Patience = Wisdom
Depression and Denial, Denial and Depression,
Depression and Denial, Denial and Depression,
Escaping summers hot temperatures as a solo migratory traveler.
Braving all forms of inclement weather along dirt roads.
My times have been moments of spiritual tranquility.
I enjoyable a weekend of Harvest Host Hopping driving a total of two-hundred fifty-four miles.
African American families stayed in the area, settling on farms in the surrounding township.
I signal nature's nocturnal animals when I sleep.
I have returned with more of my desert hiking experiences forthcoming.
I wish everyone's dreams, desires, and expectations to become a reality in 2023 and beyond.
Image captured by the author: https://thecarterfarms.com I attended the 2022 Juneteenth event at the Carter Farms of Unionville in Orange County, VA, honoring the freedoms of the enslaved who later…
Many Indigenous people around the world live on their ancestral grounds where they have always been.
Watch your feet and move carefully away.
I'm always surrounded with incredible views.
Dozens of day hikes and overnight backpacking within Mount Rainer National Park.
Ten thousand mile oil change and maintenance check by Toyota technicians.
International Falls MN becoming one of the best outdoor actives destinations in the U. S.
We have begun every day with a sideways kiss ( you know overnight bad breath and all ) and a hug.
The fourth question sent many would-be dates scurrying away.
Nurturing your heart, mind, and soul in the great outdoors.
I simply explain I'm staying inside my mobile home.
Pssst, here's a travel destination secret.
There are iconic National Parks across the U. S. everyones eyes should gaze upon during their lifetime.
Basking in the beauty of my surroundings as a nomadic traveler
We have begun our day with a sideways kiss ( you know bad breath and all ) and a hug.
Mom, when did you actually know you were in love with dad?
A mature wisdom-filled twelve-year-old
Keep me outside in the world I love.
Balancing my loves of hiking, bicycling, and photography with sitting still to write
The quiet wilderness serenity of nature's beauty.
I no longer say aloud, be patient what's the rush?
We are sleeping inside a pup-tent for the very first time together.
Serendipity is attached to my nomadic travels when I discover the incredible beauty of hundreds of bison, several dozen feral horses, along with hundreds of prairie dogs wandering the grassy…
As I mature, I'm discovering the wisdom to calm my anxious excitement to cherish every moment of my travels. MJL
After the Continental Divide Trail Days in April, I set off for the City of Rocks Campground in New Mexico, which is by far one of my favorite campgrounds. Although…
Silver Cities Gough Park was ground zero for the 30-plus vendors who set up their displays
Writing, reading, mountain biking, and fishing, be patient daddies got a new toy!
Do not feed the animals their diets do not include human tourist.
"A good man always knows his limitations."
Be aware of the panther crossing signs when driving in the Everglades giving these beautiful mammals a chance to live.
These birds are the official and original waste management facilitators of the Florida Everglades
Once you exit your vehicle, your first experience will be the sultry humidity and soon the mosquito.
Always beware, there will be alligators in those waters. :-)
My attempted winter destination for 2019 was the Quartzsite Arizona in Western Arizona. It is also the winter destination for several thousand RV'ers, Van dwellers, and everything in between. I…
Old Tombstone Western Town After driving through falling snow during the day, I figured a quick side trip to Tombstone Arizona would be great since I could not imagine many…
One aspect I thought of was my self-diagnosis of having a hyperactive personality with a dose of attention deficit disorder. :-)
Before I created this blog post, I took time organizing my thoughts to shape the narrative for the photos I captured during the 2018 Key West Fantasy Festival. I was…
It is always great meeting fellow travelers who seek nomadic adventures as we are a unique tribe of people whose experiences of the open road brings joys to our hearts.
I recommend you visit Key West during the Fantasy festival with a daily schedule of events, there is something for everyone.
It has been three months of writing, editing, re-writing, editing, and a repeat of all with an occasional blog post. I recently took time for some mountain biking in Florida,…
Doubt, courage, and confidence are a persistent emotional tug of war deep within you and between your ears.
