*For Christmas 2023 we gave our girls the gift of The Cruise. At the time we hoped it would provide a luxurious respite from our year on the road. As the end of January, 2024 neared, our exhaustion inreased due to the rough weather along the Gulf. The camper had sprung leaks, our towels were…
Laughs on Lake Willoughby
JOURNAL ENTRY: AUGUST 29, 2023, JOHNSON, VERMONT “I am sitting here looking at a sublimely beautiful view of the vert monts, or Green Mountains. Mount Mansfield is off to the southwest, hiding just beyond the treeline to my right. Rain is moving in, the ridges are becoming obscured in the mist. The mountains unfurl before…
Writing a Book About a Family Gap Year
Crafting a Tantalizing Title Hello to anyone who may be reading this, Writing a book about a family gap year, or really any book, is hard. It is something I have always wanted to do in my life. I remember telling my brother many years ago that I was attempting to write a book. It…
Of Another Life – First 30 Pages
Please see below for an excerpt (the first 30 pages, give or take) of my book about our journey around the country in our travel trailer. If you know all about our adventure, please imagine you know nothing. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has never heard of us, never seen us, and…
The Hallways of Memory
After all our travels it is undeniably nice to sit around and do nothing. I cleaned the gutters today. Yesterday I cut the grass. For the last two weeks prior I sat on the couch early in the morning and watched the Tour de France. Sienna runs three days a week with the high school…
A Journey with an Unknown Destination
We didn’t know we’d end up in Fort Collins when we left Bailey. In fact, we didn’t know where we’d end up at all. How many people take journeys without destinations? I like that about our trip. We took the best part of any adventure (the journey) and made it the entire purpose of the…
So Close To The End
Oh, to sit in a hard chair at a desk to write something or to dine at a real dining table! To sit on a couch that we can all fit on and watch a movie or TV! To not have to plan our next drive, our next place to stay, our next shopping trip;…
The Final Push
I am sitting here in Ballard in our rental that my aunt very graciously covered for us during our stay and listening to the owner Jill, my aunt’s friend, and some of her girlfriends play guitar outside. They are sitting on the patio between Jill’s house and the small rental they built in their backyard….
Amongst the Titans
Our Pacific Northwest Tour, PNWT (or as I like to call it, the P-Newt) has begun! We are currently in Crescent City and it is raining and 53 degrees. Our hike amongst a grove of old-growth coast redwoods in Redwood National Park today was an experience hard to put to words, but I’m going to…
Lighting Out & the Homestretch
Nick Woodland April 16, 2023 We all handle the stresses and anxieties of this trip differently. I’ve had shingles rashes popping up in different places for the last two months. Ava picked up a severe case of strep and could barely swallow for two days (we were 120 miles away from the nearest Urgent Care…