Why I'm doing this & why it will get better

On the Internet, there is no body language, no facial expression, no tone of voice. So there needs to be a prologue to this note. Here it is:

People should be standing in line to get my life. It's been that good, and I am very grateful for all of it.

I offer that because some of what follows might seem to wander into whining. It’s not. As we all know, stuff happens, and some of it happened to me. I think of it as the balloon payment on the mortgage of my life.

Last year, my wife died. It took two years, and she was just 58. We’d been together 40 years, married 38. I miss her every day.

That background was necessary to understand the genesis of the Tour. After her death, I found myself in an unfamiliar town where we’d moved to better manage her illness. The only people I knew were medical professionals. I thought a lot about roots then, and their importance. I’d never noticed I only had one until it was torn up. With it gone, there was nothing to prevent me from blowing away. So I did.

I gave the material embodiments of our life away, to family and friends and finally, for those unique items that for some reason no one else wanted, like the 5’ simulated palm tree with holographic fronds, to charity. I bought a 36’ travel trailer, a 1-ton pick-up truck, and a motorcycle, and then I hoisted sail to let the wind do as it pleased.

I started e-mailing family and friends little anecdotes about the transient life. Things like taking an hour and forty minutes to back into a campsite while everyone watched like it was a bloopers episode; or pulling up to the diesel fuel pumps for the first time and having to cash in my 401K to pay for it; or the day the tide came in and made it the underwater campground. Now, I’ll post them here.

Enjoy the ride. I intend to.