What Makes You Come Alive
Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who come alive.— Dr. Howard Thurman Also on Wild Rye This year’s theme: Awakening
EV Challenge Day Two (and Home): Ultrafast is Worth the Wait
After spending a peaceful evening among the spectacular sandstone structures of Red Rock Canyon State Park I set out to explore a couple of ghost towns that I saw listed on a clickbait travel site in a feature called 20 Ghost Towns in California. I left Red Rock Canyon with a comfortable 40% charge and…
EV Challenge Day One: Learning Apple CarPlay
For my first day I wanted to go from Long Beach to: • California City • Burro Schmidt’s Tunnel • Red Rock Canyon State Park I was starting with a nearly full battery charge. Apple CarPlay, linked to the computer in my Ford F-150 Lightning, inserted a charging stop at an Electrify America charger in Mojave.…
EV Challenge: To Burro Schmidt’s Tunnel
Range anxiety is the boogie man if you want to roadtrip in an electric vehicle. Finding fast chargers along your route can be a kind of Easter egg hunt. And when you do find them they’re often occupied or out-of-order. I took my Ford F-150 Lightning out to Pioneertown without too much effort. I found…
A Jesus Theme Park on the Way to Joshua Tree
When I first learned about Desert Christ Park in Weird California, I put it on my bucket list because it seemed like good fodder for a snarky blog post. But instead, I found the experience strangely moving. Just about two hours outside of Los Angeles and half an hour before you reach Joshua Tree National…
Yes, You Can Put a Truck Tent in the Bed of a Pickup with a Folding Tonneau Cover
This post is just to help anybody who might be having a tough time trying to figure out if a tent will fit in the bed of their truck when they have a folding tonneau installed. I did a fair amount of searching in truck forums and couldn’t find a clear answer to the tonneau…
Pioneertown: One of the Last of the Great Movie Ranches
About two hours outside of Los Angeles is a strange landscape that feels worlds away from anywhere you’ve ever been. The hills are populated with scraggly ocotillo and creosote bush…and massive piles of boulders. If you were going to film a movie like Of Dust and Bones, this would be your place. But when you…
Kayaking in Back Bay, Newport Beach
This past week I took my blow-up kayak down to Newport Beach and went for a paddle in the Back Bay. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for over 40 years. It’s a large inland bay with a marshy wetlands and little rivulets snaking through it. The nice thing about this paddle is that right…
Ford F-150 Lightning First Run – to the Banana Stand!
Let’s say that you suddenly had a high-tech, all-electric pickup truck at your command and no nearby 10 year olds to help you figure out how the gizmos work? Where would you go on your maiden voyage? For me, that’s a no-brainer. I’m going to the Banana Stand. Why? Because that’s where the money is.…
Sunken City, Point Fermin, California
Sunken City is a section of parkway just east of Point Fermin Park in San Pedro that nature has reclaimed for its own. In the early 1920s Sunken City was a collection of high-end beach bungalows, a section of Paseo Del Mar Street and a charming walking trail very similar to the Cliff Drive section…
The Hay Tree, Paramount, California
The Hay Tree is a 120 year old camphor tree where local dairymen from Hynes and Clearwater would bid on hay back in the first part of the 20th century. I don’t think there’s any more significance to the tree beyond a couple guys saying, “hey, let’s meet under that big tree over there.” I…
2024: the Year of Microadventure
Alistair Humphreys, author and adventurer, tells a story about the moment he realized that his galavanting around the world was taking a toll on his family life. If he wanted to be present in the life of his two sons and his wife, he would have to give up his epic adventure to the South…
Awakening
Our church has a tradition on Epiphany Sunday, or this year on the Sunday after Christmas, where they provide a bowl full of cards, each one printed with a single word. At the end of the service each of us are encouraged to pick a card. We can choose a word that resonates with us.…
ActivityPub Brings Back the Early Days of the Internet
Ok, so I installed ActivityPub on my hosted WordPress blog. I can view my Wild Rye blog account (phoutz@wildrye.com) through my Mastodon account. But I can’t view any posts. Also, while Mastodon indicates that I’m following Wild Rye, my blog isn’t showing up in my followers list. I have no idea what’s wrong and wouldn’t…
Tap, tap, tap. Is this thing on?
I just installed the ActivityPub plugin and activated it. Theoretically that means this blog is now a Fediverse server. But nothing seems different. And I have no idea if it will publish to Mastodon. So let’s see. UPDATE ONE I can find my blog username via my Mastodon account. And I can follow it. But…