Adventurers of the world - Unite!

"This is exactly how I thought our marriage would turn out - except I figured we'd be driving around in a van solving mysteries."
- Homer Simpson

Some time in high school I was at a Half-Price books and found a book called The Urban Adventure Handbook. I think it was either in the outdoors section, which I always look through, or the humor section, which I glance into from time to time. It is an out of print book, written in 1990 about going on outdoorsy adventures in an urban environment. Bouldering became "buildering" with the giant rocks replaced by the sides of buildings. There were sections on urban bike riding, spelunking in storm drains and steam tunnels, climbing tall buildings, rapelling, base jumping (an advanced skill), and balancing - which really confused me at the time.

Since the advent of the internet - or at least my inclusion in it - I've found many different urban adventure sites out there. There are people who explore catacombs in France, climb buildings in San Francisco, and explore tunnels in NYC. One of the skills that has interested me the most is the balancing skill, which merely requires the practitioner to attempt balancing on objects stable enough for a person, but not intended for said use. Utility poles, fire hydrants, railroad rails, hand rails, and walking on suspended chains (still trying to master this one) were all suggested. It appealed to me because of the simplicity of it all - no special equipment or tools needed - just the time needed to relax and do it. It's almost a zen-like exercise.

• Urban Adventure
• Wraiths.org

Go forth in the footsteps of Shiva. Do not betray his/her truth.

Even before the Indiana Jones movies came out, I was obesessed with the idea of buried treasure. I would conduct digs in my yard for artifacts and carefully catalog everything I found. There was one time that I came upon a cache of buried coins that a previous owner had secreted (a handful of old "wheat straw" pennies) and I was convinced that buried treasure was everywhere.

• Fort Teran
• Lost Treasure

What is Pulp? Stories of exploration: adventurers penetrating the darkest, unexplored regions of the Earth. Stories of heroism: the bold and brave foiling the nefarious plots of dastardly villains. Stories of mystery: gritty, streetwise gumshoes wearing out their shoe leather in search of clues. Stories of weird menace: unfortunate nephews delving into secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know. These only scratch the surface of the pulp genre.

Now that is what I am talking about.

• The Adventurers Club
• The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
• Time Travel

• The Indiana Jones Equipment Resource

• INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES
• COVERT OPS - Are YOU ready for the ultimate action-adventure experience?
• Bond...James Bond - Uncovering the mercenary inside

Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory.