Category Archives: 1996-1999
We hit the road to live and travel full-time in 1996. It’s been a long journey, covering hundreds of thousands of miles by car, truck, airplane, boat, and foot. Along the way, we’ve had more than our share of adventures and life lessons.
The following are stories from our life on the road for the years 1996 to 1999, covering our life on the road full-time in North America, logging over 80,000 miles.
Journal: December 18, 1996 – Friday the 13th The Journey Begins
The following is a draft of chapter one of our book, Home is Where Lorelle Is about what started as a one year life on the road experience that turned into almost 16 years living on the road traveling across the planet. “What you’ve done becomes the judge of what you’re going to do — […]
Journal: Falling Trees and Friends Part Three
Journal: Falling Trees and Friends Part Three Greensboro, NC July 6, 1998 The next morning, I awoke to a kitten in the truck and an angry old cat in the trailer. I put the kitten back in the trailer and let the old cat get angrier, and caught up with Linda, the healed Southern Baptist, […]
Journal: Falling Trees and Friends – Part Two
Journal: Falling Trees and Friends Part Two Greensboro, NC July 5, 1998 We learned later that the storm that hit us brought with it something I’d never heard of. A “white wind”. The news described it as “not a tornado but a very unusual wind blast created when two extreme weather conditions came together with […]
Journal: Falling Trees and Friends – Part One
Journal: Falling Trees and Friends Part One Greensboro, NC July 1, 1998 We have survived our arrival in North Carolina and are slowly beginning to get entrenched here. Tomorrow my mother arrives for our first “from home” visitor to our new “temp” home. I’ve gotten to know some of the people around the campground, especially […]
Telling Stories from 1996 to 1999
As I start work again on my book, Home is Where Lorelle is, I will be posting some chapters here on our site in the Telling Zone under 1996-1999 when we hit the road full-time, crossing North America from Seattle to Florida to Arizona to Alaska to Florida and a lot of places in between […]
Rocket Scientists, White Mice and Dolphins – An Eco-Story
The dew-filled morning burned away under the bright sun. Our job for the morning was done. Rising in the dark to be on the Mt. Rainier mountainside for dawn, our goal was to photograph the heavy dewdrops on the spring wildflowers. We were worn out after four hours on our knees and stomachs along twisting […]
Running Out of Rubbers – Greensboro, North Carolina to Tulsa, Oklahoma
Oh, my, well, we made it to Oklahoma. I don’t know how, and maybe I shouldn’t question it. We made it and that is all that matters. By the skin of our teeth, or should I say by the skin of our rubbers. Not that kind of rubber! Just wait. I’ll explain it all, if […]
The Sparrow, An Exercise in Rewriting (fiction by Lorelle VanFossen)
During the summer of 1999, while we were still living and working temporarily in Greensboro, North Carolina, clueless of the whirlwinds that were about to strike us down and lift us up and deposit us in Israel, we took a writing course. Of course, not your average writing course. This one was for writing and […]
Almost Worst Day of My Life – Day from Hell – Greensboro, North Carolina
If I thought the stress level for traveling was high, well, to quote our Carolina friends, "Whoo doggies!" Setting up a temporary home can be just as stressful. We finally have a phone! Yahoo! We probably won’t put an answering machine on here, since I’m here almost every day, so if there’s no answer, call […]
Battling the Wilderness Inside – Florida
March 21, 1998 – Lake Worth, Florida Just a quick note to tell you that indeed we are alive and so far the storms smacking Florida have left us dry and fine. Well, as fine as Brent and I ever get in our total weirdness. Our journal entry today will actually be about a bit […]
Meeting a Moose: Head On – Jasper, Alberta, Canada
Alongside the Ice Fields Parkway between Banff and Jasper National Parks lies unique natural depository of pink boulders. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? Out in the middle of nowhere: Pink boulders. Seems a passing glacier carrying these huge boulders from one place to another, and decided to drop its load. They sit out in the middle […]
Maps, Tracks, and Getting Lost – Asking for Directions
Traveling on the road full-time, asking directions becomes part and parcel of everyday life. While living in Spain, I found the word “there” had a lot of different meanings. This added to the general confusion associated with asking for directions. The word “there” translates into Spanish as alla and va par alla and the list […]
Some Giggles and Jokes from the Road – Queen Wilhemina State Park, Arkansas
I need to share some very funny stories. While I feel like you are hearing more of our woes than our good times, I hope you aren’t. It’s all learning experiences, no matter how they look or sound, and we treat them as such. We often find humor in the bad stuff, like me thinking […]
First Day of Summer – Queen Wilhemina State Park, Arkansas
A change is happening. We feel it all around us. In some ways, it makes us happy, in other ways, it terrifies us. Without a doubt, it changes our perspective. The sun is out. Sure, we’ve suffered horrible heat as we’ve traveled all over the country, but the sun is starting to come out from […]