Soul Camp 2016 -- Day 334

BUMP BUMP BADUMP BUMP

BUMP BUMP BADUMP BUMP

BUMP BUMP BADUMP BUMP

I remember a time when electronic music used to drive me batty. Repetitive, and lyrically lacking, I just didn't get the appeal. Combined with the social stigma of the illicit activities and the illegal nature of the underground rave scene, I stayed a good distance away for most of my life. Now, I'm not here to discuss the culture, the community, or the history of electronica, because I'm not nearly knowledgeable enough on the subject, but what I am here to do is share my experience.

As I have grown older, and wiser (though some would like to debate that point) I have learned much about love and acceptance. Everyone has their own path to walk, and what might be right for me is not going to be right for you. One fun part of my life has been finding people that want me to be who I am while enjoying who they are. I like to meet people where they are. I do not want to change them, I want to understand them. I want to accept them, and love them. I believe that if we could all learn compassion, the world would be a much better place.

While we were here in the redwoods this summer, there have been six major weekend events. Three of them were holidays, with all of the family celebrations and camp-style activities included. Two of them were biker events, with deep-throated Harleys, and lots of bearded old guys. The last one was Soul Camp, with the promise of all night parties and very pervasive, thumping bass lines.

The holiday weekends reminded me of the summer camp movies that I enjoyed when I was a kid. This was a little different since whole families were here, but there were lots of campfires and s'mores, volleyball and pool games, and wholesome fun! The biker events were a bit rougher around the edges, with a LOT more beer drinking and very loud, fiddle-laced, deep-fried rock and roll. Walking through the campground at night felt much like being in the bad part of town, and you kinda got the feeling like you would not really want to upset anyone.

Soul Camp was very different. The whole feeling of the place was like a huge egalitarian society from the future. There were no strangers to be found, because every person that you saw greeted you with a smile, a wave, or even a hug. This was the first time that I have felt this accepted and welcomed in any large gathering, and it was amazing. I worked a lot of shifts in the Pub, and got to meet a bunch of the coolest people. After work, walking home in the dark didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable. The bumping of the bass was better than a compass, since the main stage was about twenty yards from my home.  Dancing lights, dancing people, and dancing music were EVERYWHERE.

And so, we danced. A lot. We got as close to the stage as we could, so that the pumping sounds could be felt in our bones, vibrating our hearts and minds. We danced with people that had glow sticks, fuzzy hats, men in broom skirts, people with backpacks, skinny jeans, silk scarves, sunglasses (at night), and no shame. There was something very special about being able to do this among the ancient trees with the stars looking down on us. I think the universe was smiling.

I know I was.

This was the perfect way to wrap up this summer. This was our first workamping experience, and I love that it was so amazing. The relationships that we have built here are so genuine and deep, it is amazing to realize how quickly they were formed. And while I'm by no means a Club Kid, I will forever remember my first Soul Camp.

My life is AWESOME -- Day 304

"The rarest treasure in life is a true friend." ~ Sensei of Truth

When I was a dorky teenager trying to figure out how the world worked, I met another dorkier teenager that was equally lost. It was a strange time in both of our lives, being the sons of Bible school students, trying to learn about life and girls and sports and balance. Mostly sports and girls. Screw balance when you're fifteen, you know?

Over the years, my friend and I got into all kinds of situations, our parents would probably call "trouble" but when measured against other teenagers from the same era, I seriously question the comparison. (Like the time we VERY SNEAKILY watched "White Men Can't Jump" -- a rated "R" movie, sure to corrupt us to the core!) I won't even mention the fact that this was the summer after we graduated high school, because that would make us sound even less controversial.

Through the years, our friendship has grown and deepened. In the late 90's and early 2000's we worked together at a couple of different places. The most famous was probably Planet Hollywood in Dallas. The stories and adventures continued, even through marriages and kids. Spanning three decades and multiple cross-country moves, we always managed to keep in touch.

