It’s 5:00 on Sunday Night and We’re Still in Utah. Work is Going to Suck Tomorrow!

But oh boy was it worth it! What a long crazy weekend it was on my first trip to the Navajo Reservation. You’ll notice I didn’t say The Rez. I feel like that’s one of those terms that only Natives can use because it seems slightly racial when coming from a bilagaana like myself. For those who don’t know, that means “white man” so for Jenn’s friends and family, I know when you’re talking about me, ha-ha.

Jenn, her two boys, and I kicked off the weekend by leaving about 4 hours later than our desired 7:00 AM departure. The reason for the late start was because Jenn was sick and needed to sleep. Unfortunately, this would be a major issue for most of the weekend, with her not really feeling even half-way normal again until Sunday morning. Despite the sickness, she soldiered on during our drive. We had made it all the way to Flagstaff when a National Monument sign caught my attention. It was for Sunset Crater National Monument. We had already passed by when we decided we wanted to turn back and check it out. Before the boys could object we were making a U-turn on the highway and headed back.

Sunset Crater was the first volcanic area I’ve ever visited, so I was fascinated by the lava rocks and the ash throughout the landscape. We did a short hike on the Lave Flow Trail. It was really interesting to see how the lava rock flowed like a river before hardening. It was also fascinating to see how many areas had become completely infertile from the ash. In the same area there were Pueblo several pueblo ruins. We stopped at the Wukoki Ruins. The house was massive and comparable to the Casa Grande Ruins we visited a few weeks ago. There were about 3 other ruins in the area that we had to skip because of time. In the end it was another $20 toward my National Parks & Monuments pass. Only $50 more to go until my pass has paid for itself.

Lava Flow Trail

Wukoki Ruins

We were back on the road for the 2^nd half of the trip. We made a quick stop for dinner at Cameron Trading Post. The Navajo Taco there is delicious and the fry bread is amazing! Our waiter turned out to be an actor who had appeared a Twilight movie and has many shirtless photos available on the Internet. I’m convinced Jenn recognized him from the skin-tight t-shirt, but she claims she was told by another customer. Only joking of course :)

We got to her family's home around 9 PM and got to rest for about 5 minutes before we were back on the road to a local Chapter House to pick up a cake for the party the next day. This would become a very familiar road before the end of the weekend. In fact, the first thing we did the next day was wake up and get back on that road to Page, AZ. Page is the closest large town to their home so all told there would be 4 trips to Page and 3 back before the weekend was over.

Because Jenn was under the weather, Saturday turned into a pretty uneventful day. We had to scrap plans to go to Horseshoe Bend and only had about 20 minutes to go to a scenic view of Page Dam and Lake Powell. The rest of the day was spent eating dinner, laying next to Jenn while she tried to sleep off the sickness, and going back to Page for the high school graduation ceremony of her nephew. And just like that we were passed out on the futon until morning.

Sunday came and Jenn was finally feeling like herself again, so we decided to pack in as much as possible. Upset that she missed out on all the adventures we could have had on Saturday, Jenn decided to dial it up to eleven. She suggested we add an extra hour and a half in the wrong direction to our trip home by going to Monument Valley. She had a willing partner in me, but we figured it best not to tell the boys until we already on our way.

First we took the boys and Jenn's nephew to Horseshoe Bend. Of course they thought it was boring, but I was in awe. There is a reason it is probably the second most photographed site in Arizona behind the Grand Canyon. I heard someone complain that there needs to be a railing there for safety. I fought every urge to punch them in the face.

Horseshoe Bend

Next it was off to Monument Valley. The drive was beautiful with great views of Navajo Mountain. On the trip a second National Monument caught our eyes and before we knew it we tacked another 18 miles onto the trip by going to Navajo National Monument. To my dismay, the cost to view this Monument was $0, so no more work toward that $80 pass. Navajo Monument was amazing to see from a distance, but we didn't have time for the guided tour down into the canyon to view it up close.

Finally, we were on our way to Monument Valley with 3 very cranky boys in the backseat at this point. The drive to Monument Valley from Kayenta is amazing too. The entire time I thought the things I was seeing were part of the monuments because they were that spectacular. I learned that saying hello in Navajo at the gate to the park means you get free admission because they know you're a tribe member. But for some reason I think if I rolled up and said "Yaateh" (accents missing), they'd probably keep the conversation going and I'd just hand over my $20 after the next sentence. I know there is science that can provide theory and maybe even fact for how the structures in the valley were formed, but this is one of those things that makes me believe there was more than just nature involved. I wish I could have sat and stared all day, and I really wish we had time to hike down into the Valley, but then the title for this article came into play and it was time to get our butts on the road.

