How can we re-kindle the spirit of adventure?

[mightymanx]

I have been doing various planing things like for my motorcycle trip from Key West FL to Deadhorse AK. II have been thinnking becasuse people often call me crazy when I discuss this stuff.

I have been wondering where has the spirit of adventure gone?

I think it is sad really that people watch TV while a very few do real life things things like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDChHCMQxEQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgdIE2t8QkM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzQ7pdTfp2g

Am I nuts in thinking this?

[chad]

Most people are trained to be afraid of their own shadow.

[midnight rambler]

(carefully and very deliberately) Ditch your DRIVER LICENSE and the registration on your automobile - THAT will bring the adventure back into your life.

[palani]

I have been doing various planing things like for my motorcycle trip from Key West FL to Deadhorse AK.

Check out Amazon for a book called "Investment Biker". Round the world trip that took 2 years on BMW motorcycles in the early '90s. The goal was to investigate the investment worth of the countries visited.

Biking the U.S. would be tame by comparison.

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

There needs to be a new frontier. Adventure and exploration go hand in hand.

These days there is very little to explore, yet exploration itself is a natural human urge. Which is why young people are addicted to video games that mimic exploring. All of the most successful MMORPG type games offer exploration.

Once a new frontier opens up (if space, would have to be economically encouraging) the spirit of adventure will rekindle, and along with it, the innovation that is always present during frontier-exploration.

The other good thing about frontiers is that established authorities are usually weakest there.

[chad]

We could go explore old Detroit. That would be adventurous.

[TheNocturnalEgyptian]

A further comment on video games is who plays them. I heard it said that every individual who plays video games can be sorted into 1 or 2 of 4 basic categories.

Explorer
Achiever
Socializer
Killer



I myself am primarily an Explorer but I have elements of all 4 categories.

Don't let a term like "Killer" scare you - it's primarily an urge to compete and win, more so than an urge to cause death.

I think a lot can be explained by looking at people's motives for doing things. Video games are only as popular as they are because they sate some basic human urge - Exploration probably has a lot to do with it.

[k-os]

I bet you know what I would say about this.

In case you don't . . . I say "GO FOR IT!" To everyone! I love adventure, and can't wait to go back out on the road when Annie is patched up. There are so many memories to be created and lives to be shared. It's a shame that a lot of people are afraid of the unknown.

I enjoy going outside of my comfort zone. I call it "stretching". I think it's healthy, and I always learn and grow when I am stretching.

Even if someone has an adventurous spirit, there are always going to be some naysayers telling them they are crazy, or to be afraid.* Unfortunately, those other voices can drown out that wonderful adventurous spirit. I think it's a wonderful blessing to not care about other people's opinions!


*Note: I am lucky enough to have friends and family that know I am a whackadoo and so they don't try to talk me out of anything. But boy, do I hear it on my return! K-)

[k-os]

A further comment on video games is who plays them. I heard it said that every individual who plays video games can be sorted into 1 or 2 of 4 basic categories.

Explorer
Achiever
Socializer
Killer



I myself am primarily an Explorer but I have elements of all 4 categories.

Don't let a term like "Killer" scare you - it's primarily an urge to compete and win, more so than an urge to cause death.

I think a lot can be explained by looking at people's motives for doing things. Video games are only as popular as they are because they sate some basic human urge - Exploration probably has a lot to do with it.


Thanks for explaining "killer". I only play Kinect video games, because I don't want to sit down, I want to get up and dance, or play volley ball, or boxing. Since you explained "killer", I think I am a combo of explorer/killer, because I like to win!

I do let my friends win sometimes, though . . . because I want them to keep playing with me. So, I guess I am not a killer after all.

[solid]

There needs to be a new frontier. Adventure and exploration go hand in hand.
.

Folks the last frontier is the ocean. That is freedom, a wise man told me once you will never know true 'freedom' until you are on a small boat in the middle of the ocean.

Funny, to read this thread. I just finished watching the movie "into the wild", where a young man goes tramping across the states, ends up in Alaska. Great movie, and something I wouldn't mind trying sometime. Taking a year off, and just exploring.

[k-os]

Folks the last frontier is the ocean. That is freedom, a wise man told me once you will never know true 'freedom' until you are on a small boat in the middle of the ocean.

Funny, to read this thread. I just finished watching the movie "into the wild", where a young man goes tramping across the states, ends up in Alaska. Great movie, and something I wouldn't mind trying sometime. Taking a year off, and just exploring.

Excellent book, but the ending would just make people more fearful.

Great point about the ocean. I think you might be right!

[solid]

Excellent book, but the ending would just make people more fearful.

