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Rock-On-RocketLlama — Rock On, Rocket Llama - page 35
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#rockonrocketllama #alejandrawilson #anxiety #beer #comic #friends #hiking #nature #pct #rocketllama #tavern
Published: 2015-02-13 22:03:35 +0000 UTC; Views: 242; Favourites: 4; Downloads: 0
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Description
Started listening to TEDtalks while making comics. Brené Brown's talks on vulnerability and shame were actually a GREAT mental aid while covering these RORL pages! Also helpful was "The Happiness of Pursuit" by Chris Guillebeau, a book on real-life quests and the ordinary people who strive to do extraordinary things, which reminded me that I don't always have to be walking to find purpose and meaning in my life.Have a comic!
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Comments: 12
Lovely layout of your bar scene! I wonder how much is from memory and how much is just you filling in the blanks with good ol' imagination
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This was a good scene for learning about that, actually! I found reference pics for the first two panels, and I KINDA remembered what the bar generally looked like for the third one, but I wound up looking at a lot of different pics and using them to inform my memory. I kind of had this hangup about getting it "right," and since drawing those details was kinda challenging anyway, I did simple backgrounds for the other panels.
Looking back, I decided I hated those empty backgrounds. In my more recent pages, I'm putting a lot more effort into it and I'm trying to be more flexible with reality vs. the ol' imagination!
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Day-um. Those backgrounds.
Looks like a pretty cool place to drink.
I love all the different cartoony eyes here, 'specially that penultimate panel!
Hey, a beer I actually recognize! *feels so proud of self*
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I'm still on a quest to learn beers! It's been an uphill struggle - I'm a cider girl.
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I got lost on the quest to learn beers when I discovered I didn't like the taste.
(Drat! Foiled by my tastebuds! Again!)
Ever try pear cider? My mom and brother seem fond of Woodchuck's pear, but the taste didn't seem to appeal to me...
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Cheers, mate! Shucks!
And yet... large and impressive as a thru-hike is - every season, each trail is undertaken by a motley crew of college kids, retirees, engineers, ski bums, waiters, doctors, homemakers and sometimes even comic artists. All normal! All a bit different at the end, maybe.
Actually... Now that I think about it, I think it takes all those people, turns them into thru-hikers, and pops them out at the other end aspiring to live in vans and take up organic farming. Hahaha!
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I still figure it's pretty extraordinary! 
Next stop, Triple Crown..... ...eventually!
BTW what IS a shocktop?
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Awesome, dude! The Sunshine Coast and the West Coast trail, huh? I've heard mention of those, but I don't know too much about them. Tell me about them!?!?
I've got an eye on the Continental Divide, but I've more or less committed myself to wrapping up this comic project before I go gallivanting off on another adventure. We'll see if the focus lasts! Might snap before then; hard to say! "Hiking" and "comics" are two starkly different lifestyle choices... ack!
Shocktop's a kind of beer, btw!
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Sunshine Coast is kind of new. Although the trails have been recently (1999) joined. It follows the high ground on the Sechelt peninsula northwest of Vancouver and has the distinction of having trail huts along it. Apparently you can do the whole 180km without a tent.
The West Coast Trail is popular enough to require applications for permits and due to weather is only allowed to be hiked in the summer. It was an old rescue trail for shipwrecks along the outer coast of Vancouver Island (some of the telegraph lines are still standing). It's about 75km, but is a lot more rugged with river and stream crossings as major challanges. Apparently a current tidal table is also required to keep from being stranded on certain beach crossings. On average it takes 5-7 days.
Right now I'm building up myself on some of the smaller trails around Vancouver. There's mountain trails in North Vancouver and parts of those are along the Trans-Canada trail route (so there's my section hiking done..
I'm a member of the Continental Divide Society! 
Have you done the whole PCT BTW? Or are you working on it in sections?
Shocktop, beer, California brew, duly noted...
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Ohhhh! A rescue trail for shipwrecks? That sounds pretty much awesome; what a history. I like the idea of a coastal hike, dodging the tides - that and deserts. I also like the idea of combing the coasts for treasure chests and wreckage, and maybe chance sightings of a ghost ship or two, which probably isn't a thing but still TOTALLY what I'd be looking for if I was out there! 'Cause SHIPWRECK TRAIL, right!?! More realistically: Ohhh, to breathe clean air and see the stars at night. Sounds wonderful.
Anyway, yes. I've hiked the whole PCT! I finally made it as a thru-hike last season, south to north. But this comic takes place the year before that, in 2013.
It's cool to find people in an artist community who are interested in stuff like long distance hiking. I have this insane hope that maybe I can inspire people to seek out some kind of challenge or adventure by sharing my own, but it sounds like you're already there!
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I think there are one or two hiking groups on DA as well, mostly photographs. I pretty much watch because I'm not much of a joiner. It's probably why I'd like to do a southbound route (fewer people). Not a big fan of backtracking to start at the Border though. Too bad los Estados Unitos doesn't allow trail crossings like Kha'nat'ah does..
As I said... I'm getting there...
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