These three words are the essential foundation for every human living on this planet. There are millions of different ways to achieve all three based on need desire and what…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fpR07wwpS4 I recently viewed the movie trailer "Green Book" scheduled for November 21, 2018, release in the US, and it triggered my thoughts about my travels across the US during…
Elegance is a word used to describe style and beauty. Outdoor photography captures natures ever-changing elegant views of a Florida sunset. This, landscape sunset cloud formation in Key West stretching…
On many occasions, my family and friends have voiced they're concerned about me backpacking or hiking into the forests and deserts. They fear for my safety of everything and…
For the past several months, I have struggled with a writing routine as I traveled but, summer has eased into autumn, and I draw inspiration from quotes, by Gustave Flaubert.…
Two weeks before Thanksgiving, I entered the local library for a book, and I saw the most incredibly beautiful king size quilt hanging on display behind glass. I stood for…
Recently while I was touring and photographing the West Rim Drive of Crater Lake in Oregon, I met a New Zealander in his late twenties, and a 66-year-old couple all…
The Pacific Crest Trail Celebrated 50 Years as A National Scenic Trail of 2,650 miles from the California Mexican border to the Washington State, Canadian Boarder. It normally takes…
Monarch Pass, on route 50, in Colorado, at over 12000 feet above sea level. It has been a little over a month since I last posted a blog simply…
There are many unique museums and places I want to visit, learn and further understand American history. Many tourists and travelers see and reveal in video and blog postings the…
During the last couple of years, I have traveled mostly in the western US and back home to my much beloved Florida beaches and the Florida Keys, I have seen…
My freedom is traveling nomadically, one destination to another, exploring, discovering and learning. (MJL) In April I attended the 2018 Continental Divide Trail Days held on the Campus of…
The town of Creighton New Hampshire was to celebrate the 1948 class reunion of the small towns only high school with 43 of the original 97 class members still alive. On…
My dad standing next to my first touring motorcycle a Kawasaki Voyager-12 Today men all over America are celebrating Father's Day spending time with their families, throwing a ball in…
A man and woman conceived a child. Some people debate when the circle of life begins, but for this poem, the ring of a lifetime starts when a mother is…
Again, as usual, I am seated watching the archaic traditions leaving no assumptions for what is to happen at this ceremony that has been held every year since 1877. I glance…
Many things in life are comfortable assumptions, like night or day, green light or red light, and a massive crater in the middle of a desert created by a meteor.…
I attended the 2018 Overland Expo West gathering that brought people together from around the world to Fort Tuthill County Fairgrounds in Flagstaff AZ. This event is organized for anyone…
Everyone who visits Arizona always recommends the Grand Canyon and their next recommendation is usually the city of Sedona AZ to see the picturesque red mountains surrounding the town. Many…
Oh yes, the Petrified Forest National Park has been on my must-visit list for years, and my recent scenic drive tour has only conjured up plans for a re-visit to…
We do not celebrate wisdom, because it comes with age. Many fear age while never gaining its wisdom. Youth spends money, wisdom would never consider. Youth is fertile ground for…
There are many places in the world, but none compare to traveling to witness vistas, landscapes, and wildlife. My current place on this planet is the above photos inside…
Usually, on the weekends mostly during the morning hours, a hiking trail fills with groups of people flaunting their newly purchased hiking and backpacking gear. These groups move along in…
My travel aura was projecting as I sat reading about my next destination inside my vehicle at an eastbound I-10 rest-stop in East Texas. Actually, it was my Florida tags…
I have witnessed unbelievable angry tantrums and lost tempers by toddlers, children, teenagers, and adults. But, during a lovely wedding, I watched a 5'4″, 160-pound, grey-haired woman, with bright red…
Ms, Charlotte Wetzler, was seated on the main stage, looking out upon well over 500-hundred guests who are her former students and the recipients of her 42- years of teaching…
With each swing of the mallet, I pound the spike deeper into the ground. Anger, jealousy, envy, and hate fuels my swings but, I cannot stop pounding the spike more…
Capturing sunrise photos while stopped at the "Sols Cliff scenic overlook with views of Bar Harbor Maine from inside Acadia National Park. The crisps winds of an early September cold…
On a cold rainy spring day, I toured several critical locations in the city of Mongomery Alabama which is ground zero of the Civil Rights Era in America. In 1877…
Our family, our children, forty years we made. The mind-numbing daily routine we made. Our separate sleeping bedrooms we agreed. Because of commitments, our love has become veiled from one…
The daily WordPress word prompt inspires thoughtful, creative writing ideas based on the WordPress user's past experiences with the word which can hold various meanings and definitions. The word churn, cause me…
April is National Poetry Month, and I'm creating inspired poetry daily to celebrate events online, at libraries, and communities everywhere. A mindset for poetry can be inspired and created by the…
