"My day-to-day expenses will be substantially lower than they are at home."

"You get run over by a bus... then what?"

Posing with Nude December 24, 2003 Barcelona, Spain

What's with the self-aggrandizing site?
It has gotten a little out of hand. Truth be told, I'm a closet computer geek. Some would say not so closeted. I started learning the HTML and CGI programming and was having so much fun I kept adding and adding. This was originally just a site for friends and family to check to be sure I'm still alive. But I like what it's morphed into.

How did you get so much time off?
Pretty easily, actually. I quit. In TV rather than getting promoted inside your company, you usually move from small city to bigger city. It was about time for me to move on and I decided I'd take some time off in between jobs. I'll look for another job when I get back.

Do you have any experience traveling like this?
Not a bit. I spent a few months hiking the Appalachian Trail a few years ago, but nothing like this. It's a little intimidating, yes.

How do you get from place to place?
Buses and trains, mainly. The occasional boat and rare plane ride. It depends on where you are. Some places have a better developed rail infrastructure than others.

How much does it cost?
Probably not nearly as much as you think. I saved for a couple of years and plan to travel 12 - 18 months. It's all on the cheap. Hostels and inexpensive hotels. Eating from grocery stores when possible. My day-to-day expenses will be substantially lower than they are at home.

How do carry everything around?
One big backpack. Actually, it's not so big. It's the same Dana Designs Glacier pack I took on the A.T. I'm trying to keep the weight down enough that it's not too miserable to carry on overnight hikes.

Aren't you scared?
Well, I wasn't, but I'm a bit anxious as I write this a few weeks before leaving. Especially now that my first destinations are Mexico and Central America. Logically, I know that with common sense the odds are very much in my favor. But it doesn't keep me from being a little nervous.

Shots. What about shots?
Yeah... about that. It wasn't pretty. A total of 14. Here's the rundown (some are more than one shot): Hepatits A & B, Meningitis, Pneumonia, Japanese Encephalitis, Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Tetanus/Diptheria, Polio booster, and for good measure... a flu shot. My health insurance covered everything but the Yellow Fever.

What did you do with all your stuff?
Since I don't plan to return to Cincinnati, I moved all my stuff to my Mom's in Virginia. She has a big barn she recently had fixed up and everything's stored there.

You get run over by a bus... then what?
I do have insurance. It's a travel-specific plan that covers hospital costs and evacuation to a competent medical facility. Suprisingly, it's signifigantly less expensive than a health plan in the US.

What's with the photos that don't match the journal entry?
On many journal entries the photo will match the text. Where there's no photo assigned, the server picks a random one. I wanted to showcase photos on the site so it'd be more than page after page of text. So sometimes you get a photo that doesn't match the entry.