Monument Valley

So other than unforgettable scenery, what were my takeaways from this trip. As always, it was the simple things that will stick with me. Jenn told me that her mother moved back to the ranch after years of living in a town when her children were all grown up. I can certainly understand the appeal. There are people who wouldn't want to spend a night without running water or having to use an outhouse. I can't say I blame them because that is something I wasn't exactly a huge fan of. However, the trade-off is worth. To wake up in the morning and take your cup of coffee outside to look at the beautiful/peaceful landscape that surrounds their land would be worth every bit of it. Sometimes I think our species screwed up so bad when we decided to forfeit serenity in the name of "progress".

Now to spend the rest of my night Googling "Tiny Houses"

This Week's Deal: My Deal!

My Deal

Last week Jenn's Deal crushed every post I've had to this date in views! Thank you to my amazing girlfriend for helping me with the first Deal of the Week! This week, I've chosen my favorite design, The Smileyberg. This unique design is a little bit like me: unique, strange, a little twisted, but all in good fun.

The shirt reads: "Smileyberg Amusement Park: Voted #1 in Embalming & Cremation Services, A Division of Rogue Wanderer". For this week only I'm offering this design for only $20! Get yours now!

Weekly Special - Smileyberg

Women's Smileyberg $20.00 USD Men's Smileyberg $20.00 USD

Sizes

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A Fortune Cookie Made Me Do It: The Biggest Wandering Moves To Date

I'll never forget the night my brother called me. I was in a car with some of my college buddies driving back to my hometown for a funeral of a good friend's father. The gloom of the night was intensified by the chilling North Dakota winds, blowing snow, and treacherous road conditions. It was my 23rd North Dakota winter and it would end up being my last.

Tom called while I was sitting in the backseat, thankful I wasn't the one trying to navigate the roadways. He had just purchased a house in the Phoenix area and wanted to know if I was interested in becoming one of his roommates. Based on the situation I was in at the time alone, you would think I would have jumped at the chance. The 80 degree temps he had dealt with that day were a lot more tempting than the -20 we were having.

Despite the desire to jump at the opportunity, I knew I better take a little bit of time to think it over. I had barely been out of ND in my life. A few trips to Minnesota, Montana, Canada, and a few vacations in various parts of the country was about the only extent of my travel. I have never been to Arizona and I knew my brother and his roommate and absolutely no one else. Phoenix wasn't one of the hot spots in the relocation pipeline for NDSU grads like Minneapolis, Denver, or Chicago. In addition to all of this, my brother was 5 years older so we really hadn't been all that close.

In comparison, North Dakota represented comfort. It was everything I'd ever known with everyone I'd ever known. The majority of my college friends had also been my high school friends. A large group of us moved to Fargo for school and instead of branching out to find new people to hang out with we just welcomed new people into our group. I couldn't have asked for better people in my life and I still think they are the best people I may ever know. Leaving them behind was by far the biggest fear I had about the possible move.

For weeks I bounce back and forth. Debating on whether to keep my retail job and stay in Fargo until I found a career position or take some chances. I thought about making the move to Minneapolis to be with my friends who had moved to The Cities. And of course I weighed Tom's offer which was probably the riskiest on the table. This debate carried into finals week with still no clear answer. I had finished all of my finals and went to work at my job at Menards. The debate was still heavy on my mind when I took my lunch and headed to the Chinese buffet across the street. I gorged myself in kung pao and grilled salmon and finally cracked open the fortune cookie to see:

(Not the actual fortune)

I called my brother before I left the table to let him know his new roommate would be down in a few weeks.

Moving to Arizona, ended up being one of the best choices I ever made in my life. I miss my friends and family like crazy a lot of the time, but I was never meant for North Dakota. I wasn't a hunting, fishing, snow sport lover. Plain and simple, I hated cold weather! I am a firm believer that Seasonal Affective Disorder is real, so 8 months of cold weather wasn't the best for my mental health.

After a few months of living in AZ, I was reading Facebook posts about the cold weather on a mid-October night from the Dakotans. Realizing it was in the mid-80s here, I decided to throw on my shoes and take advantage of the weather. My near 300 lb frame didn't make it very far in that night's run, but I had a new taste for the outdoors of my new climate. The running continued, the pounds came off, and I had a new appreciation for life. Although, the weight has fluctuated a bit the love of Arizona has not.

A few week's after I started running, I began to realize that I was not really loving the job I had started as my first role in AZ. I was a salesperson, selling things I didn't care about to clients I didn't care about. Don't get me wrong, I love selling a product I have a passion for and believe in. However, fluid flow products were not that product. I was frustrated in my work life when I went to lunch at Panda Express and opened a slightly more vague fortune cookie that read:

(Also not the original fortune)

I may have been stretching to find meaning on this one a little bit, but I walked into my boss's office that afternoon and told her I was going to start looking for a new job.

