"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving." Lao Tzu

I am a good traveler. I sometimes joke that I missed my calling as a long-distance truck driver, I'm such a good traveler. I enjoy new places, living out of a backpack, following my wanderlust.

What I've not been so good at, I admit, is making plans. Plans (to me) are tentative ideas. Fluid, not fixed. Translucent. My more rigid friends may find it frustrating to attempt to travel or make plans with me.

Schedules are also slippery.

Much to the chagrin of my family and friends, I am almost always late for everything. While traveling, I often pull alongside of some small, single lane highway (what my friend Sherry has nicknamed "blue highways" - those thin, blue ribbons of highways that snake in switchbacks along the pages of standard maps) wandering along the roadside to shoot photos of some haphazard beauty that caught my eye. Like this one, at Spirit Lake, Wisconsin.

Spirit Lake

I traveled recently to Wausau, Wisconsin for a job interview. There is nothing more beautiful than the Midwest in the height of fall.

All the pretty horses

It should be no surprise, then, given my proclivity for digression, that it's barely October, and my great plans for the season have already changed.

It seems this way every season. Mushers have great plans. This will be the year! But as all things with animals and people, plans change. Best to remain fluid and flexible.

So I've decided not to publish any kind of season goals until I'm further into training and can better gauge the dogs' training. We are signed up for the Beargrease Mid-Distance race in Duluth, MN, but that is also subject to change.

Stay tuned and keep rollin' with the changes!