Two Weeks Deep and Loving It!

Maintaining a functional, organized life while living out of my truck has been a challenge requiring creativity and persistence. The truck-camping life has given me the opportunity to be in the outdoors for much longer periods than before. Consequently I've been enabled to wake up to hiking and climbing right out be back door (AKA my tailgate) and view daily sunsets over mountain peaks that would otherwise be hidden by drywall. 

This morning I woke up with no plans or obligations. As I sat in my camping chair eating breakfast and drinking coffee I gazed at the nearby Mt. Sopris that looms over the Roaring Fork Valley. Struck by a feeling of spontaneity I decided to set out on a hike up the mountain.

Mt. Sopris

After a morning session of yoga and casually collecting my camping and hiking gear I drove a couple of miles up the road from camp to the trail head. Rather than pursuing a goal oriented day of charging up the mountain I chose a process driven outing by savoring my time on the trail. Accepting the good and the bad, refuting discouragement as I post holed through soft springtime snow for miles. With dark rain clouds approaching I settled into camp below the summit slopes with hours of daylight remaining. As rain pattered against my tent's cover I found equanimity in the warmth of my tent, stuffed full of insulation bearing resemblance to a squirrel's nest. 

I awoke in the morning to rain water saturated snow, which would have been incapable of holding the weight of my ultra light ice axe, let alone my body weight. Gazing at the miles of trail to the summit socked in with loose, wet snow I wrote the trip off as a character building outing and set off down the trail in peace. 

Spring time on Mt.Sopris

I believe the type of life I have chosen to live for the past four years or so which encompasses living for the moment, accepting the vagabond mentality, and finding solace in the light at the end of the tunnel has showed me what I care about. I have found that the most important commodity in my life is time. By whatever means necessary time undoubtedly trumps money. Money is a vital resource in our society but the trick to happiness must be finding an intelligent strategy to spend, not spend, earn, and not earn money. Food consumption is an excellent analogy of money. We need food to survive, but eat too much of it and you'll find yourself unhappy and weighted down with problems you've acquired through over consumption. 

Some may say my perspective of simple living is made possible by my young age and lack of obligations. Which is true to a degree. I don't have a family, overwhelming debt, or a business. However, I have made the conscious decision to live out of my truck to free my already independent life, and simplify my already uncluttered life. I foresee my life becoming increasingly complicated with age. However, in comparison to the average joe my life will still be one rooted in basic clarity. 

The crash pad on wheels

-watch for a youtube video I'm going to post soon touring my humble abode

Feel free to comment, dispute, argue, praise, or worship my socially unacceptable life below.