Prisoner of Hopes

Category: Perseverence

  • Birthday Special: Rural Road Trip

    My mother in law (who is likely reading this) just had a birthday. This year she insisted on taking all of her children and spouses out for fried chicken. In her world (and mine) family is everything. On her ninetieth birthday, all she wanted was a trip to a beautiful nearby state park with her…

  • Iconic Texas: Rural Road Trips

    Rolling down highway 40, our big rig pulls into Amarillo Texas in late afternoon. After miles of rough road and cross winds, the rv park is a welcome relief. We quickly set camp and take a walk around the park. Like most RV parks along the interstates, this on is tightly packed and full of…

  • Claremore At Last: Rural Road Trip Oklahoma

    Our first day on the road in our new rv has come to an end, and I should be excited. But, it has been a stressful day as we were getting used to driving our “big rig”. We have lots of little issues that have cropped up in the rv (hopeful all minor and under…

  • Stairway to Heaven: Travel Goals Ireland

    Today we take an iconic hike in Ireland. The “stairway to heaven” or cuilcagh boardwalk trail is in county Fermanagh. It is just over the border into Northern Ireland and about twenty minutes from our rented farmhouse. I have been waiting to do this hike the whole trip. I waited until our kids arrived because…

  • On The Road Again: Rural Road Trips

    As we head out on another adventure, I am oddly ambivalent. I don’t feel ill, but I also am not myself. Usually I am giddy with excitement. Today, I could just as easily go back inside and hide under a blanket. But grand adventures aren’t for the timid. So we load up, hook up the…

  • The Shearing: Travel Goals

    When we travel, we prefer to stay local. We found a family farm that was willing to rent us the old homestead for a month. Our host and his father Desi, were wonderful “neighbors” and kept us connected to the community. So when Desi invited us to the annual sheep shearing, I assumed that it…

  • Feast or famine

    Inequities. The rich get richer and the poor get the scraps. Until the chasm gets so wide the system collapses. It is a tale as old as time. People get richer and over time they lose sight of the labor and infrastructure that supports them. They want more for themselves and take more from those…

  • Not According to Plan: Travel Goals

    I am an early riser. I love the morning hours when the light is diffuse and the first notes of birdsong fill the air with promise. When we travel, I putter around the house with my coffee. I read, I write, and I explore options for the day. This means that I check the weather…

  • What I learned from TV Westerns

    I grew up watching Westerns. My grandparents fed me a steady diet of John Wayne and Gene Autry. But I loved the television series westerns like The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, Bonanza, and the rifleman. In one hour, a community is faced with a crisis and then larger than life characters with outsized…

  • Ships Ahoy: Travel Goals

    The Bygdoy maritime museum complex is an all day adventure. We opt to visit all three museums in the complex. We start with the Norwegian Maritime Museum where we get to see a man building a Viking ship using ancient methods (and a few power tools). It is fascinating to see the overlapping construction and…