3 minClimb A TreeThis morning I took a walk in the snow of northern Michigan. I took this picture as I entered the woods. The setting was beautiful and mysterious with fresh ...
3 minBackpack R.I.P. Today I said goodbye to one of the tools of my trade. Craftsman in every field have tools that are used in their trade. For the carpenter it’s a hammer, for...
3 minThe PuzzleEach morning I go for either a long run or walk. When we lived in Pennsylvania that morning run took place in Valley Forge Park. Every day I would see deer, w...
3 minExploration is Messy!But just because a situation is messy does not mean it is exploration. I recently learned about someone who when talking about their work said they were expl...
3 minThe Race to Space: Was it Exploration?The 20th of July 2019 was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, the first man landing on the moon. Everything to do with the Apollo missions was a ...
2 minThe Uncertainty of ExplorationTrue exploration is painful and difficult. What’s more, when it’s truly exploration you rarely know what’s going on because what you’re experiencing is new a...
6 minMind the Gap YearI never thought I would use the words Gap Year when it comes to a blog post. Gap Years are times for seeking and discovering what might be next. Typically st...
1 minWhy was Rosa Parks' Detroit house recently moved to Berlin?Last week I was privileged to join Aaron Renn on his popular podcast. We discussed exploration, pragmatism, mass industrialization and one of my favorite ci...
1 minPragmatism Killed MichiganAn insightful column this month at Governing.com by my friend Aaron Renn. Mr. Renn is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, author of The Urban State o...
2 minDiscovery Not WantedAwhile back I decided to rank the expeditions that The Exploration Group had been commissioned to guide since our beginning in 2008. I ranked them in three c...
3 minDr. Thompson's Last AppointmentTrust isn’t something I spend time thinking about. It seems to happen over time, it can be lost quickly, or sometimes, maybe never gained at all. I have gone...
1 minFamily Farming and Faith (video blog)On expedition with a new generation of re-pioneers at Palouse Colony in Washington state.
2 minHong Kong: My City of DiscoveryI first came to Asia in 1992. My visit included a stop in Tokyo and then on to the Philippines in Metro Manila. On the way home I passed through the old Ka...
4 minBrexit, hubris and the rediscovery of surpriseWith the United Kingdom’s unexpected vote to pull out of the European Union there is a sense that everyone seems surprised. Even the people who themselves vo...
3 minFive Reasons California is for ExplorersEvery time I go to California I am inspired. I’m not sure what it is. I’ve talked to others who travel there and everyone says they come home with wonderful ...
2 minWish I were a SettlerToday I wish I were a Settler, not an Explorer. Exploring is wonderfully exciting. Especially on the mountain tops. But today as I explore what feels like th...
2 minThe Efficient ExplorerWhile in Hong Kong I met with How Man Wong, the famed explorer, photojournalist and founder of the China Exploration and Research Society. Among his achievem...
2 minThe coat off my backI was recently in Hong Kong, on January 24, to be specific. It was the coldest day in Hong Kong since 1957. Although I felt unfortunate to be here on this da...
2 minThe beauty of not knowing what you don't knowThe books on my reading list have changed lately. I now have titles like “The New Practical Navigator being an Epitome of Navigation containing the different...
2 minExplorers benefit from unpredictable stormsI’m in a hurricane. Or a tornado. Or a typhoon. I’m so far off the map I don’t even know what kind of storm it is. Dangerous stuff has been whirling about me...