From the time, I saw her from across the dance floor, I was tranced into seeing them closer. Standing in front of her, I was awakened by her voice…
Attending a funeral, a retirement gathering, a college or high school graduation, of a family member or friend allows for personal self-reflection. Your thoughts peel away layers of life's reality igniting and stirring…
Since Feb I have enjoyed and settled into the Florida warmth, and because of cold temperatures, I used my backpacking pants' less than a week. As March winds to an…
The weekly photo challenge asks the question where would you rather be. The following photos reveal where I would rather be as photography allows for the repeated return to moments…
Every day since forever, I have seen you, and we are identical twins. I look into your eyes, and I see the mirror image of me. I have seen pictures…
See my elegance? My jet black hair was cooked and processed with waves galore, against platinum silver and neon green, circumferencing from temple to temple rising to the cowlick above the…
Casandra entered the room, and I could not make eye contact, She walks past my table, and I look down at my paper, I sensed a connection, but I'm too…
As the days of March wind down and I continue editing, re-editing and repeating the process of my short stories. The recent cold weather in Southwest Florida provoked a wrinkle…
During my lifetime of travel along the back roads, my reason to stop is best described as "distracted." by what my eyes witness and I want to learn and discover…
Suddenly there is no sound of the trail, but I feel and hear my heart pounding after my climb to summit the small peak of 2500 feet. My breathing slows…
Our parents, families, and friends say we are too young to know love. We both wish and desire a love we neither know of or have ever experienced, yet,…
My plan for the day was to set up somewhere along the beach to write and read all day on a picnic bench under a shelter looking out onto the…
I want to start the first day of March 2018 with a cheerful hello to all of the followers of this site. For the next 30-days or so I'm developing…
As a caterer with twenty-two years in the business, I love the quote "Eating is a necessity, cooking is an art." I once prepared dinner for 50-people, who attended an…
For over forty years I have traveled around the US for which my family and friends were astonished by the journey and marveled at the destinations completed on a motorcycle.…
Well, it has come around again the commercially celebrated Valentines Day of love. It is the erotic, exotic, enticing, inspirational day for the expression and confession of love for one…
Within the imaginations of everyone who's creative ideas and thoughts are inspired or influenced by anything seen on television, read in a book or magazine, can become a reality. MJL I…
When I began traveling in the late 80's upon a 1987 Kawasaki touring motorcycle around the US, I never created or was bewildered with a title for what I was…
The twins and Johnathan are in the rear seat of the car with their father at the wheel, as they travel along their driveway from their home to the main…
At 4:45 pm, their father, Jefferson Wheeler, was a third-generation farmer, who stood six-foot, seven-inches tall, with muscular arms, and a matching barrel chest. He was a hardworking, strict disciplinarian,…
It was 4:30 pm on a western Nebraska farm, in the summer of 1969 with the humid July winds blowing as usual while the Wheeler twins Jason and Jacob who…
I was scared almost out of my seat when Sister Abigale screamed at the top of her lungs forcing all of the fifth-grade students to stared forward, but it was…
I was born and raised in the Adirondacks in Upstate New York, and the first time I saw photos of a beach, I dreamed of living on an island. As…
I am a part of what some people call the greatest generation. When I consider how my parents who lived with nothing close to the conveniences I enjoyed as a…
Fortunately, during my lifetime I have recorded hundreds of hours of video with accompanied thousands of photos of my now adult children. My recorded library reveals decades of family and…
Be candid with me, I can take it. Honesty is the best policy when the truth is the foundation for any relationship. However, many lies are spoken in considerations of…
As the college semester comes to an end, the mood of the students on the entire campus becomes stressfully solemn. Every nook and cranny is occupied as students seek silent locations…
The desert is a great place to experience the beauty of nature when the approaching rains transform the landscape scenery. A weather system pushed through the Quartzsite AZ desert providing…
For twenty years' or more, the theater's dancers have taken a ten-minute break every hour during any rehearsal no matter how long they rehearsed. Three months into the theater season…
My thoughts often drift to the Arizona desert horizon at sunrise during our two week Christmas break. My face brightens with a smile, and yet my heart aches for endless…
When a child is born, they are an unwritten computer program learning from parents teachers and society. M. J. Leake
Mel and Susan Hubbard a married couple were sitting on a park bench after walking three miles along the beach which they do every other day when Susan tells Mel,…
If you are lucky, your life will treat you to various forms and types of reservations. I have had room and dinner reservations and I have toured nature reserves and…
