Go Slower to go Farther – Long EV Trip

Posted on November 9, 2026 by Skip Walter

Stop the War in Iran! Eight Months and Counting is too long!

I just completed my first long Electric Vehicle (EV) trip in my 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5. I have wanted to take a long trip in my EV to get an understanding of the charging infrastructure and my EV range in the mountainous western states. I’ve taken several shorter trips from Seattle to Portland and those worked out just fine. It was now time for a longer trip – from Seattle to Boulder, CO and back – to visit my oldest daughter and her family.

My daughter (Liz) and her husband (Dave) were early EV trail blazers when they bought a Tesla and documented their long EV trips. Their first long trip was 2000 miles to Phoenix. For their second trip (3500 Miles in a Tesla … With Kids) they decided to add some challenges:

For our first EV road trip in 2019 (2000 miles in a Tesla…with a 3 year old) we played it safe, planning our route around Tesla Superchargers and booking hotels that touted Tesla destination chargers. Very straightforward. All good.

Range anxiety thus diminished with that success, we decided to branch out a bit for our recent 3500 mile round-trip from Boulder, CO to visit family in Seattle, WA (via several National Parks). We unlocked scenic routes away from Tesla infrastructure by scouting out novel charging options at RV parks, using a fast-charging CHAdeMO adapter, and even powering up overnight via parking lot light outlets.

Given that they had done these trips over seven years ago, I figured that the EV charging infrastructure between Seattle and Boulder had gotten much better so I shouldn’t have very many challenges making the 3000 mile round trip. Wrong!!

Over the last ten years we’ve made tens of trips by gas powered cars to Boulder. There are essentially three routes to Boulder from Seattle – one through Montana, one through Wyoming (the shortest), and one through Grand Junction, Colorado (the longest).

Our Ioniq can use the Tesla Supercharger infrastructure so I looked at my Tesla App map and found there were plenty of chargers between Seattle and Boulder. Dave suggested that the Colorado path had the most Tesla chargers that I could use (an important caveat that came back to bite me) and that Wyoming had essentially no Tesla chargers. Either the Montana route or the Colorado route would be the best choice for my Ioniq with a NACS charging port. Since I was making the trip in early November, I wanted to be as far south as I could to worry less about snow in the mountains. The Colorado route would be the choice.

While I was driving, Liz would be flying back from India as part of a multi-week business trip, so my point of contact for EV driving expertise would be Dave.

When I got to Boulder about the same time that my daughter arrived by airline, I was sharing what a miserable driving experience it was. She exclaimed “Didn’t you read my blog post from five years ago?” She may have used a few other derogatory words. Sheepishly, I said “no I had not. I figured with all the long trips you have made, EV driving wouldn’t be much different than driving a gas car. Now I know differently.”

Liz shook her head and said “You just drove an EV on a long trip in the hardest possible way. No wonder you now have EV range anxiety.”

She listed the four reasons that it was the hardest possible way to make a long EV trip:

“First, you winged it.

Second, you didn’t have a copilot.

Third, you weren’t driving an actual Tesla.

Fourth, you did not load all the helpful apps onto your iPhone.”

Yes, guilty as charged your honor.

The following sections will explore the details of the four ways I made the EV long trip a lot harder than it should have been.

Winging It

Because I’d been listening to Liz and Dave talk about all the long EV trips they have made, I thought the trip would be like a gas car. I clearly never really listened to or understood all the details and experiences they tried to share. I thought I was prepared as I looked at the map in the Tesla app and saw that there were charging stations regularly spaced on the route I planned to take. What I didn’t understand is that my Ioniq could only use about 1/3 of the chargers in the Tesla app. I vaguely remember Dave saying something a year ago that the Ioniq could only use the Superchargers and couldn’t use the version 1 and 2 types of Tesla chargers (like the Destination chargers) as they used a different communications protocol than the Superchargers.

“The 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 features a native North American Charging Standard (NACS) port, which allows it to work directly with Tesla V3 and V4 Superchargers (as well as select V4 or open-access stations mapped in the Tesla App) without a DC fast-charging adapter. 
 
