After buying groceries, which the receipt was twice the length of Charlie, I was ready for our trip to TN.  Food is a major priority of mine when I go camping or on a road trip.  Having yummy snacks and meals seem extra good when I am away from home.  Plus, being away from the distractions of home, such as Internet and TV, I need comfort food to distract me from the withdraw.  We arrived at Big Ridge State Park, TN in late afternoon of Saturday.  The campground looked more like a mobile home park because site after site had a RV parked in it.  I guess this is what happens when a campground offers electricity and water at each site.  So, as we were driving around looking for a site, April and I were not feeling excited at all.  The thought of placing my tent in the middle of two RV’s and listening to power generators did not seem too “outdoorsish” to me.  (However, in 40 years I will probably be driving an RV!)  But then there happen to be a spot that was away from everybody and the site was overlooking the lake.  The only problem somebody just took it, so we took the one next to it.  When I got out, I over heard them talking about when they have to leave, which meant they were packing up instead of unpacking.  We quickly called dibs on there site and within an hour the Walsh Site was setup!  The weather was hot and humid with the occasional sprinkle.  The next day my brother and his son arrived.  I had not seen either of them for about 4 years.  When they first arrived, my brain could not recognize them, yet I “knew” it was them.  It is always a weird feeling for me when I have not seen a person for awhile and look different.  The voice matches but the picture doesn’t and my brain has to readjust.  Anyhow, we had a great time hiking, fishing, hanging out by the fire, chatting about Berne memories, etc.  They left the next morning, so the time was short but well worth the drive over to TN.  If anyone else is taking a road this summer and you’ll be within a days drive, just let us know.  That it is if you feel like putting up with the Walsh’s for a day or two!

When we were out camping this weekend, some graffiti was added to our tent. We took a black permanent marker and wrote the date and location of the places we have set up the tent so far. It adds great character to our tent and we can look at the dates on talk about the sweet times. It is also a great conversation starter with other people who see the graffiti. Since we were at a NC state park this weekend, we casually through out the idea of staying at all of the State Parks in NC. That would be a total of 27 parks, which I think would take about a year. Maybe it won’t be a goal for now but we will be keeping track on our tent. If we do accomplish this then I guess it is just one thing I can check off my “Life List of Things I Done Did Do” (Yes, I know that is incorrect grammar!) Life lists are interesting to me; some movies are based on this concept. You know the plot where that the main character has just a few more days of life, so they go out everyday trying to live life to the fullest. I know that I have had these “Do before I Die” lists and I question how and why did these ever start. When did humans first start thinking about events that they would like to do before they perish? Perhaps it just gives that feeling of accomplishment to the ego, as a way of saying “Great job you did it! You may now terminate with peace.” or in other words “You have ready to enter the pearly gates. Grab your heart and pick a cloud.” On one side though, the “Do before you die list” doesn’t make too much logical sense. First, if I move onto an after life where I can do what ever I want then I can always do it then. This would be the ultimate form of procrastination; “just wait till you get to the after life to do what you need to do” Yet if the after life doesn’t even have the stuff I want to do then I’m s.o.l. Second, if I have been reincarnated, then I may have already done it so why bother. Third, if nothing follows this life and all the emotional attachments of my experiences cease well so does all of my lists. Therefore, my list of all the NC state parks will not be a list of “The places I want to camp before I die.” It will simply be added to my big check list of things I did that will be tossed in the fire of my cremation

What does June Carter and the Pacific tectonic plates have in common? Ring of Fire? I think June Carter wrote “Ring of Fire” and Johnny Cash sang it. The tectonic plates in the under the Pacific Ocean produce numerous volcanic regions, giving it the nickname “Ring of Fire”. Now, what does this have to do with me? Well, my body could have been a model for the “Ring of Fire”, after this weekend. I had about twenty bites from something must have thought that my thighs and bum were the tastiest pieces of flesh in the universe. These were the most itchy type of bites I have ever had. What made it so bad was that the location of the bites because they were around my waist area and my pants kept rubbing against the bumps. Oh the suffering but I have managed through it and the mini volcanic regions are subsiding. So there you go. Hopefully, the next time you hear, “I fell down into a burning ring of fire…” or see a volcano a mental image of bumpbity bumps on Selfwalker’s bum will appear in your brains.

Today was what I would call a long day at the office.  This means staying at my desk for about five and a half hours straight.  I know that some people do this every day of the week before going to lunch but as a teacher it is rare.  With that in mind, I traveled across the street to Taco Bell; a fast-food joint that I have not been to for many months.  Just as I was eating my 7-who-knows-what-are-in-the-layers burrito, a couple of trash bins caught my eyes.  I was day dreaming about surface area, the largest volume of trash can that could fit inside, the probability of un-used napkins being tossed in the trash, the ratio of the area of a tray to that of the whole of the trash bin opening, and the list goes on.  As you can see I have been teaching some geometry lately and needless to say the math rarely leaves the brain.  My day dreaming of math bliss was interrupted by worker that checked on trash bins.  As the worker was walking away he shows how well Taco Bell has trained by asking me with eye brows lifted and an optimistic smile, “How is everything?”  First I just love it when some one asks me a question in passing but never stops as a subliminal way of saying,

“Your answer better be short because I am going to keep walking and plus I really don’t have or want the time to engage into any type of conversation with you”

So, I played my part by taking an extra big bite of burrito and mumbled, “Okay” to which the worker replied “Well, that’s just great!” I have been a waiter a time or a two and this is the type of game that is played often between customers and employees. Everyone knows that it is cheesy but that is the way it is. People just to seem to automatically fit into the needed roles and go along for the ride. So just how many game to I play? Teacher games, husband games, Self games, friend games, consumer games, father games… Wow, it looks like Selfwaker could be quite the actor, that is unless I approach all of the games the same way and simply be Selfwalker for each one. I think that is what is meant by the phrase, “To thy own self be true” There may be small little games always going on in the large virtual reality of life, however I can always be who I am instead of trying to be that “right” person for the role. But then again I am contradicting everything that I am writing here by posting it on a blog titled Selfwalker. Oh well, maybe there are just two roles I can play; Luke and Selfwalker.  One is a lonely number.

                              ~We are all alone because we are all one.

Today is Friday the 13th and some thing abnormal is already happening to me this morning; I am writing a blog post. “Why is this strange, Selfwalker?”, one may ask. Well, it is the first post of July! That means thirteen days have wizzed by before sharing any stories on my blog. The reason for this summer drought of blog posting was a two week span of being on the west coast and on the east coast. As soon as I returned from California, which was my first red-eye flight, we packed are bags for our East Coast Road Trip. Five hours later the journey started. I have already wrote about the adventure on a Google Map. You can see the map of our Road Trip by clicking here I thought this feature was pretty neat. If anyone else has made a map let me know. I also like how you can look at the map in Goolge Earth. Click on the “KML” in the right hand corner to see a fly by tour. Pictures of the road trip can be found at my homepage. The 5 Month pictures and a camping video can also be viewed there.

So after being away from my house for two weeks, I think I may stick around here for the weekend. I still haven’t unpacked totally yet and the thought of not having to spend $35 for another tank of gas sounds nice. What other strange events happen on the Friday the 13th…a shower or a meal at Micky D’s or a weekend of rain or perhaps more then 3 people reading this. I am ready to get my freak on.