Earlier today, I started writing a post for LinkedIn, with this same title. I’ll probably finish it, but this one is completely different. That article is about a social movement that I’ve observed, especially among Millennials who are choosing alternative lifestyles. This one is about me, doing the same thing. (wink)

You already know that I travel the country in my Stew Wagon, meeting people and learning on the road. Over the past year, I have learned more than I can even share, and I’ve met some of the most amazing people. There was a woman who was going to skydive in memory of her father. A man who traveled with a carnival, until his van broke down. Two guys, hitchhiking from Seattle to New Orleans, just to see the sights. Last September, I drove up to Standing Rock, ND. On the way, I stopped for gas at a little mom and pop convenience store. It had a sign in the window that read “Casino”. When I went inside, I found that the Casino was a card table, set up in the middle of an otherwise empty room, where four guys were sitting around swapping stories, and playing five card draw.

On that North Dakota trip, I stopped along an old farm road. It was a beautiful, clear night, and I could see an unbelievable distance across the valley. As I lay in the Stew Wagon, waiting for sleep, I could see the lightning of a far away storm, tiny and marvelous in the darkness. The thunder of it woke me, a few hours later, and I continued on, but I’ll never forget the beauty of that sight. If I were still saving my money, so that I could afford to travel, I’d have missed it.

The truth is, I’m already doing the thing that other people are still saving up for, only I’m doing it better. See, they’ll save up and fly somewhere. They’ll stay in a fancy hotel, and visit all the touristy places…and they’ll never meet the Skydiving Woman, or the fellows in the Casino, or the people at the camp in Standing Rock, ND, or see the lightning in the dark of a September night, from fifty miles away. Where’s the fun in that?

Successful? Yes, I am. Only, I’m doing it better.