Lake Michigan walk and Joe's Story

In "Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime" one of the chapters covers my trek around Lake Michigan. It was an adventure of such massive proportions I'll never forget. Loreen Niewenhuis did it too. She has recorded her experience in a book titled: "A 1000 Mile Walk on the Beach" From what I've read in the Grand Rapids Press yesterday it's sure to be a good read. I just finished emailing my congratulations to her on her accomplishments.

I walked around Lake Michigan in 1964. I was just being a young man trying to find himself. I had no intention of writing about it. She and I had completely different reasons and I believe I will learn much about the Lake from her perspective as an adult. I also walked around in one complete event. She broke it up into 10 segments. I road a bus through Chicago and Gary because I didn't want the hassle or the stench of such a congested area. She walked through there too. It is our differences throughout the whole project that interests me. We saw the same Lake. But, at different times, under differing circumstances, with different agendas, at different ages. I want to see the picture she's drawn.

Sometime in the future, depending on responsibilities and life in general, my goal is to ride a bicycle around Lake Michigan. A mishap with my leg and ankle have pretty much eliminated my ability to walk around but I can ride a bike anywhere. I look forward to it and the plans are being formed as I write here.

So I congratulate Loreen and wish her well. Her next goal is to walk around all 5 of the Great Lakes. I say, "Go for it!" I offer my encouragement and good wishes.

Geo caching, Joe's Story and long walks

"Joe's Story: The Book of a Lifetime" is filled to overflowing with anecdotes, good or bad regarding my experiences in this life with those wonderfully interesting people around me. Today I had an experience with a friend that will no doubt become another anecdote. For the very first time ever I was involved in Geo caching, a wondrously adventure of finding hidden containers that sometimes hold within them curious artifacts. Up til today, I have worked on riddles, treasure hunts, automobile rallies, geological digs and hide and seek games of all sorts. None of which used any electronic media whatsoever. This Geo caching is done with the use of a small electronic GPS unit that has the location of thousands of hidden objects. It gives you all sorts of directional information including distance. Reminiscent of the old child's game standby of "Hot & Cold." If you are close you are hot, if you are moving away you are getting cold and so on. We were wandering through a nearby park, my friend and I looking for an historically significant willow tree that I have searched out for over 50 years just to pick the first pussy-willow buds heralding in the new Spring season. "Ah, Ha," He says. "Looky here. There is a cache located just 485 feet in front and to our left." I figured why not so off we went through the woods. Climbing over, under and around trees and shrubbery. At one moment we were almost completely surrounded by a herd of foraging deer. They weren't particularly concerned about our presence and one of them looked as though she was expecting us to feed her. Then they slowly trotted away as we came just a bit too far into their comfort zone. We went further into the woods as he lined up the arrows, sidestepping mounds of leaves, dirt, rocks and uneven terrain until once again he exclaims, "Ah, ha! Here it is! Reaching into a long jagged split tree trunk and pulling out a shiny black cylinder with a removable top. Inside were a note pad and pencil for recording our discovery and a myriad of little trinkets: A plastic glove, business card, bottle cap, a shiny pebble and a couple other things. He signed and dated our achievement, resealed it and placed it there for the next adventurer. How neat is that? I just gotta get me one of those little gadgets don't you?

Have a great and wonderful day. You could add to the enjoyment by sitting down and reading a few excerpts from Joe's Story and telling everyone you know about how great a book it really is.