Sweet Carolina

Ripped jeans, perfect smile, sassy attitude, beaches, storms, water, sailing.

"In my mind I'm gone to Carolina..." JT

The appeal is so very real, it is palpable. Is there still undisturbed coast left?? Is there room for romantic walks, watching sunrises, seeing the moon shimmer off the water while laying with that special someone as that cool evening Carolina air rolls in.

Waking up to the fog, and the moisture droplets on the windows, and the screens, on the dock, and in the boat.

She is worth the wait Carolina is, she is so worth the wait.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

R.I.P Rico

No one learns from anyone else. Everyone is invincible. Too many die too young. It is all avoidable, or is it.

I was invincible once, or so I thought. I have definitely had more than nine lives. The lucky ones get to look back and see just how amazingly lucky we all were to survive, but why if we all know this, and if there are so many unfortunate examples out there, does this keep happening.

The only way to keep someone from doing something stupid is to physically stop them and even then there is no guarantee. We don'r try hard enough. We don't yell loud enough. We don't put ourselves out there enough to say "hey, guess what, we did it, it was stupid, we are lucky to be alive."

We also don't take enough time to make certain these examples are taken with the weight they should. It is ok to say to a student, a player, a young person on the street, you are worth more than this. You have your whole big, beautiful, long life ahead of yourself and don'y f--- it up. So few take the time, or have the courage to put themselves out there that those that do are viewed as weird for caring, different, "sketchy."

When did it become "sketchy" to care, to try and help, to try and make a difference. I don't know the answer exactly, but somewhere between 1976 and 2001.

We have created this world where any real show of caring or emotion, any attempt by a "stranger" to do something nice, is met with skepticism, as best. We need to turn this around. We need to fight back. We need to make it ok again for people to be good to one another and to care. We need to not accept complacency as the norm anymore, and active caring as different, or we will continue to lose our children!!

I learned from you Dirk, I couldn't get to you, but I learned. R.I.P. Dirk.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

49 Down One To Go

I did not do this on purpose, and I definitely would not have waited this long if I could have done something different, but this was well worth the wait.

Our 49th state was my 49th state, and for those of you who slept through American history, or geography like I did, our 49th state was the Alaskan Territory, and boy does that land deserve such a title.

I had great expectations going to Alaska for my first time, unreasonable expectations, and for a little while I was greatly disappointed, but that did not last long.  Not only did I enjoy where I stayed in Anchorage, felt as if I was back in Switzerland, but leaving Anchorage on the "milk run," and getting to see the mountains and the glaciers, and the "glacial flows" as we made our way towards Juneau one third of the way to normal cruising altitude, I was catapulted well beyond my expectations.  It is a "territory" like no other.  This is the kind of place that makes you want to just pick up and walk into the wilderness and keep on going.  I can understand why a Christopher McCandless, or Jeremiah Johnson, would do what they did.  The only thing I do not understand is what the hell took me so long to get to these places I have seen in the past six months??!!

The one aspect where I had no expectations, because frankly it never entered my mind, was the people.  These are nice people.  These are warm people.  These are fun people, and some are beautiful people, very!!

I can't say that I am dying to get to 50 because Hawaii has just never been high on my list of places to see, the Badlands and Devil's Tower were much more of a draw for me, but I can say that now I have to find a way to get back to Alaska for a much longer stay with nothing to do but take it in.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.

Rain

All alone
Falling down
Wired up
Revved up
Abandoned
Abused
Forgotten
Broken
Bruised
Torn
Misunderstood
Invisible
Mute
Sad
Old
Unhealthy

Helpless

Thank you again for getting this far with me.