Blog Posts

Here are all of my blog posts.

  • SWCP Land’s End to Plymouth

    Over twenty days in the late summer of 2026, we hiked from Land’s End to Plymouth along the South West Coast Path, thus completing South Cornwall’s coast path. We…

  • SWCP Day 20 Kingsand to Plymouth

    A bright sunny day called us outside for our final day of walking, though we had to wait until 9am for our pub’s breakfast. The high tide almost disrupted…

  • SWCP Day 19 Portwrinkle to Kingsand

    Where else in the world can you walk on a public footpath through an army firing range? The presence of sheep and cows helped make us feel save, and…

  • SWCP Day 18 Looe to Portwrinkle

    Today was another lesson in not making assumptions! We feasted on probably the best roast dinner we’d ever had, in the pub with the silliest name! We wanted to…

  • SWCP Day 17 Polperro to Looe

    Our weekly day off included a short amble of less than six miles, ascending less than 1000 ft. The weather was kind as we followed the path along this…

  • SWCP Day 16 Fowey to Polperro

    Today’s straightforward-looking hike along the coast masked a lot of climbing, which made this a tough 8.5-mile day with 2,200-ft ascent. We started the day eager to get back…

  • SWCP Day 15 Charlestown to Fowey

    Today’s inspiration was that all things of man are temporal. Over the previous days, we had passed through many small fishing villages that had redefined themselves, while surrounded by…

  • SWCP Day 14 Portloe to Charlestown

    Some days are full of ups and downs, and this was one of them! The views remained great and the weather kind. The main memory of the day’s walk…

  • SWCP Day 13 Portloe to Mevagissey

    The length of today’s hike crept up on us. Or perhaps it was the ascent. 13 miles and 3000 ft of ascent was our biggest day and our legs…

  • SWCP Day 12 Portscatho to Portloe

    With the day’s walk a straightforward eight miles, we could really take it easy and absorb the views. However, even our most relaxed pace was over 2 mph! Nevertheless,…

  • SWCP Day 11 Falmouth to Portscatho

    These days have been like Forest Gump’s box of chocolates. We started off each day, unsure how it will turn out, though with some certainty that it would be…

  • SWCP Day 10 Mawnan Smith to Falmouth

    Today was a great day to accept life’s pace. As I approach my sixtieth year, I continue to try and fill up time. The tenth day of our SWCP…

  • SWCP Day 9 Porthallow to Mawnan Smith

    While our legs might be getting used to walking, I still found the place names wonderful. I had tried to picture what Mawnan Smith might look like before arriving,…

  • SWCP Day 8 Coverack to Porthallow

    In my planning for this walk, I thought of this day as our day off. At just five miles, it would give the legs some rest. However, we have…

  • SWCP Day 7 Lizard to Coverack

    Today’s lesson is you should not judge a day until it is over! Until we stopped for lunch in the middle of the day’s walking, today was not great.…

  • SWCP Day 6 Mullion to Lizard

    The most prominent peninsula that we walk around on this hike is the Lizard Peninsula. It extends southwards to the UK’s most southerly point. Many look very carefully at…

  • SWCP Day 5 Porthleven to Mullion

    Each day on the SWCP is different. Today’s was shorter than many, which introduced some frustration, yet allowed for some contemplation. One of the great joys of these walks…

  • SWCP Day 4 Marazion to Porthleven

    This was our fourth of twenty days hiking from Land’s End to Plymouth in South West England. The previous three days had been completely different from each other. Not…

  • SWCP Day 3 Mousehole to Marazion

    This was a good day to have an easier day. While my Garmin recorded more steps than the previous two days at 20k, the walking was eassentially flat on…

  • SWCP Day 2 Treen to Mousehole

    We were amazed at how different today was compared to the day before. While the scenery varied, the main change was the path’s ruggedness. We were ok with the…

  • SWCP Day 1: Land’s End to Treen

    Placing one foot in front of the other while en route to a new destination feeds our souls. We were quickly reminded of this as we left the touristy…

  • SWCP Day 0: Houston to Land’s End

    “Your flight has been cancelled” is not the text message you want at 6:30 am on one’s day of departure. But it gave us enough time to change our…

  • South West Coast Path: Here We Come!

