude named ben, came running out of his house. Must be mid twenties. He has a skiing gear company, sews n stuff, gave me some logo stickers, for "knee deep co", which I will oblige him by distributing as advertisements, and a brown beany cap, which I don't need, since I have the cap mom made me, but which I can give away to some sporty looking person with a full explanation and a couple business cards and a sticker. Spread the love.
I'm really surprised at how I'm not eating all that much. Couldn't have taken in more then 3000 a day last couple days and may actually have been lower then 2000... but not hungry at all. Very good for the budget, which I made for 6000 calories a day! Anyways, mom is fretting on facebook so I'll stop. Pics tomorrow for sure. -
2020-03-15 at 1:40 AM UTC4 5 2014
I feel great. When I woke up today, I found my sleeping bag had slipped out under the tent, and was covered in ice and snow. Being the amazing physical object that it is of course I never felt any cold or moisture. So I went to hang the three pieces it is comprised of on a fence surrounding the cell towers guy-cable, and it starts snowing, eyeroll. Hustled up and headed out.
A nice young couple my age offered a ride, and the chick turned out to have a degree in philosophy - score. We discussed the generational welfare problem. She works as a paralegal (if I remember right) for a workers comp firm, and she has a great boss. And thank vishnu, they explicitly sniff out any suspected workers comp fraud.
Dropped me off at the binghamton library (closed! Whatev.) I start out south and need to cross a bridge, which I fail to do and wind up east. Whatev. Hop off the road and cross some rail road tracks, find a great little concealed spot right next to the river wall ledge. Tie up a cord and make a tent, in which I now relax. There's something so satisfying about carefully constructing a shelter and having it protect you.
Good night. -
2020-03-15 at 1:40 AM UTC4 6 2014
I did wind up cutting weight, bruce. I'm in the woods just south of the pa border on 7 with terrible reception... gonna try and get to a library tomorrow. Upload pics.
Clambered up a steep hill with great exertion, found a flat ridge, made my camp. They say sun plus rain tomorrow. Let's hope mainly sun. -
2020-03-15 at 1:40 AM UTC4 7 2014
Montrose today, springville tomorrow. gonna leave the library at 6 i reckon, look around, buy some food, then go into the deep woods i see near quarry road and sleep.
so here's yer pics. -
2020-03-15 at 1:40 AM UTC4 8 2014
I'll do a more detailed report when I get into scranton tomorrow. Seven days today. Did laundry in montrose and spoke to several people about the natural gas industry round these here parts. Learned that its a "crik". Met an alpaca farmin lady who might know my mom. Gonna show you a dang bridge next times I bust out my laptop; that for sure I am. Blew my mind it did. Stopped early on some-a-ways down route 11 and climbed up a hill. It was a gruntin' scramble. Left my pack and went gallivantin round the hill. Feel like a kid in magical new woods. Climbed hill, over rock and log, till I got reception, and I am here, with reception. Now, goin back down there. I think I'll make some techno music and eat cold hot dogs. -
2020-03-15 at 1:40 AM UTC4 9 2014
Beautiful day. Felt great, walked hard for over eight hours. Pulled phone out of pouch and money fell. Went back to get money cop giving someone a ticket sees. Ten minutes later plaincar stops me. Holds onto my knife for me while he runs my name. Wishes me luck and puts knife back into knife holder. Nice fella. Went through abington, boomin little town. I'm right outside of scranton, hitting up a library tomorrow. library tour. Starting to be able to lean back into pack more and walk quicker. I hear tomorrow is gonna be 70! -
2020-03-15 at 1:41 AM UTC4 10 2014
Woke up on the side of the road, and quickly discovered that had i walked a hundred feet further i would have found a far more ideal spot for pitching a tarp. That's alright because i walked on into scranton and ran my sleeping bag in a dryer at a laundromat for a bit, since, the library i was headed to did not open until 11. When I did get there, they told me they had no place to plug my laptop in. "some libraries do but we don't". I think that that little tiny house sized library had some sort of penis envy of the library i found downtown. This library is something else. it's the size of a cathedral with two stories and stained glass windows. it has a periodical room full of people going over a bunch of those things where you click the old news reels by on. -
2020-03-15 at 1:41 AM UTC4 11 2014
I really can't believe I deleted all that irretrievably.
Unimpeded, I scream, proceed to be concievably
The angriest and most hurt poet in this forest.
But I'm still scoring. Its still poring.
Somehow I can still keep going. Try to
Remember. That's pretty hard. I...
Remember that it started....
I found my athame... or did it find me?
With myself, remain perfected, only
I expect to be rectangular, I've inspected
Something. Think david think! Then
Put it in the bank! I'm interested.
I walked through the woods n stuff.
Wtf.
I can't believe I deleted all that.
Its not the same. I do believe that
That keystroke I made has rained
On my parade, for a second there
I went insane, I spent in the where
Abouts of five minutes
Self-taming.
Even if I keep writing I won't be able
To gaze at my clever lines, luckily,
I'm stable enough to keep it
All in perspective. It still sucks.
Something about fission, the reflection
Of my face in the blade the inside place
Where I make decissions through scission
And knife slash dagger slash athame
Associated with disk and cup and wand.
Life is something... damn... something... land....
This poem is damaged goods. Keep that in mind.
Mind does analysis, identifying what is different from what like a knife splits a tomato in two. Its magickal metaphors, what else is that shit for? Wield a sword. Getting bored. Returning lord with a knife in my mouth. Y'all thumpers ain't quite figured THAT out lol.