Compatible Tesla Chargers
    • Tesla V3 and V4 Superchargers: Direct plug-in compatibility via the car’s built-in NACS port and managed through the Tesla App.
    • Incompatible Chargers: Older V2 Superchargers and legacy urban Tesla Superchargers are not supported.

Why It Works (and How It Behaves)

    • Native Port Design: Unlike older model-year Ioniq 5 vehicles that used CCS ports, the 2025 model comes with NACS built right into the body, matching the physical plug shape of Tesla’s hardware. 
    • Voltage Architecture Difference (The Speed Limit): The Ioniq 5 uses an advanced 800-volt battery architecture, while most Tesla V3/V4 Superchargers output up to 500 volts. Because of this mismatch, the Ioniq 5 must use its internal motor windings to step up the voltage, capping peak charging speeds around 125 kW to 135 kW rather than the ultra-high speeds it can hit on 350-kW Electrify America stations (which can reach over 250 kW). 
    • Session Management: Charging sessions, payment, and monitoring are handled directly through the Tesla App or via plug-and-charge features where supported.”
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My first charging station was in Prosser, WA, where I tried to charge the Ioniq to 100%. The estimated time for charging was going to be an hour. That was not acceptable so I lowered the charge to 90% and it was going to take 30 minutes. I decided to go get a Subway sandwich.

When I tried to use my Ioniq mapping function to find the next Tesla charger, the mapping function said that charger was incompatible. Oh crap, I think this is what Dave was trying to warn me about (see above about V1 and V2 Tesla chargers). So I texted Dave and he said yes, that indeed is what I was trying to warn you about. He then very kindly sent me a map from the Tesla website (not the Tesla app), which had the Ioniq compatible chargers. Unfortunately, the next charger was in Ontario, OR which I knew I couldn’t make on a single charge.

At this point, I got seriously worried about being able to complete the EV drive and thought about going back to Seattle and flying to Boulder. But I calmed down and persevered. It looked like the next charging place with a CCS coupling was an Electrify America station in Hermiston, OR. I had meant before the trip to try out a CCS charging station to understand how they worked, but I was seduced by all the Tesla chargers in the Tesla app that I decided I didn’t need to try it out.

I arrived at the charging station to find that several of the chargers were out of order. So I pulled into a charger that had another gentlemen charging off of it. I opened up my trunk to find the CCS adaptor and couldn’t find it. WTF? Where did it go? I was in full panic mode now and ready to turn around when I reached farther back in my trunk and found the CCS adapter. After struggling I managed to get it on to the charging station cable and get the plug into my car. Then I started trying to use the WORST user interface I have encountered in a while. After punching the screen for five minutes only to figure out that to answer a question you had to use the physical buttons below the screen I managed to get to a pay screen. But in the process, I stopped the charging session of the guy next to me.

The gentleman very kindly said “Is this the first time you have used an Electrify America charger?” Yes. “Well even though the charging station has two cables you can only use one at a time.” OMG. Can I pay for you to continue? “No, I am almost done.” He was so kind to this newbie.

Yes, I was indeed winging it.

I managed to get the charging session paid for, but decided to charge up to 80% so I wouldn’t be here forever.

But this charge would only get me to Baker City, OR. I figured Baker City was a large enough place to have several chargers. Nope. I could only find a 40 kw Chargepoint charger which meant it was going to take an hour to get enough charge to make it to Ontario, OR where I decided to stop for the night.

I don’t like driving at night any more, but I figured I knew the highway well enough to make it to Ontario. About 30 minutes from Ontario, I saw about 10 cars and trucks with their hazard flashers on and looked ahead of them and saw a jackknifed truck blocking the road. Well, just great. The accident just happened which meant it was going to be hours before they got it cleared. It took 2.5 hours before one lane got opened up and I could continue. Meanwhile, the Holiday Inn Express that I reserved for that evening sent me a text asking how my check-in was. I just started laughing at the absurdity. I texted back and said it would be a couple of hours before I got there.

The nice part of staying at the Holiday Inn Express in Ontario, OR, is that they had Tesla superchargers in the parking lot. This stay was the easiest charging experience of the whole trip.

I am going to break the travelogue for a bit to go through the other ways Liz said that I had made this trip as hard as possible.

