“Yo Boss, what’s the Plan?”
“We charge in, guns blazin’.”
“Heeey. That’s not a plan!”
“Real heroes don’t need plans.”

Final Fantasy XIII came out today! Several hours of playing today, so far it doesn’t quite live up to the 4 years of anticipation since the announcement was made. Today is the reason I bought a PS3 in the first place, so guess what I’ll be doing for the rest of my evening! But never mind that, this isn’t a blog for reviewing video games, in fact, this will probably be one of the only times that I even mention them. Unless of course I come across more intriguing quotes.

Early on in the game this quote comes up “Real heroes don’t need plans.” It caught me as relevant, as that is how I often live my life. I’m not preaching that this is the best way to live, especially if you don’t like adventure. A lack of a plan often leads to more adventure. I am by no means saying that planning is a bad thing, but as you get more comfortable with an activity, the planning part of it becomes less and less, or maybe just second nature. Heck, it’s even the first principle of Leave No Trace “Plan Ahead and Prepare.” It’s definitely a principle to take into consideration.

Early on in my adventuring career I would spend much more time planning. For example, in preparation for my first road trip in 2002, I spent months preparing meal plans, making lists, researching areas, collecting literature, and creating a schedule. I laid everything out days ahead of time and spent many hours packing the car. My most recent road trip, a few hours ahead of time I grabbed a few things and threw them in the car, heading out with no destination, I didn’t know what direction I was heading until I started driving, I didn’t know where I was camping until I got there, nor did I know what I was going to eat until I started cooking it. Somebody once told me that Adventure is the result of poor planning, I think I’ll agree with that one, though I am not convinced that it’s a bad thing.

There’s definitely a time and a place for planning, I work for for the National Outdoor Leadership School, some of you may know it as NOLS. My job is to bring students (ranging in age from 16-60) into the wilderness for a month and teach them a variety of skills. Here it is very important to have planned well, I am not about to put the lives of others at risk in search of more adventure.

Which brings me to a brief mention of where this blog is going. The title, Adventures of a Man and his Dog. Yes, myself and my dog Forest have quite the adventures together. The website Busking the World, I hope to be able to earn enough money busking our way around the country to be able to travel the world. It may seem ambitious, but this is where the adventure comes in. In the next month or so I will have a routine down, we will hit the road for a month or more in April/May, and we will document and learn from our experience. I have a NOLS contract in June, so I will be in the mountains for a month. After that, in the Fall, I will take what I’ve learned and hit the streets and travel the world. Hence, Busking The World, and this blog that is coming to be.

So here I am, charging in with guns blazin’! Real heroes don’t need a plan. Welcome to buskingtheworld.com and enjoy the ride.

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