Diary 31 jan

This blog is nearing 3000 visits!!! Awesome guys! ;)

Life is getting dull, I feel like I have nothing to do then just wait and think about the day I leave, how I'm gonna do it, which exact day I'm gonna leave, if I have packed enough food...
Like I have said before, I have all the tools and knowledge in order to head into the backcountry but it's not yet departure day so it has become a waiting game and I'm not yet sure what to do and how to use the time I still have left here.

I'm also out of ideas for this blog.. Since I still don't have a camera I can't show my projects I'm working on or that are finished. According to my gf it may take another week until I can buy a new one... It's f**king frustrating.. If she wants to buy something she just goes out buying it without even mentioning it, if I need something it will take weeks, months even.. It only gives me more reasons to leave.
I also need new shoes, the first time I asked her if I could buy shoes was over 6 months ago yet every damn day she goes out shopping for herself buying flowers and other useless bullshit, I just about had it with this opportunistic, self centred b*tch!

That was my daily dose of whining, time for the song of the day.. One of my favorite bands:

Queen - You take my breath away

Outdoor pc games

Now for something totally different..

I have always been a gamer and in my life I have played some very neat games.. city building games, shooters, RPG's, simulators and much more.
Outdoor pc games or Outdoor sports games are less popular and many of them are crappy games but there are some which are pure fun. Here is a list of outdoor pc games I have played, it is not a "top 5" type of list.

Deer Hunter 2005

This is a game I used to play on and on for years.. The game is now 8 years old but when we are talking graphics, animal behaviour and experience it doesn't get much better then this. It is a very cool game and it's fun to play and in a way it feels more like a hunting simulator then a game. The scenery is beautiful and the multiplayer is also great.

Hunting Unlimited 2010

Another hunting game yet a whole different ballgame. If you want to "virtual" hunt other types of game then just deer then this is the game for you.. It has several different area's where you can hunt and each area has it's own wildlife. For example you can hunt bears in Alaska or lions in Africa. It also seems like HU2010 has a lot more different weapons to choose from then in Deer hunter 2005 and in many other ways it looks better.

Stranded 2

Finding good Outdoor pc games is hard since they're rare, but finding good outdoor pc games that are about Bushcraft and Survival is a unique event yet sometime ago I did found one.

It is called Stranded 2.. It is a bit like an adventure game with a minecraft look and feel to it.

You are stranded on an island and you basically just need to survive.. build shelters, build tools, hunt monkeys and gather materials.. It is a very cool game that everyone who is into this kinda stuff should try.

Bird Hunter 2003

Now we know that there are some decent hunting games on the pc but they are all about big game hunting. After searching for a game about small game hunting I found this game called Bird Hunter 2003 which is worth mentioning. It is one of the few games where you can use a hunting dog.  There is no multiplayer in this game but you playing this in sp mode is fun enough. The game is kinda hard to find in stores and your best bet is finding it on ebay or something for very cheap.

Go Fishing (Facebook)

The only outdoor sport that I practice offline is fishing so I should mention a fishing pc game here.
However, This technically isn't a pc game. Go fishing is a Facebook social game and I strongly dislike Facebook games such as Farmville, Cityville and all that rubbish. The only games I ever played on Facebook are Zynga poker, Angry birds and Go Fishing.
Go Fishing is a fun game where you have to catch fish and sell them so you can buy upgrades. This really is a game and not much of a simulator like the hunting games I have mentioned.


A final note: I am pretty sure there are other great outdoor games but these are just some of the best that I have ever played. Some other games that should be great to play (according to others) are the Cabela's hunting series and the Fishing simulator series.

Hope you enjoyed ;) Take care



Diary 29 jan

It's official.. The Queen of the Netherlands, Beatrix, will step down on the 30th of April and her son, Willem Alexander, will become king.. Do I care? No, I have other things on my mind right now.. I just thought our nations welthiest granny would never step down. Soon it will be up to him to lead this mess..

So much for patriotism :)

At the moment i'm searching the internet for more information on wilderness living skills because I just have 2 months left untill I leave. Sometimes I think I know it all and I become a bit cocky but theres still so much I don't know.  I also realise that there's a lot to learn from the Mountain man. Like most Dutch I don't know a thing about Mountain man and the fur trade era but I have been looking into the skills they knew, the tools they used and the way they lived.

