The Adventurous Spirit

Hello,
My Name is John Kotab. I won't really introduce myself, because I don't expect (though I wholeheartedly welcome if so be it) strangers to read this.

I actually started this only to post my adventures and travels, be them long distance or a pleasant local bike ride. I suppose it IS important to note that I live in North Charleston, SC, which is a triangular area of land above the Charleston peninsula that has only recently become developed. Although some of the houses on Dorchester road nearest to I-26 were around since the 40s and 50s, during that time, it was primarily country, and very pretty country at that. This is not the case today. It is the epitome of urban decay: mostly unmanaged, below the poverty line, polluted, and labeled as having high crime rates (though I don't argue the statistics, I argue the level of danger people imply from them)

More information on North Charleston
Formed from the borders of the Cooper and Ashley rivers, and Goose Creek and Ladson city limits, North Charleston has an area of about 77 sq. mi. To give you a frame reference for this, downtown Charleston is a little less than 2 miles long -- though many consider the actual downtown area to be about 1 mile long (from the battery to the "crosstown") mostly because beyond the "crosstown" there live people that don't consume like only the middle class (as a whole) can and have decent housing aren't considered important by most people, so it seems (dispensable in their eyes, if I may wax bold) -- and an average of 1.5 miles across

Already you can guess (for those wholeheartedly-welcomed strangers that have stumbled upon a slice of my world), I am quite apprehensive of the government -- more so the government in large cities or anywhere were little land is shared between an enormous amount of people. As you could probably also guess, the placement of legality over morality leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I believe that in big cities or areas of high population density, circumstances brought on by said population density encourage or force local government to make morally-objectionable policy. With this, I lead in to my love of open space and low-population-density areas in general. I am a Chris McCandless (who had a book, Into the Wild, written about him and his travels) of sorts. (I don't know if all of these characteristics speak of him) I value freedom and being true to one's own intricate and varied whims and fascinations, such as leaving town for a few weeks by oneself and camping, biking, and just being, or just standing at command to a sunset or expansive vista, in enjoying in its fullest BOTH the solidarity of nature and the excitement and duty of deeply connecting with other souls, and in treating all people with acceptance, emphasis on those people some people seem to exclude in their scope of who is humane, such as the homeless. I now wander into the adventure portion of this blog.

The title of this series of dissertations, Emersonian essays, descriptors, snapshots of emotion, travelogues, insights, and geographic is called The Adventurous Spirit

If you want to understand my adventures, you have to listen to the music behind it and give place to it in your heart, and most importantly, you have to experience Appalachia in a slow, personal, and pedestrian way.
I call the music that inherently describes the longing to explore new lands. . . the music that calls you up the mountain. . . the music that makes sedentary-ness painful and makes home to be wherever there is beauty and openness. . . I call it music that embodies the adventurous spirit.

To begin with this (for those that want to get in my head), listen to One More Dollar by Gillian Welch.
here is the song, set to a PERFECT photo show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4NI6JFZpTE&feature=related

One more important thing to say to those who hunger to catch the adventurous spirit, lyrics are paramount, especially geographic references and descriptions of the culture. Find the reference point in terms of time and place in each song, such as mid-to-late-19th century homesteaders in the west (as in One More Dollar)