It was a week and a half after I returned from my 70/7000 trip and I will always remember how sunny that morning was. I walked into the office of my elementary school and saw my colleagues silently huddled around a TV. The images of the burning World Trade Towers were surreal but our feelings …
Author: The Autonomous Traveler
My life has been metamorphosis from a shy, scared little girl to an adventurous woman who travels the world by herself. I am a grandmother and a retired teacher who is a lifelong learner with a degree in the social sciences. My trips are opportunities to directly experience the wonders of world in order to understand what unites us all and, as a result, to better understand myself.
70/7000 Back Home, Reading My Journal
Labor Day Weekend 2001 Strange to be home. The rooms are spread out with many steps between things but I will get used to it again. I called my son and daughter, relatives, and friends. Unpacked, did some laundry, picked up my mail and went through it. Then I went off to school to set …
70/7000 Putting on Some Miles and My Last Night
Days 63-68 August 27-September 1, 2001 Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Ontario. Putting on the miles to get home before school started, I didn't set up camp each night but slept in the van. I used a chair by a campfire in the evenings and made coffee each morning on my vintage Bernzomatic stove. Down to the …
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70/7000 Reflections in My Cabana
Days 61 and 62 August 25&26, 2001 Put on some miles today, stopped at a campground, and put up my "cabana" (an open sided tent). I love my cabana. In storms I cover it with a very large sheet of blue plastic and it becomes a waterproof shelter, dark and cozy like a cave. I lit …
70/7000 Flying Insects, Thin Tent Walls, A Flood, and A Bag of Jewels
Day 61 August 25, 2001 I stayed in a campsite in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Two unsettling things happened there. First, the whole campground was filled with all types of flying insects. I asked if this was the norm and the people in charge just shrugged their shoulders. Forest fires were popping up all over …
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70/7000 A Bar in a Church and a Grizzly Bear
Days 57-60 August 21-24, 2001 Heading home but still taking in the sights. I took this picture of The Mint Bar built inside a church in Sundance, Montana. Ironic? Amazing? Amusing? "The Wild West" is quite the place! I stopped at the Cabela's Store in Billings, stood under a stuffed grizzly bear, and learned that …
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Another Apology to My Readers-September 2018
My apologies to my readers because I am interrupting the flow of my 70/7000 saga but this autonomous traveler needed to get away alone this week. Don't get me wrong, it's been a wonderful summer with camping, friends, home improvements, fly fishing, grandkids, and my first endeavor as a blogger. But whoa, it got way …
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70/7000 An Anguished Transition- Heading Home
Days 55 and 56 August 19 & 20, 2001 Stopping to camp in High River, Alberta for few days and realizing I'm getting anxious about going home. I had learned so much about myself on this trip. Would it stick after I got back to the real world? When I get back to my teaching …
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Resiliency for Traveling through Life! And How to Get It
I’m reposting this for my friend, Leona, who turned 89 a week ago. We had lunch today and I found out she never saw this post. Enjoy this, dear friend. Love you and happy birthday!
When I was an elementary teacher, I heard about a summer class, something about making kids stronger. The course description said the class was taught by a guidance counselor who had helped students find their inner strength. I wondered if he would reveal the culmination of all this wisdom in a little package or capsule of words and procedures that would push my students and, maybe, myself to never ending excellence? Was it worth taking 5 days from my summer vacation to go to the class that was over 60 miles away? And then I got the idea! I’d find a campground in The Adirondacks near the class and commute. I would be a student during the day and at night I would complete any assigned reading by the light of my gas lantern and a wood fire. I loved the idea.
The instructor seemed knowledgeable and passionate about what he did…
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70/7000 The Columbia Icefields and The Continental Divide
Days 51, 52, 53 August 15, 16 & 17, 2001 The first thing I did when I woke up in my van in the parking lot in Jasper, Alberta, was to walk over to the gas station restroom. Thankfully no one had locked it. I then drove to a quick stop and got a large …
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