Total miles traveled: 14,750 Miles into the western loop: 4,569 Approximate number of miles remaining in the official itinerary: 3,382 Chances that will be the end of it, no more miles after that: 0 Hours spent in the van with the engine running: 376 Percentage of time we’ve enjoyed being in the van with the … Continue reading GIGANTIC INDEX – DAY 151
We spent an incredible week in Washington, D.C., where we stayed with our old friend, Stephanie Schierholz. Stephanie just returned to her job as Lead Communicator for Human Spaceflight at NASA, after completing a term as Press Secretary for the space agency. She introduced us to a range of fascinating people and experiences in our … Continue reading GETTING READY TO GET DOWN
We are in Boston today, visiting our friend, David Ginnings, who began working at Harvard recently as a digital learning designer. He and I worked together back in Missouri. He and his family moved to Boston last spring, and they are very happy in their new, incredible city. Betsy and I took the train to … Continue reading GO WEST, MIDDLE-AGED MAN! GO WEST!
We chose our van for its comfort and mobility. Our snug living space makes the average tiny house seem excessive, but close quarters have allowed us to travel in places few of our brobdingnagian motor homies could navigate. Sure, their big rigs have multiple bathrooms, overstuffed recliners, and separate living areas with fireplaces (yeah, that’s … Continue reading DISPLACED AND PRIVILEGED IN AMERICA
We stopped for a few days at Wendy and Shervin Dean's farm "Mayfield" in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It was a healing and inspiring place. We met a lot of their friends and had lots of good conversations. While we were there, I recorded a video of this song. I originally wrote it in January of 2015 … Continue reading WHEN WE GONNA GO?
Total miles traveled: 12, 627 Hours spent traveling in the van: 313 People we’ve met: 407 Miles we’ve traveled in a helicopter: 20 Nights we’ve spent in a bed other than the van: 13 College campuses we’ve visited: 19 Campuses that were seminaries Brett briefly attended 30 years ago, that represented the worst year of … Continue reading GIGANTIC INDEX – DAY 113
We have spent the last two and a half weeks back in our hometown, parked at the homes of friends and family. It hasn’t been quite as restful as we expected; we’ve been very busy. Music was played, parties were had, van parts were fiddled with, computers broke, Trump came to town…it was a hootenanny … Continue reading ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Total miles traveled: 8,445.9 Average miles per gallon: 15.7 Average miles per hour: 42 Hours spent traveling in the van: 199 States we’ve been in: 17 Number of states so far that have something awesome about them: 17 Number of small beetles that infested our van from a campground in Yakima, Washington: 3,000 Percentage of … Continue reading GIGANTIC INDEX – DAY 61
We’ve talked to a lot of people from the Midwest who have migrated to mostly bigger cities on the West Coast. We’ve been asking them about their new lives and whether they would ever return. Nearly all have said no, they don’t want to move back. They’ve found a life they’re really happy with, and … Continue reading AN ADVENTURE IN SPACE AND TIME
Total miles traveled: 5,478.5 Average miles per gallon: 16 Hours spent traveling in the van: 132 States we've been in: 9 People we've met: 152 Nights we've been plugged in to full power hookups at a campground: 3 Times we've thought "full power hookups" was funny: every Nights we've spent in a bed other than … Continue reading THE GIGANTIC INDEX – DAY 46
