Travelogs

The Cycle of Life Adventures "Epic Cross Country Tour" follows the Southern Tier route across the US from San Diego, CA to St. Augustine. At 2940 miles it is the shortest of the three well-known coast to coast routes. It is also the flattest. Most importantly it is the one that passes through all the major food groups and for all these reasons it was clearly the right choice for me.

The GR20 trail across the rugged mountains of Corsica turns out to be one of the toughest in Europe. Fortunately, we did not know that until afterwards. Even more fortunately, we only planned to complete the first half.

This is the first trip I attempted to keep a journal for. Originally "published" in a hard-copy print run of two copies, the source file was lost but apparently carried forward through the dusty backrooms of countless hard drives until it miraculously surfaced in a random search 20 years later.

The Coast-To-Coast walk was the first trip recorded directly to the web. In fact, in its first incantation, it was uploaded in real time during the trip so that family and friends back home could track us as we went.

My brother Nick has been organizing a Spring Walk for a few friends for a number of years. Often our brother Chris joins them, and lately Adam has also done a couple. This was my first. The location varies but the format is the same: two days walking with a pub destination noon and night. This year was the Cotswalds. 'Nuff said.

In October 2005 Wayne and I celebrated our 50th birthdays with the first major trip in a decade. I had hit my second continent (California) in my mid-20's so there's a symmetry to hitting the third 25 years later. However, we're resolved to quicken the pace a little, because we don't have the required extra 100 years to cover the last four.

After 45 years of dreaming, two years of planning, and one year of training, we set off on our attempt to reach the roof of Africa on September 24. This time Wayne and I were joined by additional forces: Mick a friend from The Netherlands, Brian a squash buddy, and Steve a friend of Brian.

A brief encounter of the best kind: two days prepended to a business trip; with two colleagues and the only connection between the three being a shared sense that "it seemed a good idea at the time" but which exceeded all our expectations.

The fourth continent, the third world. A once in a lifetime opportunity to experience village life, hosted by Alexis's Peace Corp counterpart in his village with no power and no running water. As one of the more stable countries in Africa, it was also an opportunity to travel widely and freely in search of big game, birds, birds, birds, and of course countless other adventures along the way.

Claudia and Richard on vacation. Together!

In celebration of our 20th wedding anniversary, Claudia wanted a beach vacation, and to take Marty, Adam, and Rachel. So be it. In early May, just at the beginning of the low season, she rented a small palace on St John, which she'd heard was beautiful and quiet. Right on both counts.

148 Miles for a Harpoon.
Boston, MA to Windsor, VT on an absolutely spectacular Saturday 16 June. Shortest trip likely to be reported here, but warrants its place because of the training regimen, which one could (and does) argue makes it a major effort—and accomplishment.

Continent Number 5
Adam and I togther for the first time since the Coast to Coast. A lot of miles, a lot of history, a lot of fun, and a whole lot of beauty.

We covered ground both ancient and modern with cultural surprises at every turn.

Neither of us are big Florida fans, but with the excuse of wanting to see several sets of good friends who seem to like it there we had a great time discovering new things and revisiting old favorites, we had nothing to lose.

May 2015 my brother Nick stopped by for a few days. What better then, for a guy who's favorite form of quality time is walking, than a hike round Lincoln-Lafayette?

Claudia and I together on a major trip for the first time in nearly 20 years, along with a record number of other family and friends. We were 80% of the passengers on a cruise 200 miles up the Rio Negro into the heart of the Amazon. It rained. There was forest. It was first class.

Mt Washington has some of the harshest weather on the planet. What better time and place then to attempt our first ever winter hike than a weekend when we were expecting record-breaking low temperatures? Oh yeah.

This one blew the doors off. It blew them off time (we were away nearly a month when all is said and done). It blew them off distance (we travelled coast to coast—the same as a US cross-country trip). It blew them off the bank vault (25th wedding anniversary, and Claudia "not going all that way and then cutting corners. Wow what a trip.

The one failure we had in the Return To Oz was the diving portion, where let's just say the weather did not suit me. Curaçao was suggested as a recovery plan, and it delivered big time. We are now certified open water divers. "These are our stories."

SxSE. South by South East. Five guys, five days, five states and a single focus: do the south. Bar B-Q, blues, bourbon. Rinse and repeat. We got to do some sight-seeing too.