In the end I landed a job I have loved for 8 years now. I get to help people learn and try to better their lives. I even get to do crazy things in my educational journey, like decide at 32 years old with two business Masters degrees under my belt that I want to pursue an Information Systems masters next. Yet another fortune cookie success in my book. 

A few week's ago I was out to dinner with my girlfriend and her son. I'm sure you can all guess where this is headed:

(The actual fortune)

For the sake of this website, let's hope this one is just as good as the others. 

I'm A Failure And I'm Damn Proud Of It

Before I get into this week's topic let me say I'm super excited to get back to traveling next weekend. We'll be headed to my girlfriend's mom's place on the Navajo Reservation. This will be my first time on this reservation so I'm interested to see how similar it is to the stories she tells. On a side note, I'll never forget having deliver an air conditioner to a trailer on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa reservation back home. My boss for a summer job I worked for about two weeks sent me alone to drop it off. I was about 20 miles from any town and hadn't seen a person or a house in miles, when a group of about 4 kids ran out in front of the truck into the ditch on the other side of the road and vanished. That was enough to freak the hell out of me. I pretty much just pushed the AC off the truck as fast as possible and tried to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, I caught a wire to the side of the leg while unloading it and still have the scar today. But I digress...

Back to the topic at hand. I was riding high last week. Every post was cracking the all-time top 10 viewed list. The Guest Wanderer spot was a huge success and my ad revenue for May was already close to matching the total for April. So I decided to take a shot and see if the momentum would carry over.

By financial measures any business person would probably classify my first "weekend sale" as a failure. I certainly didn't meet my dream scenario and I will not be leaving my day job for this full-time anytime soon. The fact is that after shipping is taken care of, I WILL LOSE MONEY. I know, that is a terrible phrase in business. However, I view the weekend as a total success. I broke my all-time sales record. I won't give specific numbers here. I'll save that for BABB's monthly recap. This means even though I expect to lose money people will be wearing my stuff and that's pretty cool!

So if I consider this to be a success, why would I title this article "I'm a failure..." In the U.S. we hate the word failure. I have personally spent thousands of hours of my life consoling students who thought something they did made them a "failure" and trying to help them pick up the pieces. Although the prevailing view in the U.S. is negative, I view failure as an extremely positive thing. I do need to take a moment to put this statement in context. Failure without learning is a wasted opportunity, but learning from failure is the best teacher I've had in my life. My apologies to every teacher I've ever had at Ely Elementary, Rugby High School, North Dakota State University, University of Phoenix, and Western International University but I didn't learn nearly as much from you as I did from my mistakes. In education, the learning occurred when I got my first C's in Applied Calculus and Chemistry my Freshman year. Honestly, this occurred because I was more worried about how to get my hands on a 30-pack of Miller High Life than taking a few minutes to review my lecture notes. I was devastated and knew I had to change some things in my life. My priorities improved only because of this failure to meet the expectations I had for myself. My taste in beer, however, improved when I had more than $13.99 to spend.

Even after learning from failure it never really dawned on me how negative we view the concept until a few years ago when I read a great book called Mistakes Were Made: But Not by Me. The book was a little bit of a life changer for me because it reminded me of how much I learned from my mistakes. In relationships, all of my friends told me I should stay away from a girl I dated. They explained to me the reasons we weren't compatible but explanation is not a great teacher. Failure was the teacher here. When things went South they went way South. To this day, she is the only person I dated that I never had contact with again after things ended. From that failure, I learned what I do not want from a relationship. I then proceeded to fail about 50 more times to find someone I could connect with before I finally found my current girlfriend. I carry these lesson with me in every interaction I have with Jenn. Sadly, for her that means that I'm probably a little more communicative than she would like sometimes.

At work I've failed at some point in all of these categories: job interviews, projects, day-to-day interactions, dealing with stress, working with students, becoming a faculty member, creating a new position for myself, coaching my teammates, developing connections, giving constructive criticism. communication, managing up, handling criticism, and on and on. This is the shortlist of things I've failed at. These are literally just the items I could think about with a specific memory attached in the time I wanted to take to write this article. Give me a full day and I could come back with a 200 page report. But with every one of these items not only is there a memory there is a lesson I learned. This brings me to another one of my word math equations:

Failure + Surrender = Absolute Failure
But 
Failure + Tenacity = Unstoppable Force

About a year ago, I stood in front of a Toastmasters group and gave a speech with a very similar tone to this article. I told them about all the times I failed, about how it's such a negative concept in our culture, and how I view it as a great teacher. I explained an excerpt from Mistakes Were Made that talked about how Chinese children are taught math by being required to stand in front of the class and work out a problem until they get it correct. In our culture, the kids would probably laugh at the mistakes until the child was completely embarrassed. The teacher would mercifully let the child sit down and call on a volunteer. But for the Chinese children, the class doesn't tease. They support and learn from the mistakes the other child makes. I relayed all of this information to the Toastmasters group. They all clapped and appeared to take in the message and I was happy. As the meeting wrapped up at least 3 people took the time to come up to me to say "Great speech. Don't be so hard on yourself. You're not a failure." I guess I failed to get my message across.