No Copilot

Over the last four years, my wife and I have taken several long trips to Europe and even visited all Lower 48 State Capitals a year ago. I did all of the driving on these trips and Jamie did all of the navigating. With Google maps on our iPhones, we are easily able to get around the US and foreign language countries and my wife kindly gives me the next turn instructions in a timely manner.

However, on this trip, Jamie really didn’t want an education in EV long distance driving and had some meetings that she needed to stay home for so she decided to fly to Boulder (great choice).

Liz and Dave always take their long trips together so that they always have somebody doing the driving and somebody doing the navigating AND figuring out where the next charger is. Liz’s blog posts do a nice job of pointing out how much time it takes to figure out chargers.

During this first day of EV driving, it became very clear how important a copilot is.

While at a charging station, I spent a lot of time flipping between the Tesla website for Ioniq compatible chargers, my Google Map on my iphone for distances, and the map on the Ioniq navigation system. As I charged up at each stop it would take me 10-15 minutes flipping between the three mapping functions to find the next charging station. None of the apps has all the information that you need.

I wasn’t driving an actual Tesla

The Tesla charging network is great if you are driving an actual Tesla. They are not so great if you are not driving an actual Tesla.

The first reason for not being great in an Ioniq is that less than half of the chargers are available for use as described above. You can’t use the Version 1 and 2 of the Tesla chargers even though the Ioniq has a NACS compatible plug.

The second reason is that the electrical system of the Ioniq is not compatible with the high speed DC charging of the Tesla superchargers. So it takes the Ioniq about twice as long to charge as it does a Tesla.

The third reason is that Teslas have their charging port on the left side of the car and the Ioniq has its charging port on the right side. The Tesla chargers have very short cables. So often times in the Ioniq I end up taking two spaces in the charging area. As you can see in the photo above, often the charging area is full of other Teslas trying to charge their car.

I lived in fear that someone would get irate at me for taking up two charging spaces.

I didn’t have all the useful apps

Just before the trip I had upgraded my iPhone from the iPhone 16 Pro to the iPhone 18 Pro. I had not noticed that the Apple login information had changed and that the account was using an email address that I no longer had access to. I tried to download the apps like Plugshare and ABRP (A Better Route Planner) that Liz recommended, but I kept getting locked out of my Apple account. When I got to Boulder it took me two hours and the use of three different apple devices to finally get the account login straightened out. You might imagine that I used a few “F words” directed at Apple.

In addition to the planning apps, Dave recommended I get the payment apps for Electrify America, EVGO and ChargePoint.

As I found getting ready for the return trip, you have to use a combination of all of these apps to actually plan out a complete trip. Planning is better done in a relaxed manner at home, than when you are in the middle of a trip and panicked about not finding a working charger.

One of the benefits of apps like Plugshare is that you get relatively recent information about which chargers are actually working. I’ve had good luck with the Tesla chargers which seem to be maintained quite well. The other charging stations always had at least one charger not working.

Things I Didn’t Think About

An EV charging station is only sometimes near a gas station. I forget all the things that we use a gas station for on a long trip. A gas station is a place to fill up the car, a place to wash the car windows, a place to go to the bathroom, a place to get snacks and drinks, and a place to get fast food for quick meals.

At several of the stations I stopped at there was no place to go to the bathroom so I had to make an extra stop at a rest area.

Because it takes so long to charge a car from 80% to 100% and you should always have 20% reserve in case a charging station isn’t working, one only has 60% of the useful range of the battery for practical purposes. So my 280 mile range EV Ioniq 5 was practically only a 160 mile range EV. This limited range means that I would be stopping to charge at least every two hours.

It took me a while to find where my Hyundai Pay app keeps records. I do like that when I can use Hyundai pay I have a good record of where and which charger I used and how much it costs.

The Ioniq Map and Navigation System Sucks

Prior to the trip to Boulder, I used the mapping system all the time and never had any real problem. But I never used the system to find chargers. The first time I used the system to find chargers, the display disappeared after 10 seconds. And you can’t get it to stay on the screen. Since the display doesn’t have distances between chargers, I need to use my iPhone Google map to find distances. I’m pretty good with the iPhone, but I can’t find the distance in 10 seconds.

