A recap of the "Pause on Purpose" tour, future thoughts

Tim: For those of you who have been keeping up to date with the blog since we left Hiram, Ohio on March 13th, this posting will be a rehash of all of our adventures. So here are some of the places we have visited during our 10,000+ mile journey through the Western U.S. (I have attached above a map of our current home, Colorado):

Corpus Christi, Texas- World War II aircraft carrier;
USS Lexington, crossed Mexico border at Reynosa, Mexico;
Tombstone, Arizona, Boot Hill, and the OK Corral;Saguaro National Park outside of Tucson, AZ;
Hoover Dam, AZ;
Las Vegas and Western Nevada;
Mono Lake and Enyo Forest, California;
Shasta-Trinity National Forests and Eureka, CA;
Cannon Beach, Seaside, and the Oregon Coast;
Trip to Minnesota through Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota;
Colorado: Pike’s Peak, Royal Gorge- Bridge and Trainride, Cripple Creek, Bishop’s Castle, Seven Falls;
Four Corners trip to Shiprock, NM, Route 66, and Albuquerque, Santa Fe, NM.

Whew! That is a lot to be thankful for, huh? I would put down the Interstate highways we have driven on but that would take a lot longer than this has. The amazing thing is that we saw even more on this trip than I put down on this post. Maybe in the next post I could put down all of the books we have read. I feel like I am in some summer library reading program. It has been an interesting time for both Candy and I.

Another thing that I thought about today…this is the longest I have ever been unemployed in my adult life. I know something great is on the horizon, though, and we both are ready for what is next.

Pueblo, Colorado has been a great place to call home, although we know it is not a place we could stay forever. We have started to look into what our options are for the end of June when we head out of here. It looks like we will head for Minnesota for the month of July.

If something does not happen job-wise by August, we will head for a specific place to settle for the duration (the school year) and find jobs. At this point, our “contingency cities” are Dallas, Texas; Austin, Texas; Phoenix, Arizona; Nashville, Tennessee; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; and Tampa/St. Petersburg or Jacksonville, Florida. We expect that it will not come to this, but we have started planning just in case. I will volunteer with a basketball program wherever we head.

Candy has been doing some work getting in contact with some professional photographers lately and has had some great feedback from these pros about her website. I think she is on the verge of breaking through with this side of her skill set. She really is incredibly talented.

As for me, no real leads on any positions. I have really been focusing on the moment lately…we do not have any guarantee of tomorrow and it is not always great to look to the past (although I have learned so much about what I could have done better in my most recent position). I guess I have been making everyday my masterpiece. I have also been using positive affirmations and visualization lately.The great John Wooden has become one of my role models lately…he really had it right.

We had planned to head down to the Great Sand Dunes National Park southwest of here this weekend, but the weather was forecast not to be so good, so we have put the trip off until this week. Hope you have enjoyed this rambing post and you have a great weekend!