With that, let me demonstrate a little tenacity by debuting this new design for (you guessed it)....$20. This week only:

Weekly Special - Randy's Diner

Women's Failure T $20.00 USD Men's Failure T $20.00 USD

Sizes

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Announcing the Rogue Wanderer Deal of the Week!

Jenn's Deal

The First Guest Wanderer Special went so well that I've decided to make weekly deals a part of the site moving forward. For this week's deal I asked my girlfriend which shirt she liked best. She went with one from my Story Series called Randy's Diner. Sure I don't know if she liked it because my name was in it or if it's because it's her favorite color sky blue, but I love this one too!

The shirt reads: "Randy's Diner (no food service available) Tax Preparation & Accounting Services"- A Division of Rogue Wanderer. It's strange, unique, and the result of thinking like a 4th Grader.

DEAL HAS ENDED! CHECK OUT THE CURRENT DEAL OF THE WEEK

The Unlikely Wanderer - Lynsey Van Nevel

Foreword

Finally, we have someone with actual credentials to lend some credibility to this site! In college, Lynsey worked for the University of North Dakota student newspaper and interned at our hometown paper The Pierce County Tribune, which is exactly two more newspapers than me.

Lynsey sent me a message a few weeks ago asking to write for Rogue Wanderer. She mentioned that she missed writing and thought this would be a great opportunity to get back into it. She has her own blog, but hasn't been writing much for it because there are no set deadlines. This seemed like a good challenge for me too since I'm not great about planning. This whole site did come to be because of my hatred for plans. Now I have a reason to plan out future articles so that she can have the deadlines she needs.

I look forward to the different perspective she can bring to this site because she lives in Georgia. Oh and also because she is a woman, a mother, a wife, a daughter, and has completely different life experiences than me. You can check out more of her work at LynseyVanNevel.blogspot.com. - Randy

The Unlikely Wanderer

I’m probably the person you would least expect to call a wanderer. When I booked a park for my son’s first birthday party, my sister laughed and said, “YOU booked an outdoor party?” I assured her that I had a contingency plan if it rained. She just looked at me and said, “But you and Trevor never go outside!”

It’s true. Nature and I have had an adverse relationship over the years. At 14, I was diagnosed with Polymorphic Light Eruption, which is the medical term for “mild sun allergy.” That diagnosis was followed up 12 years later with a diagnosis of “severe grass allergies.” It’s really like I was born to live in a bubble. Thanks to modern medicine, I can spend time outside on a regular basis. I wear sunblock daily (which we all should) and I buy Sudafed and Benedryl in bulk at warehouse stores. When I take these precautions, I can live a normal life outdoors. Until recently, I just haven’t chosen to go outside.

I was a teacher in one capacity or another for six years before my son was born in 2015. I voraciously studied teaching. I was constantly looking into new philosophies that I could incorporate into my teaching. I read about Ron Clark’s 55 Essential Rules, Gardener’s multiple intelligences theories, differentiated education, Montessori education, classical Christian education, unschooling, Waldorf education….If you could name an educational system, I probably read about it.

One thing that constantly stuck out to me was the importance of play and rest within education. Students need down time, and students need chances to explore the information on their own. They need chances to discover. They need to spend time in nature, away from technology, to really find peace in their souls.

It occurred to me this spring that if students benefit from this, shouldn’t adults, too? I realized that my current life of living in air conditioned comfort binge watching The Walking Dead probably isn’t the best long term plan for health and wellness, nor is it a great example for my son. I grew up on a cattle ranch in North Dakota. I had hundreds of acres of pastureland to explore with my sister. We spent many summer afternoons discovering things like shed deer antlers, enormous ant hills, and abandoned homesteads.

I want my son to have that kind of experience. However, we live in a suburb of Atlanta. Our quarter acre lot doesn’t afford much space for deer to wander in and shed their antlers. We have a few colorful birds that fly in to graze at our bird feeder and a wiley chipmunk that shimmies up the bird feeder a few times a day. Other than that, it’s pretty tame around here. We get pretty excited if we see a gecko or a stray cat in our yard.