So I had to use the Tesla website with compatible chargers to find which ones I could use but it doesn’t have distances between chargers either.

The couple of times I decided I could estimate distance on the Ioniq map I couldn’t figure out where to hit the charger information (the flag, the info square, something else?) to get the charger station to become a stop or a destination. So I had to use the Tesla website to get a specific address then type that specific address into the Ioniq map (and you can only do this with the car in Park), and then select that address as the destination. Most of the time this would work and the pre-conditioning of the battery would work appropriately, but several times the navigation map took me someplace other than the Tesla chargers and therefore the battery pre-conditioning didn’t operate.

It took me forever to get the Ioniq full map and the small map to be laid out like I wanted – the big map for the overview of where I was headed and the little map for the turn by turn directions. I still have no idea what I did to get this layout like I wanted.

Trying to change destinations sometimes took the patience of Job. Trying to delete a current destination and enter a new one often times would take several circular trips of button pushing to get to where I wanted to go in the interface. At 11pm at night in the darkest of the wilds of a charging station I wanted to let out primal screams.

I have read the instruction manual now and watched countless Youtube videos and I still cannot figure out the Ioniq Map and Navigation system.

As a side note, the car’s time changed when I crossed into the Mountain Time Zone just west of Ontario, OR (both coming and going). However, the car’s time did not automatically change when Daylight Savings changed back to Standard Time.

Day 2 – From Ontario to Price Utah

I got an early start the next day and hoped to make it to Grand Junction, CO. It appeared that there were Tesla Super Chargers all along the route. My first stop was Mountain Home, ID. I was surprised at how much battery charge I used to travel from Ontario to Mountain Home. I texted Dave to see what was going on. If I had to stop every 90 minutes for charging this was going to be a very long journey.

Dave came back with the best advice which should have been blindingly obvious “go slower if you want to go farther.” I had been driving at the speed limit of 70 or 75 or 80 like I would do in my gas powered car. But at those driving speeds I am really going through the battery discharge quickly. Dave suggested driving at Truck speed of 60 or 65.

Driving slower worked. I could go farther.

I could now go 2 to 2.5 hours between charges. And two hours was about the time I needed between rest room breaks.

It is frustrating to drive that slowly, particularly in the wide open spaces of the Western United States. But going that slow and keeping the charge level between 20% and 80% extended the driving range just enough not to be totally irritating.

I was making good time and then I hit Salt Lake City at Rush Hour. It took me 2.5 hours to go 60 miles from Salt Lake City to Provo, Utah. The good news is that with all the traffic I didn’t use much charge. The bad news was that I was going to have to climb the mountain from Provo Utah to Price Utah in the dark.

I got to Price Utah at 10 PM and was delighted to see 10 Tesla chargers in the parking lot. As I checked with my Tesla website and my car map I found that they were the destination Tesla chargers which were not compatible. I was too tired to go 10 miles down the road to charge, so I would do that in the morning.

Day 3 – From Price to Boulder CO

The good news on this leg of the trip was that I would be able to find lots of Tesla Super Charger stations along the way. I knew I would be stopping a few more times than normal as I had two very high mountain ranges to cross – Vail Pass and Eisenhower Tunnel.

Since I have a handicapped pass, I found that several of the Tesla charging stations had a handicapped space where I could use my right side plug and not take up two Tesla charging spaces. I didn’t realize until charging in Frisco, that some of the chargers had a display of how much charge I was using.

I made stops in Green River, UT, Rifle, CO, and Frisco, CO. It was fun coming down the eastern slope of the front range and travelling 25 miles only using 1% of my battery.

I got to Boulder and was delighted to see my two wonderful grand children and express my deepest appreciation to Dave for all of his help in getting me through the 1400 miles of EV Range Anxiety over three days.

Dave was happy to let me use their Level 2 charger so that I didn’t have to pay to recharge the car. I started laughing when my Ioniq said “Incompatible Charger.” It turns out Dave’s Level 2 charger was from Tesla and was a first generation protocol that didn’t work with the Ioniq 5. Oh well.

