Originally posted by Skipjack Joe
From Sterling Hayden's "The Wanderer". Posted here because it applies to many old time baja explorers (and because I like it):
To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine
traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... cruising, it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of
the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change.
Only then will you know what the sea is all about. "I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford
is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of security. And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of
routine - and before we know it our lives are gone. What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to
lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we
are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that
divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade. The years thunder by, the dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the
shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed. Where, then, lies the answer?
In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life? |
Road to Los Olivos muddy and pot holed but passable pulling a trailer. Los
Olivos RV park was great. Met Marguerite the owner, nice lady and quite helpful.