Called To Wander (2026)

14/10/2026

Farewell, but not for long, God-willing. We spent an extra ten days falling further in love with a state we stumbled upon by accident, two kids from Florida out on the road finding ourselves lost on the backroads of North Dakota.

Two weeks nearly turned into a month, and even that was not enough to see the half of it, this great state that lies forgotten or unknown by most.

But not me. I’ve fallen hard for everything she’s shared with me these past twenty six days.

I’ll soon share a letter I wrote to my Dear North Dakota, in saying farewell for the first time.

I’ve lived long enough to learn to never say goodbye, to anyone, regardless of where or when our paths cross. It’s far too final, and I always leave a little room for hope that I will find them again, in this life or the next.

But North Dakota has captivated me beyond words, though I still try to use them to capture what its taught me about hard work, kindness, humility, love.

Now I’m halfway to the middle of nowhere, driving south to a season in Mexico, working as hard as I can to make my way back to a land I’ve come to love.

PS- Meow Meow says hi.

14/10/2026

After wrapping up our time in Wishek and Strasburg, we returned to Bismarck for a very special opportunity: to meet your wonderful First Lady and to tour the Capitol building!

Mrs. Armstrong has a story familiar to many in the state, as a native of Norway who has long since made North Dakota her home. And the display at the top floor of the Capitol exemplified the diversity of the state, with stories of people from nearly 2 dozen countries who were naturalized in and who choose to remain a positive part of North Dakota, herself included!

We spoke about many things, but when I asked the First Lady what her favorite thing about North Dakota was, she did not hesitate to respond: the people.

We could not agree more!!

Although we started our whirlwind journey across North Dakota in Bismarck a few weeks ago, returning felt a little like coming home.

We tend to stay away from cities. But Bismarck felt as welcoming as every other small town we have visited and we ran into kind people everywhere.

Of course, we had to follow the “bread crumb” recommendations of Mrs. Armstrong and we ate a delicious lunch at The Landing along the Missouri River!

It will be a little while until we can return to North Dakota, but we look forward to following up with all of the people we have met during our exploration of the state. It is the people, by far, who have given me the best understanding of who and what North Dakota is.

Be sure to follow us in the journey we have ahead, to spend our winter in Baja, Mexico with another unique travel opportunity!

We’ll be back… hopefully sooner than later!

13/10/2026

We’ve spent most of the last 9 years or so on the road traveling in 3 different RVs, driving tens of thousands of miles each year visiting countless US states and parts of Canada and Mexico.

We had purpose once, to reach the top of the world in Deadhorse, Alaska and then to turn south and drive all the way to the end of the world in Ushuaia, Argentina.

Spoiler alert: it didn’t all happen.

But some of it did.

And what didn’t happen no longer stings as much in our failure to accomplish what we set out to do in light of the fact that this nomadic lifestyle has embraced us as much as we’ve learned to embrace the uncertainty of the road.

We are right where we are supposed to be, despite all of the changes in our plans.

However, what has never changed is our core belief that people must be at the center of it all. We’re not retired and checking off bucket list items. We’re not on an extended vacation or “gap year.” We started with very little and we have very little, yet somehow in between we’ve managed to have just enough to continue down the road.

We wander because we have a God-given call to the road, one so intense there is literally nothing else we have ever found more important or worth pursuing more than the Abundant Life we find on the road.

It’s the people who have made our journey what it is. And while there are loads of RVing “content creators” and “influencers” out there, we want you to know how different we are from any of them.

We make content for you based on our belief that life is our story, but that we are meant to live with you in some kind of community, whether online or in person. We hate clickbait. We won’t chase subscribers or viewers just to make a buck.

(Fortunately, what you don’t see is how hard we work a business that we’ve grown to afford us the chance to create the kind of content we want to create.)

We’ll just share life with you as it happens to us - good, bad or otherwise - and we’ll hope it moves something within you, the way the people we meet move things deep within us.

We’re storytellers. And we love meeting people who inspire us to be better people.

The fact that we might see a popular destination or landmark is inconsequential compared to who we meet along the way.

We hope we inspire you in our wander. And we hope you will share our story with everyone you know.

Not so we can make an extra buck or claim to have X thousands of followers. But to allow us the opportunity to help other people realize the potential they have within themselves to live more abundantly if they’re willing to take a few chances, and to look at life a little differently.

