What do you get when you combine empty-nesting, retirement (mine), a wife who works remotely, and a new EV with a 320-mile range? Well, you get Colorado, Kansas, Philadelphia, Nova Scotia, and Vancouver for the first four months.  Then the world awaits…

St. Paul house sold.  Possessions winnowed down to 6 tupperware containers and a sewing machine in the back of the car, and 100 square feet of treasures left in storage.  Through TrustedHouseSitters.com we’ve lined up free houses (with pets to care for) in the above-mentioned places from October through January.  Stays range from 1-4 weeks so we can settle in and really explore new places more than a quickie tourist gawk, get a taste of different lives and communities, and visit old friends and family along the way.

Where to find us?

February-April are still enticingly undecided.  Experience the return of the sun and river ice-breakup in the Yukon?  Return to our beloved Monteverde (Costa Rica) community?  Total eclipe in Austin then a month in New Mexico?  There are just no wrong answers!

In May we’ll return to let Zekiah enjoy one last summer in Minnesota, then kick off a fall/winter in Europe with a 300-mile gravel bike ride in Italy, a week celebrating my mother’s birthday in France, and hiking the Camino in Portugal/Spain.  Christmas 2024 with the Swedish cousins, then from there it’s just a hop over to ____ (insert India/Africa/Asia… here).

What a privilege to be able to feel so free!  With Sarah still working online, combined with free house-sitting gigs and no mortgage payments, we can make it work financially.  Our children are thriving and don’t at this time need us physically nearby. In our mid-fifties we are thankfully still healthy enough for full-on adventures (why is this considered “early” retirement?  Seems like the perfect age to me!)  

The Blog is Back!

These wonder-filled wanderings are as much about connection and community as they are about adventure, so welcome to the launch of “OnTheWayIWonder.com“.  I should warn you that I am also using this time to dive back into Creative NonFiction writing, so in addition to “Colorado Callings and Wichita Witticisms” travel-log stuff, there’ll be a fresh exploration of old stories and learnings from past and present.

My first blog iteration – “RicksTurningPoint.blogspot.com” – was an exploration of homesteading, stay-at-home parenting, social activism, friendships, and of course the meaning of a 40-year-old’s life. This time around, one of the growth areas is empty-nesting/retirement and the meaning of life after parenting and work productivity.  Plus, of course, the travel adventures. It’s still too early for the existential crisis to hit, but setting up this support/exploration safety net seems a wise precaution.

I may have started writing to become famous, make money, prove and impart my infinite wisdom, or endlessly embarrass my children, but what keeps me coming back is the self-discovery.  Finding my voice and my message are inextricably entwined.  I love the taste of phrases and images tumbling out of me, then playing with them until they have a life of their own that shines light on my own life.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling that?” my  loving wife would ask, over and over again, after reading my old blog posts.   The answer was always the same – “I didn’t know I was feeling that until it was written.“

I’m also still a story-teller uncertain of his audience.  OK, that’s not quite true – people quite enjoy my outrageous tales from my younger travelling/living abroad days, and there’s no shortage of stories that are beyond the realm of most people’s experience.  The challenge is more a questioning of WHY they need to be told.  Beyond just entertainment, what does this one ordinary man (with something of an extra-ordinary life path, but I’m still just a Surrey boy) have that’s worth writing and sharing and saying “Take a bit of your precious time to read this, it’ll somehow do something for you.”  Or does there have to be anything more than just a response to cousin Erica’s callout at our last family barbeque – “Rick, tell us the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to you.”

This is hopefully the most self-indulgent and boring blog post I’ll write (and therefore the most questionable choice for a first entry).  If you haven’t figured it out, I’m just trying to justify starting again, and setting some intentions for launching this comeback.  The answer to all the above is, of course, simply to write, to “listen to the wind come howl” and not be attached to any outcome or product.   Like all of us, I have stories and journeys and Joys and queries that will bubble out on these virtual pages – for myself, and for whatever eyes and ears care to come along for the ride.

So on and on I go, the seconds tick the time out

So much left to know and I’m on the road to find out.

In the end I’ll know, but on the way I wonder…