Things are going way fast now!!
Or at least so it seems. The whole idea of leaving mankind and it's problems behind in 2 to 3 months is starting to kick in. I actualy begin to understand that this is about to happen. A real life changing experience.!
I realy start to wonder if i'm ready. My mind is ready but how about my gear? Do I have all the stuff I need?

Before I head off to bed I will do some fitness, My workout for today: (all bodyweight exercises)

• Jumping jack warmup: 3 minutes
• Pushups: 5x10, 1x20
• Crunches: 5x10, 2x20, 1x30
• Squats: 4x40
• Reverse Crunches: 5x10
• Calf Raise: 30x
• Triceps dips: 2x20
• Plank hold: 5 minutes

By all means i'm no fitness expert and most of my fitness knowledge is gathered from the internet. I just needed a quick, full body workout and this is what I came up with.
If anybody with more expertise has tips or a better home-workout-plan then please feel free to post a comment ;) 

Last time I forgot to mention that I have created a new page on this blog.. The FAQ on the top. It has all the basic info about my future journey.
Guess it's well about time for the song of the day, Cheers!

Monica - Don't take it personal

Fitness.. So it begins..

From now on I will start to prepare my body for weeks of cycling and hiking. I have done fitness before and I know pretty much about how muscles grow and about healthy foods.. again I know alot of theory but never seem to put it into practice. that ends today.

I will be working out 3 days a week and I will be doing full body workouts, the goal is not to look good, the goal is to increase my endurance and strength since my journey will be harsh.
I will be doing my workouts at home and most of the exercises will be bodyweight exercises, but I have 2 dumbells that I will also use.

I will also change my eating habbits. I do not like candy and such but from now on I will try to eat only healthy foods as much as I can. This means lots of eggs, fish and meat products. I also drinks loads of coffee, way too much. Sometimes coffee is all I drink for days on end! That can't be good! So from now on I will be drinking water mostly with some fruitmix drinks along the way.

The biggest obstacle is still my smoking habbits, I have to quit soon.

I will be posting all my workouts in my diary ;) good day everyone

Diary 28 jan

It has been 10 days since my latest message.. so what's happening lately?
Well alot really.. I have been celebrating the birthday of my 2 oldest daughters, they are now 5 years old and that was just great. We first went to the zoo and because of the cold winter we were about the only visitors. I had a great day! After that my family-in-law came to visit and to celebrate and..  I had a great time with them.. weird..

It seems like I am changing, it looks like i'm becoming more and more of a friendly person. I no longer hide myself from society and I haven't had any homicidal fantasys for a few days now. I start to talk to people and I can see their part of the story now, the anger seems to float away. I am not sure why this happens all of a sudden. It however, does not change my plans.

Talking about my plans.. I was just looking at the date and realised that I will be leaving in 3 months!!
And here I am making star wars papercrafts!! What the hell is wrong with me!? I should be preparing from now on! and I should check if i have everything I need!
Damn! Time is moving fast. But I will be leaving in May no matter if I am totaly ready or not because there is no future for me here.

Other news: we got a new laptop! I was having trouble with my computer because it was just so damn slow. simply loading google took ages, that's also the reason why I haven't been posting recently. It's probably a virus or something. Anyway we now got this laptop friend one of my girlfriends friends, which is nice. When it comes to electronics all I realy need now is a new camera. So I can show you guys the new backpack that I made and other stuff. But since I only have about 3 months left and since my gf is so eager to manage money related isseus, that might not happen.

My father visited today.. I guess he's the only family i've got left
I think it's well about to end this, here's the song of the day..

Alanis Morissette - King of Pain (live)

Diary 18 jan

Not to sure what to write at the moment since not a lot has been happening lately.

The work on my backpack is nearing completion, also the clothing that i'm making myself is nearly done. As a matter of fact all my DIY projects are almost complete and when their done it just becomes a waiting game until I leave.

Boredom kicks in and to be honest that started years ago since then i'm trying hard to keep myself entertained every day but it's useless.. I''m not as easily amused anymore, worse even, nothing seems to interest me nowadays. Sometimes I download a videogame just to delete it from my pc the next day.. It's not as fun as it used to be when I was younger. A serious problem or a midlife crisis? you tell me..