Now that we're living in the RV, the idea to visit friends that have moved away is always in the conversation, if the logistics would only cooperate. Sometimes the planets do align, and that happened last week! My friend lives a scant 12-hour drive north of where we're staying for the summer. The timing worked out and the reunion was nothing less than epic.

In celebration, and in line with our history of doing stupid things at the encouragement of one another, we decided to tackle the insurmountable Redwoods River Resort Giant Redwood Ice Cream Challenge.

I have personally built two of these ridiculous monstrosities, and watched 10 people fail at finishing during my time here. Whatever fantasies I may have entertained when first hearing about it were destroyed by watching other "more worthy" contestants get humbled by this mountain of sweets and dairy.

Until my friend came.

Let me be clear: I am an adult. I am a grown man. I have a wife and two children. I have a job and I use that money to pay bills.

"Dude," says my friend, "we should totally do this!"
"Dude," says adult me, "we TOTALLY SHOULD!"

Donning our server shirts from Planet Hollwood, circa 1999, we entered into the contest. We had plans and strategies that we had worked out over the course of the entire preceding day. We had read articles about food contests, and took notes. We weren't just going to beat the challenge, we were going to beat the challenge TOGETHER!

And then they built the sundae.

The distressed look on this child is for my health and safety

The judge (who also happened to be my boss) read us the rules, had us sign the disclaimers, and then set the clock for 45 minutes.

This is the last picture I took

The atmosphere of the gathering crowd was a mixture of excitement and disbelief. The tension was palpable as we prepared for this adventure of a lifetime. And then the the judge said, "Go!"

All strategies and plans flew out the window. I started shoveling this frozen mess into my mouth as quickly as possible. I was making a HUGE mess, with sundae all over my face, in my beard, on my shirt, dripping to the ground. I furiously scooped and swallowed until the warnings of a brain freeze started, and then I remembered the sage tip from Randy Santel at Foodchallenges.com: drink warm water. Refreshed, and saved from a pain worse than death, I plunged back into the morass.  I ate, and ate, and ate.

And ate...

and ATE.

I swear they used some magical portal bowl or somesuch, because I had steadily eaten more than I thought I could and barely made a noticeable dent in the damn lake of frozen dessert in front of me. I knew that I had to hurry because we only had a limited time. Glancing at the clock revealed: I had been eating for 7 minutes.

I thought I was going to die.

My friend was not doing much better. The frantic spoonfuls had been reduced to more thoughtful scooping, trying to dig out the frozen bricks that were once brownies, or candy bars. What once passed as ice cream now looked like a pool of Pepto Bismol past its prime. There was enough ice cream in my beard to make a nice sundae for a small child. And we still had more than 37 minutes left.

The mood of the crowd had shifted from morbid curiosity and excitement, to disappointment bordering on disgust. Parents were whispering explanations to their children: the cautionary tale of the overzealous old guys whose eyes were much bigger than their stomachs. Random strangers were taking pictures to immortalize this gross display of hubris and folly.

"Dude, this isn't going to work," my friend confessed.

"How much longer do you want to keep up the facade?" I asked.

We suffered through another 15 minutes of petulant toying with the spoons before finally declaring the challenge to be over. We rose from the table, the still-full bowls mocking my bleeding tongue. A collective groan from the crowd did nothing to boost our injured egos. Limping home, I swore I'd never want to eat ice cream ever again. Or at least not for a couple of days.

My friend and I now have another story to add to the growing library of Remember That One Time. And I love him deeply for it.

I am Home -- Day 296

Many people have written amazing things about the concept of home. I have discovered a deeper truth to that feeling that has nothing to do with a physical place. Often, we associate home with a location -- "going home" -- but for me, home is more of a feeling, a certain level of familiarity and comfort. Living in an RV, I thought, was going to be awesome, because I was going to be "home" wherever we were parked. But there is a deeper feeling that goes beyond being comfortable with the place where I'm going to sleep.

We've been on the road now for almost 10 months, and during that time, we have modified our space and our needs to make the situation "survivable" but I think we fell short of really "livable" in the terms of creature comforts. Finally staying in one place long enough to really get the feel of "living" in the RV has shown us that while we may still only have 250 sq ft of living space, it can really be fun and comfortable.