My in laws came to visit in March, and they informed us that they would be staying at Chattahoochee Bend State Park. It was, shamefully, only my second visit to a state park in the 7 years we have lived in Georgia. While we were there helping them get their RV set up, we learned that we could get a state parks pass for $80 a year. We calculated that we would need to visit the parks 17 times in a  year to save money if we made the purchase. With many of Georgia’s state parks in close proximity to one another, it’s a very doable goal. It’s also the answer to my struggles to raise a wee wanderer on a quarter acre of a suburban subdivision.

In the next year, we are planning to utilize all the benefits we are entitled to as “Friends of Georgia State Parks.” That means free admission to all the parks, two nights of free camping, reduced priced lodging (in cabins, cottages, or yurts), discounted tickets on the SAM shortline railroad, and the tremendous opportunity to show my son that there is more to life than binge watching Daniel Tiger on Netflix in our living room.

Wandering through Self-Doubt, Uncharted Territory, and Feminine Waxing

A weekend full of homework and helping my girlfriend move is not exactly my ideal scenario for writing these posts. I would love to pack up every single weekend and hit the road. However, there are these things called adult responsibilities that keep getting in the way. That doesn't mean there is an excuse for not doing or seeing something new in pursuit of expanding my horizons. As I look back at the weekend, I realize the homework and helping the person I love move are two very new concepts to me.

The self-doubt started early on Friday, I tucked into my usual spot in the campus learning center and thought I would pump out my paper for the week in my typical few hours and be ready to go for the weekend. But this time was much different. This was my first homework in my new program and the first IT related homework I've done in probably a decade. I stared at the screen for hours trying to come up with a good case study topic for IT project management only to abandon it to take my Mom to the airport. After that task was complete, I sat down to try again and failed miserably a second time before finally calling it quits to go to the new Captain America move with Jenn and her son. I woke up early Saturday and stared at the screen for a while longer before deciding it was time to go for a drive to clear my head. 

Driving to think is kind of like my metaphorical vestigial tail left over from my days of growing up in North Dakota. I think most small town kids can relate to the concept of dragging main (driving up and down the same street over and over again) and for me it wasn't just a boredom thing. It was a time of reflection. To this day, I haven't really found anything to replicate it. My apologies to my environmentalist friends, but sometimes I just have to burn through some gas. Finally, after about an hour of aimless driving, I realized I needed to shed the self-doubt. Even thought I'm not a programmer or software developer I can bring something of value to the paper. With the writer's block and self-doubt broken, the paper practically wrote itself. This also led me to another conclusion, it is possible for me to write about pretty much anything, as long as I approach it from an outside consultant perspective. Be on the look out for my new website Roguish Advice later this month. My first article will be about parenting from the guy with no kids.

With the homework situation squared away it was on to phase 2 of the weekend, helping my girlfriend move. This was certainly a new experience for me because I've never had to help someone I cared so much about go through that process. Moving has always been related to sad feelings in my mind. I think that's because every great TV show finale seems to involve moving or leaving something behind. There's always that last scene when the characters close the door on their apartment, house, or in the case of my favorite finale bar (Cheers) and then it fades to black. I think of that every time I leave a place I know I'll probably never come back to, even campsites lately. It's just a sad feeling! It's been tough watching Jenn go through this process because she has more memories in that house than I've ever had in a place I've lived. I cannot imagine the difficulty of leaving behind the place she has watched her children grow up in. This is where the really new thing comes in for me. For the first time in my life, I care deeply enough about someone to want to be there even when she doesn't ask to provide support and be a shoulder to cry on.

Okay, enough of the really sad stuff. Let's talk feminine waxing! The new territory here is that I've made it deep enough into a relationship to ask questions you just don't ask when you're in things for only a few months. This truly was my favorite part of the weekend. It came at a moment of high stress. I knew things were starting to take toll on Jenn, so I did my best to get her mind off of it by having her over to have lunch. After eating we laid around and just talked about anything that came to our minds. I love these moments so much because my comfort level gets so high. Finally, the question came to my mind "what do women talk about when they are getting waxed?" and "Are there ever male waxers?" For the guys out there who have never had the chance to ask these questions the answers are "every day things, weather, occupation, etc" and "No". This got me thinking about how hilarious this same situation would be if guys had to go through it. Would we talk to our male waxer about sports, the weather, or the news with our feet up in the air?! If SNL hasn't done a sketch of this yet, they really need to.

All joking aside, these are the moments I love. The moments when I can lay next to her saying whatever stupid thing comes to my mind in hopes that it will make her laugh. The fact that she never gets mad about it and that occasional embarrassed giggle when I hit just the right amount of inappropriateness. I'm so glad I've come to know that giggle. It will be another one of those memories I hope I never forget. 

