Adventure is calling, I want to live a different kind of life. In the face of an illness that leaves me unable to drive and dependent on other people, I long for a sense of freedom and purpose. The outdoors is calling to me.
The best times in my life have been spent out in nature. From playing Tarzan as a little kid to living out of a backpack on Thai islands, it is out in the wild spaces that I find life. I want to live out in the wild surrounded by nature. But this is so much more profound than a want, it is a deep driving desire that compels me to dream, to plan, to get up and move forward one step at a time. I find now, as I try to express this vision in a way that others will understand that this is something that my spirit has longed for even before I had the words to express it. The need to wander seems to be whittled into the sinews of my unfeeling feet. My whole life has been building up and preparing for this: a humble, independent life carved out in the wilderness.
A craftsman by trade, I use steel and fire, wood and blood to create small legacies with my bare hands. I spend much of my time making custom knives that are equal parts art and function. This provides a profound satisfaction but not a consistent income. It is these very traits however, the blood, the sweat and the pain that have prepared me to live off the land and my own labor. I long to be self-sufficient. I don’t want to live off of hand-outs. I don’t want to be a burden to family and friends. I want to make my own way earning a salary paid not in money but in wood, water, meat and sunsets. I have the dream, I have the courage and I have the strength. What I do not have are the funds. It is ironic, isn’t it? This insatiable desire to be self-sufficient but yet forced to rely on many. The life lessons that I have learned have been hard and humbling. Like Mowgli said, "The strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf." The only way that I can achieve this dream is for other people to come alongside of me and invest in this adventure.
I need a tent. I need an axe. I need a sub-zero sleeping bag. I need hunting, fishing and cooking gear. Ideally, I even need a four wheeler and a small trailer so that I am able to move around the national forests freely and come down to the trailheads once a week for supplies. It is the needs that pose the greatest hurdle to my dream becoming reality and that is why I need you. The list is long and quality gear is expensive. To be totally equipped for this venture I need to raise $9,300.
For more than a year now, I've spent most of my time in a borrowed room alone. I find myself stuck for days at a time. Not being able to drive severely limits the things I'm able to do. Right now, everything from having a real job to going out to play is dependent on someone else being available to drive me back and forth. This is not how I want to live. I want to live where my work shows and it means something. I want to be productive and for my work to support a simple way of life.
It has been a privilege to be a houseguest for the past year. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for the family that has so selflessly shared their space with me. Perhaps, it is crazy to want to trade the safety of this known life I have in my little room for a great and dangerous wilderness. Perhaps, it is a crazy dream. Perhaps. Will you be crazy with me?
Donate now and watch the adventure unfold.
The best times in my life have been spent out in nature. From playing Tarzan as a little kid to living out of a backpack on Thai islands, it is out in the wild spaces that I find life. I want to live out in the wild surrounded by nature. But this is so much more profound than a want, it is a deep driving desire that compels me to dream, to plan, to get up and move forward one step at a time. I find now, as I try to express this vision in a way that others will understand that this is something that my spirit has longed for even before I had the words to express it. The need to wander seems to be whittled into the sinews of my unfeeling feet. My whole life has been building up and preparing for this: a humble, independent life carved out in the wilderness.
A craftsman by trade, I use steel and fire, wood and blood to create small legacies with my bare hands. I spend much of my time making custom knives that are equal parts art and function. This provides a profound satisfaction but not a consistent income. It is these very traits however, the blood, the sweat and the pain that have prepared me to live off the land and my own labor. I long to be self-sufficient. I don’t want to live off of hand-outs. I don’t want to be a burden to family and friends. I want to make my own way earning a salary paid not in money but in wood, water, meat and sunsets. I have the dream, I have the courage and I have the strength. What I do not have are the funds. It is ironic, isn’t it? This insatiable desire to be self-sufficient but yet forced to rely on many. The life lessons that I have learned have been hard and humbling. Like Mowgli said, "The strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf." The only way that I can achieve this dream is for other people to come alongside of me and invest in this adventure.
I need a tent. I need an axe. I need a sub-zero sleeping bag. I need hunting, fishing and cooking gear. Ideally, I even need a four wheeler and a small trailer so that I am able to move around the national forests freely and come down to the trailheads once a week for supplies. It is the needs that pose the greatest hurdle to my dream becoming reality and that is why I need you. The list is long and quality gear is expensive. To be totally equipped for this venture I need to raise $9,300.
For more than a year now, I've spent most of my time in a borrowed room alone. I find myself stuck for days at a time. Not being able to drive severely limits the things I'm able to do. Right now, everything from having a real job to going out to play is dependent on someone else being available to drive me back and forth. This is not how I want to live. I want to live where my work shows and it means something. I want to be productive and for my work to support a simple way of life.
It has been a privilege to be a houseguest for the past year. Words cannot express the gratitude I feel for the family that has so selflessly shared their space with me. Perhaps, it is crazy to want to trade the safety of this known life I have in my little room for a great and dangerous wilderness. Perhaps, it is a crazy dream. Perhaps. Will you be crazy with me?
Donate now and watch the adventure unfold.