The Journey From Boulder to Seattle

During the week I was in Boulder, I downloaded all the different apps I would need to plan the return trip and have the different charging station apps (Electrify America, EVGO, ChargePoint). This time I would try to remedy some of what made the first half of the journey so hard (not winging it and having the Apps). I couldn’t do anything about not driving a Tesla or having a CoPilot (my wife was going to fly back to Seattle).

I really wanted to go through Wyoming on the way back as it is shorter and I could avoid the traffic around Salt Lake City. But as I continued to stare at the map and see that my only options were CCS places with Electrify America and EVGO, I was nervous about the distance between charging stations.

I finally decided to return the way that I came. However as the return day got closer it was clear that snow was going to hit the Colorado mountains and I may not have a choice. Vail Pass was scheduled to get several inches of snow. Fortunately, on the departure day the snow warnings were lifted (at 4am for the front range and 7am for Vail Pass). As I had to drop my wife off at the Denver Airport on my journey home, I wouldn’t be hitting Eisenhower Tunnel until 11am.

I retraced my charging stops and recharged at Frisco, Rifle, Green River, and Wellington, Utah. I was treated to a spectacular sunset in Green River while charging. Since it was so flat, I couldn’t find an unobstructed photo of the beautiful pinks and oranges.

If possible, I wanted to make it to Ogden, Utah for the night and I hoped that I was late enough to miss the rush hour traffic of Salt Lake City. I got enough charge in Wellington,Utah, to make it to the Holiday Inn Express in Ogden, Utah. I got up before sunrise the next morning to get moving. I had to laugh when I got to the car and the windshield was covered with frozen ice. In another example of winging it, I had forgotten to add an ice scraper to my car. To make matters worse, once I started driving every warning signal in the car went off because the front camera was iced over as well.

As I drove to the Farr West charging station, I was treated to a beautiful sunrise over the Wasatch mountain range. I missed capturing the pretty colors, but I was able to photograph the snow capped peaks. I did a 90% charge here as there is a long barren stretch of interstate highway between Farr West and Burley, ID, which was my next stop. I continued to retrace my stops at Burley, Mountain Home and Ontario, OR.

The journey from Ontario to Prosser, WA, would require a stop with a CCS charger. In planning the journey I elected to stop in La Grande, OR. Knowing the maintenance problems of CCS chargers and seeing on the Plugshare app that one of the Electrify America high speed charging stations at the Walmart in La Grande wasn’t working, I wanted to make sure there was a fall back with other chargers nearby.

Sure enough the Electrify America chargers were a mess. I tried three different chargers (one 300kw and two 150kw) and I couldn’t get any of them to work. I tried using the app to pay and tried paying with a credit card and nothing worked. I finally gave up and went a mile down the road to a Starbucks/Volvo Chargepoint+ that was relatively fast.

I had hoped to use the Hyundai Pay app for this charge, but I couldn’t make that work. However the standalone credit card button above worked. When I am not able to use Hyundai Pay, I always take a photo of the screen to know how much I was charged.

I was now good to go through the Blue Mountain passes and long downhill near Pendleton, OR, to get to Prosser, WA. Of course, the minute I hit the border between Oregon and Washington the rains started. There was nothing on this November journey that was going to be easy.

Since I only charged to 80% in Prosser so I could keep going, I added an extra stop in Ellensburg, WA to top up the battery to make it to Seattle. I followed my map instructions to what I thought were Tesla Superchargers, but quickly was informed by my car “voice” that the charger was incompatible. As it turns out several of the motels near the interstate in Ellensburg have Tesla chargers, but only one was a Supercharger.

The rains continued on and off and then as I got close to Snoqualmie Pass I encountered fog. I slowed dramatically, but when I got to the pass, the weather cleared and I made it to Seattle in time to catch the last ferry of the day to Bainbridge Island.

I was pleasantly surprised that I made the trip back home in two days instead of three. The two days were long and harder in the dark in the winter time, but I made it.

Learning Experience

Now that I have safely navigated the 3000 miles of a round trip between Seattle and Boulder, I have fulfilled the learning experience of taking a long EV road trip. I still have and will probably always have EV range anxiety (at least until solid state EV batteries finally become available).