    This year’s walking jaunt in Britain takes us to the far southwest corner of the island. The South West Coast Path (SWCP) is the UK’s longest National Trail at…

  • Five Days in the Flat Tops Wilderness

    In August 2026, Samuel and I spent five days and four nights backpacking about sixty miles around the Flat Tops Wilderness in Colorado. This post is in two main…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Days 25 & 26: Traveling Home

    Odometer: 4,750 miles. To home: 901 miles. Driving the final 900-mile leg gave us lots of time to reflect on the trip and to ponder future ones. “What was…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Days 23 & 24: Bailey and Jett in Nolensville

    Odometer: 3,849 miles. To Nolensville: 345 miles. The final primary destination of our Summer ‘26 Trek was Nolensville, TN, where Bailey and Jett had moved six weeks earlier. We…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 22: The Ark Encounter

    Coming to see a true-size Ark replica had been on our bucket lists since we first heard about it. The Ark Encounter used an interpretation of 20.4 inches for…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 21: The Creation Museum

    After dropping Saydee off at a fine dog sitter that we found through the “Rover” app (thanks Angel C.!), we spent a fine day at the Creation Museum. While…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 20: Four States and a Fine Farm

    Odometer: 3,494 miles. Today: 425 miles. We completed our fourth day of driving east from the Flat Tops Wilderness in Colorado to a Harvest Host in Kentucky near Cincinnati.…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 19: First Generation Missile Silo and Oz!

    Odometer: 3,069 miles. Today: 414 miles. Part 2 of crossing Kansas was fun! We spent the night at the Atlas Ad Astra missile silo that was built in 1959…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Days 17 & 18: Crossing Kansas Part 1

    Odometer: 2,654 miles. Two days: 794 miles. A loop to visit our kids in Golden and Nashville necessitated the long drive between their locations. Our roundabout route resulted in…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Days 15 & 16: Flat Tops Wilderness

    Odometer: 1,892 miles. Today: 132 miles. My guess is that no one reading it has heard of Flat Tops Wilderness. It’s only the second largest wilderness area in Colorado…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 14: Peachy in Palisades

    Odometer: 1,760 miles. Today: 78 miles. As we headed westward, down from the Rockies, we welcomed the flatter, straighter roads. The mountains reminded us of the Badlands, looking like…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 13: The Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

    Yep. That’s a mouthful. It was one of the most undeveloped national parks I’ve been to, which helped make it special. Drinking water is even trucked in! Two things…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 12: The Colorado Trail

    Odometer: 1,682 miles. Today: 119 miles. The Colorado Trail is a 486-mile hiking trail through the Rockies, connecting Denver with Durango. In the summer of 2021, Samuel and I…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 11: Cheyenne Mountain

    Odometer: 1,563 miles. Today: 110 miles. Just southwest of Colorado Springs is a fine-looking mountain with a state park. We spent much of our time here just enjoying the…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 10: Colorado with Compassion

    Odometer: 1,453 miles. Today: 104 miles. Today’s objective was a tour of Compassion International’s HQ, known as the Global Ministry Center. In summary, if you are in Colorado Springs,…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Days 7-9: Samuel and Kylie in Golden

    Odometer: 1,349 miles. Around Golden: 27 miles. Visiting our son and fiancée was a change of pace. We spent a couple of nights boondocking on someone’s driveway in the…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 6: Great Sand Dunes National Park

    Odometer: 1,322 miles. Today: 250 miles. Saydee reminded us that we needed to look at the sand dunes at sunrise, and we were soon off on the one-mile hike…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 5: Wilderness

