All of my life I have roamed whenever the opportunity presented itself. When I was younger it was often nothing more than roaming around the woods or other streets in my neighborhood. As a young man my climbing friends and I would roam across North Carolina and West Virginia constantly on the lookout for new crags, great food on the cheap, and a flat spot to lay our heads. Occasionally we would load up in my 1979 bright yellow Toyota Corolla and disappear out to Colorado to tromp around the Rockies for a few weeks.
Later I moved back to Florida to go to school and ended up with a tank on my back again and was hooked. My insatiable curiosity led to the springs around Florida and cave diving. Many classes and tons and tons of dives later I still cave dive after twenty plus years. My primary dive partner Ward and I spent years laying line and exploring virgin cave in and around Marianna. There are still a few leads we have well hidden and are so far the only two people on Earth to see.
Diving also led to the discovery of my best friend on the planet, Binky. His real name is John Garner but because he used to cry about our having to go out and promote our dive business on Pensacola Beach in the evening after diving all day, I would ask him if he wanted his binky and wallah his nickname was born. Though we live thousands of miles apart, he lives near Glacier National Park, and often go years without seeing each other the connection we share is like nothing I have ever known. Moments after seeing each other, when we get the chance, it is like we were never apart. Kindred spirits if you will.
It was during a 4500 mile journey throughout the Pacific North West and Canada over three weeks, shared in part with my father and Binky, that we began to discuss documenting our travel adventures and having a place for a creative writing outlet. We were on our way from Binky's home to see Hemingway's grave in Ketchum, Idaho that we ended up taking a wrong turn and found Wisdom, Montana. We were on vapors in the middle of nowhere and this beautiful little town appears with almost nothing but gas and some of the best coffee I've ever had. We discussed Finding Wisdom as the name for this adventure but it was taken. Many, many miles and discussions later we came across the idea of Wrong Turn Travel. I have an absolute love of traveling without itinerary and taking the day as it comes. I am happiest when roaming in new places and taking random turns that catch my eye. Vermillion Canyon in Utah is one such place but more on that later.
I have discovered that life unplanned and unscripted is a life worth living. I travel the world and my home city as well as all points in between in search of both nothing and everything.
Wrong Turn Travel is an idea, a beacon for some, a place for others to follow along and get inspired, it is way of life, a philosophy, a creative outlet for my never sleeping brain, but most of all it is a realization that when you truly let go, turn the reigns over to fate, and embrace the world as it is, you will find that life is simply a beautiful ride.
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