escape fantasy | The Direction of Intention

Why Not? [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on August 16, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Our escape fantasies include a six month thru-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail and/or lengthy excursions to pretty-and-unpopulated places, living life in the tiniest trailer.

Since we like to make dreams come true and fantasies a reality, we’re actively gathering information on backpacks and gear. I’m interested in going ultralight since Kerri imagines that I will be carrying most of the gear on the 2,650 mile PCT.

Yesterday we needed a break so we went to a camper and RV lot and walked through several small, lightweight trailers. We learned about aluminum construction and lithium batteries. We stoked the fire in our gypsy souls.

Watercolors and ukuleles are easily transported whether in an ultralight backpack or in a tiny, tiny trailer. Artists on the go. Cameras and Ipads and apple pencils.

As our nation spirals ever downward into the dark sewer of authoritarianism, entertaining our escape fantasies seem more and more like coping mechanisms – every day pushing us ever closer to making the fantasy a reality. At this point, why not?

read Kerri’s blogpost about ESCAPE!

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Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: artistry, backpacking, coping mechanism, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, dream, escape fantasy, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, PCT, RV, story, studio melange, the melange, thru-hike, tiny trailer | 1 Comment »

Take A Drive [on saturday morning smack-dab.]

Posted on April 22, 2023 by davidrobinsoncreative

We are a walking paradox: homebodies and roadtrippers. We love to be on the road, going on adventures and discovering new places. We adore being at home, comfy in our well-worn patterns.

It only makes sense that, when we can’t take a long roadtrip, our escape-fantasy-of-choice is to get in the car and drive. We head to the county, out into the country. We slow down. We get lost on purpose. We dream and the stresses-of-the-moment dissipate. We drive, windows down. There are no wrong turns. We are free.

Eventually, we return home, find a sunny spot in the back yard, pour some wine and nestle into our chairs. “Life is good,” we breathe, drinking in the setting sun. We re-realize something we understood when we first met: it’s all a roadtrip. This whole complicated amazing life.

We look at each other, knowing what the other is thinking. “Let’s just keep going and going and going….”

read Kerri’s blogpost about A DRIVE

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Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: aarp, adventrue, artistry, buy me a coffee, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, discovery, dream, drive, escape, escape fantasy, get lost, homebody, in the moment, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, middle age cartoon, middle age romance, presence, relax, road trip, slow down, story, studio melange, the melange, two artists | 1 Comment »

Walk With Me [on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on July 22, 2020 by davidrobinsoncreative

life is grace sleep copy

Lately, I’m dreaming of walking the Pacific Crest Trail. It is an escape fantasy. I want to unplug from this angry culture and its toxic division. I want to walk until it hurts. I want to listen to the wind. I want to think-no-thoughts.

I’m kinesthetic. Walking is a better form of meditation for me than sitting. I get quiet when I walk. Chris once told me that I should lead pilgrimages. At the time it made me laugh since I was certain I could probably guide the walk but had very little to offer seekers other than this bit of counsel: shhhhhhhhhhhh. Listen.

I grew up in Colorado and camped often. Say the word, “sacred” to me and I immediately hear the sound of wind rustling through the tops of pine trees. Once, walking a trail in the mountains, it began to gently snow. The forest stilled. It was so quiet I thought for a brief moment that I’d grown deaf. The wind. The quiet. I heard myself catch my breath. Sacred.

At the beginning of this pandemic time, we’d wake in the morning and, sometime during coffee, we’d remember. “Oh, right,” Kerri would say, “we’re living in a sci-fi movie.” The night had forgiven the previous day’s stresses.

One day in Bali, walking down a long road, I felt unsettled. A young man came from the fields and joined me. At first I was perturbed because I wanted to be alone but soon I found his company reassuring. I asked where he was going and he said, “With you. I walk with you.”

I was confused and asked “Why?”

He was confused by my question. “You are a guest here,” he said in his broken English. “To let you walk alone…is not nice.”

I thought of this young Balinese man, my one-day companion, as I drifted off to sleep last night. The gentle courtesy of his act. His deeply felt obligation of presence. His work-of-the-day was less important, less vital, than showing spontaneous kindness to a stranger. Would I need my escape fantasy, my epic walk, if the people in my country were as generous, as respectful of each other, as he was to me?

“Life is grace. Sleep is forgiveness. The night absolves. Darkness wipes the slate clean, not spotless to be sure, but clean enough for another day’s chalking.” ~ Frederick Buechner

read Kerri’s blog post about ANOTHER DAY’S CHALKING