Where the Wilde Things Are

I cradled my face in my hands today. I tend to do that when I'm frustrated, stressed or confused. I've been getting to that place less often these days. It's been a nice change. Our family story seems to be easing out of some turbulent years but I still find my face in my hands on occasion. While rubbing my face, I start to think. Maybe rubbing my forehead is my brain's brake pedal. I suffer from varying degrees of male stupidity and the stupider I get the more pressure I apply. Hey, sometimes you need to slam on the brakes. Self preservation, and all. This time it feels different. I think I've become so sensitive. I'm rubbing my brow because I told my daughter she couldn't go on a 4 mile run with me. I shouldn't feel bad. She hasn't run a mile in a year! Plus, it's rough terrain in ninety degree heat. I think I remember reading something important in the manual that came with her when we left the hospital. Oh yeah, I remember! ...

Floating down the river started out slow and relaxing. I was with my boys, one on a  body-board, the older with nothing but flip-flops. The river is slow and low. No more than hip deep. There are some gentle rapids where the water is squeezed together by the land but nothing to write home about. We floated together down the cool waterway chatting as we went. "Hey, Dad. Look at me! I can jump off this big rock!" I would look up, nod with a grin and float on. "Daaaaaaad, wait!", and I didn't wait. There will come a day soon when I will look back in regret. I'll wish I had waited to watch my young boys jump a hundred times trying hard to impress me. I might be in an empty house or on an ocean somewhere, remembering and longing. I won't remember why I floated past my boys that day. They will be grown living for their own dreams and families. Watching them float on. Stay Wilde! -Erick Wilde More on this story can be s...

I wake up with a Benadryl hangover most mornings. The hangovers come on the heels of relief so there's a bittersweet note to the morning. Hitting the coffee brew switch becomes a task through the morning fog. I look forward to the coffee clearing the fog. The coffee did it's job today but turned bitter. The flavor was fine but the ritual was tarnished by a different chemical precursor. Human emotional fury is chemical, right? Hormones and shit? It feels strange to be jolted into a reality by conflict. "Attack!", they say. "Oh, I didn't know we were there yet!", I reply. There was no victim. Just two offensive and immature adults, dukeing it out. Why? I guess people just get bored. The coffee worked because there is no morning fog. But I can't get this bitter taste out of my mouth. I get the feeling it's coming from me anyway. Whatever. Coffee is sometimes bitter too.

Linsey and I have been together a long time yet we never run out of things to talk about. I think it's a sign of a healthy relationship. Today has been a busy day exercising our gift of gab. I'm just a little tired from sharing our gift with the world so I will keep this one short.  The first This Wilde Life Podcast is published and ready for review. In the next few weeks, you should be able to find us on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Google Podcasts, Stitcher and Alexa (Amazon). The podcast is under review but it should be accessible very soon. Stay tuned to our Instagram/Facebook account for the deets! To listen, subscribe and share now,  click this link ---- > This Wilde Life We love to entertain so we want to keep the podcasts engaging, funny, thought-provoking and authentic. We hope to have interviews with other interested (and interesting) peeps as often as possible. Let us know if you are interested in being on the show! We would love...

We reached the point of no return soon after deciding to go on the road. Life was unraveling and we thought we made an irreversible mistake. Circumstances were pushing us toward homelessness. Adversity is a wonderful catalyst. It pushes innovation, creativity and introspection. We were facing two thousand dollars in repair work on our motorhome before we got it home. Nothing unexpected. We hoped that would be the end of our troubles; we were wrong. Within days of our return we packed our things, crammed the kids into the motorhome and limped our way to an RV park. It wasn't long before another mechanical diagnosis revealed our engine on the verge of falling apart. We said goodbye to another four thousand dollars and moved our family of six into my mom's two bedroom house. After a month and a half of repairs and delays we moved back into the RV. Mile after mile, I listened to the engine chug along, fearing an impending breakdown. Seven months later, it is still ru...

People make comments about the road-life we lead. Most say we are blessed, lucky, fortunate or favored (some think we are dangerously irresponsible). The comments come with a hint of wishful yearning from people envisioning their lives in full-time travel mode. There is a romantic jealousy epidemic these days and a few things need to be set straight. Be prepared to bear with me; this might take a few posts. To begin, road-life is easily confused with vacation life. We hear about families taking the leap into their RV only to spend their savings, complicate close relationships and end their trip in bitter regret. Our first attempt at the nomadic life ended the same way with the tragic results. The Wildes naively set out on full-time vacation three years ago. Here is what we learned. Vacation is a healthy drug. Most people use vacation as an annual therapy. But too much of a good thing is too much of a good thing. All of us acted like addicts when we went on full-time vacati...

Mendocino was the perfect location for the Wilde family to enjoy Father's Day. The Russian River has a gentle flow as it meanders through Mendocino county. It's fun to sit on the banks enjoying the sunshine while fishing, relaxing or playing in the water (with kiddos, of course). I'm looking out the window of our RV with my feet up thinking about that beautiful river. I can hear the kids getting along as they plot to invite me for a dip. Personal projects are being tackled and the family is floating easy this Sunday. No harsh rapids so far. In the past, Father's Days have been more stressful. The pressure to be a super-dad is tiresome. The expectation for the kids to be super-duper is exhauting. I can remember rushing to church, then out to breakfast or lunch and finishing the day with a tense outing. That pace and pressure usually explodes into arguments and fights. Time would start to drag under the effort to make the day special and morph it into a burden....