Gutter Humor, Shameless Plugs, and a Great Mother's Day Gift: 6 Things I Love So Far

I had created a post that stemmed from frustration with the state of our world. Although I still feel strong about my words, I realize it wasn't right for the tone of this page. Over the past few months, I've renewed a love of writing that had been dormant for years. Now that it's unleashed, positive and negative feelings need an outlet, but Rogue Wanderer should remain positive. For that reason, I created a page for the random stuff that just needs to come out sometimes. Rogue Goes Rogue will be that site and I'll try to keep them separate as much as possible.

In place of that post, I think this is good time to do a recap post. You know, like when the lead characters of a TV show get trapped in a room, get in a fight, then reflect on the good times they had before patching things up. And for added appeal let's make it a listicle. For those not familiar with the term that's a list that reads like an article, not a list of my favorite testicles. Get your minds out of the gutter. The great thing about listicles is that the number of items in the list doesn't have to have any rhyme or reason.

With that, here are my top 6 favorite things since the site launched.

6. Coming up with Concepts other People Think are Crazy: I've seen it so many times now. I'll admit when I get excited about something, the way I present it doesn't always make sense to anyone outside of my head. I've seen the blank stares and the doubtful expressions when I tell someone a new article idea or t-shirt design or my new marketing idea. The perfect example is an idea that I've told a few people about so far, Wanderer Tag. If all goes to plan I should be kicking that off next week. But I can see it in people's eyes, they don't get the concept or they think there is no way it will succeed. If it does, I may have a viral marketing campaign. If it doesn't, I'm out $13.50. I love any idea with a potential huge upside with little investment. Even if they fail, who cares, just go back to the drawing board.

5. Realizing People Like What I am Doing: At this point in time, I should stress this is not a large group of people. From my perspective I love the page view numbers. Nearly 2,000 views in April feels like a good start to me, but I have nothing to judge that against. There is not a ton of feedback. I'd almost welcome some trolling, just to find out how people feel. I hope people like what I write, but I'm sure they are ready for me to stop filling their feeds. I'm sure 90% of my Facebook friends have hidden my posts by now. It's understandable, but I am proud of what I'm doing so until more people like the Rogue Wanderer FB page, I'll continue double posting. I love hearing kind things from my girlfriend and my family members, but I'm starting to doubt they even read my stuff anymore (consider this a test, Jenn). Either way, I'm thankful they try to build me up. But it has been the people who have no reason to try to build me up, but still took the time to reach out that give me a hint I might be on the right track occasionally.

4. Getting My First T-shirt in the Mail: I am still so damn proud of that thing. I think it turned out awesome, it fits great, and it was something I did myself. When asked who they are wearing not many people can say "me". Even if no one else buys my stuff, I think I'll probably design a lot for myself. I think my designs can be just as cool as anything else out there, so I'm proud to sport Rogue Wanderer. You should be too (shameless plug).

3. Realizing People Love Tampon Jokes: I am still amazed this post did as well as it did. It was just a weekend spent hanging around Phoenix. Until I sat down to write this post, I had forgotten everything else about the post I just refer to as the tampon joke one. I'm pretty sure the tampon jokes are what reeled everyone in, but I hope that my message of finding something I was passionate about is what resonated. I wish I would have sold thousands of shirts the day I put out my first designs, but I'm not exactly ready to quit my day job to pursue this full-time yet. That doesn't mean that I plan on giving up on this anytime soon. Aside from the tampon jokes, that post was about finding a new path in life. So far, I love my decision to go into an IT related program. I'm quickly realizing that the IT approach of constantly being ready to adapt is more my style than other management styles out there. This site led me, wandering though it may have been, down that path so I am thankful.

2. But They Love (the) Jesus (Guy) More: I knew this was a provocative title when I wrote it and I knew that would draw attention to it. But sometimes you have to grab attention to make a point. The thing that still amazes me about this one is the fact it is about 50% more popular than any post I've done, despite no real use of humor. The Jesus Guy story was a catchy title with a heartfelt reflection. It was also one of the moments when I knew pretty much every detail I put down on the page that night was from the heart. It was the moment when I realized if I want this to work, I need to write from my heart. I need to tap even deeper than I had been to that point. Almost every post that I've done had some sentimental value to me, but that was the one where I knew there was a deeper reserve to be tapped.