We’re not saying that full-time RVing is for everyone. And we’re not going to pretend to be experts about anything.

But what we will do is share stories in life that have inspired us - some that we’ve lived ourselves and others that people we meet share with us.

Because we believe you were created to live an Abundant Life, and if we can help shake loose some of the chains that bind you from pursuing that life, we’re going to give it everything we’ve got. You were meant to live for something more. Don’t lose sight of that thing you feel welling up inside of you now!

Thanks for being a part of our wander, our story. We’re excited to see where the road takes us and how we can help you pursue the Abundant Life wherever you find yourself.

Much love,

Chris & Lindsay + Everest + Huckleberry + Ferguson (aka “meow meow”)

13/10/2026

Today is shipping day! I’ve learned a little about the North Dakota rancher’s story while spending time in the state over the last few weeks. Theirs is the story of new beginnings, hope, hard work, struggle and, if all goes well, a chance to do it all again, one year after another.

This is a chicken vs the egg scenario. Calves are born in early spring, after their heifers survive a long, cold winter feeding on hay that has hopefully grown abundantly the summer before. The hard work of branding and providing veterinary care for each calf makes the spring a busy season.

As summer nears, cow/calf pairs spend the time grazing in fields that, at their best, remain green into the early fall. There’s relative rest in the summer, moving cows occasionally from one pasture to another to let the grass grow back in between.

Summer turns to fall, calves are fattening up and it’s nearly time to cull the herd. The calves approach a certain target weight as autumn sets in and the sun begins to pass at lesser angles day by day. Winter is on its way, but these calves won’t spend it here.

This is where we’ve entered the story, taking a snapshot of what life is like before the cycle repeats itself, on this ranch for the hundredth time or so.

Today is shipping day. We spent the last few days helping to drive the herd closer to the corral, riding horseback for hours across the hilly pastures, gathering each cow in fields adjacent to the holding pens.

By sunrise, the cows are moved close and pinned in such a way the calves can be separated, shipped out to be weighed and moved to the feeding farms where they’ll gain enough weight to, well, you’ve likely eaten a steak before.

Back home, the family celebrates. Beers are cracked now that the work is done, for now. Calculations are scratched on paper, to see how the last year shaped up and what fortunes or struggles the next season may bring.

The check from the buyer will be mailed soon and a new budget will be made, always hopeful, but adjusting conservatively on the chance that next year might be a bit more challenging. Prayers for rain begin now. More rain than last year. Rain is never a bad thing on these subtle North Dakota hills.

Soon, winter will set in again and work will pick up in feeding the cows that remain. God-willing, none are lost. Snow and frigid temperatures may claim a cow or two. God-willing, all will survive and be prepared to give birth again as the chance of snow recedes and the sun rises and sets at steeper angles in the spring.

Thus the cycle repeats itself, again, on this ranch for the hundredth and one time or so.

There’s more to the story I’ll never know, how this cycle feels year after year for a family that works hard, really hard, to keep their dream alive.

Contrary to popular television depictions, it’s not a glamorous life and it doesn’t pay as well as one might think when they see the miles and miles of pasture land and think that one person might own it.

“I see myself as a steward,” one rancher told me. “This land will be here long after I’m gone and I feel it’s my duty to take care of it, to raise enough cattle to make a decent life for my family and to hand it down when I’m gone.”

A rancher’s dream, to one day break the cycle of wondering how much rain will fall and how much their calves will weigh on shipping day. A ranchers dream, to one day hand their land down to their son or daughter and find rest at the break of dawn on a day they don’t have to put their boots on, saddle up and ride out after the herd.

I keep thinking I have what it takes to do a lot of what I’ve seen during my 44 years of life. I’m a jack of all trades, more suited to adapt to new environments than to commit to one way of living.

I know I could never be a rancher. Or a farmer. Not after what I’ve seen during my time in North Dakota.

But ranchers, well, they’ve taught me that I’ve got to have reason enough within me to get up in days I’d rather sleep in, to accept that almost everything will not go the way I want it to, but that the work will still need to be done and nobody else will do it if I don’t.

As I search for that reason within, I see it reflected in my brides eyes, the reason I do anything at all. To build a better life, one day at a time, and to love with all my heart. To love my wife and family, the work that lies before me and to be open to loving everyone with whom I come to know.

