Let me take a brief moment to explain the title of this update. This quote is one of John Muir’s most quoted phrases. It was contained in a letter he wrote to his sister Sarah Muir Galloway from the Yosemite valley on September 3rd, 1873. For those of you who may not be familiar with John Muir—he was one of America’s first naturalist, ecologist, and more importantly, nature author. Growing up in California, I had learned extensively about John Muir. He is one of my real inspirations when it comes to appreciating the great outdoors. You could probably imagine my surpri [View Full Entry]

---

---

I’ll start this post with some lyrics from an old Randy Travis tune, appropriately called “Heroes and Friends” I ain't live forever but I've lived e-nough I grew up with cowboys I watched on T-V and I've learned to be gentle and I've learned to be tough my friends and I sometimes pre-tended to be I've found only two things that last to the end Years have gone by but now and again One is your heroes the other your friends my heart rides the range with my heroes and friends Your heroes will help you find good in yourself your [View Full Entry]

---

---

The responses to our request for assistance in naming the monkey have been overwhelming. We have received some really creative input through comments and messages on this blog as well as e-mails and a tremendous amount of verbal input, both in person and over the phone. Lynne and I have had a blast receiving all of you inputs. Naming the monkey was an extremely challenging task for us based on the creativity of submissions. I know you may be anxious to see what our monkey’s names is, but we are going to force you to read the entire post in [View Full Entry]

---

---

Let's begin this post with a few lines from one of David Bowie's more popular hit's "Space Oddity" Sing Along if you know it: Ground control to Major Tom Ground control to Major Tom Take your protein pills and put your helmet on Ground control to Major Tom Commencing countdown, engines on Check ignition and may gods love be with you Today’s update is a special update for Lynne and me. We have begun our official one month countdown. It is hard to believe that in 31 sort days, we will begin our Round The World (RTW) tour and will be [View Full Entry]

---

---

Effective tonight, Lynne and I are officially locked and loaded on the first two legs of our Round The World (RTW) journey. WOW—what a rush. We have officially booked our flight from JFK Airport to Reykjavik, Iceland. We will depart on the 6th of June and arrive in the early morning of the 7th. We will stay in Iceland until the 20th of June and head to London, England. We will tentatively plan on spending two months in Europe with no set agenda. We are still compiling our list of places we desire to visit in Europe, but will spend a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well Folks, First a few words of wisdom then on to the fun. It seems that as we travel though life, we often find ourselves with a monkey on our back. Sometimes you just can't get that monkey off your back no matter how hard you try. Recently we were able to get a huge monkey off of ours. Now, we will have a monkey on our backs by choice--we just can't figure out what to call him. This is were we need your help. Here is your chance to "Name that Monkey". Lynne and I have adopted this little fellow [View Full Entry]

---

---

Greetings Folks, I know this update is a wee bit delayed, but Lynne and I have been running at warp speed since our last update. Lynne and I sincerely appreciate all of the e-mails and messages we have received from true friends and family in the past few weeks. Please forgive us for not sending individual e-mails to each of you who have taken the time to send us a friendly note. I will work on taking the time to respond in a timely manner. We are presently in Holley, Florida. For those of you who may not be able to [View Full Entry]

---

---

Well folks, Lynne and I have been back in the Good Ole US of A for just a brief period of time now and we both have a feeling of peace we have never experienced before. It’s almost magical. We are spending some time with Lynne’s sister, Anna, and brother-in-law, Larry on a mountaintop in Tennessee. It is really beautiful up here. Green Trees—yes, I said Green Trees. And get this—they are everywhere. It’s good not to have to look at desert all day long. No, I take that back. It is freaking awesome not to have to look at desert [View Full Entry]

---

---

Very few people will ever get the opportunity to lead an absolutely brilliant team of people who inspire them to excel and feed the fire and passion to do good things. I am one of those lucky few. During my 26+ years of active duty in the United States Air Force, I had the privilege of leading some really amazing teams. I also had the honor of working for some truly incredible leaders who took the time to teach me how to lead. I often say it publically that I have had the greatest team of professionals I have ever [View Full Entry]

---

---

Run Forrest Run It seems most of us spend our lives going somewhere or coming from somewhere. Some of us also find ourselves either running from something or running to something. In the present case, Lynne and I believe it is a combination of both. I’ll begin this post with a very appropriate quote from the movie Forrest Gump. “That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got [View Full Entry]

---

---