The fall of 2019 saw us in the Central American nation of Belize. On my birthday, we explored a Mayan cave, then climbed up this mountain and rappelled down. Here’s Sue on her first-ever rappelling attempt, right after mine. We both managed it well, thanks to hours in the gym building our upper-body strength. It looks easy on TV.  Believe me, it’s not.

On our trip to Alaska in August 2021, we biked to this lake near Juneau, with Mendenhall Glacier on the far shore. The photographer wanted a little more action, so we happily complied.
Sue and I in the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu in Peru, the climax of a five-day, 50-mile trek along the Salkantay Trail at altitudes exceeding 15,000 feet. This trip in June 2017 came six months after I underwent knee replacement surgery.

Researching a novel is fun when you get to travel, which my wife Sue and I do a lot. But it's not all work and no play. Here we are on the beach in Cancun, Mexico, May 2019. You can read more about our travels on her blog: www.travelleadersyournextjourney.blogspot.com
Sue at Bodor Major Horse Farm in Hungary, where the climactic action of The Red Wolf is based.

We took a break from winter in February 2024 with a visit to Arizona for our niece's wedding. Our grandson Pax was one of the ring-bearers.

No matter where we go, there's no place like home.
After Kilimanjaro, we flew to Kenya to begin a 2-week safari. We got up close and personal with a lot of animals, including this giraffe at a preserve in Nairobi. After a total of 12 days at five different camps in Kenya and Tanzania, we’d gotten close-up pictures of the Big Five: lion, elephant, leopard, rhino and water buffalo. Along with crocodiles, giraffes, monkeys, baboons and a lot more.
The Kili climb was far more difficult than we were led to believe. Only 8 of our 15-person party made it to the summit. Unfortunately, Sue and I weren’t among them; I’d developed a bad blister on my left big toe that slowed us down to the point where we had to leave the group just before arriving at the base camp. But we made it to 15,000 feet and gave it our best shot.

October 2024 was a big month for us. We flew to Africa and fulfilled a major bucket-list item by climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.