Leaving Melbourne finally: up, up and away
Syd acquainted me with theridejournal.com and I’m inspired with his own efforts at blurb.com and redbubble.com for assembling documentation of my own travels for other’s vicarious pleasure: I’ve a plethora of material, almost 900 web pages of text in that daily blog, and, err, 80,000 images, so I can spend the next months selecting, editing, rewriting, formatting, cropping, and basically just tizzing around with the possibilities, secure with solid walls, a roof, a bed and an endless connection of electrons from the national power grid.
I’m going to complete my audio book project before I lose that laconic Australian drawl, guess I’ll be switching back to the Kiwi variety of speech pronto, and there’s an ebook or two to collate for those who prefer the linear narrative without my drone.
I had been looking for a more freeform structure to the wodge of stories and images I’ve collected and a magazine style collation seems more appropriate for more documentation of my own travels, thanks for the inspiration Syd.
People don’t have time to read these days, unless you are a dedicated reader, the tendency is to scan, so having a publication that you can dip in and out of, each page self contained seems appropriate.
I’ve lost track of the number of people who have been complementary on my photos: the way I look at it is if you put yourself out in what may be seen to be extreme situations, out with that seldom observed landscape, or wildlife, and click away with 80k images some have to turn out OK and you just have to have the eye to recognise the occasional great one. No big deal.
For me the text has always been more tricky, to dream up something fresh to jot down each day, to try to capture the fleeting moments, the characters, the excitement, the remoteness, life, in a few terse words.
Ain’t easy day after day, well, for those 900, almost, blog entries.
I guess I’ve expressed few doubts, few anxieties, just endured the hardships, no blinding epiphanies, the setbacks, bike frame breakage, rim delamination, trailer deconstructions, hub or seat issues, just out with the hose clamps or Gaffer tape and get on with it. Near terminal situations have been a speed bump, a slowdown, simply a momentary issue, resolve as problem as best as possible, continue on regardless. There’s been no need for perfection every step of the way, my approach has been to just plan as best you can and not be fazed by what impediments occur along the way. So there’s been no dramatic meltdown to document, although I came close up on Grey Mare Mountain in the last weeks: too resourceful, resilient and optimistic to be bogged down for long.
I guess my message is simple: don’t let life rush by.
To borrow a phrase from another Crazy Guy: make the most of those heartbeats.