1. The First Trip:Nothing will ever compare to your first. The awkward moments. Not really knowing what you're doing. Upset that it couldn't last longer. Groping for the zipper...the tent zipper in the dark of night. Seriously, get your minds out of the gutter, people. I will never forget the excitement and energy of picking up at the last second and heading out. It got me so energized, I picked up my computer mid-way through packing and came up with a blog name and first post before we hit the road. This was such an important moment because it was the moment I recovered from a depressing period. I had been dealt a huge blow, realizing I had no clue what I wanted to do or who I really was. It seems crazy to me that I can be 32 years old and still be so clueless. With that first trip, all of that was forgotten. I was reinvigorated and it still hasn't worn off. After that weekend, I was no longer a lost 32-year old, instead I was just wandering. Now that I have been exposed to this thought, I have started to recognize that some very successful people had the same trait. There were also some miserable failures, but forget that! I'm staying positive here!

Final Thought: Congrats, if you made it this far. You are a trooper! Before I left for work this morning (technically yesterday morning now) I put together a post that was a plea for my friends to help me out by sharing and inviting others to like my page. It stung a little that there was almost no reaction, but I realize FB is not the place for long posts. The only way this is going to work is if I can get more people reading my work and I think I exhausted my personal reach, so please if you like what I do, buy 100,000 t-shirts so I can quit my day job to focus on this. Or you could just use the share buttons at the bottom of the page to help a budding entrepreneur out a little. That, my friends, is a sales technique of asking for something big so the small request seems more reasonable. But seriously, if someone wants 100,000 tees Mother's Day is just around the corner!

Inspired by 4th Graders, Brought to Life by a 24th Grader

Despite having spent 24 of my 32 years on the planet going to school, it took talking to a group of 4th graders to come up with this design concept.

I sat in Mrs. Busby's 4th Grade class trying to teach the kids about entrepreneurs and trying to explain my "no concept" business strategy. Just when I thought I was starting to make some progress, a tiny hand went up in the air. When called upon, the child said "I think you should call your business Randy's Restaurant". I explained to him that I wasn't planning on selling food. He responded with a simple, "so what?". With that this line of tees was born....

All shirts are available in men's and women's sizes S-XL. Willing to accept special requests for sizes and colors. Just email roguewandering@gmail.com with the color or size and I'll get back to you. All payments handled securely through PayPal, debit and credit cards accepted. Thanks, Randy.

The Story Series

Smileyberg

Randy's Diner

Jim's Heating & AC

The Story Series

Men's Smileyberg $30.00 USD Men's Randy's Diner $30.00 USD Men's Jim's Heating & AC $30.00 USD Women's Smileyberg $30.00 USD Women's Randy's Diner $30.00 USD Women's Jim's Heating & AC $30.00 USD

Size

Small Medium Large X-Large

Guest Wanderers Are Coming!

I'm excited to say I have been contacted by two bloggers who have expressed interest in doing Guest Wanderer spots in the upcoming weeks and hopefully into the future. I'm excited to get some new voices for the page, since I'm sure everyone is ready for a break from my ramblings. With that, here is a reminder about the Guest Wanderer program. Hit me up if you're interested!

Rogue Wanderer is welcoming Guest Wanderers!

If you're interested in writing a piece for the website let me know. You can comment at the bottom of this article, message me at the Facebook page, or contact me by any method of communication if you know me personally. There is no compensation at this time, but guest blogging is a great way to get exposure for your writing to a new audience. I'm also open to writing guest blogs for your site in return. 

If selected guests are welcome (and encouraged) to share links to their articles and republish articles and pictures to personal sites. Once accepted and published Guest Wanderers relinquish the right to request to have their work removed from the site (but I'm open to removal if the situation warrants). I reserve the right to remove the work at a later date. Posts may also be included in featured posts sections of the site or on a separate page for guest posts and may be republished by Rogue Wanderer at a later date. Any submitted work may be edited for style, grammar, or length. If edits are made, you will be allowed final approval of the work. Basically, don't worry I won't be a jerk :)

National Monuments vs. Historical Group Monuments: Not a Tough Choice

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument

VS.

Lost Dutchman Monument

Far be it for me to every criticize a monument, but the latter of these two was a little bit of let down. The pile of rocks known as the Geographical Center Monument in my hometown, puts the Lost Dutchman Monument to shame. On the other hand, the first of our two day trip stops for the weekend was actually pretty cool and impressive. Late Saturday afternoon, after watching 3 boys basketball games and going to the mall, we still had plenty of time to head to Coolidge, AZ to check out the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument. Oddly enough, this monument is not located in Casa Grande, AZ, so if you go to Casa Grande looking for Casa Grande someone will probably just point you to a big house and you will be quite unimpressed.

Casa Grande Ruins is the closest national monument to the Phoenix area. A quick 45 minute drive on AZ 87 will have you there in no time. The ruins are quite amazing to look at especially the Great House compound. To think it was possible to construct such a large structure before the invention of modern tools is amazing. If you have the time be sure to watch the video in the visitor's center. It does a great job describing the culture and life the of the ancient Sonoran people. I'm always impressed when I'm reminded of the engineering ability they used in designing their canal systems. 