Great point about the ocean. I think you might be right!

Thanks K, the book was better than the movie, imo. The movie, just watched was pretty good though, imo.

I think the biggest thing though, in life, is to never lose that spirit for adventure. Too many folks get caught up with day to day, BS, what the system teaches, to actually free themselves from it all. Chasing the 'carrot', as we like to say.

Ah, hell with it all. Cheers to being free men! (and women). :)

[k-os]

Thanks K, the book was better than the movie, imo. The movie, just watched was pretty good though, imo.

I think the biggest thing though, in life, is to never lose that spirit for adventure. Too many folks get caught up with day to day, BS, what the system teaches, to actually free themselves from it all. Chasing the 'carrot', as we like to say.

Ah, hell with it all. Cheers to being free men! (and women). :)

Agreed. The book is better than the movie. When is it not?

I think it's easier for us single people to have a spirit of adventure. I can't blame people with families for wanting to build a nest and work to keep it secure.

[Ponce]

From the age of 18 till the age of 48 I had all the "adventures" that I wated in Cuba, Congo, Viet Nam, Rhodesia, Nicaragua and a couple of more countries.......I did have a break between 70 and 76 when I had a wife.

[Tumbleweed]

I spent a year and a half in an eighteen wheeler driving fourty eight states. I always had the desire to see what was on the other side of the hill. There was a computer in the truck the company would send me messages on. It would beep and there would be a load to pick up and deliver. I never knew where I'd be going next. I seldom ever went the same place twice. I would deliver a load somewhere and they would find another one for me as close as they could to pick up and the next one might need to go to the other side of the country. It was always an adventure but I got tired of it. There is a lot of variety to the work I do now that I don't tire of. I enjoy what I do but need to be on my toes mentaly and that seems to satisfy that desire for adventure.

[mightymanx]

Well this is why I chose the motorcycle I have the ocean covered more than enough for 5 lifetimes.

It is so sad to me though when I start talking to people and 9 out of the first 10 things they like have the word "watch" in front.

I have had people accuse me of lying because they could not believe my list of hobbies and some of the crap that I have done.

must be I am getting picky but I find people of "worth" harder and harder to find.

I mean how hard is it to be passionate about doing something??? Then doing it?

[k-os]

must be I am getting picky but I find people of "worth" harder and harder to find.

I think it's natural to get more selective as we get older. Basically, those other people are not worth our time and effort. (Pun not intended, but I like it, so I am keeping it. K-)

[solid]

I have had people accuse me of lying because they could not believe my list of hobbies and some of the crap that I have done.

Mightmanx, I can relate to this. I tend to keep things to myself, for this reason.

Get the bike and ride, imo. It's on one of my to do lists, to be honest though, the bike intimidates me. I tend to push the limits, I think I'd kill myself on a motorcycle.

Folks, freedom is there, if you want it. Be it a bike with an open road, a sailboat catching the wind. It is there.

[mightymanx]

Mightmanx, I can relate to this. I tend to keep things to myself, for this reason.

Get the bike and ride, imo. It's on one of my to do lists, to be honest though, the bike intimidates me. I tend to push the limits, I think I'd kill myself on a motorcycle.

Folks, freedom is there, if you want it. Be it a bike with an open road, a sailboat catching the wind. It is there.

Solid I understand I keep to my self more and more on this kind of stuff which sometimes make me doubt that I am "normal" when I have to not tell people I like to do adventourus shit.

Sometimes I feel like I am on bizzaro world.

as to bikes:

My first ride in Helocopter was due to a motorcycle (life flight).

It is not bad once you settle down, and you don't need a big bike. it is much more fun riding a small bike at 90% of max performance than riding a big bike at 10% max performance. and they are a heck of a ot cheaper.

You could keep a little 70's 80's 125cc 4 stroke street legal dualsport on your boat if you wanted. Plenty of fun with one of those and usefull as well.

[solid]

Solid I understand I keep to my self more and more on this kind of stuff which sometimes make me doubt that I am "normal" when I have to not tell people I like to do adventourus shit..

I understand and embrace that spirit though, of freedom. It this type of shit that makes us men, honestly. I think of the open ocean, the wind grabbing my sails, on my boat sailing off to some distant island. Dancing girls. :)

A motorbike, a boat, it's the same thing...really.

It's really about taking life and the freedom and kicking ass.

If you can make it happen, Mightymanx, God bless you and the open road, your journey. I could see myself doing that, if I can get over my phobia of riding..:)

[mightymanx]

It is not really a matter of "IF" it will happen unless the shooting starts before then if that happens I will be in my Deuce. If we are still standing it is happening in summer 2013. My two friends are Retiring from the Military and we are all marking a major age milestone.