Yup, another birthday. This one was a little more special than the rest. One for the highlight reel. Historically, birthdays haven't been great. Turning thirty was rough and each birthday since has been a caustic reminder that my days are numbered. Aging has been the part of life I fear the most and I prefer birthdays to pass like a benign weekday. Today took me by surprise. After coffee and a morning bike ride with the love of my life, I was given a present. I opened a tubular package to find a pair of sunglasses I've been trying to steal from Linsey for months. I was stunned. The best gift I've received in decades. Good sunglasses are a challenge for me to find. I have an odd shaped head and a round face. When I find a good pair, it's a big deal. Linsey bought some sun-gees a couple months back and when I tried them on I could hear angels sing. I LOVED the way they looked.   Linsey shut me down and kept the sunglasses from me. She insisted I must find a d...

Dating my wife took a significant turn after siring four children. We don't feel as romantic when we go out. When we get a dating opportunity, our destination is the grocery store. Grocery shopping isn't something you get dressed-up for anyhow and acting romantic in the market is beyond creepy. I can't describe the relief we feel when we break free in the market. We act like kids on Christmas. We dream about meandering through the produce, giggling to ourselves. Sometimes we stop and read through nutrition information all the way to the vitamin and mineral section. We even let other adults cut in front of the sample line just to drag out our date a few more minutes. Put simply, we are easy to please. The modern spouse-dating standard is set too high for us. If we scroll through social media and try to keep up with our peers, we would need knock over a bank before going out. Wine tasting, jet skiing, antique scavenging and annual trips to VEGAS!! Not our idea of...

Temptation is a challenge living a primal lifestyle on the road. Living primal is all about following healthy urges. If I want to run, I run. When we crave exploration, we explore. It's a simple and fulfilling approach. "But how do you define temptation when folloinng urges and instincts?" Good question. We believe people can be tempted in a couple areas that are damaging to a primal lifestyle. The temptation of excess robs us of our physical, mental and financial health. Early humans didn't need much. They ate enough to survive, didn't need to scroll Facebook and never monitored a 401k account. Somehow they survived and thrived. The other temptation is a newer one induced by modern stressors. Today, everyone faces the pressure to conform to society. That temptation is a gateway to the temptation of excess. Modern society tells us how to educate, work, think and feel, robbing us of the freedom to live primal. The Wildes keep these temptations in ...

I like driving to new locations wearing headphones and listening to music. The distraction keeps my mind on important thoughts while keeping my attention from the engine noises I tend to overanalyze. Sometimes thoughts and circumstances come together to form a cohesive topic and... Bam! Blog post. NOFX was rocking in my ears about their friend, Tony Sly's, tragic suicide a few years ago. I happened to be driving our motorhome over the Golden Gate Bridge where 1600 people had jumped to their deaths over a 75 year period. And then the suicides of Anthony Bourdain, Kate Spade and Robin Williams started popping into my thoughts. Fearless artists deciding to end it all and a city of artists mimicking those heroes. The thoughts and circumstances came together in a question. Why did these fearless pioneering artists decide to depart so early? I'm not going to pretend to know the answer. As a person who struggles with bipolar tendencies I have tasted despair but I will never assume t...

June 12, 2018 We enjoyed waking up to a morning fog. Yesterday, the full sun and seven miles of hiking wore everyone out. We needed some extra snoozing and cozy recuperation. While recuperating, we spent time reflecting. The foggy morning gave way to clear thinking in a surprising way. We established goals and redefined our family roadmap. It was a good morning. A divine life-lesson began when Matthew popped into our room looking for his own direction. He cuts to the chase and keeps it simple. "What's for breakfast? We are out of everything! " Typical bold ten-year-old Matt. Matt dreamed up his ideal breakfast. Linsey and I told him to find a chaperone and a bike. He pedaled his way to the market with some cash, a sibling and a little freedom. In an hour, he was dancing through the motorhome dealing out pancakes like a Vegas Blackjack dealer. His first attempt at pancakes was a wild success. Matt had a recipe for a successful first batch and his pancakes taught us a...

The Capital of NorCal When making your way up the Pacific coast from points south you might notice the gradual climate shift. Exchanging smog for fog and shorts for pants. While some full-time traveling families might complain about the chilly mornings, we embrace them in sweatshirts and get on with our creative pursuits. San Francisco RV Resort  I make no bones about the ocean being an incubator of my inspiration. Pulling into San Francisco RV Resort is an exciting destination for that reason. Each site is close to the cliffs above the crashing waves. Most sites maintain a view of the Pacific; a partial view in some cases. This ocean perch situates those who listen in front of an endless flow of creativity with each Pacific wave. Each member of the Wilde family was effortlessly bustling with creative energy. Matthew peddled his candy business to other traveling youths. Ella worked toward ten thousand words in her first manuscript (not all in one sitting, of course). Ab...