Blog

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross - Cliff Notes and Book Review

Submitted by Dan on Thu, 09/16/2021 - 12:40

Etymology, sexology, and mycology are brought together in this highly imaginative study of ancient words and their obscured origins. Is there is a hidden connection between the ancient fertility and drug cults of the early bronze age and the origins of Christianity? Is the link codified in the Bible? Is Jesus an allegory for a hypnotic mushroom that mysteriously grows out of the womb of the earth without fertilization, like a virgin, emerging only after receiving life-giving rains from a giant penis in the sky? Is the mushroom the true son of God?

Soma Lore - Musings about the Immortal Mushroom-Sacrament of Antiquity

Submitted by Dan on Tue, 08/17/2021 - 17:05

As we were hiking in the Indian Peaks range of the Colorado mountain last week, we walked right past dozens of these toadstool mushrooms, with only a faint clue of what they were.

Unbeknownst to us, we were hiking among living deities! The nectar of the gods! THE IMMORTAL MUSHROOM-SACRAMENT OF ANTIQUITY! (Writing about mushrooms is awesome because you get to use fun words like hypnotic, sacrament, mushroom-cult, ecstasy, deity, comatose, etc.)

Backpacking, Dispersed Camping along the Redwood Creek, and Horseback Riding in Redwood National Park

Submitted by Dan on Wed, 10/25/2017 - 09:51

In the middle of our epic California coast adventure, my fiance and I decided to try a little backpacking along the Redwood Creek in the Redwood National Park in Northern California - it's the only place in the park where dispersed camping is allowed. We followed that up with an experience I'll truly never forget: horseback riding on the horse trails that go through the heart of the Redwood National Park. Amazing!

redwood creek trail, redwood national park, dispersed camping

I Made a Bike Barn

Submitted by Dan on Wed, 10/11/2017 - 10:07

Johhny and I built this "bike barn" out of scrap wood we needed to clear out of the garage. I don't think we used the measuring tape once. We just slapped the boards together as quickly as possible. Sometimes we cut them to length and sometimes we didnt. Fun!

4x4 Trail Report: Hayden Pass Road, through the 2016 Hayden Pass Fire

Submitted by Dan on Wed, 07/12/2017 - 16:44

This was the last 4x4 trail we drove down during out 3 day excursion through Colorado. And by far the most challenging. But here's the thing with Hayden Pass: last year there was a forest Fire - The Hayden Pass Fire - and the 4x4 road does go through the burn scar. I was really worried that the road would be covered in a thick layer of ash, making it impassible. My only other experience with traversing through a burned out area was during a backpacking hike through Yosemite. The trail was completely destroyed and we lost it because the earth was so scorched and covered in ash.

Hayden Pass 4x4 trail road in Colorado of the Sangre De Cristo mountain range

4x4 Trail Report: Mount Rosa and Mount Baldy

Submitted by Dan on Wed, 07/12/2017 - 10:57

Colorado or bust! That was my mantra while driving from Eastern Kansas to South Central Colorado - a 10 hour drive - to go off-roading in my new Jeep XJ Cherokee for the first time. Not only had I never been off-roading in the Jeep, I had never been off-roading in Colorado either! So it was about to be a whole new experience for me. However, I promised myself that I wasn't going to attempt any "rock crawling" on this trip due to the lack of skid plates and the true soft belly of the aluminum transfer case. And while I didn't have to break that promise on the Mount Rosa and Mount Baldy trails, I would eventually break it by the end of the trip!

How To Build A Supercomputer

Submitted by Dan on Mon, 07/27/2015 - 12:30

On this day, July 27, 2016, my artile on WikiHow - How To Build a Supercomputer - has reached 200,000 views. In honor of the achievement, I will reproduce the article here on my website so that future generations may read and enjoy this masterfully crafted tail of human ingenuity and technical triumph. 

Yosemite Trip Report, Cathedrial Peaks tailhead to the valley, June 2015

Submitted by Dan on Thu, 07/02/2015 - 13:00

In June 2015, my girlfriend and I and 3 other friends went on a 5 day backpacking trip in the Yosemite National Park. It was an absolutely amazing experience. It was as much of a challengae as I hoped it would be, and we made a lot of mistakes but I don't regret a single thing. Our route completely turned on a dime on top of Cloud's Rest, and we missed the backpacker's shuttle back to our cars. But we survided to tell our story...

 

Book Review: Still Life With Woodpecker

Submitted by Dan on Tue, 04/28/2015 - 06:16

This is less of a book review and more of a confession.

I was in a Paris hostel at the end of a fast-paced, somewhat derenged week (it was one hell of a vacation) and feeling a little down now that it was coming to an end, when a hostel-hopping Australian started giving me life advice. His first piece of advice was to read Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates by Tom Robins, but first, he said, read his more popular novel Still Life With Woodpecker to make sure I can handle his writing style.