Middle of August 2011

Here we are in the middle of August and the summer here in Kalispell is starting to diminish, hints of fall are beginning to appear. It seems very odd that the leaves are beginning to show hints of red & yellow and yet the crabapples have not matured yet. We had a very late and wet spring this year so it looks like many things won't ripen before the cold of winter sneaks in. The color of the sky is also changing daily, closer to the bright blue of September.

I really don't mind because I know for certain that God has a plan for everything and that HE is in full control of how and when those things occur. HE has shown great mercy on us this summer and we were NOT part of that intense "Heat Dome" that so many others have suffered through this summer. Our weather here in Kalispell has been fantastic.

As Fall does approach, the kids are returning to school... Teach your children to be kind to each other, smile and say hello to ALL the other kids no matter what they may look like on the outside, they may be scared or very lonely on the inside. Maybe they aren't the prettiest, most fashionable or from the "better side of the tracks" ~ They still have feelings and can still be a great friend if given a chance. Help STOP the bullying by teaching our kids that it's okay to be different ~ Remember that "Jesus loves ALL the children in the world" (Sunday school song). If I offended any non-christian's I apologize for the offense to you, but I AM CHRISTIAN and will never apologize for that fact, get over it.

My summer has been one heck of an emotional rollercoaster but like the amusement park ride, it will eventually come to an end and everything will resume to "normalcy" again. Life is good, full of many blessings every single day - look for them, embrace them and be thankful for each moment of life. We must all learn to quit whining about what we don't have and be grateful for all that we do have: Family, Friends & Love from many different directions...

I have been doing a lot of photography which can be found on my FaceBook page where I also have a "Fan Page" for many of my photo albums - drop by and have a peek! All my photo's are available for sale as prints: to grace your home or give as a gift. I'm also making a 2012 Calendar and am taking reservations now for however many copies you want. The theme will be "Water & Stone" and are only $25 each. They will be available in early November. All Calanders will be on a "pre-paid" basis because of the very high cost of printing each one.

Until next week friends... Keep looking up, that's where all the answers come from.

Spring and Summer of 2011

It seems that I have neglected this Blog far too long so I will make more effort to keep it updated. We have been home from our tour since early May and my goodness what an experience we've had. We are very happy to be back in Kalispell, MT and especially with the horrendous heat-wave that has plagued most of North America this summer. We are so fortunate to have escaped those 100° plus temperatures. Our weather has been much more comfortable here in the northwest portion of the country. We've had very warm days too with exceptionally high UV index's but our area cools way down at night into the 40's & 50's. Such a fantastic blessing...

I have had some serious personal health issues since I last posted. I will not go into great detail but suffice it to say that much of my "longer-trip" traveling is done. I will still be able to do short little adventures but that even has limits. Getting older can be a real challenge for some of us but I refuse to let my physical challenges get in the way of my way of thinking. I just get resourceful and think of new ways to accomplish things. I try to maintain a positive attitude (that's a challenge some days too).

One of the many things I learned from this "Tour" is that despite all the intense frustrations and percieved failures, there were also MANY hidden blessings. I learned things about my inner-self, I learned what it's like to have technically "no home" other than what you carry with you, I learned the true meaning of real friendships ~ amazing and powerful lessons. I met some fantastic new people I now call friends as well.

I can't truthfully say that this tour was a positive experience but many positive things occurred as a result of it. I now know just how little a person really needs to live day to day. I also came to the conclusion that material possessions have much less important meaning in my personal life and are not near as valued as before. God teaches us that we really only need a few important things: Food, Shelter, Water, and Love. Everything else is merely "comforts" in life.

I packed my little car with everything we thought we would need to "Tent Camp" our way across America and we were really stuffed (see photo's). We planned to be on the road for an entire year ~ We researched every tiny little detail except for the most obvious: Economic changes! We set our budget, planned our route, thought sure we'd thought of everything... We did not plan on the wrath of Mother Nature nor the sky-rocketing costs of fuel. We also were shocked at the HUGE increase of campground fee's and closures that we encountered. Things turned to major frustrations and anger very quickly (for me).

I will go into a bit more detail in my next posting (next week) about all the things we were met with and how we dealt with each one. Stay tuned friends....

Adventure Tour

I finally re-established my link to my own Blog (LOL) so I think perhaps I should post an update. My side-kick Claudette and I began a "Tent Camping" tour of our great country on Dec. 11th 2010 from Kalispell, MT.

We left there with the hopes of spending the winter months touring, photographing and writing about the nice warm southern regions. When we left Montana it was 17 degrees F and about 30" of snow still on the ground. We made our way south to I-90, turned west to I-5, headed south for sunny California and what did we find? Foul weather followed us everywhere we went! We got to eastern Washington and hit a blizzard near the Columbia river all the way to Snoqualime pass then heavy rain all the way through Oregon and into Paso Robles, CA. We stopped to visit friends there and got one day of non-rainy weather out of 3 days spent there. Shortly after we left, they got hit with torrential rains causing bad mudslides and havoc. We never saw any sunshine until we hit I-8 east and got to El Centro, CA. Needless to say, tent camping was not even remotely possible yet. When we finally got to southern Arizona, we made camp and caught some beautiful photo images of sunset & sunrises. We stayed for 3 days there before the weather turned very frigid and also wet again. Onward we continued... New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, back to Texas, on to Louisana, Mississippi, Alabama, and finally Florida.

Well now, one would think that Florida (even in January) would be warm, sunny, wonderful... but NO, not this year! We got to an area just north of Tampa called Holiday, and the weather was freezing at night and not much warmer during the day. Yes, there was torrential rains too. We began to think we were "weather cursed" for sure. By this time, our travel funds were tapped-out since we could not tent camp and cook our own meals - things got way too expensive, gas was going up by the day and the crummy weather just kept on comming! We decided it was time to go spend some quality visitation time with Claudette's family in Kentucky & Indiana. Many of her relatives are elderly and in poor health ~ now would be an opportune time to visit and allow ourselves some recoup time as well.

Now along this journey, the weather pretty much dictated when and where we went; timing was everything! We left Florida just as it started to finally warm-up a bit, headed for Kentucky. It was an interesting and pretty drive but we didn't have the time or funds to see as much along the way as we would have liked to see. We went north on I-75 from Florida, through Georgia, Tennessee and into Kentucky to Harrodsburg. Naturally, the very next morning after we arrived - snow! Yes, we had now come full circle back to winter weather.

From that point on we have had to outrun snow storms, one after the other! With our funds running extremely low, I chose to return to Oklahoma where I know the area and lots of people. I needed to find some work/a paycheck in order to continue our journey. We got to Pryor, OK just in time for the worst blizzard in state history. We were actually accused of bringing it with us (LOL). Since being here in Oklahoma we have been buried by not one but two major blizzards. I give up... Come spring, we are headed back to Montana via I-40 across to California and back up the west coast. I am determined to see the beautiful coastlines that we had to miss because of rain and fog the first time around! With any luck, things will improve soon.

There ya have it folks - that's what I've been up to for the past two months. I've seen some amazing things, learned a great deal of our history and also learned to be more patient and enjoy life as it is handed to me. Has winter taught you anything new?