#RandomRoad Moments: Troy, NC, 12 months ago. Video by Nina Rife ... #road #skoolie #vanlife #friends #tribe #community #travel #didgeridoo https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR39eReh/

#RandomRoad Moments: #Easter Weekend: Aquirre Spring, outside of Las Cruces, NM. I find my soul out in places like this. My van is in the shop, getting a transmission rebuild. But thanks to a road buddy, I managed to get in three days of camping out here, sleeping in the open. Out here, with the sun casting its magic on the dragon-toothed ridges, I couldn’t help but think of resurrection and renewal. To those who celebrate, Happy Easter and Pesach ... #nature #photography #zen #road

#RandomRoad Moments: Swamp moon, Rood Creek, GA, April 2021. Wherever you find the moon, you find moon magic. This particular magic occurred early morning, as the moon was yielding the sky. Pretty soon, the sun would take over. The birds, as if anticipating the shift change, would soon call out. Then, as dawn approached, they'd swoop low over the water, feeding on what the gators feed on. As I said, moon magic ... #nature #photography #moon #zen #road #swamp

#RandomRoad Moments: Marfa TX, yesterday. Looking in, looking out. A seemingly empty landscape invites a meditation on, well, emptiness. Of course, emptiness is the soil from which everything springs - it is written in your next realization. The occasion here: Strolling the grounds of the Chinati Foundation, an unusual art gallery occupying some of the derelict buildings of an old army camp. Ah, coming up empty. #WindowFriday #zen #nature #photography #art #road #travel #meditation

#RandomRoad Moments: Holbrook, AZ, 2017. The nearby Petrified Forest was my true destination, but unexpected pleasures like this truly make my day. The town, unfortunately, like many pockets of rural America, has been left behind. Indeed, it might have gone the way of the dinosaur. If my memory serves me correctly, I stopped off at an A&W next door for a hot dog and a root beer float. Then I sauntered over to savor the 'saurs. #WeirdAmerica - gotta live it. #photography #road

#RandomRoad Moments: Joshua Tree National Park, Feb 2017. It's a trick. No one actually stacked these stones. The way I understand it, long ago, water dripped into the fissures of underground rocks and did its expanding and contracting thing, acting as wedges. Later, the ground eroded, exposing these jaw-dropping megaliths.Then the wind went to work, carving and sculpting and rounding out. The Joshua trees have their own stories to tell. #standingstonesunday #nature #photography

#RandomRoad Moments: Trenton, NJ, July 2017. Only fitting on St Patrick's Day to post a photo of me with this find. After a one-month layover, I was ready to get back on the road. First a swing through New England, then out west toward OR. It had been a year since quadruple bypass surgery. I had been on the road for six months, living out of my cat. How long could my luck hold out? Turned out I was lucky in finding my luck. #stpatricksday #photography #Irish #luck #road

#RandomRoad Moments: Congaree National Park, SC, Nov 2021. A rare floodplain forest, a lot of it old growth. A boardwalk loop takes you right in. Conveniently, I showed up when the mosquitoes were out of season. This is a tiny national park that flies under most people's radar. Rather than spectacular, I tend to rate my parks by mood and atmosphere. On that criteria, this one is right up there. Walk slow, breathe. Ahh! #thicktrunktuesday #nature #photography #zen #tree #hike

#RandomRoad Moments: Little Talbot Island FL, March 2022. Not the beach scene you'd expect in FL. Bleak, blustery, all to myself. Yet, just inland lies a profusion of tropical growth, plus rich wetlands supporting a multitude of aquatic and bird life. It rained like crazy my three or four days here. Soon, there will be plenty of sun for those well-watered inland trees to feed on. Not to mention renewed wetlands. In the meantime, enjoy the stroll. #Photomonday #nature #photography

#RandomRoad Moments: Sharp Top Mountain, VA, Aug 2021. Just a short easy hike, I thought. Ha! No such thing as an easy hike along the Blue Ridge, particularly any summit hike. Gentle grades are unknown. Unremittingly vertical is de rigueur for the Appalachians. Half-mile from the top, my lungs went on strike. Rubber legs. Long break. Turned the corner only to discover God dumped all these boulders out of the sky. God and I have issues. #standingstonesunday #nature #photography

