Hello, Stranger...  Season 2 

hello, stranger – it's probably fitting that the thing i'd imagined would be the highlight of my last road trip for the season turned out to be the low light in reality.  a couple weeks ago i drove out to New Mexico to see some family that had rented a cabin in a woodsy ski town in the northeast part of the state.  it was a good chance to see loved ones, and escape the heat of the desert, even if just for a while.  but as per usual, i was hassled and harried by work and other

5.17.25 hello, stranger – so i've made a decision.  or more like had an epiphany, really.  in any case, about two weeks ago it hit me like a bolt of lightning that i was never going to get where i wanted to be as long as i remain stuck where i was.  and my office – and the future that i thought would come with it – has been nothing but a boat anchor for far too long now.  once i saw that clearly i started packing up that afternoon. since then i've boxed up, reduced, simplifie

hello, stranger – well, i finally made it up to the Grand Canyon.  you would've thought i’d have made it up there by now, with all the time i've been out here so far.  it is, after all, one of the most awe-inspiring geological sights in the world.  probably worth a peek, especially for a road trip junkie - for lack of any better term.  maybe if it was to the east or west it might've been more on my radar, but to get there from here you have to go through Phoenix, and i think

hello, stranger – it's morning here in Bisbee, and i just came down the other night on a sudden invite from my publisher to spend a few days.  i was just beginning to dig into the big project back at the office, but i can never refuse a quick getaway when one comes up and i had nothing urgent pressing, so i packed up my office bag and a few overnight things and headed out for a couple of days. it was actually Saint Paddy's day on Monday, which i'd kind of forgotten about.  mo

hello, stranger – why do people go to church?  that was the question i got up in the middle of the night to write my notebook.  it sounded like something a five-year-old might ask, and yet it was still the question that i found bouncing around in my head when i woke up in the middle of the night. the more i thought about it, the more i realized i may never have actually asked it before, no matter what age.  it seemed worth writing down. the thought was obviously springing fro

hello, stranger - well, it's the first full moon of the year, and the first time in a long time since i felt like putting pen to paper again.  not that i haven't given it a shot a few times – but it just always seemed to sputter short after a while, and i just couldn't seem to find the focus or the wherewithal to pick it back up again once I put the pen down to rest. i've been sick - and by that i mean that this cold i’ve had since new years is just the tail end of it.  first

hello, stranger – this is not the post that I had thought i would be writing, but it's the only one i have in me right now.  when i got back from my last trip i was thinking i'd write about Tucson and all the unique and weird things that make it the place that it is.  the first weekend was Cyclovia, a bicycle street fair of sorts, where they shut down a corridor of streets in the city so that anyone with a bicycle or unicycle – or rollerblades, for that matter – can ride arou

hello, stranger - i finally took my trip out to San Diego again the weekend after the camping excursion.  the heat wave in the southwest had remained relentless, so it felt liberating to hop in the truck early on a Friday and point it in the direction of the coast.  i stopped in Yuma for a quick lunch and slipped into a dive bar in the downtown for a bottle of beer, but the bright heat outside was a killer, and sent me hurrying on my way before i could get any real feel for t

hello, stranger - so i was disappointed, at first, when my friend in San Diego called to tell me that my plan to head out that way for a visit would have to be delayed.  unexpected issues concerning time and money had popped up, and we'd have to push it back a bit.  i felt an initial surge of resistance rise in me a little at the news, but those were two issues i was all-too familiar with, and i could certainly sympathize.  and if this upcoming season of travel was going to b

the decision to hit tombstone was an easy one.  i'd only been back a week and was still settling down back to life, and not prepared whatsoever for any further extensive travels just yet.  but a day trip down to the town “too tough to die” would be a good chance to stretch my legs, get a little taste of the road again, and try to polish up my skill set for travels to come. besides, i had a client down there to talk with, and had already been there a couple of times so knew wh

i've been back west for a few days now, but somehow things felt different right off the bat. quieter, more subdued, less energetic. a desert town exhausted from another summer of punishing heat. or maybe that was just me. my plane landed late on a Thursday evening, and as i made my way home through the dark streets along the outskirts of town, i tried imagining this strange place through the east coast eyes of the friends i’d just left. it was different, that much was for su