Here are some tips that I have gleaned over the last 10 months for making your space more comfortable:

• An outdoor rug -- We have an 8' x 10' rug that really defines the space right outside our rig as our personal space. I love that I can walk barefoot on it, without worrying about rocks, or thorns. I would list this as a "must have" item for RVing.
• French press coffee -- If you love coffee, or only like good coffee, I recommend getting a French press. Drip coffee is fine, if that's what you like, but when you really want to feel like someone loves you and that all is right with the world, you should get a French press. Plus, it takes up less counter space than an espresso machine.
• Get a good mattress topper -- I recommend memory foam of at least four inches in thickness. You spend a lot of time asleep in your bed, you should make that as enjoyable as possible. RV beds are designed with the occasional user in mind. People are willing to put up with a poor sleeping experience when they know they get to go "home" to their bed after camping. This is your home bed, act accordingly. 
• Put a TV outside -- Most people don't watch TV while they are camping for the weekend. Some people will go for a week-long vacation, and not turn on the TV. I actually don't even really watch much broadcast television, but I do love a movie now and then, and playing video games. Putting a TV outside allows you to enjoy the outdoors, as well as building something awesome in Minecraft.
• Portable speaker (Bluetooth is a bonus) -- I have two different sizes of speakers that I use outside. One that I carry in my disc golf bag (because my life needs a soundtrack) and one that is larger that we plug the outside TV into. Nobody likes watching a movie with a crappy sound system!
• Ice Maker -- This is the newest addition to the wellness program. An RV refrigerator is usually pretty small, ours is 6.3 cu ft. Which means I can put a jug of milk OR a jug of orange juice in it, but not BOTH. We've gotten really creative with reusable plastic bottles, repackaging things to get them to fit, but there is no room in the freezer for food AND ice. Most people that are camping for the weekend just buy a 10lb bag and put it in the cooler. You only need a couple of days worth, right? Well, we live here and need ice all day, every day. Enter the ice maker! Looks like a bread machine and produces 1lb of ice every hour. All I'm missing is the umbrellas for the drinks ...
• Family -- This sounds like a no-brainer, like who goes off on a trip and forgets their family? But this week my very best friend in the whole world came to visit me. You forget how good it can feel to be around someone that loves you and accepts you and KNOWS you. Good times.

When we started this adventure, I was asked what the end goal was. Honestly, I didn't really have one. I was thinking that we would spend at least a year on the road and see where that takes us. Now that we are closing in on the end of the first year, I'm realizing that I haven't even scratched the surface of this whole thing. I feel like I'm actually doing a lot of growing up, and learning about myself. One of the things that I'm learning is that it is pretty nice to pamper yourself in some small but significant ways.

And now I feel more like I'm at home than ever.

I'm still learning -- Day 281

For those of you that look forward to these posts, I thank you and I'm sorry it's been a while. Sometimes writing helps to understand where I'm at and sometimes it helps to bring closure to certain situations as post-processing catharsis, once I understand the lesson. Sometimes I just update on our travel adventure, just as an open letter to everyone that knows me to keep you posted as to what's going on with the Traveling Jacksons. This past month has been so full of so many things that I haven't had the time, patience, wisdom, or opportunity to process them all and then put some words down. I'm still in the middle of something, but I wanted to clear some headspace, so here I am.

July was a super busy month here at the campground, the peak of the summer and lots of activities going on. We celebrated Zoe's birthday with a week-long celebration of daily gifts and a big movie night party in the clubhouse with all the workampers. Three of the other people in our group had birthdays that weekend (no joke, June 29, 30, and July 3rd!) so it was a nice celebration that everyone got to participate in and feel celebrated. Since it was also the 4th of July weekend, there were lots of interesting events and games to keep Zoe occupied, and it was really awesome. Her highlight was the "canoe races" in the resort pool, where they put kids in inflatable rafts without paddles and they raced the length of the pool. I don't think the boy she was up against was expecting the RAW POWER of Zoe in a pool. Y'all, she's a water-sign and fully embraces that.