#RandomRoad Moments: Badwater Basin, Death Valley, Nov 2018: The low point in my journey, geographically speaking - 282 feet below sea level, lowest in the western hemisphere. The laws of nature seem suspended here - remove water, turn up the sun, and bake forever. There is no acclimatizing to this. Down here, #nature is making it very clear - we don't belong here. By all means, savor the moment, but know you are doing so on borrowed time. #photography #road #desert

#RandomRoad Moments: Near Mt Hood, Sept 2018. #Chanterelle mushroom gathering. Chanterelles featured in Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma. You can't farm chanterelles. You have to forage in secret places. I was fortunate to bump into a local outdoorsman, and gathering we went. As well as a decent haul, he gifted me some fillets from a recently alive trout. Saute in butter on camp stove, eat, experience sensation of dying and going to heaven.#FungiFriday #road

#RandomRoad Moments: Richwood WVA, Oct 2021. I had been planning on maybe 6 weeks in WVA. Wound up camping out for 6 weeks - 2 weeks in spots along the Highland Scenic Highway. Mountain vistas, rare tundra environments, red spruce forests, waterfalls bears - on and on. But then, just down the road, a timely reminder of what many people in our country are facing. A town that got left behind. This was supposed to be a breakfast stop. Alas. #photography #travel #Appalachia

#RandomRoad Moments: Kaaterskill Falls, Catskills, NY, July 2017. According to Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle took the mother of all power naps in the vicinity. Irving mentions the Falls by name. My hike didn't take nearly as long, but I felt the Falls drawing me in, and I spent a longer time here than I'd planned. Indeed, an enchanted forest. Do enchanted forests have different rules? Will it be there when I seek to return? #WaterfallWednesday #nature #photography #road #hike

#RandomRoad Moments: Redwood Forest CA, Oct 2017. Most visitors get their impression of redwoods from gawking along the Avenue of the Giants or visiting various groves. A great experience, but to get a real feel, you need to hike in their actual neighborhoods and note who their neighbors are (saw a lot of maples on this hike). Two songs kept playing in my head - Big Yellow Taxi and This Land is Your Land. Really, This Land needs to be our national anthem. #thicktrunktuesday #nature #photography

#RandomRoad Moments: Lost Coast CA, Oct 2017. There is nothing like the thrill of the whole Pacific to yourself. At least, that's the impression this 10-mile hike gave me. Bleak and desolate really works for me. And no, this is not a b&w photo or filtered in any way. #Nature is its own best photo editor. #photography #monochromemonday #zen

#RandomRoad Moments: Giant Rock, Mohave Desert, CA, Jan 2017. Said to be the largest free-standing boulder in the world at 7 feet, this was the site of George Van Tassel's #UFO conventions during the 50s and 60s. VT claimed to have been visited by Venusians, who gave him the plans for the nearby Integraton, a trippy as hell sound chamber/time machine. Weird CA at its best. #Didgeridoo optional. #standingstonesunday #nature #photography #road #desert #outdoors

#RandomRoad Moments: The Arches National Park, Utah. Oct 2019. Every time I turned my head or took a step here was a huge Wow! for me. Fortunately, this time of year, I had no crowds to contend with. The #environmental activist Edward Abbey spent 2 seasons as a ranger here back in the 50s or 60s back when nobody knew about the place. His book, Desert Solitaire, was a game-changer for me. This #hike is for you. #environment #nature #photography #road #vanlife

#RandomRoad Moments: Blue Ridge Parkway, VA, May 2022. Mabry Mill with its iconic waterwheel is one of the most photographed spots along the Blue Ridge. Suddenly an enthusiastic woman tells me about these lady slippers a bit up the path. OK, I think. I'll check it out. There I run into another enthusiastic lady, who explains these things are as rare as humility in Elon Musk. OK. Now I'm excited. The humble dandelion, though, remains my favorite #flower. #nature #photography

#RandomRoad Moments: Ferndale, CA, Nov 2017. Gingerbread Victorian splendor in the middle of nowhere. I'd just spent 5 days along the wilds of the Lost Coast, only to stumble into an oasis of the trendy and the neat. I was grateful for a light meal in an upscale coffee shop that didn't involve something heated in a can. I caught up on my internet, then walked around, going click-click. Say cheese. #photography #WindowFriday #road