Last night, I dreamed I was caught by the police in my illegal campsite- I guess nothing is without costs if you have a guilty conscience! I seem to have an abundance of that. Tonight, I’m on the Lake Michigan shore by Cross Village- camping illegally, again. It may be the prettiest place I’ve ever […]
Beautiful Petoskey! I’ve been resting here since my birthday walk-a-thon. I’ve walked from the campgrounds along Lake Michigan into town. Mom, Grandma, Sarah, and a friend of Sarah’s came and visited me yesterday. When Sarah saw me she said “I thought you’d look worse!” so I made sure to show off my blisters, scratches and […]
Today, for my birthday, I trekked a mile for each year of my life. I mentally travelled through the years as I went, remembering where I was, what I did. When I started off this morning, I wasn’t sure if it would be able to do it so I just figured, “I’ll try” and what […]
A hard day- fitting for the last in what has been an incredibly tough year. Tomorrow is my birthday. This morning I crossed the 45th parallel. For a long time, I have been searching a way to differentiate the past from the future, a reason why tomorrow will be different from yesterday. I have made […]
I’m only a mile or two from the 45th parallel, I can feel its energy. The invisible line between the Equator and the North Pole is a symbol to me, a sign of passing from my old life into my new. It’s a way of making a fresh start. I can’t wait to cross it tomorrow. […]
I got lost again today, in more ways than one. Throughout the day, I lost the trail a few times, once by a surprisingly wide margin. After blundering awhile with my compass and map, I found myself on a long paved road. But what road was it? I snuck a look in someone’s mailbox and […]
Up until today, I have been hiking on biking trails, streets, and awkward connecting paths to get me to the North Country Trail. Just before setting up camp for the night, I saw my first trail official trail marker- exciting stuff! Ok, that concludes my obligatory positive-thinking opening remarks. Now, I want to focus on […]
My first night camping! My tent is pitched (hung) and my little stove is fired up, cooking a meal of ramen noodles and sardines. I am proud and happy. Yesterday, walked the 20-some miles from Sutton’s Bay to Traverse City. The first casualty of procrastination is sleep, and I lost almost all of it the […]
In the summer of 2013, I embarked on a solo backpacking adventure across Northern Michigan. With no one to talk to along the way, my journal became a powerful and necessary companion. I wrote journal nearly every day, sometimes many times a day, to capture the events and insights of my time on the trail […]
My submission to The Moth Ann Arbor Story SLAM topic: “Home” Video available here. I grew up in the small town of Chelsea, Michigan. And when I went to college I attended The University of Michigan, only 15 miles away. What this means is that, for the first couple decades of my life, my world was […]
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