About Us
Since we have created this site for the enjoyment of family and friends, we expect this to be a rarely visited page. For anyone stumbling upon this website (and hopefully finding it useful for your own planning), here is a little background.
We are Susan and Hale, forty-somethings when we embarked in 2019 on our second big adventure in a life filled with many smaller journeys and countless rewards.
We are advocates of career breaks, financial frugality, taking calculated risks and a life less ordinary. We are avid fans of new experiences, seeing new-to-us parts of the world, learning about various cultures, hiking beautiful places, biking new trails (Susan) and kitesurfing anywhere (Hale.)
We met almost twenty years ago in Atlanta while both working in software. We soon moved to Florida when struck with a dream plan to move onto a sailboat and leave the corporate world behind.
We did just that for five years sailing our 1979 monohull and exploring the eastern seaboard, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the Caribbean islands, Venezuela, and the ABCs before returning to work.
Deciding that the best cure for missing endless beaches, sunshine and blue water was the opposite, we moved to Vancouver, WA to experience the mountains, rugged coast, and mighty rivers of the great PNW. We quickly fell in love with the environment, including the drizzle and its necessary antidotes of local roast coffee and craft beer.
After ten years of focus on career paired with both local and global exploration, we were once again ready for full time travel and said goodbye to our jobs, all our belongings and any concept of a permanent home base.
We’ll be (intermittently) documenting our adventures and destinations here and sharing via snapshots on Instagram (ramblingshoes). Thanks for joining us on this voyage of discovery.
A few more details
Susan –
Raised in Cincinnati, lived in 10+ States, visited 49 States & 49 countries, planner, writer, photographer, proud aunt, daughter & sister, and happy heiress to the rambling soul that took my grandpa from England to Australia to the US where he ironically worked on those very freight trains that inspired the song.
Hale –
Raised in upstate NY, along for the ride.
What’s with the name of this blog?
I got the freight train blues
Oh Lord mama, I got them in the bottom of my rambling shoes
And when the whistle blows, I gotta go baby, don’t you know
Well, it looks like I’m never gonna lose the freight train blues
Written by John Lair, sung by Red Foley in 1934, popularized by Bob Dylan and performed so well in this Doc and Merle Watson recording, this song speaks perfectly to the wanderlust in our souls.
In addition, the word ramble represents much of what we love to do = to wander, roam, hike
And finally, this blog is a place for us to ramble on about what we see and learn.