So folks, we have already walked up the river, to the bridge that crosses where the #TalkeetnaRiver and #SustinaRiver meet… Thank god for the internet because I wouldn’t remember all of this stuff… lol… I love that we live in a day and age where we can look up maps and anything we want to reconfirm the facts we have learned… Yet it leaves you with little room for error… Now, if you get the facts wrong, you not only look stupid but you also look lazy considering you can look anything up on the internet at any time…

Well, when you walk down river, there is this neat little trail called #BellesInterpretiveTrail you can follow down to the river shore where #TheBigSustinaRiver flows… When you go down this trail, you are skipping where the #TheLittleSustinaRiver meets the Talkeetna River and Chulitna River… Although you can look up the river, from the shore and still see where the three meet… The Big Sustina River is the 15th largest in the United States…

This trail was very peaceful, quiet and gave you a good sense of what it was like out here, back in its early days of settlement…

The information about the original natives, the #DghelayTeht’ana or “Mountain people,” who originally lived in the area is hard to find… there is no written recorded history of their #IndianTribe… Their history has carried on through stories and tales… We know that these people date back 6,000 years but don’t know if they were actually native indians from the area or came from elsewhere…

This tribe was the first to name the Talkeetna River as “the river of plenty…” they just called it “K’dalkitnu Ht’ana…” which basically means the same thing in their language…

The Dghelay Teht’ana tribe would come to this area to hunt #Caribou and take advantage of the plentiful #salmon that traveled upstream every year… They would also set up fishing traps and smoke houses along #ChunilnaCreek, which is a creek that flows into the Talkeetna River… You can literally see all of the salmon cramped together, trying to make it to safety into the larger river…

This is also where you will find a lot of #GrizzlyBears, back in the day, taking advantage of a very easy meal…It’s like #MotherNature’s version of a fresh fish buffet… lol… All you have to do is reach in and grab the one you like… Without these salmon, I don’t think Bears would have had such an easy time surviving up here… The over abundance of salmon allows the wildlife out here to bulk up and add the needed extra weight to get through the brutal winters…

If you like strong, powerful women then you will love the story of #IsabellaBelleGrindrod… Belle made her way up to Talkeetna in 1917 with her husband… Belle first just did odd jobs like washing laundry and cooking before she built a cabin adjacent to the Talkeetna River… Her husband died years later, leaving Belle to fend for herself alone up in this mysterious, volatile environment…

She soon started a very lucractive business, supplying hot meals for local #miners, running errands for them and most importantly arranging delivery of goods to miners traveling across the river to gold mine fields… Just another example of how miners create communities full of people who provide simple needs to them while they try to strike it rich… Now #tourism is the modern day form of mining, which makes little secluded places like #Talkeetna the attraction of the #summer… Which brings in #restauranteurs, adventure companies and all kinds of vendors looking to make a good buck to survive the winter…

Actually folks, #TheTravelingMac is a big part of this type of living… Considering you are talking to someone who lives it… Instead of fighting with tons of people in the city for a tiny piece of the pie… #TheTravelingMac goes out into small little towns, in the middle of nowhere, where they need people to work the #TouristSeasons… These small towns and boroughs are full of investment opportunities and the residents are just waiting for nice, responsible people to come out and start those businesses because they don’t have the resources or time to do it themselves…

Now, I didn’t set out on this trip with such knowledge but throughout my travels I have found the smaller towns are much more welcoming and everyone is a lot more laid back… Why, do you ask? Well, because people are working together to make things work instead of fighting each other for a piece of the pie… And why do you think that is?

It’s pretty simple! There are no #Corporations out here gobbling up the whole fucking pie, leaving simple people like you and me fighting over the crumbs!!!! Pretty damn simple folks!!! It’s funny how peaceful and laid back the towns are that don’t have corporations… Maybe its just a coincidence? Or maybe the Corporations are the problem…. Oh, I wonder which one it is….

The people fighting for crumbs in the city and elsewhere think they are living the #AmericanDream but they are not! They are living in an environment where most of the pie is owned and controlled by the super rich and the huge Corporations… And in result, everyone else is fighting over the crumbs… and there is not enough to go around in the current #Capitalistic environment… Not enough for a quarter of the people, never mind them all…

These tiny cabins above are rentals for the summer… I was really impressed with this set up because you are right on the river… And the little cabins are heated by propane… they even had the same portable showers I bought for #TheFalcon on the way up here… They have built a little, humble vacation resort with the new technology of today… This wouldn’t have been as cheap and possible as recent as 5 years ago… The person who bought this ultra cheap land and set this little vacation spot up, is a genius in my eyes… I don’t even think they have a septic setup here… They must have a system where they remove the waste… Probably the same truck that comes a removes #TheMillenniumFalcon’s bad stuff once a week…