We also have had more opportunities to make some repairs to Fezzik. He's old, but he's tough. Just needs someone with the knowledge to get the parts that are needed and then put them in correctly. I apparently have to become that guy! The nice thing about the RV community is that a lot of the folks are knowledgeable and helpful, so for a newbie like me, all it takes is the willingness to ask for help. And while I am stubborn, I can still recognize when I'm out of my depth. I have the DIY motivation, but lack the skills. Because Fezzik is an elder statesman in the community, we have suffered and made adjustments as things broke, finding workarounds and looking forward to the day when we have the funds, tools, parts, and expertise to repair what is needed. July was that time!

The first thing that we accomplished was the oven. Most RVers don't even use their oven (because most people camp in warm areas, or for short periods of time, and when is the last time you associated a cake with a campfire?) Ours was "working," but had no numbers on the knob; there was no way to determine the temperature of the oven, which I'm told is important for baking. (I imagine my sister, who is a professionally trained pastry chef, rolling her eyes SO HARD right now.) The fix was simple, just an after-market oven thermometer placed on the baking rack, and a sharpie to mark the points, once the oven reaches temperature. But, when you don't have income, the way you spend money is different -- what you have is all you have until there is more. So if you CAN live without an oven, you figure it out. This restoration added a little bit more of a feeling of home to our mobile lifestyle.

I celebrated with twice baked potatoes

I also baked Zoe's birthday cake, which turned out a bit ... lopsided. Pro tip: Make sure your RV is level if you plan on doing any cake baking.

Not sure if you can tell, but the left side is significantly lower

The next big project was trying to fix the leaky toilet. I wrote an entire post about that (mis)adventure! I did get most everything replaced, and stopped all of the leaking. The outside hose is now new, and there are ZERO leaks in our water system (cue the sound of the crowd cheering!) However, the rear flange bolt (that holds the toilet to the floor) has malfunctioned and I now have a rocking-horse style toilet. Not fun, if you don't know how to use it. Also, the rocking breaks the odor seal, so periodically you have to purge the inside of the rig from the poop air. But we have running water like the civilized folks!

The long list of other things that still need repairing include: the hot water heater, the furnace, the handle to the fridge, and one of the outside storage doors. I have the parts for the handle, so that might happen pretty soon (if I can remember where I put it.) The rest will have to wait until they become "necessary" because we are so adaptable that we just go without at times.  August will begin the "road readiness preparation" as we start thinking about our next stop.

July was an eventful month! There was some workplace drama that I'm not going to get into, mostly because I'm not proud of the way that I handled it. Suffice it to say that I forgot who I am, and allowed that to affect my workplace relationships. We have sorted it all out, and things are back to the status quo. I'm still awesome, and that's all that really matters. Now that we're on the backside of this visit, it's time to stop worrying about what has happened here, and start thinking about where we're going next.

This is not about that -- Day 274

When we first started RVing, we were told that everybody has their special "black tank" story. For those of you that don't know what that is (and I count you among the specially blessed) the "black tank" is where all the water from your toilet goes after you use it. I am not a fan of bathroom humor, so I've never wanted to hear ANYONE's black tank story, nor was I planning to ever share one. I will still be sparing you the less pleasant details, because I'm that kind of guy, but today is going to be about what I've been doing for the last month.

And it involves a toilet, water (clean), and frustration (lots).

The last time that I even mentioned our plumbing system was back during the Grey Water Flood, and things had been pretty pleasant after that lesson. Staying in one spot for as long as we have been makes our maintenance schedule a little different because we don't have to worry about not having the right hookups on the day that we might need it, since we're in a full-service site until October. However, since we have been living full-time in Fezzik for over 9 months (!) we are still putting wear-and-tear on him, and that means that certain things may need to be repaired and/or replaced. So when the carpet in the bathroom started getting wet, it set off all kinds of alarms.

Leaks are particularly dangerous in an RV because if you don't fix them quickly, you have a good chance of losing your flooring, which means that you have a hole in your house. To stop a leak, you must first find the leak. 

