this was a great off the beaten path campsite we found in Washington
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My name is Matt. My dog Rad and I traveled this past summer cross-country. Peddling a bicycle and hitchin rides, we made our way from Oklahoma to north as far as Seattle. I started this blog for the purpose of documenting a bike trip with a dog, but in time I found it to be something more. This trip was not about a bike goin 3mph, it was about slowing life down. Pausing ones life enough to think about life before its over, & making changes to begin living the life that your designed to live.
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About Me
- Matt Josef
- "Rather than Love, than money, than fame, than fairness, give me truth." -Henry David Thoreau/ Alexander Supertramp
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Why Am I on this journey?
For almost a decade now I have been in the pursuit of developing and establishing myself and name as an artist/painter. Through various seasons consisting of complete isolation in my studios in Oregon, New Mexico, and Oklahoma to exhibitions in galleries and traveling to work festivals and shows. From extremes of utilities being shut off, painting from lantern & candles, living off of cheap alchohol and cereal. And the other extreme of having a wait list of over a year for commision work, and working as assistant gallery manager in a major gallery in Taos, NM.
Over a year ago in the midst of transporting art from one state to another, I fell in love with a woman by the name of Victoria. Never had I loved and adored someone so much! She brought out the best in me as a man and an artist, inspiring both paintings and the heart. Just as I was ready to lay down my life and give her the world, with no warning she shattered my heart and left the pieces on the side of a gravel road.
Now after time passing and my heart healing, I realize I had been given a wakeup call. Week after week, day after day, continous questions began to arise from within and arouse a part of me that has been too long dormant. I must answer the questions.
Where is my life headed? What am I doing? Indeed I have ambition, and yes I can see huge progress in my career, but am I truely living? I have no doubt that if I continue what I have been doing I will see my dreams and goals become a reality. But are those dreams birthed from within my true blueprints? Or from the influence of a progress driven society? I have loved, but have I discovered real love? What am I with all my desires? What will come of my life? And most of all, AM I HAPPY with how I am living?... I am not.
Although I have an ongoing list of unanswered life questions, being able to answer one honestly was enough to make me move into action. I beleive one must take responsibility for ones life and ones happiness. Soon after making preperations to leave the much too comfortable life of family Oklahoma, I am on the road.
I now take in aromas that drift across endless country fields. I Stop to quinch the thirst of my Austrailian Shepard(Rad) as I see hub caps hidden in tall grasses that must have been there for 20 yrs or more... I see a shade tree by a boulder-filled river that I decide to recline into my camp chair and spend the remainder of the day reading "Walden" by Thoreau. I stop at an old abandoned gas station, park the bike where pumps once were and begin to work on several watercolor paintings before making myself a tuna sandwich from my pack. I look into the distance to see the vanishing road that leads to somewhere, everywhere, and nowhere.
My anticipations come in the form of afternoon rain showers and icecream sandwiches. Perks of the job are now greasy carb filled sausage-egg-potato breakfasts that friendly campers will cook for me. A pay check is no longer deposited into an account so I can pay the credit-card companys, rent, and other bills. Instead it is a donation of 20 bucks for a watercolor that will be deposited in a sock and taken to the store to pay for bread, beans, and dogfood. The extra would have gone to bananna republic to get a new outfit for a date the comming weekend. Now the extra goes towards a dogbone and a hot shower.
My days are filled with these once overlooked simple things that hold such marvelous beauty. I do not yet have all the answers, nor do I expect to ever find them all. Still I will search to at least find what I need to know. And I have Faith that there is a God, I am watched out for, and I am loved. I believe with all my heart that I am on the right path in the right time for me to find life and life to the fullest, filled with meaning, purpose, Truth, and happiness..
Over a year ago in the midst of transporting art from one state to another, I fell in love with a woman by the name of Victoria. Never had I loved and adored someone so much! She brought out the best in me as a man and an artist, inspiring both paintings and the heart. Just as I was ready to lay down my life and give her the world, with no warning she shattered my heart and left the pieces on the side of a gravel road.
Now after time passing and my heart healing, I realize I had been given a wakeup call. Week after week, day after day, continous questions began to arise from within and arouse a part of me that has been too long dormant. I must answer the questions.
Where is my life headed? What am I doing? Indeed I have ambition, and yes I can see huge progress in my career, but am I truely living? I have no doubt that if I continue what I have been doing I will see my dreams and goals become a reality. But are those dreams birthed from within my true blueprints? Or from the influence of a progress driven society? I have loved, but have I discovered real love? What am I with all my desires? What will come of my life? And most of all, AM I HAPPY with how I am living?... I am not.
Although I have an ongoing list of unanswered life questions, being able to answer one honestly was enough to make me move into action. I beleive one must take responsibility for ones life and ones happiness. Soon after making preperations to leave the much too comfortable life of family Oklahoma, I am on the road.
I now take in aromas that drift across endless country fields. I Stop to quinch the thirst of my Austrailian Shepard(Rad) as I see hub caps hidden in tall grasses that must have been there for 20 yrs or more... I see a shade tree by a boulder-filled river that I decide to recline into my camp chair and spend the remainder of the day reading "Walden" by Thoreau. I stop at an old abandoned gas station, park the bike where pumps once were and begin to work on several watercolor paintings before making myself a tuna sandwich from my pack. I look into the distance to see the vanishing road that leads to somewhere, everywhere, and nowhere.
My anticipations come in the form of afternoon rain showers and icecream sandwiches. Perks of the job are now greasy carb filled sausage-egg-potato breakfasts that friendly campers will cook for me. A pay check is no longer deposited into an account so I can pay the credit-card companys, rent, and other bills. Instead it is a donation of 20 bucks for a watercolor that will be deposited in a sock and taken to the store to pay for bread, beans, and dogfood. The extra would have gone to bananna republic to get a new outfit for a date the comming weekend. Now the extra goes towards a dogbone and a hot shower.
My days are filled with these once overlooked simple things that hold such marvelous beauty. I do not yet have all the answers, nor do I expect to ever find them all. Still I will search to at least find what I need to know. And I have Faith that there is a God, I am watched out for, and I am loved. I believe with all my heart that I am on the right path in the right time for me to find life and life to the fullest, filled with meaning, purpose, Truth, and happiness..
website of my paintings and art