The biggest learning for a long trip is from Dave “Go slower to go farther.“

It is clear to me that you can’t be in a hurry with an EV on a long trip until either the charging stations become more plentiful and more reliable or we get the longer range and faster charging of solid state batteries.

EV trips require up front planning (no winging it) and constant monitoring of charging stations (it really helps to have a copilot).

The apps and an EV’s map/navigation system still require lots of improvement. I was really frustrated when I found out that both for planning and for enroute navigation I had to be checking at least three and often five different apps. This state of affairs is ridiculous.

A charging station is not a gas station. It is easy to forget that a gas station now has many more features (windshield cleaning, restroom, food, snacks …). Sometimes charging stations are located near a gas station and often they are not. At a minimum you need to carry windshield cleaning materials with you in the car.

All charging stations are not created equal. By far the easiest to use, particularly with my Hyundai Pay app, are the Tesla Super Chargers. The rest, at least on this trip, are relatively random and a crap shoot on how to pay and whether your EV and the Charger can link up with whatever protocol they use.

I do love my Ioniq 5 EV. It has been a terrific choice for local driving. I love passing by the $5.50 per gallon gas stations and being able to charge the EV at home with our Level 2 charger. The Ioniq 5 is very easy to drive and comfortable for a very long trip. I have one year left on my lease and my fondest dream is that solid state batteries for EVs will start showing up soon.

I won’t hold my breath, but I hope somebody solves the mess of apps that are required to plan and execute a long EV trip.

Posted in Electric Vehicle (EV), Explorations, Grand parenting, Human Centered Design, Travel, User Experience | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Today is My Alive Day Anniversary

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Skip Walter

On April 7,2018, I was involved in a very serious auto accident on I-90 on Snoqualmie Pass.

I am alive because of the many angels who helped at the scene of the accident, the professionals in the Level 1 Trauma center, and through seven major surgeries and many months of recovery with family, friends, and colleagues..

I described the accident and the aftermath last year.

First Responders cutting me out of our Honda CRV with “jaws of life”

Like Senator Duckworth, who I got the idea of my Alive Day from, I celebrate being alive on this day every year.

I am bummed that I never saw the white light of a near death experience.

I joke that when I got to the Pearly Gates, I was turned away and thrown back to earth. I am part of St Peter’s “catch and release” program.

I still don’t know why I was thrown back to earth. But I am glad I am still here to watch and participate in the life events of our three children and their families which include four grand children.

I am glad I am alive to celebrate another year of life.

Peace.

Posted in Family, Health Care, Wake Up! | Leave a comment

Writing myself back into existence

Posted on April 6, 2026 by Skip Walter

I seem to have this recurring problem – I lose track of my existence and why I am here on this beautiful earth.

The last time I acknowledged my problem was in 2022 with “Writing myself into existence – again“.

I’ve been mired in the day to day of just going through the motions of retirement with the occasional long “traveler” trip. Last year we traveled to Ireland and Scotland for five wonderful weeks and then int the summer fulfilled one of my bucket list items by visiting all lower 48 state capitals.

Ireland – Trinity College, the Wild Way, Giant’s Causeway, Dublin’s Temple Bar

These long trips keep me occupied through the pre-trip planning, executing the trip, and then the post trip reflections and occasionally producing a photo book of the experience. Before each trip I commit myself to writing each day so that I have notes to remind myself of what was important. But I never write. Being present on a trip is exhausting at my age, particularly when it is a driving trip. Surviving the tiny roads of back country Europe or the many traffic cul de sacs in larger cities is an anxiety nightmare.

Scotland – Stirling Castle, Swilcan Bridge at St Andrews, Macallan Distillery, Glencoe, Pub in Inverness

Fortunately, I take a lot of photos and that becomes my mostly infallible memory of the events of a trip.

Antelope Canyon, Pennsylvania State Capital, Buffalo Trace, West Virginia Capital, Mesa Verde NP, Monument Valley

While I have the photos to jog my memory, my starting to write again comes back to a recurring theme – why do I travel? What compels me to take these long trips to Europe and through the United States? Is there a through thread or flow of our travels?

