Survival TV

I stumbled on this article about "survival TV" and Cody Lundin, and it's worth a read.

I have a weak spot for survival TV and have watched a bit over the years. My first exposure was Les Stroud and Survivorman, and I still prefer Les to anyone else. I was traveling and alone in a hotel room one night when I stumbled on a Survivorman marathon, and spent the rest of the evening entranced.

I got my whole family interested in Survivorman, and my girls particularly liked watching episodes with me. A DVD of a Survivorman season was usually one of my Christmas gifts in those years.

I've seen Cody Lundin on survival shows, and I like him and think he's the real deal. I also think his book is a must-read for anyone who spends time outdoors (reviewed by me, here.)

As survival shows got more popular, there had to be more "action", and became more wilderness stunts, and less survival (which is the point of the Cody Lundin article at the top.)

I found a new show a few weeks ago, Fat Guys in the Woods, while recovering from an unsuccessful attempt to cut off my thumb. I got sucked in, watched a few episodes, and it wasn't bad. A survival guy takes three fat, out-of-shape guys who have no exposure to the outdoors out into the woods for a week and teaches them how to survive.

I liked it with some caveats. I think they were being given food off-camera. You can't convince me that obese couch potatoes who have eaten little or nothing for 3-4 days (which is what the episodes depicted) wouldn't be moaning *constantly* about how hungry they are. But they weren't.

I'll be happy to watch it - at least until Les Stroud comes out with some new Survivorman eipsodes.

Map of Visited States

I've written before about the number of states I've visited - which is always a subject of interest among my hiking buddies. I posted here in March '13, that I'd visited 42 of the lower 48 states. My current total is 44 - I've visited one additional state, and I realized that I had already visited one that I hadn't claimed:

* Maine. We spent a week here in September '13, hiking and camping.

* Wisconsin. I'd completely forgotten that I'd ever been there, but I definitely have. I did a bit of traveling in one of my first jobs out of college, and one of our clients was children's clothing maker Oshkosh B'Gosh, located in...drum roll please...Oshkosh, WI. I think I was watching a football game one afternoon when an Oshkosh B'Gosh commercial came on. The thought hit me like a thunderbolt - Oshkosh.... Wisconsin! I have Wisconsin!

I'm thinking of this today because I stumbled across a website that lets you chart your visited states on an interactive map. The site is here. My map is below. I've followed the recommended guidelines for colors, as follows:

* Green: lived there or spent extensive time.
* Blue: spent a good amount of time there - at least a week.
* Orange: spent at least one night there.
* Pink: passed through, did not spend a night.