I’ve never thought much about my own bucket list. I guess when I was in my 20s I thought I would live forever. I’ve gotten so down over the last several years I’ve forgotten about the important things in life (the important things to me anyway). I can still do these things. I have done them before. It’s just time to let go and get them done! Per the sage advice of Andy Defresne, you either get busy living, or get busy dying.
In no specific order:
- Obtain an occupation relevant to my abilities and interests that will adequately sustain me (these jobs do exist and can be obtained with the correct attitude. I have done it before. I’m just in a slump right now).
- Pay off my home mortgage in my early forties.
Complete a post-graduate degree.- Speak passing German (or Spanish).
- Work at a bunch of different National Parks (two down, 388 to go).
- Work in Yosemite.
- Live in San Francisco (my favorite place on Earth).
- Live in Hawaii (my 2nd favorite place on Earth).
- Live in Germany/Europe.
- Visit all 7 continents.
Finish hiking the Sheltowee Trace (100+ miles down, 170 miles to go).- Hike the AT in its 2000 mile entirety (I’ve got the gear! Time to do it!).
- Hike the Pacific Crest Trail.
- Join a NOLS expedition to the Yukon.
- Work as a sailor on a trans-Atlantic vessel.
- Hike the Wonderland Trail around the base of Mt. Rainier.
- Summit Mt. Rainier.
- Cycle across the U.S. from California to Washington D.C.
- Cycle across the state of Kentucky (longways).
- Hike the South Kaibab trail across the Grand Canyon.
- Stay at the Phantom Ranch.
- Hike to Machu Picchu.
- Work in a real archaeology dig.
- Fly a fighter jet (just one time with an instructor will do).
- Fly a 747 (the one time will do).
- Ride in a helicopter.
- Visit the pyramids (as long as I come home with my head in tact).
- Visit India.
- Visit an Orthodox Christian church in Eastern Europe/Russia.
- Visit Rome.
- Visit Spain.
- Stand/sit front row at a Metallica/Pearl Jam concert.
- Visit Roswell, NM.
- Hear the Government finally spill the beans about Roswell.
- Hike the John Muir Trail (California and Tennessee).
- Jam out with Dean and Robert DeLeo from Stone Temple Pilots.
- Build a homebuilt Kegerator (I’m 50% there!).
- Brew my own beer (I’m 50% there!).
Build a HUGE privacy fence in my backyard so I can get a dog!- Buy a nice looking truck/jeep that I’ve always wanted.
- Buy my mom and dad a nice home.
- Finish a Star Wars Roleplaying Game Campaign with friends (believe me folks that is harder than it sounds).
Adopt a beautiful German Shepherd and/or Malamute and train him/her to be my hiking buddy.- Finish building my diorama closet.
- Rebuild a car engine.
Become an advanced photoshop user.Write something interesting that other people will want to read.- Donate a TON of money for a good cause.
- Own my own airplane/grass runway.
- Have a long conversation with Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamil, or George Lucas (like they are trapped next to me in first class for a long overseas flight. We don’t have to talk Star Wars, anything in particular will do. I’ll even act like I don’t know who they are).
- Be an extra in a Star Wars film.
- Finish recording my solo album (almost there!).
- Build/design my own Telecaster (a pre-fab kit will do just fine!).
- Build/design my own home flight simulator.
- Drive from San Diego to Vancouver on Hwy 1.
- Drive from Florida to Maine.
- Eat a Maine lobster IN MAINE.
- Visit Every State in the U.S. (I’m 17 shy).
- Hike to the Mt. Everest Base camp and help in a cleanup operation.
- Meet Jason Baldwin and shake his hand (I’ve already met Damien Echols).
- Ride the transcontinental railroad.
- Go ghost hunting in a haunted house.
Sleep in a haunted house.- Take the “Wild Tour” in Mammoth Cave.
- Tour the Boeing Plant in Everett Washington.
- Watch a manned rocket launch.
See the Orion Mission (Mission to Mars) come to fruition in my lifetime.- Visit the moon (if we start colonizing in my lifetime).
- Fly in space.
- Backpack Europe.
- Fulfill the life that the good Lord Jesus wants me to lead.