Once upon a time, a certain child was born (and you know who I mean. Me!). This was a much-awaited child, a beloved child, but she was born very small. To keep her alive, she was put in an incubator, basically a plexiglass box where only nurses could touch her to change her tiny diaper […]
Photos to Frame, Pt 1
As we continue to juggle this complex transition, I’m enjoying the small task of sorting through photos of the past five years, picking out favorites and imagining them as part of our (dream) house in a variety of ways. Maybe a coffee table book, or a large wall of framed prints, or a small collage […]
2025: Summer at Four Corners
Each year I’ve been on the road I’ve written a recap of our travels, and I’m not letting this one slide by without the proper Come Look at My Vacation Photos! post. We spent this spring and early summer at so many national parks, national monuments, and national forests in three of the Four Corners […]
Corn Sweat at an Old Orphanage with Tornado Warnings
It’s about time I tell you about where the heck we are. Stoughton, Wisconsin, is a rural town south of Madison, home of the infamous water tower typo. I believe that paint job missing the second T lasted only a day, but ain’t that something? That still cracks me up. Thanks, Doug! I shouldn’t laugh […]
The Shelly & Doug Fun-o-Meter
A funny thing about me moving to Madison is that it’s the home of a special friend, Doug (not to be confused with the other top Dougs in my life). Why funny? Because Doug and I have been running into each other on and off for 30 years, and now we’re going to live in […]
Eyes of the World
Where a Grateful Dead song, a science theory by a futurist, and this blog all intersect.
Hauling Ass from Colorado to Wisconsin
A four-day trip across the plains, with Charlie Parr as our reward.
An Unlikely Landing Location
You may find this hard to believe, but of every location in this country we could live, I’ve chosen Madison, Wisconsin. (See my previous post on planning to stop traveling.) I swear, I’ve been thinking about a landing place for about three years. Everywhere on this map, we’ve stayed at least one night and we’ve looked around […]
Choosing a Normal Life after Living an Extraordinary One
We’ve had a handful of big changes here in the Tracy and Shelly (and Banjo) world, and they’re happening in a mixed-up, muddled-up order. I’ll tackle them one topic per post. Topic #1: I decided I’m done with life on the road. I wrestled with this decision for ages, thinking I wanted to settle down, […]
From Moosappointment to a Cowboy Count
I have dreams of things I’m going to see in new places, but I’ve learned, of course, that the cool things you see are what you’re not expecting. For example, when I was in Alaska and in the Yukon summer before last, I had a lot of moospectations. I mean, there were signs everywhere telling […]
