Simply, Lesa

Many times I am asked why I chose to live in my van.  The truth is, I have wanted to travel and have adventures since I was very young listening to my older sister read books to me.  We would often go to the local library which was a short bike ride away to pick out books.  She read all the Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn books to me - we even plotted a runaway complete with bandanas tied to a pole when I was around 5 years old.  I am a traveler.  A nomad.  An artist.  I am social.  I love to meet people.  To learn as much as I can about other cultures is also something I learned when young.  My parents brought home lost people to stay off and on.  Koko was a Japanese girl who didn't speak English when she arrived at our house and spent the better part of a year or more.  Radd was a German history buff and we endured the jokes and comments at school when he was seen wearing German military clothing and driving a VW Thing painted in hist...

Hi all - I got home fine.  Late.  Very late.  The plane in FFL (florida) had mechanical problems that took over 5 hours to repair.  We finally took off and I slept most of the trip to SJO (Costa Rica).  I was woken by the bumpy weather as we neared SJO.  Then the bumpy landing.  When I got off the plane the pilot was walking with me down the ramp and told me that we nearly didn't make it!  Weather and more mechanical problems.  He was hoping they would not make them fly back that night.  I later found out that they did not have to go. So I had to spend one nite in my favorite hostel in SJO -- Casa Ridgeway -- because I missed the buses to San Isidro de General (Perez Zeledon) for that day.  Wednesday morning I made my way to Musoc Bus for the ride to San Isidro, arrived just in time to catch the Bus for Angastora/San Agustin/Ciebo.  Unfortunately after the bus left I learned that the road from Angastora to Rivera (a town b...

A couple months ago I made the decision to 'Walk in the Woods' this summer.  I was between things, having just closed the chapter on rustic construction in Costa Rica.  While processing that ending as well as new begining, I realized that I had completed 3 'Bucket Lists' (Lists of things that I wanted to do before I move on to the next life).  The only remaining items were really just more traveling and seeing the world.  Then the Appalacian Trail popped into my mind and I thought well, why not - I'm fairly healthy and I have friends and family all up the east coast.  So I started doing some serious research.  Now I had the 'crazy idea' that hiking was just a different word for walking a long distance and carrying your home turtle style on your back... how hard could that be?  (yes, smile) Well, it sure is challenging and the AT is like a really really loooooong walk in a park with some (...