When I first started talking about this road trip tour with my friends, they all had ideas about books I needed to include. When one of them mentioned Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, I dusted off my copy and vowed to actually read it this time. The lavendar-colored paperback was hiding in the […]

My one experience riding a motorcycle was a dirt bike my boyfriend owned in high school. Of course my mother forbade my riding on it. She knew it would be futile to forbid me to date the wretched boyfriend, but she could hold onto her illusions about the motorcycle thing.
I have to say, it’s always […]

I read Cormac McCarthy’s The Road this past summer, thinking it might be a nice addition to my road trip tour. It’s the story of a father and son traveling through post-apocolyptic North America. Along the road, they search for food and for some evidence to support their dream that maybe, just maybe, there are […]

My friend M made a 3200 mile bicycle tour from Seattle to Delaware ten years ago with a group called Wandering Wheels. They’re a Christian-based organization, and the trip is like some sort of pilgrimage, connecting with the beauty of nature and stopping to rest at various churches along the way.
I recently got a hold […]

My dear friend L spent the last nine months walking, preparing herself for the Breast Cancer 3-Day, held this past weekend. She was the very symbol of struggle and determination, walking so much that at one point she broke her foot, just from all the walking.
But she didn’t let it stop her. She got her boot […]

The first time I walked into my house, it was filled full with someone else’s stuff. The couple who lived here had remained childless and were nearing retirement age. The wife’s mother had lived here with them until she died, and they were alone again, ready to downsize, put everything into storage and move into […]

A few weeks ago, vacationing in Dallas, we had this urge to just sell all our stuff, including the house, and buy an RV to take our life on the road. We’d be untethered and free to go meet new people, see new things, visit family and friends we don’t have time to visit with […]

The story in Breathing Lessons centers around a day trip to an old high school friend’s funeral. The couple taking the trip isn’t all that old, but the wife is having some major empty nest issues. That same weekend, she would be saying good-bye to her daughter, who was heading out for college. And driving out […]

I once compared Anne Tyler to John Waters just because they’re both from Baltimore. I want to claim these two among the great southern US writers, who so beautifully capture a culture trying to hide its deepset hairline fractures. The real difference is that Tyler portrays characters who are not-quite-right, while Waters creates those that […]

As Dorothy was traveling along the yellow brick road, she was passing straight through Elphaba’s life, challenging the green one’s very belief system by introducing something strange and new into her world. Travelers are not always welcome, and it’s not just about territorialism. People are often comforted by sameness, and afraid of things that fall outside of […]