An excerpt from some thoughts that I had written a few weeks ago in Arizona for anyone interested in reading my drivel:
"The refreshing and cleansing power of the common shower has not enveloped my body for the past six days. It doesn’t bother me as it would most of my fellow Americans. Instead, the lack of rejuvenation a shower typically provides has become routine in the lifestyle I have undertaken.
I am not unapproachable.
The underlying scent of sweat and body odor which is surely present is hardly noticeable even at the closest of intervals despite the four mile hike through Black Canyon in the Table Mesa region north of Phoenix, Arizona that I took on yesterday. My odor is arguably pleasant. My skin is permeated with campfire smoke and sealed in the silty desert dust of the American Southwest. It is a musky smell, one that speaks to anyone downwind of a life well lived.
I have always craved adventure. As far back as I can remember, I’ve longed to live a life worth living, a story worth telling, and an existence where the time I was given was spent wisely. While most of my peers pursue financial wealth and the trappings of material possessions, I reject that this is the end goal, or the mark of a fulfilled life. Money is an interesting asset however, in that even by its expenditure it is possible to accrue more. This seems to be the misplaced mark of success in our capitalist society. I fear that as a gross generalization we’ve been duped into perpetuating this lie where “he who dies with the most toys wins.” There is nothing that can be gained through financial acumen that we’ll carry on past our time on this earth.
As a comparison, time is not the equivalent of money, it isn’t even remotely close in value. Unlike the accumulation of financial wealth, where there are the potentials of gain and loss, the truth about the asset of time, is that once spent, it can never be recovered. There is no creating more of it, there is no method of accruing it. Thus the chief nemesis of life is time poorly spent in the pursuit of possessions which in the end are meaningless. In my opinion, time itself is the most valuable asset we’ve each been given in relatively equal measure, the use of which determines the legacy of our lives."
That was written weeks ago not too long after my last "Thought Journal" entry above.
Where are we now?
Currently I'm sitting in Moab Utah. This past Sunday we went out to a remote dispersed campsite with our friend Chris Shontz of Venture4WD. That experience was relaxing and refreshing as we swapped stories while enveloped in a canyon which was a welcome refuge from the winds which had picked up in the area.
Over the past 3 days I've been constantly working and focused on our global build. We are just over a month away from picking up our Gladiator and delivering it to the first of four shops who will have their hands on it.
I've been buried in emails, phone calls, and spreadsheets. The list of tasks seems endless. The time so short. The journey so worth it.
We're immensely thankful and humbled to have picked up a few more sponsors including Alu-Cab, RedArc Electronics, Juniper Overland, MaxTrax, Sonoran Expedition Collective, DMOS Collective, and Renogy Solar. Our full list of sponsors for this global trip can be seen here:
Hourless Life Sponsor List.
I know some folks get bent out of shape when someone says they are sponsored. But for those that may question it, please understand that we are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination. I'm a 20 year military veteran whose family lives on a small pension which I've earned through service to my country. So any sponsorships (that are companies we were going to purchase gear from anyway) are a huge financial blessing to us. Further, we are purchasing the vast majority of what we have and are taking. We are very selective on our gear for this journey as it is anticipated to be a 10-15 year journey and we need the gear to last, and be of such quality, as to be dependable and reliable. There is no company that we are sponsored by that I wouldn't personally recommend their gear to others. And furthermore, no company on our sponsor list which if they were not a sponsor wouldn't be part of our build. Simply put, the gear we are taking was going on this journey whether it was sponsored or not.
We are debating whether or not to extend our departure by a month and a half to attend both Overland Expo Mountain West, and Overland Expo West. But that is still a consideration. We have so many friends in the overland community that we'd love to see, so many sponsors we've never met that we want to thank, and we'd really enjoy meeting new folks as well. Also it would give us the only real opportunity to show the vehicle we'll be taking around the world to others who may be interested before we actually leave the USA. By the time we get back, everything on it, all the technology and even the vehicle itself will be 10-15 years old.
I've made a commitment to update this thread whenever I have the time. This will potentially be a very LONG thread of just me rambling, but it is a good place to put down thoughts that might spark something in a fellow adventurer, or if nothing else, something I can reflect on years from now.
I suppose that's it for now. Feel free to comment or ask any questions. The community here is so important to me. ~ Eric