I got the bike and already have went 5k miles in 2 months.

The Trusty Steed I modified it a "tad"

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h181/mightymanx/HPIM0620.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h181/mightymanx/HPIM0622.jpg
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h181/mightymanx/HPIM0625.jpg

[k-os]

That's a cool bike. Unique, I would say.

[MNeagle]

;D LOVE those saddle bags!! Gotta show those to DH!

[gunDriller]

do you want adventure with sea-sickness or without ?

you could rent a big boat and carry a heavy cargo through high seas. or get a submersible and help us recover the valuables from our boating accidents.

[mightymanx]

;D LOVE those saddle bags!! Gotta show those to DH!


Cost $28 bucks to make, including the mounting system.

took about 10 hours in the shop from design to loaded and ready.

[solid]

That's a nice bike there mightymanx, and a great adventure planned. Man, if you are thinking 2013, maybe you could get some of us here to join ya too?

[mightymanx]

That's a nice bike there mightymanx, and a great adventure planned. Man, if you are thinking 2013, maybe you could get some of us here to join ya too?

Iam planning trips for 13,14,15

I figure I will be secure enough in my post retirement job by then to take a 4-6 weeks off to do them

2013 ultimate cost to coast.
2014 Trans American trail
2015 Trans Canada trail
then on to Africa or Europe

Just need a woman that likes Travel adventure and camping then might take a round the world trip.

I figure I better knock off some of my to do list before I die, and If I wait till I am 70 there is a lot of stuff I can't do then.

And I can't have 100% doom preps or I will go batshit crazy. I don't ever want to be dissapointed or feel like I missed out if the shit does not hit the fan.

I am ready enough if it does no plan survives first contact so best to be brilliant in the basics. for SHTF and then go out and LIVE my life.

[milehi]

I love adventure. The weather is finally cool enough in the desert do a mountainbike trip I have planned for a while. I'll be leaving from my house and riding to to the Colorado River and back loosely following The Bradshaw Trail, also known as The Gold Road.

A week and a half ago, I pushed my bike up the Cacus to the Clouds Trail in Palm Springs, 8500ish feet to the wilderness boundry atop Mt. San Jacinto, then rode down. I started an hour before dark and finished after dark. That was brutal. Here's the trail.

[solid]

All I can say is that sound fucking awesome. It gives me goosebumps, of excitment, thinking about an adventure like that.

[mightymanx]

Now that is the kind of stuff I am talking about.

Bravo!!!


Too bad it seems like .000000001% of the poupulation and 2/3rds of that seems to be GSUS members.

[mightymanx]

For instance


This guy understands adventure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmCvYqJG8PQ&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmCvYqJG8PQ&feature=related

[LuckyStrike]

I have been wondering where has the spirit of adventure gone?


I haven't read through all of the thread so forgive me if this has been said 10 times.

To me adventure and great adventurers are no longer glorified in our society. Just as scientists or inventors aren't elevated. Only a century ago Tesla and Edison were household names, the big celebrities of the time, now it is dumbasses like snookie or the kardashians. We have been turned into a nation of wimps and mental midgets. I feel like I say this to someone everyday but it drives me up a wall, people become infuriated when their sports team loses, yet their country is being destroyed, their countrymen jobless and homeless and they seem totally apathetic.

The people who inhabit America today by no means even deserve to be called Americans. To me being born in America doesn't make you an American any more than being born a male makes you a man.

[Libertytree]

For me, everyday's an adventure of sorts. It has its good points and bad and sometimes I really want the stability that taking up roots provides and sometimes I really like this vagabond lifestyle. It's only free to a degree...and being free doesn't include stress free, two entirely different animals. Everyday is like throwing the dice and praying you don't crap out, but if ya make it through, even half assed it's cool and you respect the small blessings as if they were the lottery.

[Joe King]

Adventure is all in how you choose to see it.
Two people can experience the same circumstances side by side, with one having the adventure of a lifetime and the other being miserable and hating life.

Me? My life is one big death-defying adventure filled with lots of little adventures, one after the other 25/8/53

[milehi]

Adventure is all in how you choose to see it.
Two people can experience the same circumstances side by side, with one having the adventure of a lifetime and the other being miserable and hating life.

Me? My life is one big death-defying adventure filled with lots of little adventures, one after the other 25/8/53

This is why nearly all of my recess sessions are solo or with the dogs. Pain, suffering and discomfort are hopefully part of the plan. Although, when things go horribly wrong like they often do, and I'm looking for a good place to stash my soon to be lifeless body, it's then that I'm wishing I had a wingman.