In order to keep myself buzy until I leave I will again take up an old hobby of mine. As a kid I used to make plastic scale model kits and I loved doing that. So I will order a kit soon and see how that goes.
Well that's about it.. guess that just leaves the song of the day.



 

Rammstein - Alter Mann





Diary 15 jan

Today I finaly got the stuff I ordered last year before christmas.. yeezzz...

I had ordered 2 items that will be very important during my new life in the wilderness... a Poncho and a Compass. Since I still do not have a digital camera I will just have to borrow them from the web.

I wanted to buy this poncho because it is so usefull. It can be used to keep yourself dry by wearing it but you can also make a tent out of it in the field or to keep your gear nice and dry. It also came in my favorite type of camo.. flecktarn..

On this website you'll see 9 different military poncho configurations.  

 

And this is the compass I got.. I have mapped out my route from my home till the Polish border and from the on i'll just head east. There are multiple ways to find east but using a compass surely is the easiest one and that's why I bought this one. It is an engineer compass made for the US army and these are ment to last.

 

 

Other then that my day sucked :) So here's the song of the day

 

Michael Jackson - One day in your life





No more..

No More...



No more money
No more commercials
No more reality tv
No more rules
No more parties
No more sadness
No more boredom
No more concrete
No more fighting
No more fake music
No more sheep
No more documents
No more backstabbers
No more paranoia
No more birthdays
No more religion
No more drama
No more visits
No more id
No more hatred
No more world news
No more blog ;)
No more addictives
No more emptiness
No more cars
No more minecraft
No more social media
No more fu*king gadgets

...just peace...

Diary 13 jan

I'm a 100% sure.. My camera is lost.. I have looked everywhere but it is realy gone.. Either it was accidently thrown away or someone has stolen it but that might be my paranoia speaking.
So now what? Well, buy a new one I guess but that'll have to wait a few weeks and once I buy it, from now on I will keep that camera close to me.. I just can't thrust all the little bastards that enter my house uninvited.

"They stole it from us!"

 

 

Ah Gollum.. That reminds me.. I have watched The Hobbit: an unexpected journey yesterday and I loved it. I have been a Tolkien fan since a very long time and I loved the movie. no surprise realy since it had the same looks and feel of Lord of the rings.

Unfortunately since i'll be leaving in May I won''t be able to see parts 2 and 3 but still I would recommend to watch this movie, especialy if you've watched the Lord of the rings series you will want to watch it over and over again.

 

So what has been on my mind lately, well fitness ectualy.. preparring my untrained body for the journey. Since I do not have the money (and certainly not the time) to join a gym i'll be working out at home. I do have a set of dumbells and when it comes to strength training I'll be using them along with bodyweight exercises.

And when it comes to cardio, well, apart from cycling I'll be doing alot of hiking while carying my gear so I might look into military training.

I also have a Wii with Wii fit and that may come in handy.

 

 

!!!!  New  Neu   Nieuw !!!!

I love music and who doesn't? In my life I have been listening to so many different artists and so many different types of music it's insane. Because I feel the need to share some of the best songs I've heard I'll be posting a "Song of the day" on every diary entry. Some songs will be rock, others 80's and so on. Many songs are songs I have listened in my youth and I tend to like music with emotion so beware ;)   Hope you enjoy

 

U2- Sunday bloody sunday



A quest for fire

Like I said before I tried making fire before with a bowdrill but I failed to do so, I realise that it is all just a matter of practice and sooner or later it will work.. not exacly sure as to what i am doing wrong.. Maybe I do not spin the bow fast enough, maybe I do not put enough pressure on it or maybe I made my bowdrill set out of the wrong materials.. anyhow it is frustrating and all I can do is try again and again.

When I head out I will bring with me 3 different kinds of firestarters... Matches, 2 firesteels and a dozen cheap lighters... These are all disposable and even firestarters do not last forever so learning to make a fire with natural materials is becoming very important.

Some Firestarting techniques

Here is a whole list of firestarting techniques, some are very familiar and some on the other hand are not.

Bow Drill
This is one of the most populair techniques of the primitive outdoorsman. A bowdrill is made out of 4 items: the Spindle, the Bow, the Bearing block and the Hearthblock. Sometimes people make a Bowdrill set out of one type of wood, others like to experiment with different types of wood and for example make the spindle out of a hardwood and hearth out of softwood. Making such a bowdrill out in the wild is pretty easy and the hardest part seems to be making a good, strong Cord for the Bow.

