We went to the Carolina Tiger Rescue several days ago.  A conversation about lions had been sparked prior to it.  If I were asked which animal do I admire the most, a favorite, it is lions.  I love lions.  I have no choice.  I have lion eye in me.  It started in Washington D.C.  I had gone on a trip to visit a close friend of mine.  I spent several days with him and his girlfriend, and then I spent several days on my own touring the capitol.  The three of us had gone to the zoo, where among other animals we saw a lion.  It was enormous and the definition of awesome.  It lived in a huge sunken pit with a concrete moat as its border.  In the center was a tree and grass and large rocks and what looked like a cave.  There was a ball the size of a human being in the moat that the lion played with as he Continue reading “1984” »

Before I left for Australia, I had quit my job at Charles Schwab.  The team that I was on gave me a going away present, a gift card for a book store.  They knew I had been a fiend of reading for some time and it was a clutch gift.  So I went to the book store and almost immediately I found two humongous books, one on Nelson Mandela and the other on Abraham Lincoln.   I bought these two giganta-saurs and I put them on the shelf and then I went to Australia.  They sat there for a year.  While I was in Australia I read from a Kindle.  I am a romantic, and I love the way a book feels and looks and smells, but for my Australia travels the Kindle was perfect.  A small concise little piece of hardware that allowed me to hold dozens of books without the weight and space in my pack.  When I returned to The States a couple of weeks ago I grabbed for one of the two books.  Continue reading “Review: Lincoln” »

I left Las Vegas many weeks ago.  I had gotten a job at an Animal Clinic.  That night I entertained a friend of a friend around The Strip and Fremont Street.  The next day I had decided to leave Las Vegas.  Sometimes things happen like that.  I went into the Animal Clinic and informed them I was quitting.  They mailed my check to my Mother’s home in Florida.  I spent the next several days writing, hiking, and riding my mountain bike in long cement drainage gutters like the kind in Terminator 2.  Several days later I got a call from my friend Kari.  It was her birthday.  Her father is a friend of my father.  I hadn’t been snowboarding in two years.  At a moments notice I packed my car and started driving.  On the way out of Vegas I stopped at Fremont Street and bought some tacky key-chains for a couple of friends, and then I called my landlady and told her I had moved out.  Continue reading “Just a little gap-filler” »

The Little Hyundai that can.  So when I came back from Australia I bought a car.  I shopped around with price in mind first, and then fuel economy.  Having just returned from Australia where they don’t have a plethora of gas guzzling cars, the chord had been struck, and I wanted to go the “better for the environment” route.  A bit over six weeks later and two trips across our great expanse of a country and I can report that I am happy with my decision.

The Little Hyundai doesn’t come without its personality quirks.  First off, it’s a she.  I don’t know why, and I don’t have to, the fact is she is a she and I’m not asking questions about it.  When I began my drive from Florida to Nevada, a thirty-seven hour drive if you don’t sleep or eat, it wasn’t an easy start.  Not even one full mile from my parents home the car died.  I called up my father and began laughing.  “I didn’t make it to Vegas, Dad.”  We hit the gas tank with a hammer Continue reading “Little Thing” »

Vegas.  What do I have to say about thee?  I came, I parked my car, found a place to live, and I even got a job in your fourth (or first, depending on who’s asking) worst unemployment numbers in the country.  Well first off, I left.  Yes, I snuck out of the back door and I am in Colorado right now.  It wasn’t you, but twas me.  You work long hours.  I go on walks into the canyon but you are never there.  You’re just never there for me Vegas.  You give me just enough attention to keep me interested but that’s not enough, and while I found a great place to live, was digging the surrounding trails, the satisfaction just wasn’t there.  Ya, I got a job.  I was hired at a animal hospital.  Oh the things you showed me that first day!  It’s no wonder I spent the second day quitting, and instead of seeing the uglier side of that animal hospital, went to watch airplanes land instead (hey, airplanes are cool). Continue reading “Fremont St.” »

I turned the ignition and the engined tried, but the car didn’t start.  I left the key turned in the ignition and turned the steering wheel to the right so that the large opening allowed my left arm to easily fit through the opening in the top.  With my right hand I lifted up the rear backseat and I removed a plastic fitting.  I took a sawed off pool stick in my right hand and placed the butt of it on the top of the device that was under the plastic fitting.  With my left hand I turned the key i the ignition and the car failed to turn-over.  Holding the key steadily, with the car engine revving, I began to hit the end of the pool stick into the device that was connected to the top of the gas tank.  The car turned over.  I gave it some gas and put the pool stick away.  After putting the car in drive I began driving toward the canyon. Continue reading “First Creek Canyon” »

