We've all day dreamed about it - becoming a pro. What would it be like? Well, besides getting to do the thing you love everyday, you'd probably get free gear, meet incredible people, get your photo taken, maybe travel the world. You might even get paid. We call it living the dream. And it's good work if you can get it. But, how do you get the gig? And is it really all that it's cracked up to be? Zack Giffin and Timmy O'Neill share their stories of finding the spotlight and moving beyond it.

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Ever walked through the woods late at night and felt like you were being followed? Had a strange feeling about someone you just met? Encountered the strictly inexplicable that led you, abruptly, to pack up and bail? Often, we rationalize these instincts – just a bird in the trees cracking limbs, just a strange fellow with good intentions, or, well, our senses simply must have failed us. But what about when these warning signals don’t go off? Today, Micah McNulty, Trey Johnson, and George Braun bring us stories of the times that intuition didn’t kick in when maybe it should have. 

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Steve's typical weekend would make any dirtbag jealous. Concerts by the river, sunrise climbs, hiking a new trailhead just because. He's living his own version of the dirtbag dream; the one he wanted to achieve for so many years. Until one day, he realized the dream he chased, wasn't all that he'd imagined it to be. Could he change his dream to reflect the reality he now wanted? 

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"A friend of mine said that it was worth getting a budget flight to Morocco just to eat an orange.  After that you could turn around and fly home content." Writer, photographer, and surfer Mat Arney was ready for a break from his routine; and really ready to go surfing. While driving or flying was the simple solution, Mat made the journey equal to the destination, taking the train from England to Morocco. As the landscape outside the train's window subtly change, he enjoyed the slow release and focus of travel.  

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Drive it until it dies. That's the motto I lived by as my truck, Crash, crisscrossed the West. Family members would doubtfully ask, "Are you sure you want to drive there?" I did. Friends would ask about Crash's well being as though he was my aging dog. Though I knew the day was coming, I was still blindsided when the gears ground to a halt on my way to Yosemite. Could my belief in Crash transcend beyond the hulk of metal?

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"My father would collected me in the summer and we would range farther in our explorations of the West.  We would find small towns on the edge of wilderness and he would tell me, 'If I ever disappear, look for me here.' These trips nurtured a love of the outdoors that I cannot imagine being without.”  Deron Daugherty pays tribute to his father as they take one last hike together into the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona.

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With summer upon us, it's time for some tunes as you head out to destinations near and far. We've selected a few of our favorite cuts from the last year of stories. Download your favorite(s) for free, then use them to solve this equation: music + road tripping + stoke + x =  40% better road trip. Try it. I promise you'll crack a smile. Or make your passenger laugh. Happy summer!

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FAWN
"Pixels" (mp3)
from "Coastlines"
(Quite Scientific Records)

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POLIÇA
"Dark Star" (mp3)
from "Give You The Ghost"
(Totally Gross National Product / Mom + Pop)

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Kishi Bashi
"It All Began With a Burst" (mp3)
from "151a"
(Joyful Noise Recordings)

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Sarah MacDougall
"Sometimes You Lose, Sometimes You Win" (mp3)
from "The Greatest Ones Alive"
(Rabbit Heart Music)

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Reigns
"The Diagram" (mp3)
from "The Widow Blades"
(Monotreme Records)

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Oax
"Love and Crashing" (mp3)
from "This Distance"
(Bladen County Records)

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Typhoon
"The Honest Truth" (mp3)
from "A New Kind of House"
(Tender Loving Empire)

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Dreamend
"Your Apparition Stays with Me Still" (mp3)
from "And the Tears Washed Me, Wave After Cowardly Wave"
(Graveface Records)

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Mezzanine Owls
"Snow Globe" (mp3)
from "Mezzanine Owls"
(Jaxart Records)

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Evans The Death
"I'm So Unclean" (mp3)
from "Threads / I'm So Unclean"
(Fortuna POP!)

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Dreamend
"The Face on the Tintype" (mp3)
from "And the Tears Washed Me, Wave After Cowardly Wave"
(Graveface Records)

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Next time you're out at a popular trailhead, take 30 minutes, crack a beer and take a look around the parking lot. You'll start to see that there are a few  distinct types of people you can meet in the parking lot. Each has their merits that can help you achieve a spectacular day. And each has its drawback too. It’s up to you to decide which player you want to be in the parking lot. 

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Jessie Stone has a resume that would make any dirtbag proud -- raft guide, pro whitewater kayaker and member of the US freestyle kayak team. At the end of that list is medical doctor.  And the director of the Soft Power Health Clinic in Uganda.  She is a career shape shifter. who followed her passions and ended up in an unexpected place. How do you know when it's time to step out of the current and follow an alternative path? Trevor Clark traveled to Uganda to tell Jessie's story. 

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"If there are three types of fun, there should be five types of B.O." It happens to all of us. You're out camping for a few days, maybe more. Free from the hygienic shackles of society, you sniff and think, "I'm good."  Brendan Leonard's been there. He'll go multiple days without a shower, because one isn't readily available, or he doesn't want to find the soap buried in his car. It's gotten bad. Really bad. Brendan breaks down the B.O. levels. What's your rank?

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