In November 2021, the Land Trust Alliance sent Bold Bison (my business partner, Patrick, and me) to Texas for ten days to conduct thirty-three video interviews with the staffs, boards, and supporters of seven land conservation organizations (land trusts) across the state. This whirlwind trip took us to Plano, Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso with the ultimate goal of a video portrait of conservation work across the Lone Star State.

The business trip’s conclusion at the far western tip of Texas coincided with the approach of my birthday. So Sean and I decided to roll my being in El Paso with a birthday trip to White Sands National Park and a long weekend in Santa Fe. I hoped to pick up a few other Park Service sites while we were there (Pecos National Historical Park, Bandelier National Monument, Valles Caldera National Preserve, Petroglyph National Monument).

After Santa Fe, I would have to get home with our Crosstrek. When my parents ultimately decided against coming to Chicago to have Thanksgiving with us, I decided to extend my journey home by adding several days of remote working from Taos, New Mexico before a route back to Lake Michigan that took me through Denver and Kansas City (with a brief return to Great Sand Dunes National Park along the way).

In all, I was on the road for twenty-four days on a journey that, over a year later, still resonates and profoundly influences both me and the business.