Natural Bridges Hike - ☯️ ZenVenture

Sign near main road clearly marks trailhead.

📌    Distance: 2.2 Miles

📈   Elevation Change: Approx. 700 ft

🕐   Duration: 1 hour each direction + 3 hours hanging out by river.  Optional 2 for dinner and discussion after.

 ☑️   Medium Difficulty:  Active seniors, and average adults. Hike will have return loop for picking you up if you must stop. Several boulders will have to be climbed. Biking is not possible due to steep terrain. 

🕶    Description:  Parking along the side of the road.  There are designated bathroom stalls at the trailhead, but no facilities on the trail. Very steep decline to coyote creek. Trail parallels the creek to the natural bridges feature.  At times navigating the creek will be easier than traveling the boulder laden trail. The return trip will primarily be uphill with very steep inclines at times. Bring plenty of water and possible insect repellant as the mosquitos tend to exist near the caves and still ponds. Dogs are not allowed because of the sensitive environment so you will not encounter domestic ankle biters. 

The Cowboy From Texas - 🐉 LKL

The little known cowboy on a beach in Kansas.

Once in a bar near Wichita Kansas a cowboy had just rode in from a cattle drive. The others noticed the stranger as he walked over to the bar, ordered a beer, then proceeded to enjoy it.  The man paid for his drink and started out the door.  It was not a second after he walked out, he walked right back into the bar.

The cowboy pulled his pistol out, shot one round into the air and exclaimed, "Alright you son's of bitches! One of you knows someone that has stolen my horse!  I'm gonna tell you what I am going to do.  I will sit down at this bar and order one more beer, by the time I get done I better see my horse tied up out there, or I'm gonna have to do what I done in Texas, and I DON"T WANT TO DO WHAT I DONE IN TEXAS!!!"

The cowboy sat down just as before and enjoyed his beer once again.  Maybe ten minutes passed and the cowboy got up once again and walked out the door.

Nothing happened.  The bartender ran out the door to see the man riding away on his horse.  He ran after and yelled, "Hey mister!  We got to know! What is it you done in Texas?"

The cowboy replied, "I had to walk home."

- 🐉 LKL

The Fearless Monk - 🐉 LKL

Once in a remote monastery, in a desolate region of china, there was a fearless monk.  One day a fellow monk ran up to him frantically announcing that there was a conquering force riding toward them.

"You must leave this monastery quickly, this warlord shows no mercy.  Everyone in his path has fled.  Everyone that stays, he will run them right through with a sword."

The monk replied, "Then so shall it be. I will stay here."

A few days past and monks had all fled the monastery.  Along came the fearless conquerer. He rode through the empty town content that his reputation had proceeded him.  As he walked into the meeting place there stood the fearless monk.

The conquerer walked up to the monk and exclaimed, "Why are you still here?! Have you not heard of me? I am the sort of man that will run you right through with a sword!"

The monk replied, "Sir! Is it not obvious!? I am the sort of man you will have to run right through with a sword."

(Credit for this can not be mine.)  - 🐉 LKL

Fixing the World - 🐉 LKL

Once there was a man reading his morning newspaper.  He was particularly interested in todays news when his 5 year old daughter wanted his attention. He really enjoyed these few moments of the day and she did not understand he would give her attention when he was done.

He noticed a map of the world on the front page and came up with a brilliant idea. He tore the map up into very small pieces and handed it to his daughter.  He said when you put the world back together, then we will spend some time together.

The man sat back smug with his coffee thinking that he would have a long time to read.  There was no way his five year old could possibly know all the countries, and this would help her learn.

It wasn't three minutes longer and his daughter brought the map back to him pieced completely back together. Amazed the man ask his daughter how she could do this so quickly.

She remarked, "It was easy.  On the other side of the world there was a picture of a man.  I put the man back together and the world turned out alright."

(This one I give credit to another whose name escapes me for now.) ~  🐉  LKL

🐉 Little Known Legends - 🐉 LKL

Legends so rare you would never hear them if I didn't tell them...

• The legends you read are true if it helps you find truth.  
• If you find them ridiculous, I might agree.  
• If you are offended by my legends they are fiction.  

In fact these legends are completely made up by me, from my own creative ability to write a good joke. Some of them I have heard from others and simply re-tell.  Others come up as topics of discussion, and some are based on real life events.

