I’ve noticed the two words I use most often on the road are generosity and wow. It feels important to record examples of both as nothing-too-small counterweights in our current perilous season. I parked my van Monday evening in the driveway of Morgan Varner and Charisse Matlock’s new home in Iowa City. They had finished the laborious process of… Read More Aug. 1: Generosity is the only story
I have given up trying to craft a pithy and succinct explanation for my walkabout adventure, now nearing the three-week mark. Or more accurately, fresh explanations arrive nearly every day to satisfy the part of me that insists on order and narrative continuity. That part of me cringes when I say I am doing this thing… Read More July 17: The mud, the blood and the beer
My friend Arthur Crowell owns 50 acres of deep woods in Franklin County, Missouri, 40 miles southwest of St. Louis. He bought the property four years ago and named it Sage Mountain. Arthur is driven by his unwavering vision to coax enough structure to make this wild place hospitable for campers and rock climbers and… Read More July 11: Shopping for God
Trappist monk Thomas Merton was a prolific writer before his early death in 1968. But he’s best known for a spiritual epiphany that happened on the corner of Fourth and Walnut streets in Louisville, Kentucky. “There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun,” he wrote afterward. Today… Read More July 6: Shining like the sun
After a push at the end, the preparations for my walkabout are done. All of the real estate and bank forms: submitted. All of the boxes helpfully marked “miscellaneous”: stored. All of the jars of specialty ingredients that I used once in six years: given away. My camper van: filled with diesel, tire pressure checked.… Read More July 1: Escape velocity
I’ve gone through a string of changes in the past 10 years: two divorces, one marriage, a layoff, three jobs, three houses, health challenges and a drop in my account balances. Through it all two things have remained constant: First, an unshakeable conviction that I am being guided and held by a force outside of… Read More June 26: The label doesn’t matter
That’s me with my new camper van! I picked up the 2014 Dodge Ram Promaster on Monday. It started life as a commercial van. The seller bought it from a Twin Cities hardware store and DIY tricked out the inside. He also added solar panels and a rooftop deck that’ll be perfect for sipping chardonnay… Read More June 19: Shoving off on an odyssey
In 2016, I invested in video equipment to capture stories of souls that shout. The idea came to me when a former co-worker generously reached out to offer support after I was laid off. Susanne and I arranged breakfast, and she told me what her soul was shouting about. The great passion in her life… Read More June 13: The Joy Economy
For a month, I’ve been advertising my walkabout transition almost everywhere. The most common reaction from those who know the story: “You must be excited!” That’s an understandable assumption, which is why I’m puzzled that I don’t actually feel excited. I know how the energy of excitement feels in my body. This ain’t it. The… Read More June 3: The sound of authenticity
Some of you know I started using the term “walkabout” to describe my dream after I got laid off from my corporate overlord job in 2015. My children were younger and slightly more impressionable. It occurred to me the most valuable modeling I could provide as a father was to respond to my job loss… Read More May 27: Burn your house down integrity
the joy economy 