In probably the best decision of the day, I finally forked over the $80 for a National Parks and Monuments annual pass. Casa Grande would have been $10 for the two of us, so only $70 until it's paid for itself. I have a feeling it will be paid for many times over in the next year. Great investment for anyone who wants to do some serious wandering in our nation's beautiful parks and monument areas.

The second "monument" (and believe me the quotes are appropriate) we visited was the Lost Dutchman Monument in Apache Junction. Honestly, this was just something I saw on a sign on our way out to the Superstition Mountains area on Sunday afternoon. Thankfully, we hadn't gone to AJ with the sole intent of visiting the "monument". On a side note, if I die and someone wants to build a monument for me, great! But if it looks like the one above, please don't put a big sign directing traffic toward it like it's a big deal. Thank you in advance. 

The real reason we were there was to take advantage of a Groupon Jenn had gotten for Superstition Zipline in Goldfield. I think she summed it up best in her comments about it on Facebook, it was good, cheesy fun. It wasn't a long ride and it was all done in about 45 seconds. I will say it does get a little freaky when you come into the end, only because it seems for a second like you might crash, but at no point is the zipline going all that fast and it doesn't get very high. Despite this we were suckered into a second go-round because we wanted to capture it on the GoPro, so here it is:

After, we finished ziplining we walked around the Goldfield Ghost Town for a bit. It really wasn't the type of ghost town I enjoy. Everything there was just a cash grab, so it was all about trying to make it seem like an old west town. Given the choice, I'll take an actual ghost town over a tourist trap any day. But all in all it was a fun day.

I always like to try to work in a little bit of a personal lesson and this weekend was definitely not an exception to my own learning and growth. As much as I try to revolt against the concept of planning, there are times when I need to realize that I'm not the only one involved in my plans anymore. I have someone who I care about deeply and yes (even though I've said it thousands of times to her personally, I'll say it here for the first time) someone I love who is impacted by these plans. 

On Sunday, we had our plans in place for the day: Breakfast, finish watching a movie, then head out somewhere for the day. I followed through on the first two parts, but let a little laziness set in momentarily and gave off the signal that final part of the plan was out. I did this without really asking her or explaining that I hadn't scrapped things but just didn't think we had to leave right away. I didn't really understand how much it bothered her until she indicated that she was ready to take off to do other things for the day. I feel terrible she had to go to that extreme to send the message but it was received loud and clear. I guess my point of this is that even if you want to wander, if you're going to make a relationship work you better be able to stick to the plans you make with the one you love. This is true even when the person is a bit of a wanderer themselves.

My Mission Statement: $30 is a Lot for a T-shirt!

I completely understand why anyone would say that. I'm the type of person who hasn't spent more than $20 on a shirt in probably 15 years.

Although, I personally love the quality after getting my first one, these aren't designer tees. I'll be completely transparent (I know, it's a rarity in business) until I can take on inventory, the tees will come direct from the manufacturer, which means I'm paying a pretty high price. Don't be shocked when it comes with their logo on the packaging. I could have gone with a cheaper quality base brand but I checked my closet and all the tees I love are Gildan. They are good heavy quality tees that will last. They are longer than other brands, so for those of us who are a little on the bigger side (myself included) you don't have to worry about your belly showing.

Aside from the quality and single order direct shipping, the reason these tees are worth $30 is because you will be buying into the early stages of what I hope will become a movement. I started this "company" without a direction but with a clear mission:

Mission of Rogue Wanderer: To inspire people to get out and do whatever they are passionate about. 

I hope that I can turn this mission into a prosperous company. If it turns out just to be something that I pour my personal money and I never recover a dime, that's fine too. As long as whatever comes of this idea inspires people to stop just going through the motions of life and explore the world around them, I'll be happy.

To share a personal story, there was a time when I would have considered a 23 episode Netflix binge, interrupted only by a few trips to my local sports bar, to be a successful weekend in my life. That all changed with one tough work meeting and one random weekend road trip. Less than 2 months since that day, I have published over 20 articles, designed half a dozen new designs (some still to come!), and planned a promotional road trip that has been picked up by two newspapers already.

I know the Shop page has been up for a while, but with this post I formally invite everyone to tell the world you're "Not Lost, Just Wandering".

Men's Logo T- $30

Women's Logo T - $30

T-Shirts

Men's Logo T $30.00 USD Women's Logo T $30.00 USD

Sizes

Small Medium Large XL

Of course, you can also show the world you're in with a bumper sticker if that's more your style :-)