Ours looks like the one on the left

Our leak appeared to be coming from the the foot pedal area on the front right side of the unit. There is a nut inside the hole that tightens onto a flange bolt that secures the toilet to the floor. Because we had water near that area, it was a safe assumption that the nut was loose -- so we tightened it. That wasn't the problem, so we had to pull the toilet out, which involved reaching a nut that was located in the back left corner (much more difficult than I make it sound.)

Once out, we discovered that the flange seal was decrepit (probably the original one from 1993) so I replaced that and then put everything back together. Turning the water back on, we discovered that the water line connecting the hose to the toilet was leaking at the connection. 

What started as one problem is now two

Since I was really only working on this problem during my time off, and I had to wait on Amazon deliveries for parts, this one day project stretched into three weeks. Two hoses, three connectors, two rolls of teflon tape, and two cans of flex seal later .... I had decided to just buy a new toilet.

And then I found out that they don't have this model available anymore, but the entire pedal mechanism is replaceable (with included gaskets) so that is the direction we're going this time. I even paid extra for the next-day shipping, so we'll see if that fixes my original problem. The secondary problem, the water line leading to the toilet, has also been fixed today by my neighbors who are much more adept at finding and fixing problems. We reached that critical point where it was determined that new is better than repaired, so the water line is now new and no longer leaks.

During this process, we also created a THIRD water problem, and that was the outside hose that brings the park water to the rig had sprung a leak. This was something that actually was slowly building over time, and reached the point where no amount of tightening was going to fix the problem. I tried new gaskets, teflon tape, and sacrificing a goat, but it looks like that will need to be replaced as well.

One day, we'll have running water indoors like the civilized folks!

Perspective is everything -- Day 239

This past weekend was Father’s Day, and it got me to thinking about some of the more famous quotes that are attributed to my dad (in my world. I’m not saying that all of these are original, created by him, just that he repeated them often enough that I will always think of him as the originator.)

“Arrive alive” and its corollary “Look both ways, live more days.”

When I was in high school, my father was the principal of Christ For the Nations Academy, a tiny private, Christian school in the South Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. CFNA was on the campus of Christ For the Nations Institute, a 2-year evangelical Bible college, and offered Kindergarten through high school education to the children of the students, staff, and faculty of the Institute. Being nestled in between two major highways, with several residential roads going through the campus, there were plenty of opportunities to be hit by careless drivers. My father’s morning announcements almost always included the exhortations to pay attention while walking through the campus and crossing the busy streets.

And then you take a step back, and apply it to your whole life. I redefine “alive” as more than just “having a life” but being full of life! When you show up, bring the party! Or at least as much energy and life-force as you can, so that you can share with others and enhance their experience. Perception is reality, so if you can “look both ways” at your situation, you can realize that there is always another side to the story. I had a friend tell me about accidentally putting a $100 tip in the starbux jar, and she turned it around from “I’m so stupid for doing that” to “I hope that it really made someone’s day.” Dad’s life lessons are deep, y’all.

“You never know what kind of day someone has had” and “Give flowers to the living.”

Following on the change in perspective from looking both ways, my father once explained to me that just because you may have been treated badly by someone in that moment, doesn't mean that their actions had anything to do with you. The guy that cut you off on the freeway? He was trying to get to his daughter's dance recital and was running late. That cashier that wasn’t particularly friendly? Their child was home sick from school, and they are worried about them. Since there is no way for you to know anything about the history behind your chance encounters, it’s much easier to try to make their day brighter. Giving flowers to the living is about honoring people that you see in your daily life with some thoughtful kindness, or even just sincere well-wishing. We will often beautifully eulogize the recently deceased, sometimes when we didn’t even like the person while they were alive. They get a beautiful bouquet of flowers on their grave, but how much better would it be if they got to enjoy the flowers while they could actually smell them?

“Remember these three things: 1. Don’t step on Superman’s cape, 2. Don’t spit in the wind, 3. Don’t pay people to scare you.”

