Virtuous boredom, 3D-printed houses, Yosemite, and chugging seltzer.
Howdy Traipsers,
Another week in the hopper! Jury duty slowed down Chelsea’s planting efforts, but she shall prevail.
After merely a year, I finalized the electrical for asweet little microwave in our Sprinter van. It’s a fantastic upgrade and makes food prep so much easier, especially since I'm laaazy and often eat cold bean burritos for an entire trip.
A request of you, dear reader. I’m working on a blog post about bikepacking/touring on a vegan diet. If you have any related questions, please reply to this email and I’ll try to answer them in the post. (Otherwise, I'll just stick to talking about how bikepacking can be done entirely on Sour Patch Kids.)
This week’s newsletter:
The virtue of boredom, dirt houses, New Yorker covers, people being entertaining, camping without reservations, and more.
Onward!
Dakota
I talk about Yosemite later in this newsletter, but let's start with a photo of Yosemite Falls with Half Dome in the background!
The Virtue of Boredom
My friend Sean sent me Mark Manson’s recent article,The Virtue of Boredom, and it kicked off a thoughtful conversation.
From the piece:
“When we think of the actions and behaviors that will have the greatest impact on our lives, we tend to imagine them as being these momentous epiphanies in our lives—i.e., highly emotional and exciting events. But usually, they are quite the opposite.”
I occasionally try to imagine my life if we hadn’t hopped in the van and shaken things up in 2013. Theghost ship of that alternate experience (<--great Cheryl Strayed piece) sailed into the mist and we’ll never know, but it sure SEEMS like that three years of traveling changed me for the better.
Or did it just delay growth that might have happened? This past year of staying home transformed me profoundly, maybe more than all the long-term travel. Interesting to ponder.
Regardless, this line fromManson's article is funny (and true): “Drinking kale juice and doing push-ups? Fuck that. Let’s sell the house and live in an RV.”
Related: The blog post I wrote entitledDownshifting From Van Life about why we decided full-time travel wasn’t for us.
Whoa x 2 (<--good grammar): it only used materials from onsite and was printed using raw earth. So cool. My question: are the windows, doors and furniture 3D-printed too?
A proposed post-pandemic cover for the New Yorker (see below!)
Proposed post-pandemic New Yorker covers
Theseproposed New Yorker covers (found via Leo Kottke) are phenomenal. Concocted by third-year illustration students at SVA, they summarize so much about the last year..
My hands-down favorite (by Katrina Catacutan) is theone above because it encapsulates how our house evolved into an indoor jungle. One difference: Chelsea typically answers the door wearing pants.
Traipsing About Archives: Camping in Yosemite (or anywhere) without advance reservations
Anyone planning some road trips for this summer? Noticed something about campground availability?
Yeah. They’re booked until 2042. Nature, the newest, hottest thing!
While we prefer boondocking in the van, places like the coast and national parks require sucking it up and using formal campgrounds. After battling to find a place to stay in Yosemite a few years ago, I wrotethis blog post about getting last-minute reservations. Taking a similar approach in other popular places works too.
Back by popular demand! In fact, I'm thinking of changing my blog name to Trexing About. (Actually, I mostly drew animals for my nightly composition this week.)
Thanks for stopping by Traipsing About!
Speaking of focusing on travel vs. piano and drawing T-Rexes, I dig this quote fromKeep Going by Austin Kleon:
"We give things meaning by paying attention to them,” Jessa Crispin writes, “and so moving your attention from one thing to another can absolutely change your future.”
