AFOOT AND LIGHT-HEARTED
EXPLORING HORIZONS WITH BRAD & SHERI
ABOUT US
Hi. We are Brad and Sheri. After fulfilling careers as a forest scientist and social worker, we are ready to explore the world and all it has to offer – and to examine those fundamental common values that unite us as humankind (and I do mean "kind").
As the British explorer Freya Stark said: "If I were asked to enumerate the pleasures of travel, this would be one of the greatest among them - that so often and so unexpectedly you meet the best in human nature, and seeing it so by surprise and often with a most improbable background, you come, with a sense of pleasant thankfulness, to realize how widely scattered in the world are goodness and courtesy and the love of immaterial things, fair blossoms found in every climate, on every soil."
This blog is for us. The purpose of this blog is to keep track of places, people, and thoughts during our travels. And to share our trips with family and friends – including new friends.
OUR JOURNEY
Our journey together began in 2006. A year after our first date, I asked Sheri if she would like to go to Southeast Asia with me. Later that year, we found ourselves in a small village in Laos after hiking and ziplining into treehouses to sleep and search for gibbons in the wild. Despite what we were told, no buses were passing through, so we found ourselves hitchhiking to a small town in northern Laos with only Chinese trucks barreling by. We thought we would have to sleep the night in a ditch, but a lovely gentleman across the road offered us a ride in his small pickup. Sheri in front, me in the back with his two kids, helping them with their homework (despite the language barriers), we made it to Luang Namtha by nightfall. So began our travel adventures together (and Sheri's trust in me).
After our wedding, instead of a honeymoon, we went on a 3-week "familymoon" vacation with our blended family. It was a perfect opportunity for our kids to spend some time together. With the five of us crowded into a rental car, we drove through Germany (where we visited the place and people where I worked years before), Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. Very special.
Now, with kids grown and a beautiful grandson, our journey continues…
Brad
After climbing Mt. Stanley in the Rwenzoris in 1993, I headed down to the southwest corner of Uganda because I had heard that you could cross the border into Zaire to see mountain gorillas in the Virungas. As we prepared to walk into Zaire, two Land Rovers pulled up with two European couples. They had just driven across the Congo, and I thought, "How cool is that! That's what I want to do." Now is my opportunity. (The mountain gorillas, by the way, were a wildlife highlight of my life.)
I have been fortunate in my career as a forest geneticist to visit many countries, especially Mexico and Canada as a member of a working group of the North American Forest Commission. But always short trips. Now is the time to live it. With that in mind, we are ready to go after years of dreaming (and a short break for a pandemic).
My roots are in Idaho, where my great-grandparents on
my dad's side settled in the McCall area in 1896, and my great-grandparents on my mom's side settled near Idaho Falls. My love of mountains was born in Idaho. I remember a road trip through central Idaho when I was a kid, where we went to Dagger Falls on the Middle Fork of the Salmon, and the ranger gave me a comic book about Smokey Bear. I always worshiped my father because he was a smokejumper out of McCall in the late 1940s (after serving in the Navy in WWII). Little did I know that I would be working for the US Forest Service one day.
I spent a career as a forest geneticist, studying how plants are adapted to their environments and what that means for reforestation and restoration, particularly with respect to the specter of climate change. I have always been fascinated by the diversity in nature, biological or landscapes. Now is the time to further explore the world's cultural diversity and all our wonderfully molded differences and shared values.
"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines and sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream. Discover.
– Mark Twain
Sheri
My roots are in the plains of eastern North Dakota. My parents moved my younger brother and me across the country when I was three years old to live in Oregon – my first big travel adventure.
Growing up in Oregon, I often went tent camping with my family, later a camp trailer (no kitchen or bathroom), and later graduated to a full-size camper pulling a boat for fishing and waterskiing. We had many adventures and fun bringing along our friends and spending precious time outdoors.
Our family road trips in the summer included long drives back to North Dakota to visit our grandparents. The drives were hot without air conditioning. And with no iPads or movies back then, my brother and I would make
up games to pass the time. Thus began my love for road trips.
As an adult, I traveled some before Brad and I got together. I visited Norway to explore our family heritage and France, Mexico, and Canada. Our love of travel is one of the things that brought us together. That and our love of family. We hope that our daughter, son-in-law, and adventurous and active little grandson, as well as our two boys and their partners, will be able to join us during our travels.
Protecting us from bears in Alaska
Hank
2022 Jeep Gladiator
Hank's Modifications
AEV Dualsport RT 3" High Capacity Suspension
AEV EX Front Bumper
AEV 7000 Series LED Off-Road Lights
Come-Up Seal Gen 2 9.5RSI 12v Winch
AEV Snorkel
Alu-Cab Canopy Camper
Goose Gear module system for storage and drawers
Alu-Cab Mozzie Screens to keep out insects
Alu-Cab Shadow Awning
Alu-Cab Shower Cube
Joolca Hottap Shower system heated by propane
Alu-Cab 13 g Water Tank
Expedition Essentials Propane Tank mount
Deep Cycle Systems 12V 200AH Slimline Battery
Redarc Dual Input 40A In-Vehicle Battery Charger
Redarc 200W Monocrytalline Solar Panel
Dometic CFX3 75 Dual Zone Powered Cooler
GP Factor Full Drop Table
Our conveyance of choice is a 2022 Jeep Gladiator with an Alu-Cab canopy camper on the back. We wanted something small enough to fit into a shipping container but tough enough to get us through any obstacles we might encounter. Although we do not intend to go "rock-crawling," we do not want to get stuck somewhere as we explore. We also wanted room for four, hoping family or friends would sometimes join us.
Hank is named after my dad's favorite singer-songwriter, Hank Williams, and the song "Ramblin' Man":
"Some folks might say
That I'm no good
That I wouldn't settle
Down if I could
But when that open road
Starts to callin' me
There's somethin' o'er the hill
That I gotta see
Sometimes it's hard
But you gotta understand
When the lord made me
He made a ramblin' man"