The first daily word prompt "conversation" is appropriate to begin 2018 since a blog post initiates a conversation between bloggers around the world. Four years ago when I began blogging…
Finally, with the end of 2017, the entire world is looking forward to 2018 with incredible optimism. Many people around the world will begin new healthy and personal habits in…
I hiked a trail without a compass within the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument in the Robledo Mountains of Doña Ana County, New Mexico. The area is located at an elevation…
Fifteen years have passed since international Dodgeball star Lucas Leonard Lopez was seen on the court. However, his eldest son Lewis Leonard Lopez has followed in his father's footsteps playing…
For a weekend I relocated to Northern New Mexico in search of winter landscapes to photograph. My destination was the ski area in and around Taos New Mexico. I found…
The images do not reflect the cold temperatures, of the Rio Grande Gorge near Taos New Mexico of the magnificent engineering marvel of the bridge, draped in the beauty of…
The significance of procrastinating pressure to complete goals is sometimes a necessary emotion when you find snippets of excuses to forgo what should be done. With thirty days to write 50,000 words,…
Mistakes are a part of life because life comes with morals but not application instructions. Mistakes of the heart usually provide a second chance. Mistakes are failures to learn from…
For baby boomers, it is believed that upon a certain age exciting, interesting outdoor and athletics activities are limited, curtailed, or not done based on age. However, for the active…
What would our planet look like if the extinct land animals were to return? Would we make room for them to live in the wild? Would we stop clear-cutting the…
Social media produces journalling crumbs of our past. Crumbs for those you chose to see the highs and lows of your life. Wisdom can be gained from the crumbs of…
I was traveling south along Nevada route 95 when I wandered into Las Vegas to visit family and to check out Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area. When I told my uncle…
As a child growing up, I always had Labrador Retrievers as pets, and one of my chores was picking up after the dog. When I became an adult, I swore…
I learned very early in my childhood before I started school that acting bad or being bad brought about a spanking or a scolding at the least. When I began…
The peculiarities of life and death manifest itself before, during, and after stressful painfilled tragic events. Personal reflections and contemplation about life, its meaning, and understanding its purpose are our…
The word "Overcome" is over used, because everyone's daily life is filled with moments, hours, days, months, and years of challenges. Without challenges, life will become boring and lackadaisical, and…
As a traveler, I have encountered many others who's mentality like mine is filled with the anticipated experiences of the journey and destination. The journey has numerous crescendos of discovery around…
My travel mission was set to photograph the Bonneville Salt Flats with a refuel top off in the town called West Wendover, NV en-route to Reno NV. However, it's been my custom…
The structure of nature can sometimes have no structure at all. The Bonneville Salt Flats white sands are a living sight to witness. The white sands distinguish no structure, only…
The word educate is applied to every travel destination I encounter. There is something to learn no matter how many times I have visited any location. In the US just…
My last posting "Enamored with nature," apparently was my 1000th blog post on Wordpress. :-) My priceless blog life began 2013 when I signed up for a Wordpress site, but…
After viewing and capturing photos of the natural beauty in Yellowstone National Park, I found the Flagg Ranch Campgrounds located along the John D Rockafeller Parkway in between Yellowstone National…
Children who become teenagers and eventually adults are a wonderment of untold measurement. (M.J.Leake) As the days, months, years, and decades pass, with mothers day, fathers day, birthdays, and holidays gatherings…
I love history and consider myself an amateur historian of American History, so when I entered the Cody Wy visitors center to see what the area had to offer,…
Some retirees try to recall memories and thoughts of their adolescent and childhood years. If they are able, they spend the second chapter of their lives fulfilling those dreams of…
A retiree who accepts their status will become a happier person going forward into the second chapter of their lives. While many retirees remain in their past, never reflecting on…
Depending on where you live planning a trip from your home to travel across town can easily be accomplished depending on where you live. In the major metropolitan cities…
Photos of the impressive Buffalo Bill Dam.
Millions of people gathered in the major location around the continental United States to witness a solar eclipse at varying degrees. I was fortunate to see two sunset and sunrises…
The term "explorer" has been attached to people like Ferdinand Magellan, Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, Lewis, and Clark and hundreds of others. Today's traveler/explorers use terms like nomadic, wanderlust, digital…
Within some people is a gate closing off a lustful desire they refuse to open called travel. Lights of curiosity shine along the creases tempting your wishes, but fear and…
A thoughtful writer can be a passenger with a quill and pen, tethered to a desk, plucking ideas of an original savage plot or caper with character arcs sailing along…