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....

Changing Seasons in Our Life

There comes a time in everyone's life when change is necessary. Knowing what to change, when to change and just how much to change is often difficult for most people. I too needed to make some serious changes in my own life as well as my life-style. I spoke earlier of a fantastic trip that my blind side-kick and I were planning... Well, we have been spiritually called to begin that journey now. Yes, you read that right - now, in the middle of winter! We decided to just take a giant leap of faith and answer that "call of the wild" so we are currently in progress to pack up our household belongings and put them all into long-term storage. Keep out our Tent, camping gear, a large suitcase a piece, my laptop computer, my camera gear, and Claudette's writing acoutroments ~ stuff them into my little economy car and hit the road!!! We will be tent camping across America for the next 12-18 months. The intent is to travel all 48 contiguous states, compose photo-essays, articles of interest, fabulous photo's and compile it all into a book or two. It will depict all the wonderful places in America that the average person seldom ever sees or hears about. It will also show that just because one has a bit of "snow on the roof" doesn't mean that seniors can't have fun adventures too. We intend to visit our friends and family along the way as time and locations allow. We will be setting up a special blog site so that all of our family & friends can follow along with us and be part of this phenominal experience. I hope to be better at keeping this blog updated more often too.
Some have called us "Brave" and others think we're a bit "Crazy" for taking such a huge assignment all alone and in a TENT. The purpose is not to prove anything to anyone but to challenge ourselves and to enjoy life to the very fullest extent possible in a very simple manner. We will get to experience a very basic and simple lifestyle and fulfill our dreams of traveling the U.S. of A. in a really unique way. Best of all, we can share our joy with so many other people.