My story may not be that of a rancher’s life. But what I’ve learned encourages me to hunker down when times get tough, to look forward with hope and optimism for the season ahead and, above all, to work hard and give everything I’ve got because there is never a guarantee of what will remain for me if I don’t.

Today is shipping day. Tomorrow, ranchers find rest before they do it all again.

12/10/2026

We were told that we can’t come to the heart of the Germans from Russia part of North Dakota without visiting the Lawrence Welk Homestead and the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Strasburg.

So when we received a most generous invitation to tour the homestead and to be guests at the church’s supper, we could not help but say “yes please!” and “Thank you!”

The Welk homestead was more than just the place where a famous person grew up. It has become a symbol of the heritage of those Germans from Russia that first settled the area, committing their lives to tilling the earth, bringing forth produce and building a home.

Throw in the fact that Lawrence Welk became who he became from such origins, and you find yourself sensing that you are immersing yourself in the true American Dream.

It was here a young man felt the calling in his heart to play music and to entertain. Here, where he fell sick, dropped out of school and virtually sold himself as an indentured servant in exchange for a new accordion he believed would take him all around the world. (And it did!)

I have had the fortune of being invited on several family homesteads during my journey across North Dakota. And on each, including this farm, I have learned that where dreams begin to bubble up from one’s soul, hard work must begin.

It’s no accident that some family farms and ranches still exist, several generations removed from their founding. It is by hard work and that they are kept, expanded upon, and passed down.

And it’s no accident that Lawrence Welk ended up as popular and successful as he was. That, too, was achieved by the same hard work that planted and harvested the crops on his family farm.

I have known hard working people before. At times, I have felt I am one of them.

But it was not until I traveled across North Dakota over the last few weeks that I realized how stubbornly committed the people of North Dakota can be to pursuing their dreams, and how there’s always room for me to work just a little harder toward mine.

Whether that is working 7 days a week from sunrise to sunset to pass on their family farm or ranch to their children, choosing a difficult road in raising adopted children, saving every last dollar to open up a storefront, giving their lives and free time to teaching and coaching students, creating artwork that represents the state in an effort to save a town…

Hard work is baked into the dreams my North Dakotan friends dream. And it’s inspiring to be here, in a place like the Welk Homestead, where dreams are rooted in the soil that requires work, but which yields many times in its reward.

Thank you to my new friends, in Strasburg and beyond. For your kindness and generosity, but also a look into your life, the dreams you dream and the work you put into making those dreams a reality.

11/10/2026

The hardest part of living on the road full time is not having a physical community in which we can engage.

Birthdays. Guys/girls’ night. Football games. Random get togethers just because. Church.

These are all things we miss out on by making the choice to remain on the road.

But our call to wander is just that. It is a God-given, Spirit-led journey to meet people and see places that we would otherwise not experience.

We’ve been able to watch our home church online every Sunday. But finding churches to attend when we’re in the road has been difficult.

That’s why it’s been really amazing that for the last 3 weeks we have attended 3 different services in 3 different churches across North Dakota, each exposing us to a truth that we’ve come to learn about many (most?) North Dakotans:

The hope of settling on this land led people who had faith to travel thousands of miles and endure countless hardships to realize the promise of a better life.

Communities were first built around the church, gathering homesteaders from their isolated plots into one place where they could live together with their brethren and worship in one voice.

Faith is as much a part of North Dakotan heritage as the soil that’s been worked for generations.

And it is so much a part of who we are, in that our calling to wander is truly just our attempt to follow the Lord where He leads us.

We invite you into our lives the way friendly North Dakotans have invited us into their churches and church suppers and, if you stick around long enough, you’ll find it’s our faith that keeps us pressing on even when we miss our family and friends so dearly.

—
Week 1: Cowboy Church at the Rough Rider Cup Rodeo, Mandan
Week 2: St. John The Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, Belfield (Church supper afterward)
Week 3: St. Luke Lutheran Church, Wishek
(Church Supper at St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Strasburg)

10/10/2026

Many folks I’ve met in North Dakota talk about how flat the land is, almost as an embarrassment that there is not more exciting scenery for someone like myself to enjoy as I mosey from one place to the next.

It’s flat land, for sure, when you compare it to the Rocky Mountains or the Black Hills of neighboring South Dakota.