"Truthinker: unresolved problems have many lives"
Others are my greatest resource, I offer
Not sores but value, self seeking coffers,
The source is
Which rhymes with basic knowledge
This is all the first take I'm shitting on
No erasing or backspacing or attempting to acing
I'm gracing you with witnessing how I
Roll when I just get it on. Its exploding.
Now the coda, from memory recited,
Written long ago another time I was excited.
"I am the liar
In the center
Of my soul, that is shining
illuminating
All that Lies
Outside the silver lining
Limelight in my mind
Constellations in the sky
I'm the knife that plunges
To the heart
And ushers in the Knight.
So here I stand
Leftwards leaning
Searching for.
The double meaning."
Fullstop -
2020-03-15 at 1:41 AM UTC4 13 2014
Weathers gonna be beautiful for two days, don't even need to pitch a tent. The two walls of a tarp are a false sense of security. Certainly won't stop dew if it forms. Just one more thing for it to condense on and to catch my bodies moisture.so I just spread my blue 6x8 tarp on the ground, in a divet behind the root-wall formed by a fallen tree. Also will be quicker to get my pack together and go, in the morning.
I started down 380 and cop says no david you can't do that and is that a knife. Note to self. So I go back up to the exit and go through gouldsborough, then into gouldsborough park. I have a very pleasant nature hike, along the lake and I come across some railroad tracks headed south to intersect with the road I was headed east towards. Walk down the tracks then walk down the road by an army depot with zero human activity on it, but fields of boxes and generators and vehicle hitchcart tow things. As in thousands in a grid. It was awesome. I love the way things look when they're made with nothing but their purpose in mind.
Walk walk walk, round 6 or so I stopped into a bar to fill up my canteens and have dinner, since I've been spending less then my "allowance" and my caloric/nutritional projections were waaay highballed. This shit simply ain't that hard. I read about some other guy who did a straightaway coast to coast with nothing but the shirt on his back, begging, and he was lucky to do 25 miles a day, pushing a baby stroller, wtf, then he complains about his knees hurting and wah wah wah. Let me tell you something, A, discomfort is a state of mind. Every athlete who gets any good at their chosen activity knows there's a pain-wall you have to plow through where it simply hurts, not like i've-been-working-out hurt, but like i'm-permenantly-injuring-myself hurt. And if you can't somehow overcome that, you'll never excell. You overcome it by directing energy at it. Not new age bullshit, I mean mental attention and nerve-exertion. Association with the pain is the route to mastery of it, not dis-association.
By nerve exertion I mean this. When you feel a hurt, your natural tendency is to limp. Withdraw exertion and pressure. However, that makes it worse... inert elements of your organism are supposed to be buffered and shock-absorbed by muscle, which when triggered by electric signals emenating from your brain through your nerves, tenses and inflates. The muscle can take it, and repair quickly. It acts as a shock absorber and a buffer between the unvolitioned parts of your body which do not repair quickly. So what I'm saying is stop being a pussy.
There's this fad philosophical premise called "I couldn't help it! What could I possibly do???". Everthing we are and do and become is chalked up to something outside of our control. The motivation is a desire to shirk responsibility and to absolve ones knowledge that they are failing. The inverse motivation is to be able to say that those who are winning are just "lucky". Its pathetic and I'm going to leave the full exegesis of this concept for another day and a post in the philosophy section, since its going to offend the majority of people . And when I offend people, I put time and effort into it.
Good night. -
2020-03-15 at 1:41 AM UTC4 13 2014
I walked long and hard today then drank a whole 2 liter of sprite and ate half a pizza. I'm too tired to write anything else. Sleeping like a rock tonight for sure. Probably gonna take tomorrow real easy, maybe find a library between here and state land 168, hit that up tomorrow and then just camp out for the rain predicted following day. Zzzzzz -
2020-03-15 at 1:41 AM UTC4 15 2014
I wrote music and chatted online all day, on my phone. Kinda nice to take a day off from walking. Not much to report... ate three packages of poptarts and a bunch of peanut butter sandwhiches. Listened to rain. I wrote a piece called Thirty Rounds... I wrote thirty 4 bar ditties that could be repeated and used to write a whole song with, as many popular songs are. I put them all in a row. Used a few different keys. Great practice on species. Species is like whole note rhythms, half note, quarter, etcetera. So I might put down 4 whole notes for the bass, then over those 8 half notes in counterpoint, and 16 quarter notes for the melody... I just set it to a chiptune tone. Might go back and select my favorite little morsels and produce an actual dance track. Thirty Rounds is more like music for musicians then music for people to get down to. Yawn. I dunno about your music but boredom is the inspiration for most of mine.
Someday, I hope to see everyone just making their own music to listen to instead of listening to other peoples music, and no one would even understand why you would show it to anyone else. When Atlantis rises again... people won't be renowned as artists anymore, since everyone will be an artist equal to their own enjoyment. -
2020-03-15 at 1:42 AM UTC4 16 2014
I put my hat into the dryer and put a quarter in when someone showed up to the laundromat. Best thing I ever did. Cause I got a bag of chips for breakfast tomorrow at the gas station and went to use the bathroom to fill my canteens and holy shit. Who is that bad lookin dude wearing the beanie with a knife and compass hangin around his neck. And a house riding on his back. God I'm hot. I'll post the mirror picture I took next time I hit up a library.
