Traveling with the Jones

Spectacular Mountain Views, Hundreds of Hiking Trails, and Wine

Mountains, hiking and wine: can you identify the location of this photo of the week?

Can you identify this location?

Hints:

• Part of Alps
• 3 languages are spoken by the residents
• Produced wine since pre-Roman days

Be the first to post your answer in comments.

Traveler Interview: Jim Tweedy

Raised in Puxico, Missouri, Jim Tweedy returned to southeast Missouri after law school at the University of Missouri- Columbia. After working a few years at a Cape Girardeau law firm, Jim opened the Tweedy Law Office  in his native Stoddard County, Missouri.

Jim practices general civil law including juvenile, probate, estate planning, collection, business, domestic matters and general criminal defense. Appointed by the governor, Jim is one of six commissioners for the Missouri Ethics Commission, where he is Vice Chairman.

Jim supports his local community in a number of ways, serving as treasurer of the Stoddard County Children’s Home, Inc., since 2003. Jim is a strong proponent of Stoddard County and southeast Missouri, and also for exploring the world through travel.

We were curious to learn more about Jim’s passion for travel, and his most recent adventure: whitewater rafting through the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. 

The Jones: What inspires you to travel?

Jim: Primarily, getting away from the office and relaxing, which I find impossible to do unless I get on a plane and fly somewhere.

Have you always enjoyed travel? What contributed to your love of travel?

Jim: Yes, I have always enjoyed traveling. Even in college, I would sneak in weekend trips to Chicago or Ann Arbor, Michigan with round trip tickets from St. Louis for only $36.00! My parents both enjoyed traveling and I have always thought of travelling as a reward “for good behavior”.

What is your favorite destination? Why?

Jim: Tough question. I have enjoyed most everywhere I have been, but do not make many repeat trips to the same location. The only place I make repeated trips to is Columbia, Missouri, to cheer for the Mizzou Tigers! New Zealand is probably the only destination that I have been to and that I want to go back to in the relative near future – it is a remarkable country.

What destination has surprised you the most, either good or bad?

Jim: The Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho.

Rafting through the Middle Fork of the Salmon River

Words cannot express how beautiful the area is. Or how peaceful it was (in between the white water rapids!) to raft and fish on the river, as well as the hiking and camping in this majestic area. I never knew I could enjoy life so much without electricity, cell phones and other modern conveniences such as toilets and queen size beds. The intelligence level and spirituality of the river guides, as well as the other guests on the trip, made this an “Ah-ha” moment for me. It was truly a life changing experience.

Adventure Sun Valley River Rafting Group

Why do you think that travel is important?

Jim:  To decompress, and to learn about other areas of the country and the world. Too often, we fall into ruts thinking the rest of the world is just like our little place on the map. Travelling is a way of reminding us how diverse, not only geographically but socially as well, planet Earth is.

What “tip” have you learned from your travels that you’d share with others?

Jim:  I like flying in/out of small airports where parking is often free and getting through security and picking up checked baggage is a breeze, compared to larger airports. 

From your travels, do you have a practice or insight that makes your travel experiences more enjoyable?

Jim: Just go with the flow- the trip may not go as planned, but travelling is an adventure and some of the best adventures are the ones we do not plan for.      

Read More Traveler Interviews:  

• “Be flexible. Un-planned events are our favorites.” A Travel Chat with the Johnsons, former European Ex-pats. 
• Utilize Your Travel Time and Opportunity “;.GO-GO-GO! A Father’s Day Travel Chat 

What fuels your travel passion? Please share in comments. 

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The new movie, Eat Pray Love starring Julia Roberts opens in theaters today. We will see the movie, but I have mixed feelings about a Hollywood interpretation of a book that inspired following long-held dream – quitting our jobs and traveling without a plan.

After reading an excerpt in the O, the Oprah magazine, I bought Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia in early 2006, devouring Elizabeth Gilbert’s story of a year-long travels and search for life answers in Italy, India and Bali. The book sucked me in. Unable to put it down, I read it cover to cover in one Saturday. The idea of using travel to transform one’s life from one period to another was compelling, and a reminder of a dream.

Within a year, we had given notice at our jobs, without knowing where or when we would land work again. Over a four-month period, we sold, gave away, threw away or stored our belongings, and then flew to New York, to sail to Europe. We set up this blog, and made our budget last for nearly five months of European exploration, from the Black Sea to the Polar Ice Cap. More on that here.

While Eat. Pray. Love. was the most recent inspiration for our transformational travel journey, it was not the first. The book joined other favorites on our bookshelves.

First, there was First We Quit Our Jobs: How One Work Driven Couple Got on the Road to a New Life by Marilyn J. Abraham. Having traveled to Alaska for the first time in 1996 and then later the same year meeting Jeff, who was born and raised in Alaska but living in San Francisco, I was particularly intrigued by the travels of these career-driven New Yorkers who quit their jobs and travel across Canada to Alaska and back through the southern and midwestern  states in a twenty-nine-foot Winnebago named “Sue.”

Then, The Grown-Up’s Guide to Running Away from Home: Making a New Life Abroad, by Rosanne Knorr. This was a “how-to” guide for mid-life escapes to foreign countries. It covers all subjects from “The Psyche Behind the Escapee” to “How to Pay for your Getaway” to “Safeguarding Your Health Overseas.”

This practical guide always made such an adventure seem doable and responsible.

In 1999,  just as the Dot-Com Boom was reaching its craziest peak in San Francisco, Bay-area Marin county resident David Elliot Cohen published ONE YEAR OFF: Leaving It All Behind for A Round-the-World Journey with Our Children.

One day we realized one day that we would never be able to afford Russian Hill view condo, and leaving it all behind for world travels and new adventures might not be a bad plan.

Instead, we moved to the Seattle suburbs and bought a home, selling it four years later for a high-rise apartment in downtown Seattle.

And when Eat, Pray, Love came along, it was compelling reading — re-stimulating a desire to break away from life’s daily beat – and seek out a new adventure.

Transformation travel, as we called it, didn’t completely change our lives. But it led to new cities, new jobs, this blog, and lifelong memories. As well as fueling – rather than dampening – our quest for exploring more of the world.

Has a book impacted your travels or given you travel inspiration? Please share in comments.

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