I enjoy an entertaining legend as much as the next, so forgive me if there are not enough dragons in my story.  I would very much like to read your own version with added dragons.

I will try my best to have a story scheduled to post everyday. Call it prophetic, but I know what I said before you read it.

The keep it simple guide to chakras...

If we fear we don't act..
If we feel we don't fear..
If we do then we love..
If we love then we speak..
If we speak then we see..
If we see then we know..

My Facebook Philosophy

Facebook logo Español: Logotipo de Facebook Français : Logo de Facebook Tiếng Việt: Logo Facebook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Recently I left on a long road trip.  I had gathered all my video equipment and had visions of making vlogs of my travels like so many hundreds of others have done on Youtube.  It didn't happen that way though.  I gave it a few shots, took some photos, and videos but my attention was always on what I was doing, and who I was visiting with.

I never saw Facebook as a destructive thing.  I always kept my post positive and PC and it never gave me a headache.  The realization I had was at a point in my vacation where I was ignoring the company I was with to browse Facebook. I wasn't focusing on the friends in my presence and what for?

I did an experiment and the next time I opened Facebook I counted how many post I viewed before I found anything that was entertaining. I counted 20 the first time.  There were many post by friends past, old crushes, acquaintances, and friends from old lives that have well moved on. There was also a ton of click bait.

The next time I went on Facebook I counted over forty post and ads before I got distracted with some click bait.

I thought about Facebook for a long time before deciding to de-activate it. This was about halfway through my road trip to visit my dad in Albuquerque. Quickly I realized how many other apps on my phone require my Facebook account. Waze, Oculus, and my contacts all use Facebook.

I went through logging out and de-activating several more times over the next few days. I was heading up through Denver and wanted to visit an old friend so I needed to get ahold of her on Facebook.  Then I de-activated it once again.

All this de-activating and activating got me out of the habit of checking Facebook all the time.  I was pretty happy with that until I started receiving messages from friends that thought I deleted them, or blocked them. I had no idea that I would be accused of being shady for not having an online presence.
I learned a lot.  I learned that you can look away from Facebook, but will have hell to pay if you quit. Many apps won't work and apparently if you do not have an online presence anymore and are capable of doing so you will be ostracized and lose trust.

Times have changed.  I guess I am just getting older. I choose to write long winded articles that nobody that actually know me read.  I am sure some people that actually do know me read it, but mostly just find what I write when they are looking for it.

My new philosophy on Facebook.

You cannot get rid of Facebook without a negative social stigma, and many apps you can not use without an account.

Many westerners believe that Buddhist don't like photographs because it steals their soul. That is actually not true at all, but was an early mis-interpretation. They believe that photos do not reflect the present - so looking at them reminds you of what was in the past in the present.  It is not a bad or evil thing, but a twist that can take away from living in the present.

Facebook is like a life photograph I suppose. It shows that you have had nothing to hide as long as you make little glimpses of your life out publicly. It doesn't really, but that seems to be the stigma.  Unfortunately when I find someones Facebook I too feel I know more about them, but do I? I have only met very few old friends from a long time ago, and I would have been better off meeting a stranger.  I did not know them at all and my perception of them was distorted by years of flowery post.  I assumed they were everything they portrayed.  I fell for the pretty packaging.  We all do, that is why there is so much.  We don't advertise the bad things about ourselves, our problems, or quirks.

That is why I blog.  I like to write my thoughts out in lots of words.  I like to imagine that someone will read this and actually comprehend what I am saying.  I don't really care to hear from you unless you want to disagree with me,  you want to challenge my train of thought, set me on a straight path, or enlighten me. That is the only way I refine what I believe.

Socrates said, "I can teach you nothing, only make you think." I like to think and it is a past time.  I don't want to drive those I love crazy with it, and I certainly don't want to hear every opinion on what I write.

For years I have had Facebook, and for years I have been blogging.  I have deleted some blogs, but mostly all reflect my thoughts, feelings, and philosophy at the time I wrote them.

So I will have a Facebook.  I will not be checking it, and hopefully all those apps I use don't distract my friends list. Instead I will by happily sharing my life as I do on my blog.

As for Facebook.. There is a time and a place for it, it is a tool. I will be using my other tools, where I can type many more words and express myself in long winded tangents.