Hand Drill
The most famous technique of making fire in the wild, even kids know of this technique. However it's a lot harder then the Bow drill, the principle is the same but in this case there is not a bow that makes the spindle spin but your hands that does the hard work. That spindle usualy is longer and thinner than the spindle of a Bow drill.

Fire Plow
For those of you who have seen the movie 'Cast Away' you may remember this technique. If you have not seen the movie, go watch it since :)   Just like the handdrill it's basicaly 2 pieces of wood but instead of creating friction by spinning one piece on the other this time we create friction by rubbing one piece on the other. I have tried this and boy, it is not easy. A flat piece of wood is placed on the floor and has to stay in place, with the other piece of wood (I prefer thin and round) you rub the end on the entire length of the flat piece. It takes some time and you need to put some pressure on the stick without wearing yourself out, which I find hard.

Fire Saw
Plow, Saw, Drill... looks like a workshop up in here.. Anyhow the Fire saw is also made out of two pieces of wood usualy Bamboo, therefore we can pretty much say that this is a technique used by Asian tribes. One piece of bamboo stays in place on the ground, the other piece is used as a saw and after a while you should be able to create friction and therefore fire. I have no idea how good this works since i have never tried it. Holland is not a good place to start in order to find bamboo but it can be bought and i''m also pretty sure that other types of wood can be used

Fire Thong
This might be the technique that is less known, the first time I have heard of this was a week ago. It's nothing more but a piece of wood and a strong string. Since I have never tried this I cannot say how easy this is or what's the best way to do it.

Fire with Stones
Tried it and tried it again and failed every single time. The thing is that most stones will not produce a spark and either Flint or stones with high iron content I think work best. I have tried creating sparks with flint and other stones, flint on flint and flint on carbon steel. I think I get about 2 sparks out of a 100 strikes which is not worth the effort. Why it won't work? Maybe i'm doing it wrong, Maybe the flint I use is actualy not flint at all or maybe it's just a matter of more experience.

A quest for fish

I have never hunted an animal in my life, I have never gathered nuts and wild edibles and made a salad and yes, I have no experience with farming what so ever. But like I said before I do have experience when it comes to fishing, therefore fish will be my primary food source in the near future.

At the moment I have several fishing poles in different shapes and sizes, with and without reels, telescopic rods and those that come in 2 sections or more however they will take up too much space during my journey and since a fishing pole can be made from a branch it's not worth the trouble.

But I will be bringing some fishing equipment that is too hard to make such as thin and strong fishing line, softbaits, leads and a couple of hooks in different shapes and sizes. I'm even thinking about taking a small reel with me to attach to a selfmade pole.

Just a few items from my fishing kit.. softbaits, hooks, gorge hooks, some line,  a diy teaspoon lure and a diy sodabottle fishtrap

There are 3 ways in order to catch fish.. by luring them, by trapping them and also by catching them (without the luring so to speak).

Luring fish
The method of luring fish and catch it (fishing pole method).
Every long and strong branch can be turned into a fishing pole and even hooks and fishing line can be made in the wilderness and anything heavy and small (such as stones) can be used as leads.
In order to lure the fish we need bait.. worms are the most traditional bait and they can be found by the dozens after a quick search but in theory any insect or bug can be used as bait.
Larves and maggots are also plenty, free and they smell lovely (for the fish that is).
This method of fishing of course takes patience all you have to do is keeping your eyes on the bobber/float and wait.

Trapping fish
The method of setting a trap, often with bait, and wait for your meal.
There are a lot of different fishing traps. from the well known native basketry traps until underwater deadfalls. The trap I made on the image above is also ridiculously simple. It's just an old soda bottle with the top cut off, then the top is put back upside down and sewn into place. Then in goes some weights so it sinks, some bait and then it''s just a matter of waiting.
The best thing about setting traps is that after placing the trap you can get back to your daily business and just check the traps a few times a day.

