It is the afternoon of August 12, 2003. I am in southern Tanzania. Josephat, our guide, is driving the Land Rover with my daughter, myself and two others on a game drive in Ruaha National Park. Suddenly, Josephat becomes engaged in a conversation on his two-way radio with other guides in the park. They are speaking in a language I do not understand in hushed tones,...

To be outdoors in the sunshine. To gaze at the blue sky and its grand clouds, shades of white and gray, cumulus or lenticular. A modality that I share with other creatures, human and animal, but not with cars or buses or trains or planes. To rely on my body. To get there on my own two feet. To see the world from up high, glorious vistas, layers of mountains, giant...

What to take my stuff in is the first question. Roll-aboard to carry on or duffel to check? Almost always a back-pack either way. Frankly, I don’t like to check anything. There’s the possibility of it being lost or delayed and the headache associated with either of those events. However, carrying on definitely limits the amount of stuff I can bring and...

I don’t have a bucket list. I keep my eyes and ears open for interesting places to visit. Sometimes it will be somewhere I’ve had on my radar for years (e.g. Spring Green, Wisconsin). Other times, an overheard conversation will get me to thinking (e.g. Sicily). I have no parameters. That is, I am attracted to places near and far away. Of course there are...