While these have obvious, face value relevance, I think there is still deeper and broader applications. Obviously, if you get the chance to meet Superman, you probably want to stay off his clothes. But you know what’s interesting about Superman? Even the people that interact with him on a daily basis don’t recognize him out of uniform. So you should be kind and respect the personal space of others, no matter who you might think they are. This also includes being kind to yourself, by not spitting in the wind. There are enough people out there that will mistreat you, whether intentionally or not, so be kind to yourself. And don’t reward behavior that is detrimental to your mental health, or pay people to scare you. There are better things that you can find to do with your money, or you can ask me and I’ll help you spend it. :)

“I don’t call you sun because you shine, I call you son because you’re mine.”

This is one of the corniest, and sweetest things that my dad used to say to me. It makes more sense when read aloud, and sounds best in my father’s gravelly voice. The sun is the brightest object in the sky, and to think that I could be confused with that heavenly body is nice. Coupled with the verbal statement of patrimonial claim, regardless of actions either past or future, is nice.

I love my dad, and he loves me, too. Happy Father’s Day, Papa.

How is it already JUNE? -- Day 217

It's June 1st, which means that we have officially been here a month. They say that time flies when you're having fun, so we must be having a LOT of fun. Either that or we're experiencing relative velocity time-dilation, but I think that we would have noticed that.

This job has afforded me lots of time to think, and there have been some really wonderful ideas that have come up while I'm working. Sadly, by the time I get to my computer, most of those ideas are gone. I need to have a stenographer follow me around, or maybe a guy like Kal Penn's character in Van Wilder. Plus, it would be Kal Penn, ya know? How cool that would be!

Kal Penn (from Biography.com)

The biggest lesson from the month of May was ADJUSTMENT. You would think that after so much time, and so many things happening not-exactly-according-to-plan that we would have the whole "roll with the punches" thing down to a science. Well, friends, I'm here to tell you that adjustment is not a science, but more like an art. A martial art. If you aren't learning to "flow like water" you are likely to get your ass kicked by life. It's not malicious; the pounding surf doesn't hate the rocks that it's turning into sand, but pulverize is the name of the game.

Life is really good right now, because we are learning to flow better. Each new challenge is no longer a crisis, just another opportunity to adjust and grow. Being here in the forest is a different kind of living than any we've ever done, and it is an amazing experience. Figuring out the grocery situation has shown us that there are some really wonderful people in the world that love to help out others. Our jobs, while maybe not the most mentally stimulating, are still filled with lots of opportunities to serve others with love.

As Anya and I clean rooms, we are trying to fill each space with love and blessings, both on the people that departed and the people that are coming in. It helps to dispel any negative feelings that may crop up from having to clean up after people that are not your own children, contrary to the evidence left behind. (And to those of you that may travel this summer and stay in a hotel/motel/cabin/resort: your housekeeper will be going through the room with a fine toothed comb. Be courteous with your trash, and leave them a tip. You never know what a huge difference a little appreciation can make in someone's day.)

My favorite part of this job is my co-workers. A group of people from all different backgrounds and ages getting to know each other by hanging out at campfires every night. There are six couples, two that are retirement-age, two that are are our age, and two that are younger than us. The dynamics of the conversations are super interesting to follow, if you can keep up, since there are usually at least three separate conversations going on simultaneously. This is going to be a really fun summer.

Zoe with Dell and Sophia at the campfire

Random fun fact: I met an amazing young lady at the pub on Monday night. She is bicycling down the Pacific coast (Anacortes, Washington to Los Angeles, California.) I was so inspired that I bought her a beer, and then she played Jenga with Zoe. If you get the chance, check out her blog: Bikewridings

Zoe with Michelle of Bikewridings

We're off today, so I will be enjoying some of the fruits of my labors. Since I cleaned and treated the pool yesterday, I figured it would be awesome to actually get in it today. It will be my first, and hopefully not last trip to the pool here, and I'm really looking forward to it. 

Lessons in flowing like water from the water itself?

Last thought: 
"The most profound statements,
 be they political, religious, or philosophical,
 are not spoken,
 but lived. "
~Sensei of Truth~