    Odometer: 1083 miles. Today: 127 miles. A tame American Robin helped bring in the chilly morning. After we moaned a bit about the cold, we remembered we could put…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 4: Hiking

    Odometer: 956 miles. Today: 113 miles. The Evening Primrose next to Arvan at the trailhead for our morning’s walk was a good sign for the morning’s hike. With the…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 3: Forest

    Trip odometer: 843 miles. Today: 223 miles. This trip is a long meander, allowing us to enjoy the slow days. Today wasn’t planned to be slow, but that’s OK,…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 2: Alpacas

    Trip odometer: 620 miles. Today: 464 miles. Packing up to leave is so easy with this motorhome. Unplug and drive off! Even though we could not tell, today was…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 1: Honey

    Trip odometer: 156 miles Highway 99 marks the edge of Houston’s urban craziness. As soon as we passed under it today, the driving was less stressful and the scenery…

  • Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 0: Tomato Soup

    Trip odometer: 0 miles “I’m so excited that we are going on another trip that I can’t stop running around.” That was Saydee’s perspective yesterday as we prepped the…

  • Reflection on Peru with Compassion International

    “How was Peru?” we were asked after spending a week there with Compassion International. Adjectives or sentences cannot adequately describe our trip, and I attempt to answer the question…

  • Trail Surveying Helps Clear Trails

    Summary In this blog post, I want to share how a hiker can easily and effectively capture trail-maintenance needs with just their smartphone. This applies when the trail does…

  • Peru with Compassion Day 6

    Our schedule labeled this day as a cultural-experience day, though I saw its main purpose as a chance to decompress from five days in poverty. It allowed me to…

  • Peru with Compassion Day 5

    Janet and I welcomed the one-hour ride in a comfortable coach to our first stop of the day. We were both feeling emotionally exhausted, with this trip building on…

  • Peru with Compassion Day 4

    Today was lighter, yet still full. We headed out at 9:45 because the church, Lily of the Valley, was close to our hotel. The area is known as Banos…

  • Peru with Compassion Day 3

    After two amazingly full days, we were happy to have a late start at 9:45, but the rest of the day made up for it in a remarkable way!…

  • Peru with Compassion Day 2

    We met at 6:15am to catch our 1.5-hour internal flight from Lima to Cajamarca, and then drive straight to one of Compassion’s church partners in the city. The city…

  • Peru with Compassion Day 1

    Janet and I are visiting Peru with Compassion International on a Vision Trip to learn about their front line operations. Compassion’s mission is “Releasing children from poverty in Jesus’…

  • Backpacking the Four C

    There is a twenty-mile National Recreation Trail about two hours north of Houston in the Davy Crockett National Forest, starting at Ratcliff between Crockett and Lufkin. It is named…

  • A Guide to the Four C National Recreation Trail

    My research in preparation for hiking this trail led to apparently contradictory data. Official websites mentioned broken bridges and an impassable section, while a recent YouTuber thru-hiked with what…

  • A Week on Cayman Brac

    It had been two years since Samuel and I had last dived (in New Zealand’s Bay of Plenty). It was also his penultimate Spring Break before college graduation and…

  • Hiking the Good Water Loop

    On the 18th and 19th March, I spent two days and one night hiking the 26-mile Good Water Loop around Lake Georgetown in Central Texas. I don’t know why…

  • A Guide to Lake Georgetown’s Good Water Loop

    I waited far too long before I backpacked the Good Water Loop in central Texas. I had some misconceptions about the trail, and had struggled to find an informative…

  • A Deployment with Texans on Mission Chainsaw Team

    My story of the journey with Texans on Mission to my first deployment with the chainsaw disaster relief team out of Kingsland Baptist Church.

  • Me and Four Thousand Retrievers: Goldens in Golden

    Wednesday I knew that something was up. The humans had packed those hard-sided bags. I was either going on a trip or staying with someone fun like Kylie or…

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