So, who’s living the American Dream folks? Just think about it… Is it the person who pays overpriced rents or mortgages, handing over a good fraction, most of the time the majority, of their money to landlords and banks? Or is it the person who lives in a small town, has his/her own business, works really hard 7 moths out of the year and takes it easy for the winter season? And with the money they made, not only do they live a comfortable life but they have enough left over to invest in their own property and avoid the banks all together…

Answer that question honestly and then you will know why I am doing all of this… Not that I knew exactly what I was doing when I started this trip… This trip has morphed to fit the ideology I already had… It just gave me the information and facts to support and understand even more what I believed before….

And I honestly want to be a living example for everyone to read and research, so they can gain control of their own lives and do exactly what I am doing now… I want everyone who feels stuck in life to gain control over it by getting rid of the control that makes us feel less free, if we realize it or not…

I know, I know… I’m preaching again… But this is the lesson I was meant to convey… One day, I just felt like taking my own life was better than living the one I had… And when you think that way, there is definitely something wrong…

And society of course makes you feel its all of your own problem… You need medication or something… They will painfully force you to believe that its all you and has nothing to do with the crazy environment you live in…

Well, I’m proud to say, I was too smart for such crazy conformist rhetoric… Instead of facing the inevitable suicide, be it taking my own life or living the life I was living… Which in my opinion are both just as worse than each other… I decided I needed to get rid of that controlling cloud that was hovering over me… Did I consciously know it would turn out this way… Not in my wildest dreams… But I did realize my own displeasure with my life which forced me to completely upend it… I let the Universe guide me and now here I am…

(At the end of this gorgeous, informative trail, it opens up to the river… What a beautiful ending… But the trail continues on from there…)

Am I better off? You better believe it! Way better off! Better than I could ever imagine in a million years! In a billion years! I can not express how better off I am!!! That’s why I take the time to write this blog… And I take a lot of time to do it… I spend around 3 to 4 hours for each post… And that’s not including all of the picture taking I do while going through my daily life…

I don’t do this for money, even though it would be nice to make a few bucks off of this time consuming endeavor… No, I do it to record my own words and feelings throughout my journeys, so I can go back and understand how far I have come… This blog was mostly for me, at first … Now it has turned into a desperate attempt to wake people up in this world and realize their unhappiness… And realize they don’t have to accept that unhappiness in life… With the technology today, you can morph your life into whatever you want… But first, you have to stop listening to everyone who is just as miserable as you are, surrounding you…

You have to free yourself from the propaganda and the control… I know I sound like a looney but trust me, it’s there… It’s still there for me and I am reminded of it every time I have to go back into the “real world” and get my I.D. renewed or some other ridiculous, time consuming chore…

(We soon picked up the trail, guiding us along the river with all kinds of free campsites…)

Folks, it took me more than a year to renew my green card… I had to go to immigration twice and they made me wait a year to get my renewal… My driver’s license renewal took a month and a half because I had no formal California address… I had to change my address to a friend’s address in California because California doesn’t recognize anyone who doesn’t have an address… Not very convenient for someone who lives in a RV…

Now think about this! Imagine you are homeless and poor… Imagine you are living on friends’ couches or out of your car… How the fuck are you supposed to get an I.D? And this is progressive California folks! Could you imagine how it is in a strictly conservative state? I have money but no address and it took me forever to get my I.D. renewed… It’s completely ridiculous… And it seems every time I have something to do in the “real world,” it takes forever! Convenient for the big Coprs because the more time that is taken away from you, the less time you have to address the important things in life… Like what is happening around you…

#Capitalism is out of control in this country, folks! It’s gotten to the point where you are no longer free if you don’t have money… And that’s not what America is supposed to be about… It’s supposed to be about small communities and large communities working together… Balancing between Capitalism and Socialism instead of catering to one solely… A responsible country takes care of its citizens knowing that that makes this country stronger… And the alternative is a lot more expensive…

Unfortunately these huge Corps and all who support them, don’t give a fuck about America! You know how I know this? Because all of their decisions are not based on the betterment of this country…. It’s all based on how they can get richer and gain more control… It’s as simple as that folks…. And now huge companies are doing business all over the world… so their loyalty to this supposedly free country is even less as they expand world wide… Yet they conveniently forget that America’s freedom is what helped them build their company to what it is today in the first place… The idea of America is what allowed them to expand worldwide…

With the advanced technology, that the rich have control of, and the expansion of trade across the world, we should be very afraid of what the future brings… Because technology could easily be used by them to gain even more control… Our voices are more important now than ever because our voices may not be as well heard in the future… Especially  if the powerful can control them with the new technology… We need to fix this before the inevitable happens… and its coming soon folks!

