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 a steady climb all day, climbing to 4,000 ft as we passed through Abilene and Lubbock. It wasn’t the most interesting eight hours of travel. HighlightsContinue reading “Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 2: Alpacas”
Tag Archives: adventure
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 turned green. Hooray to be leaving Houston! As the traffic thinned, the flat road started gently undulating as we approached the Texas Hill Country. We arrivedContinue reading “Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 1: Honey”
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 van. This morning, she was waiting expectantly to head down the road with her humans. I was hesitant. Will this long RVing trip be fun andContinue reading “Summer ‘26 Trek: Day 0: Tomato Soup”
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 below. The trip was tremendously emotional, seeing such poverty, yet equally joyous to witness the positive impact that Compassion’s programs are having on children in extremeContinue reading “Reflection on Peru with Compassion International”
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 not have a defined process for reporting maintenance needs, though this could be used in conjunction with other processes. It took me a couple of attemptsContinue reading “Trail Surveying Helps Clear Trails”
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 start reflecting, and to realize that a well-dressed touristy facade or rich business district can hide extreme poverty just a few blocks away. We had hopedContinue reading “Peru with Compassion Day 6”
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 top of our daughter’s wedding two days before we left. Our first stop was to pick up one of Cynthia’s sponsored girls, and we were advisedContinue reading “Peru with Compassion Day 5”
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 del Inca as it is around the hot springs by the hotel. It is quite touristy, but the more affluent facade hides poverty one or twoContinue reading “Peru with Compassion Day 4”
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! I made the most of the late start to check out our hotel grounds. We are staying at a hotel in central Cajamarca at the siteContinue reading “Peru with Compassion Day 3”
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 is at 8600 ft and we could feel the altitude. On arrival at the church, we were greeted by the church staff and participants in Compassion’sContinue reading “Peru with Compassion Day 2”
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’ name.” In the US, we had primarily just seen their efforts to get families to sponsor one of their children. The goal of the trip isContinue reading “Peru with Compassion Day 1”
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 after the Central Coal and Coke Company (Four C), which operated the largest sawmill west of the Mississippi there from 1902 to 1918. I finally completedContinue reading “Backpacking the Four C”
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 looked like no difficulties. I hiked the length of the trail over two days in April 2026 and had a fantastic time! Below, I share whatContinue reading “A Guide to the Four C National Recreation Trail”
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 marriage. Cayman Brac had been on Janet’s bucket list for a long time as she had visited on a mission trip while in college and hadContinue reading “A Week on Cayman Brac”
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 I had waited so long to come here, as it is arguably the best multi-day hike in the southeastern half of Texas. Admittedly, the weather wasContinue reading “Hiking the Good Water Loop”
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 guide, which this post aims to help remedy. Below, I share what I have learned and include links to trip reports at the end, which includeContinue reading “A Guide to Lake Georgetown’s Good Water Loop”
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 Bailey or Debbie and Bryan or Ashlynn and Brooke. The uncertainty made me restless all night which made my male human a bit grumpy in theContinue reading “Me and Four Thousand Retrievers: Goldens in Golden”
Six Days in Prague
A window of opportunity opened for me to take Janet to Europe for some Christmas markets. Fortuitously, Prague had recently joined our wish list. After finding a good flight, booking two Hyatt hotels with points, and lots of planning, we were heading to the Czech Republic! Day 1: Strahov Library and Petrin HillA Brief HistoryContinue reading “Six Days in Prague”
Risen from Its Ashes: Bastrop State Park
In 2011, a major wildfire consumed most of Bastrop State Park and Texas’s Lost Pines Forest. We checked out how it had recovered when staying there in our motorhome while visiting with our friend Doug. The trip also allowed me to check out a 150-600mm camera lens that I had rented to evaluate. It wasContinue reading “Risen from Its Ashes: Bastrop State Park”
Revisiting the Trail Between The Lakes
It had been just six months since my last hike on Sabine County’s Trail Between the Lakes, and nine months since my first thruhike of it in January. The milder temperatures during this late October hike meant that I did not wake up to frozen shoes, as I had in January, but I was amazedContinue reading “Revisiting the Trail Between The Lakes”
The Adventures of the Cajunlimeys 