Catching fish
The method of spotting a fish and catch it directly.
Bow fishing and spear fishing are other ways to catch a meal and there are some people who even chase and catch fish by hand. No need for bait in this scenario

Diary 9 jan

It has been 5 days since I have posted something, this is because my gf thought it was necessary to relocate the computer somewhere else to a different room. That was not a problem but getting it connected to the Internet was. so after many trials and errors I can say that it is now back in the living room and we are back in business.

So what I did in the past few days?
Well something awful happened, truly horrifying.. I lost my camera!
Well.. lost it.. it's probably somewhere around the house but I just can't find the damn thing so some of the articles I was hoping to write require photo's.. they'll have to wait.
I also think it might be stolen but then again that might be because of my paranoid mindset.

I have been working on my lightweight backpack. To make things clear, I bought an ALICE pack a long time ago.. those 100ltr military backpacks with external frame but had to realise it was simply too big to carry it with me, especially on my bike.
So I downsized it and got an old sporting bag with camo pattern and I took parts of the ALICE and made my own backpack. When I finished it I came to the conclusion that it was still too big and heavy when fully loaded!

Back to the drawing board then... I was lucky enough to find an old schoolbag that belonged to my gf, probably a 30ltr or 40ltr bag. It was blazing red, a color most animals (myself included) do not like so in order to blend in I already covered it with the camo I got from my sporting bag. I will keep you all updated on this project.

The weather outside is shit, dark sky, rain and greyish. I have to pick up my kids from school at 12:15
I wish you all a nice day

The items list

Here is a list of all the items I will take with me on my journey, this list may change over time and several items may be added or removed. Not all of these items will go in my backpack, some will be attached to my bicycle and others are small enough to fit in my pockets.
Items that are crossed are last minute/late cancellations

Tools

Mora Companion knife
Opinel folded knife
Mora Crooked knife
Pfeil Carving knife
Awl
US Engineer Compass
Bicycle repairkit
2 needles
black sewing thread

Clothing

Fleece Pants
Military parka
Military winter parka undergarment
Camo Tshirt
pair of socks
winter gloves
Winter sweather
Shemach
DIY simple leather shoes
Pair of boxershorts

Fire

2x Firesteel
About 15 lighters
Box of matches
Baggie filled with charcloth
Baggie filled with Vaseline cottonballs
Some Charcoal
Small bag with tinder

Water

Military Canteen
500ml plastic water bottle
2.5ltr water bottle

Shelter/Sleeping

Military grade Poncho
Wool? Blanket
some Rope
Pillow sheet
LED camping light

First Aid/Hygiene

some Bandaids
Bandage
5x Paracetamol
Anti-musquito stick
Labello stick
Bottle with medical alcohol
Tigerbalm
Disposable razor


Eating

Set of small wooden chopsticks
DIY Tin can (Hobo) kitchen set (Stove + Billycan)
2x buddy burner

Food/Drinks

1x instant soup bag
4x cup a soup
1x  noodles
250ml bottle filled with homemade fruit juice
Small bag of Rice
Small bag of Pasta's
Small bag of Flour
4x bouilon cubes
Little bits of Sugar, herbs and salt
Trailmix
Some dried meat
Some dried veggies & fruits
small amount of Coffee
5 Teabags
2x Tuna in a tin
some vitamin tablets
Few slices of bread

Fishing/Hunting etc

Crosman 2240 airgun + Shoulderstock
.22 airgun pellets 250x
about 10 Co2 cartridges
10 fishing hooks in several sizes
Fishing/trapping line.. lots of it
various Fishing leads
1 Float/Bobber
5 softbait lures, various types
a Sling
1 DIY fishing lure

Other
2 Very small size pocket torches (disposable)
Wooden Boomerang
Book: the Hobbit
Book: on Greek mythology
Book: DIY Field manual
Several plastic bags
Roll of duct tape
1 candle
1 charcloth/coal making tin
Some pens and a pencil
Some olive oil
Aluminium foil folded into a small package
Compact camera
Small bag for camera
Extra disposable batteries for camera
Extra SD memory cards


Note:
Bringing one pair of pants for example seems a little weird but remember that I will be wearing pants already when I leave (and a tshirt, socks etc) so I'm actually bringing 2 pants with me :)
Also it's clear to see that all this stuff weights alot after cycling and hiking for miles and miles. But the longer I'll be on the road the less it will start to weigh. Food gets eaten, lighters get empty and from time to time I will get rid of stuff.