“Zambia. Now where exactly is that?” This was the initial response we got from many people when we told them of our plans to take a two and a half week trip to Zambia. We explained it is a landlocked country in southern Africa, and that we have family there we’ve been wanting to go visit. Invariably, the next response was a wide-eyed, “You have family there?” Yes. My husband’s sister married a man from Zambia. All of his family is still there, and they were anxious for us to come for a visit. We jumped at the chance. Much of the visit was centered around treating my brother-in-law’s oldest sis ..read more

NOTE: This is a story I wrote at Paul's Pancake Parlor in Missoula, Montana, on Easter Sunday in 2019, when Andy's father was still living, but had recently had life-saving brain surgery. * * * Paul’s Pancake Parlor, table for one, is not my idea of a fabulous Easter dinner, but Easter is different this year. Brain surgery tends to change everything. The Easters of my childhood started early in the morning with cheap chocolate bunnies, gluey jellybeans, and bland hard-boiled eggs with bits of brightly colored shell still clinging to them stubbornly like crunchy confetti. After our traditional ..read more

Two of Nina’s uncles taught her that the key to happiness is selflessness. Her father, their other brother, taught her just the opposite. A few nights ago, we again chatted with Nina, a waitress who has served us at least twice at the Lolo Peak Brewery in Lolo, Montana. She is thoughtful and kind, a bright individual and a wonderful conversationalist. In between customers, we asked her if she would tell us something she has learned over the years that has made a difference in her life, or something she wishes other people knew. When she returned to our table during a lull, she was bubbling ove ..read more

One of my favorite television programs from my early adult years was a cartoon called Pinky and the Brain. The simple premise is this: two mice--one of them with skills and ambition--attempt to escape from a laboratory after the researchers have gone home for the night. Every episode starts with Pinky bouncing around, happy-go-lucky and clueless, asking Brain the same question and receiving the same calculated answer. "What we gonna do tonight, Brain?" "The same thing we do every night, Pinky--try to take over the world." Given the option, I am confident Brain would have chosen a more skilled ..read more

(for Part 1, click here) Our life together has never been exactly typical for our cultural and socio-economic background. In our 29 years of marriage, we have lived in twenty different domiciles, in seven different cities, in four different states, in places and situations so unique they deserved names to commemorate them: the Bea-Ch House, the Love Shack, the Treehouse, the Homestead, the Loft, The House on Mango Street, and more recently, the Cat Scat COVID Special, as well as several iterations of travel trailers and fifth wheels. Between us, we have driven at least 30 different used cars ..read more

Ok, well that's an understatement. I did a LOT of research, and have come to a difficult decision -- I am going to build our camper, including the walls, from scratch. I certainly didn't make this decision quickly or on an impulse. On the contrary, Over many months and with much deliberation, I have weighed many variables including expense, quality, timeframe, aesthetics, material characteristics, availability of resources and construction skills, etc. I have spent countless hours in online research and have traveled thousands of miles to visit different companies that could provide quality ma ..read more

Preparing to hit the road for long-term overland travel is proving to be a daunting task—so many decisions to make about so many things! Different people have different travel styles and goals, but for us, we don’t really plan to return to “regular life,” so our preparation process involves trimming down our material possessions to only the essentials we want to carry with us, as well as upgrading several of the things that we are keeping so they will be better suited to the demands of life on the road. One of the many decisions we have had to research and discuss is whether or not we want to ..read more

They say drowning isn’t loud. “Sherry. Help.” These were the only two words I could quietly say as the early morning waters of Flathead Lake began to take my life. After a couple of very difficult years and overwhelming last few months that culminated in the recent passing of my father, we left town for a few days’ retreat to decompress, camping on the northeast shores of Flathead Lake. It was just what we needed to unwind, relax, and reflect on the difficult journey we’ve been on these last few years. It was a perfect little getaway, except for the almost drowning part. I should clarify a fe ..read more

Greeted with white painted cinderblock walls, a tawdry old polyester bedcover, sagging ceiling tiles and a stuffy stale aroma, walking into our vintage 10'x12' accommodations for the night I was immediately struck by the uniqueness of our situation. We we staying overnight in a cheap roadside motel in a foreign country, carrying our passports and a wad of cash, waiting to rendezvous with Tony, our dealer (whom we've never actually met) to buy some expensive parts imported from Australia for our truck that we could not get on our own in the states. Something about this situation seemed mighty ..read more

(for Part 1, click here) Although I am still a bit nervous about our rig coming off as pretentious, we finally decided to build out a Mitsubishi Fuso as our camper. These medium-duty commercial trucks are trusted workhorses commonly found all over the world. It is even possible to find them in four wheel drive (which we definitely wanted), though those are quite rare. We began the hunt for a used Fuso of the desired model year, engine size, wheelbase, suspension, and drivetrain. Anywhere else in the world, we would have found dozens of options from which to choose. Here in the United States, a ..read more