Psst, Wanna Join the Friends of a Long Year?

Say what?

Friends of a Long Year is a private mailing list bringing stories to your inbox like it's still 1995. It's written in the spirit of Mary Austin. It was originally called Place Without a Postcard, which does a better job of summarizing what I like to write about. Friends is delivered roughly twice a month.

Archive

November Sun

Goose Island State Park, Texas, U.S. A welcome warm spell on the beaches of Port Aransas.

Going Down Swinging

Lake Arrowhead State Park, Texas, U.S. Can you take apart your valve train, change out your head gaskets when you don't know what you're doing?

Broken Down In Lamar

Lamar, Colorado, U.S. Think you're going somewhere? Think again. Sometimes the world's agenda does not match up with yours.

Under The Bear’s Lodge

Devil’s Tower National Monument, Wyoming, U.S. We turned southward, bound for Tucson, and ended up spending longer than we'd intended at Devil's Tower National Monument.

Ease Down the Road

Little Missouri National Grasslands, North Dakota, U.S. Boondocking in the Little Missouri Grasslands, near Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Goodbye Big Waters

Washburn, Wisconsin, U.S. Wrapping up our time in Washburn and saying goodbye before heading west.

Grandparents

Washburn, Wisconsin, U.S. Showing my parents around our temporary home of Washburn, Wisconsin.

August Jottings

Washburn, Wisconsin, U.S. Some (mostly) unedited journal entries about our time in Washburn, at the county fair, and by the lake.

Around Washburn

Washburn, Wisconsin, U.S. Lake Superior has many faces, depending on where you go. We've found quite a few different beaches we love this summer.

Ten

Washburn, Wisconsin, U.S. A whole decade. Happy birthday girls.

Midsummer

Washburn, Wisconsin, U.S. Nice cool temps, nearby water to swim in, somewhere to train Jui Jitsu... what else do you need really?

Holiday Road

Copper Falls State Park, Wisconsin, U.S. The 4th of July weekend is always crowded. To find a place to stay we hit the road north, to the middle of nowhere.

Hello Milwaukee

Harrington State Park, Wisconsin, U.S. We're not big on cities, but Milwaukee is an exception. It's just big enough to have plenty of great food, but small enough that there's no traffic. Just about right.

Illinois Beach Oddities

Illinois Beach State Park, Illinois, U.S. It's fun to do something for no reason at all. That freedom of the will, the capacity to choose and act as we wish is the foundation of all human delight.

Prairie Notes

Prairie Pines Campground, Illinois, U.S. There's hardly any prairie left, but even as farmland there is something about the middle of America that I love.

Long Way Around

Indian Springs State Park, Georgia, U.S. Beginning the long journey from the Outer Banks to the Great Lakes, where we'll be for most of the summer.

Seining With Val

Oregon Inlet, North Carolina, U.S. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes you meet people traveling and you just click.

Back on Ocracoke

Ocracoke, North Carolina, U.S. Two weeks enjoying the weather, the sand, the sea. Aside from food and good company, there's not much else in life you need.

Separation

Frisco Campground, North Carolina, U.S. Corrinne goes to Atlanta, the kids and I find out what a Nor'easter is like in the Outer Banks.

Ocracoke Beaches

Ocracoke, North Carolina, U.S. Ocracoke is different. Something in the way the ocean currents move offshore, or the collision of air from the land and sea, or the history, or the isolation, or the combination of it all makes Ocracoke the highlight of the Outer Banks.