The Faux Shaux

As a kid, my father would devise treasure hunts as a way of giving me a gift.  They would result in a toy of some sort (like a He-Man figure), but the true gift was the treasure hunt; a series of hand-drawn pictorial clues on a Post-It note.  He is an amazing illustrator, so these clues were as good as photographs made of a few eloquent lines.  I still remember one of the treasure sites being buried under a large rock in a lot across the street.

Adventure is still as enticing as in my childhood, so I devised a similar way to enjoy my first roadtrip to the South.  It began as a simple To-Do list; ‘hike a mountain,’ ‘buy a used instrument.’  It quickly became open-ended constraints; ‘eat a new food,’ ‘give something away.’

1. Climb a mountain

2. Find a waterfall or cliff jump

3. Seek out a local legend

4. Record a song

5. Build a fire without lighter fluid

6. Walk along train tracks

7. Skinny dip

8. See a band (bonus: perform a song with em)

9. Eat a new food

10. See some wildlife

11. Visit a brewery / still

12. Make some street art

13. Spend time on a raft/boat-like object

14. Get to an uninhabited island (bonus: stay overnight)

15. Have a stranger sing me Happy Bday

16. Give something away

17. Buy a used instrument (bonus: barter for it)

18. Trust a stranger

19. Catch a wave

20. Catch a fish

21. Set off fireworks

22. Dinner with a stranger