Freedom is Calling - Page 11 of 25 - Blog about following the call of freedom

Leaving the Realm of digital Dinosaurs behind

EW July 7, 2024

Little things that make a difference

My partner needed to do some banking. Sitting in Big Paul I waited at the parking lot of the bank, as a car with an out of town licence plate pulled up. A man got out and knocked on my side window. I lowered the window, expecting him to ask for directions as tourists often do.

“Do you have stamps?”, he asked me.

“No”, I replied somewhat puzzled.

He left muttering to himself and drove off.

Smiling to myself, I realized that the guy confused Big Paul with a vehicle of the German postal services and thought I was a postman.

The realm of apps

Up to now, I refused to install apps on my cell phone.

There was no need.

All I needed a cell phone for was making phone calls.

Call me a dinosaur, if you like.

However, with our trip ahead I needed to establish some basics: mobile internet connection to be able to work while on tour.

So, I connected my cell phone to the app store and dove into the world of apps.

That by itself is an adventure. I found a lot of useful applications: HereWeGo for navigation, Park4Night to find campgrounds to name my favorites. Also a compass app and a currency conversion app made it into my list.

When I tried out the navigation app, I found it mute. It would not talk to me. After some research, I realized that it required a language file. I found four in German. The first I downloaded was a standard voice that sounded quite scratchy. The second voice pronounced the sound of “sh” like a “ch”. Annoying. Voice number four finally met my expectation. Hurrah!

My question to you:

Do you have apps you could recommend that would be useful on our trip? Please tell me in the comments.

That’s it for now. More to come.

Be well and if you like share this post and

My special “Mono No Aware”

GEF July 7, 2024

Accept change. Better even love it, unconditionally. This was one of the wisdom codes my Eastern teachers passed on to me.

Not so easy for a Western mind that has a tendency to grab and stubbornly hold on to stuff that seems important.

When the time comes

Right now, we are ready to get on the road with Big Paul, but „circumstances“ make us step on the break.

Big Paul once again needs a car mechanic to work on the door. And the school holidays in Germany that have different starting dates in different States make us adapt our schedule, because we want to escape the unavoidable traffic jams on the Autobahn.

A great opportunity to accept change. So, when will we finally set off?
In the old days, tribal communities would have answered: „When the time comes.“
Until then, anything else can happen and you continue with your life.

This means, you’d better be patient and enjoy what comes along, because nothing will persist, not even obstacles and delays. Just trust that you will know when everything is okay and the time is right to start your trip.

Grabbing the moment

The Japanese term „Mono no aware“ translates into something like „the pathos of things“. It’s the philosophy of enjoying the fleetingness of the moment and the Japanese celebrate it every year when the cherry blossoms appear for just a couple of days.

The ability to cherish what you have in the here and now, knowing you cannot have it forever, is an art in itself. And it makes the moment worthwhile, although you might have plans for the future that are even more promising.

Furry friends are great teachers

Animals are doing a great job staying in the here and now.

A little cat reminded me of this when she kindly interrupted my straight walk to the supermarket, where I wanted to buy stuff for the road.

She came purring and nestling up against my legs for a moment. A short exchange of affabilities, we both enjoyed it very much and off she went to something else that caught her attention.

Driving through the countryside the other day, I didn’t have a chance to speed due to cow traffic. It was time for milking and all those cows were strolling along across the entire width of the street.

So the drivers just took their time watching the ballet of heaving cow butts in front of them, until every single cow had found their home barn.

No hectic, please.

Although we are really looking forward to get on the road with Big Paul soon, we still take our daily walks and enjoy what nature offers us at this time of the year.

The lime trees are in full blossom now and fill the air with their mellow honeylike fragrance.

Also, we would not want to miss the „Knabenkraut“ (Dactylorhiza), a little spotted meadow orchid that is coming up right now. Well protected by law, we nowadays can see lots of them in areas rarely used for agriculture.

And for me, the greatest advantage of the delay is that I won’t lose out on my absolute favorite fruit: Gooseberries.

These wonderful juicy berries only appear for three weeks in the month of July in our latitudes.

Others may die for icecream. I die for gooseberries. My very personal Mono no aware.

And I am going to bathe in them. And get fat from them!
Who cares!

That’s it for now. More to come.

Be well and if you like share this post and

Organizing Stuff for the Trip

EW June 30, 2024

Hey, I’m back in the German mountains.

For some reasons, I picked the hottest day for driving. Lacking air condition, it reached 45° Celcius that is 113° Fahrenheit in Big Paul’s cabin during the ride.

When I finally arrived, heavy rain and a very welcome drop in temperature greeted me.

Preparations

Boxes that so far had been filled mostly with tools, building materials and cleaning utensils need to be reorganized to harbor camping gear, our mobile “office” and personal necessities.

The task at hand is “shoveling boxes” as you may watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1sA4wiPlEiQ

What do we need and what not? Since this will be our first trip of that kind in Europe, it requires some thinking and decision making …

That’s it for now. More to come.

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Itchy Feet

GEF June 30, 2024

Bavaria – a great place to live. The illustrious city of Munich, the pictoresque villages, the idyllic lakes, the majestic Alps. I feel privileged to call all of this my home.

But even though I feel I’ve got it all, I get itchy feet.

For some people, this may look paradoxic. Because Bavaria is a favorite vacation place for many. However, even the most beautiful place becomes a habit after a while.

Maybe it’s just a deeply rooted attitude to roam about. Our species started as nomads. We love the change of scenery. We are hungry for something new.

So, I’m happy that Big Paul is running smoothly again. And I indulge in preparing for our trip.

Hey, where is my sleeping bag? Is my camera ready? Any more utensils I need to buy?

While the majority of my friends is heading South for a summer vacation in the Mediterranian, we will be going North. Rougher climate, more unspoilt nature, lesser tourists. Off the beaten track.

We’ll have internet on board, so we can share our adventures with you. We will just follow the sun that now seems to be shining forever the further North we go.

Meanwhile, we have fun anticipating and savor the fact that we don’t have to follow any schedules or meet any deadlines. The only pressure we feel every now and then is the impatience we create ourselves.

That’s it for now. More to come.

Be well and if you like share this post and