“Welcome to the dramatic circle of rugged mountains, desert landscapes, and the startling blue of Lake Mead.”  I read the sign and peddled on.  I went a little farther into the desert today, but let me not get ahead of myself. Continue reading “River Mountains Loop” »

I pulled the car off of the side of the road.  I hadn’t made it far along Blue Mountain Road which leads into Red Rock Canyon.  At the sight of the first cars on the shoulder of the road and pulled the Hyundai over and put it in park.  This trail wasn’t even on the map.  Maybe I pulled over prematurely, I thought.  I looked at the small “mountains” in front of me and saw two riders on their mountain bikers.  “Trail or no trail, this place is as good as any”.   Continue reading “Cottonwood Valley” »

Do you know where DeLand, Florida is?  Wait, preliminary question.  Are you in Florida?  If so, please answer the question.  If not, you don’t know where DeLand is, so let me show you. Continue reading “Scenario” »

Okay, let’s talk about comments.  “Hey Todd, I read that story about Gateway Retreat while you were in Brisbane.” says some guy that I just made up in my head but is useful because it is going to validate this topic.  Apparently a load of people read the blog.  Maybe not a big, or medium, but more than I thought.  I had no idea.  Do you know why?  Yep.  Comments.  So I’m talking to Greg and I’m like how would I know?  No one leaves any comments.  Sure I can use this tracker tool that shows me the traffic of the website, but I’m not so concerned with it to do it.  “Ya I know, what’s up with that?” said Greg.  I don’t know.  I just don’t know.

Feel guilty yet?

Let’s turn it around.  Let’s un-guilt that feeling.  Continue reading “Quiet Please” »

I got in the car.  It is a Hyundai.  It is the smallest car I’ve ever owned and it gets great gas mileage.  Matt and Michelle were waiting for me.  I was giving them a lift to Louisiana.  They had a carnival that was to begin soon and work had run out in Florida.  They were desperate.  I wanted company, and a little help with gas.  It was a mutual relationship, sorta.  I had packed the car.  Not much.  It doesn’t take much for me these days.  I like it like that.  One day I will have a wealth of objects.  Perhaps I will hoard like the best of them, but for now all I need is a boot full.  I had bought a bike rack also. When I bought it I didn’t realize the rubber strap dealios were broken.  I tied it up with some half hitches.  Sailing training paying off again.  I got in the car.  I pulled out of the drive-way and waved goodbye once-more to the family.  I drove down the street and pulled left and turned up some road tunes.  Then the car died.   Continue reading “Las Vegas Bound” »

Today I’m sitting in the cabin of Stormbreaker.  That’s where I am writing you from now.  Last night I sat at the table on the deck and read a little as the sun went down.  Then I made some Indian style curry, it was delicious.  I hadn’t made curry like that before.  Nailed it.  I want to look into this cooking bit.  I can see that happening in my future.  I don’t see any career paths opening up that I will explore, but quite simply it is fun, and I want to learn more because it is.  While I was cooking I was listening to my headphones.  There is something ridiculously fun about dancing and cooking.  Ya, I do it. Continue reading “The Wind Blew” »

I watched as the GPS light blinked red just outside of Gate 3 at Auckland International.  The plane will be leaving soon, I thought to myself.  I noticed a girl with a soft face and blonde hair glancing at me from her book.  I realized how peculiar I must  look.  I mentally shrugged and walked up the stairway to see if I could get a better signal.  Mysterious is good I thought.  I held out the small orange device toward the window and pointed its face at the sky.  The light continued to blink red.  Defeated, I put the handheld device away and walked back down the stairs Continue reading “SPOT – Satellite GPS Messenger” »

The plane ride was a bit more gruesome this time.  It wasn’t until the thirtieth hour that I hit a wall.  I sat in front of a fire exit when I left Atlanta and then my seat didn’t recline as much as the seat in front of me for the long haul out of Los Angeles to Auckland.  When I departed Melbourne I was in a smaller plane and the boarding process was via stairs on the outside of the plane bound for Hobart, Tasmania.  That is how you know your going to some place remote.  Continue reading “Salamanca Market – Hobart” »