But it always puts a huge smile on my face when I get to walk down trails like these… The simplicity of it all is so relieving and makes you forget about the trials and tribulations of life… The flowers alone are remarkable and different from what you are used to seeing… The nature here feels like its on speed… As the animals work around the clock, using the extra daylight to get ready for the next vicious winter…

I’m sure these animals don’t feel like they are punching a time card every time they get up and start their chores for the day…

How could you feel like you are going to work out in this environment?

It almost feels ridiculous to even try to be an individual out in this massive beauty… Loneliness doesn’t exist out here… You are never alone… Mother Nature is all around you… flowing through you with her chilly breeze… Holding you up with her earthy, natural ground…

You never feel poor out here… How could you when you can set up a tent right next to one of the most gorgeous locations in this world… It’s funny how half of this country talks about Government control yet the places I feel most free, are the ones protected by the Government…

And thank god they do because this area would be unrecognizable if the big Corporations got a hold of this land… There would already be huge hotels out here, on stilts, only for the ones who can afford…

Do you know how I know this? I just drive up the road, out of the center of Talkeetna and after a few miles of driving, I arrive at the #TalkeetnaAlaskanLodge… A huge hotel that has been built with a view that makes your eyes tear up… and it wasn’t easy to build there but they did it anyway… Because where there is money to be made, the big corps will find a way to make it happen… And to see that gorgeous, natural view, now you have to either enter the hotel or walk around it, which is considered private property… They have taken that view away from us and have found a way to own it enough that the average citizen has to buy his/her way in to view it…

Or go to #DenaliNationalPark… Before you get into the actual protected park, you go through a huge section of Corporate congestion… And its just disgusting, all the buildings… The no parking signs… Everything cramped together with zombie tourists walking aimlessly around, trying to figure out what to do… It’s a complete fucking mess! And it fucks with your head! Trust me! If you realize it or not…

Now, do you really think there would be free camping spots like these if the Corps owned this land? All you would see here is signs informing you that you can’t camp here… with directions to where you can pay and camp… You can’t even park your RV in their area… I know I sound kind of ridiculous here but I pay taxes in this beautiful country… This is my country also… Why can’t I just pull over and park for the night? Why does everything come at a price?

But aren’t we supposed to be afraid of Government control? Isn’t the Government trying to take all of this away, along with our guns?

You would think so, if you buy into that type of rhetoric… When in reality, it’s the big companies and the rich who don’t like government control because they protect places like these and people like us, who want these places preserved for every citizen to enjoy, practically free…

And why shouldn’t we have this for free? We work hard and pay our taxes to protect and preserve this amazing country… We own this land as a country! It’s everyones! No matter how much money you have…

(If you look above, this is a great example of where the Chulitna river meets the Talkeetna and Sustina river…. You can see the different water colors meeting… I thought this was so cool… I guess the water coming from the Talkeetna and Sustina river are muddier due to a more shallow river… Where as the Chulitna is a dark deep river…

And when you really think about it, how can you own this? When you supposedly own the earth, then you own everything that lives on it, don’t you? Considering that all life and everything we use comes from this mighty land… We are all just moving earth… We are all land folks! Our real estate just moves…

And we know what result we get when we start owning people… and don’t you ever think we are not experiencing it now… Maybe slavery as we know it, is a thing in the past… But a new type of slavery is forming… It’s called the control of the people by the rich and powerful… Which in all reality, has been happening since the civilization of man…

When the rich and powerful are gobbling up our land and controlling our environment more and more everyday… we become less free… Because that land is us! It’s apart of us! We come from it! So when the powerful own it, they essentially own us… The money is just a tool and distraction to get more control…

And if they ever get control of all of the land, then they will control everything that lives and grows on it… That is when we are no longer free at all… And we are handing it all over to them by buying all of their products and essentially paving the road for them…

Time to wake up folks! I’m not saying its all bad but if we keep our eyes closed and choose to ignore the debauchery that is happening around us as we enjoy more convenient lives, it will eventually come back and bite us in the ass! Remember, it’s not the big companies that make growth and innovation possible… It’s the people they hire and the land they use that makes all of this possible… They just control it all… Without them, I believe we would be even more advanced and way better off… But we will never know this if we continue to give them more and more control everyday…

But for now, The Traveling Mac, Tracey and The Millennium Falcon will just continue to travel the world and experience the special places where the rich and powerful have very little control… And hopefully we can help to keep it that way!