Day 1 is underway. Wonder Woman is my travel companion. Car is all set for car camping. +1 for being short! 

And the first of the solo road trips in 2017 begins! Through the month of June, I will be combining work, family visits and vacation travel while I visit these great cities and sites

New Orleans
Houston
Dallas
Austin
San Antonio
Marfa, TX  (seeing the Marfa lights!)
Grand Canyon
Canyon of the Ancients
Sand Dunes National Park
Mt Rushmore
Denver
Memphis  (Graceland!)
Louisville
and then meandering back home

I’m looking forward to a cruise with family, learning the ins and outs of my new Canon EOS Rebel T6 and my first experiences car camping!

We all have dreams, but how often do we really pursue them? Not just talk about them. Not just dance around the edges of pursuing them.  Really dive in and make them reality. Life and stuff get in the way. Fear gets in the way. Real reasons and found reasons stop us from taking big leaps into the unknown. But what happens when we jump up and grab the clouds our dreams reside in?  Magical things can happen. Life-changing things can happen.  This is the story of my leaps into the unknown.

I took my first really large leap when I left my 1st career to pursue my fascination with technology.  10 years later, I am taking another big leap.  One of my goals when I left my corporate career to pursue a career in tech was to create a life that allowed me to live and work anywhere. I created that career. I found work that I love, am challenged by and daily lets me make a difference in the world – all 3 of my big requirements for my new career.  But I wasn’t taking full advantage of the freedom that it offered me. That changes this week!

I am embarking on several solo trips to places I have always wanted to visit or places I love and want to go back to.  I am going to spend time seeing family and friends.  I am going to search the deserts, mountains, cities and small towns and find the pieces of me that reside in each of those.  I am going to drive fast on highways and meander down back roads.  I am going to feel the heartbeats that live beneath the streets of big cities and the charm in small towns. I am going to stand beneath big trees and stare out across wide waters.  I am going to find me.

With my trusty Nissan Rouge (get it… Rouge Tripping – *wink*), my camera and an actual paper map, I am going to set out to see the U.S. and to take a look inside my own soul.

Thanks for joining me on my journey! May it inspire you to take a leap.