But it’s mountainous terrain compared to the infinite sea of which I am accustomed to, a Floridian staring out toward the endless sea and sky.

They say you can watch your dog run away for 3 days before you have to go get him.

This may be true. But so are the rolling hills full of bales of hay, the low lying creek bed nursing cottonwood trees and the folds in the earth that offer respite to the cattle when the snow blows hard through winter.

It’s a matter of perspective, how you see yourself in this land, how you see yourself in this life.

And it’s a matter of pride, to embrace those characteristics that defines you, and learn to bend them to your favor.

Were it not for the subtle rolling hills and flatland here, there would be no amber waves of grain, no perfectly arrayed rows of corn or stalks of sunflowers stretching southward toward the sun.

They say you must grow where you are planted. This may be true for those who have been given the responsibility of carrying forward the family name or brand over the archway to your home.

But for the rest of us that wander, we know the beauty of your flatland and hills and the subtle differences between. It’s those differences that make the drives between towns so exciting, wondering which awaits me just around the bend.

09/10/2026

When I posted my letter to North Dakotans a few days ago, I hoped to share a little bit of gratitude. What I didn't expect was for the comments section to turn into one of the most heartwarming collections of stories I've ever read.

So many of you shared what makes this place home—and why it leaves such a mark on people who visit or move here:

People sharing how spouses moved across the country after falling in love with a North Dakota local.

Families relocating from states away because of how welcomed they felt from the very first day.

reminders of how North Dakotans carry that same warmth and kindness wherever life takes them.

Reading through hundreds of your messages reminded me that traveling isn't just about the scenery—it's about the connection. Thank you to everyone who shared a piece of their heart and history in the comments.

What's one local story or piece of advice you think every visitor to North Dakota should know?

09/10/2026

Who wants to go to work today?!

We woke up at our friends ranch to a beautiful, but chilly, morning and have the chance to help drive cattle with them again!

One of these lucky horses will end up with Lindsay riding it. Which is fortunate because she really knows her way with horses!

Another one will have to have patience with me, as I’m not as horse crazy as her!

Part of our back story is that we used to foster children at a children’s home on a 500 acre ranch, with a dozen horses, about as many cows, a few dozen goats, lots and lots of chicken and an agriculture program where we grew all sorts of fruits and vegetables.

As part of the ranch lifestyle, we helped the kids learn valuable life skills and the horses were used as part of the therapy program to bring them healing.

It was a life-changing experience for the kids, and for us.

We’re excited and grateful for the opportunity to dip our toes back into ranch life for a few days.

What a beautiful place to ride!

08/10/2026

Over the last few weeks we’ve driven over 1,500 back and forth across the western half of North Dakota. In that time, we’ve visited with dozens of people in a handful of small towns and cities and learned more about what it means to be “North Dakota Nice.”

Along the way, we’ve “accidentally” made what we pray will be lifelong friends, people who exceeded our expectations of kindness and literally opened up their homes to us.

We have no intention of setting down roots in North Dakota, although we can understand how easy it would be if our call to wander wasn’t so intense. Ours is a nomadic life and there’s still so many people to meet and places to visit.

But while we won’t lay down physical roots, there is no doubt in our hearts and minds that we have experienced what can only be considered spiritual roots, as the hospitality of the people of this state have wrapped themselves around us like tendrils, refusing to let us leave without taking a part of them with us.

We’ll be leaving soon, however, and we’ve chosen to spend the last few days we have in North Dakota with new friends who make us look forward to the 120 miles or so between Bismarck and their home on the western edge of the state.

We don’t believe in coincidences or that the Universe conspires in our favor. We believe in divine appointments, that a loving God would prepare people in our lives for the opportunity to meet them, if only we follow His lead.

Here’s to the last few days in the Peace Garden state, where we’ll share hot cups of coffee on cool October mornings, casual conversations about whatever comes to mind and the chance to take away friendships we never thought we would have in what was supposed to be a short visit to my 49th state.

Dear North Dakotan, if you are still reading this, please remember to embrace strangers like me just passing through. Your kindness transforms hearts and inspires those visitors to remain open hearted and kind to everyone they meet.

We’ll carry your kindness and memories of our time with you everywhere we go… and let me tell you we’ve got so many more miles left to go in our lifelong call to wander!

Called To Wander

14/10/2026

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