The Great Midwest

Susan and I just completed our Fall tour of the upper Midwest and I’m sharing here a couple of posts resulting from this expedition, posted recently on woodrisebooks.com, my new outdoors blog.

Off the Beaten Track

It’s actually easy to have miles of woodland trail to yourself in any of the eastern states.

Wild and Wonderful Blog Post

I ate many types of animals early in the trip. Soon my animal crackers ran out though and I realized that I’d need to go foraging for things like mushrooms

Just the Basics: Camping

And the first night, when I was fourteen, involved taking a pillow and blanket out behind mom and dad’s house in upstate New York to a sort of stick shelter I’d thrown up in the hedge separating us from some apartment buildings. I survived till morning and thought I’d like to try it again sometime.

Back Out West

So, on October fifteenth, my packed-to-capacity Kia Soul merged onto the Pennsylvania turnpike, headed west. Susan was in the passenger seat and Washington State lay somewhere out on the horizon.

Didn’t See That Coming

Why do we put so much stock in the prognostications of the modern augurs who tell us what the future holds for us? Look at your own life and think about how little of what’s befallen you could have been forecast.

Fear Not

Overcoming fear imparts the mindset necessary to embark on adventure, to pursue purpose and to simply get the most out of life. For me, the Long March of Liberty was all an exercise in overcoming fear, whatever else it may have been.

Wide-Ranging Rewards on the Road

Cross-posted from the blog at MarchOfLiberty.com. Early next week I’ll be looking out across the wide plains of the American West from the vantage point of the Continental Divide. Needless to say, it’s been a long walk to get here, to Kalispell, Montana, this morning, but there’s no other way I’d rather have seen the […]

Book Review: “Chasing Thoreau” by Jim Payne

Jim Payne writes in praise of curiosity itself in his most recent adventure travel book, Chasing Thoreau. Some might begin this volume thinking they’ll enjoy a fine adventure along with Jim on the waters of the Merrimack and Concord. Others might seek out the bits of religious enlightenment concealed within. But the common thread throughout these few days on the water, as throughout the life of Dr. James Payne, is certainly curiosity.

Keeping the Purpose in Sight

Cross-posted from the blog at MarchOfLiberty.com. On the Appalachian Trail, maybe a couple thousand hopeful “thru hikers” set out annually to conquer the entire 2,200 miles between Springer Mountain, Georgia, and Mt. Katahdin, Maine. More than a year of preparation has preceded the long drive to north Georgia for most, preparation for the challenge of a lifetime…

the dying fish

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