During the writing of my morning pages, I remember a profound experience when we were touring Jerusalem in 1990 with our parish priest from Manchester, NH. We visited the Church of All Nations which is next to the Garden of Gethsemane. During Father Marc’s mass in the church, I was overcome with a flood of emotions. After the mass, the tour group continued to Bethlehem. I stayed behind. I knew I had to spend the day meditating in the church and in the Garden. Every half hour a different group would say mass in the church. The languages ranged from English to German to French to Latin and others I wasn’t sure of. There was something about this place and its historical significance that I wanted to experience AND understand. I felt like my head and heart were one in this place.

Could this be the reason for our extended travel? Could I be looking to place myself in historical locations where my head and heart can meld into an authentic experience as I time travel? Is that why I spend so much time creating diverse itineraries so that I improve the chances of living one of these historical experiences? I remember a comment David Stone made after my presentation on ALL-IN-1 ignited enthusiastic innovation at a large management meeting in Majorca. I asked David how he knew that my presentation would resonate. He answered “I didn’t. But I create an agenda with a lot of diversity and I know that one of the topics will resonate and lead to action with our managers.”

As I reflect on our European and US trips since 2023, I find that each trip had one or more of these head/heart authentic experience moments. Here are a few of the moments that continue to resonate.

Oeiras, Portugal

We found ourselves in a small suburb of Lisbon on Easter Sunday. Instead of going into the city to the Cathedral to celebrate mass, we decided to visit the nearest parish church. The mass was in Portuguese so I went into my “speaking in tongues” spiritual meditation mode.

I was stunned by the beauty of this out of the way church and its nearby more ancient predecessor. The craftsman and artists who created this beauty are lost to history. This place was not famous or historical, but the church has provided the village with spiritual sustenance for a 100 years. It filled me with wonder as I pondered on the lives of the artisans who created this sacred space.

Quinta de La Rosa, Douro Valley, Portugal

I wanted to experience staying in a vineyard in the Douro Valley in Portugal. Over the last 20 years, I try to spend time walking in vineyards. There is something that touches me by viewing a vine that has produced wine grapes for up to 150 years still thriving.  

One of my favorite quotes is from Brian Doyle’s The Grail:  A Year Ambling and Shambling Through an Oregon Vineyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wide World.

“On my way back uphill to my car I remember what Jesse told me once, that each vine produces enough grapes to make about three-fourths of a bottle of wine, and I chew on the idea that three-fourths of a bottle of excellent wine is probably just the right amount necessary for two or three people to start telling stories fast and furious, so that each of the vines I pass is pregnant with stories, some of which were never born into the world before, and this idea makes me happy also, so by the time I get to the town where I am supposed to give a talk I am cheerful as a chipmunk.”

I could not believe how steep the hillsides were surrounding Pinhao, Portugal. Driving from the main highway down to Quinta de La Rosa felt like a death defying feat on the narrow twisting road. My heart stopped each time we met a truck or one of the big tour buses.

In the early morning, I had to climb the hillside to walk among the vines that were planted 100+ years ago. A single row of vines was carved out of a ten foot slope. I could not imagine the labor it took to create these vineyards on the hillsides that were present on both sides of the Douro River. I also cannot imagine how such a sparsely planted vineyard could keep this winery in business for a 100 years. As I climbed the vineyard with the sun beating down, I had to stop and sit and meditate on the labor that it took to create and maintain this gift to future generations.

I strained to hear the “conversations” that arose from the vines and wines of this 100 year old vineyard.

At dinner that night, the Quinta de La Rosa wines tasted even better for my getting to know a few of the vines.

Alba, Italy

While on our trip to Portugal seeking out a couple of wineries in the Douro Valley and the Algarve, we realized that finding wineries was a great way to see the rural areas. As I planned the trip to Piedmont Italy and Tuscany, I looked for unique wine tasting experiences. I came across the OneOnTheHill “One Day in Langhe with a Somme” private wine tour. I signed up for the full day tour. As I explored the website some more, I found that they also offered a private cooking class with Chef Fabio. I don’t know anything about cooking, but I thought it might be a nice experience. I added the cooking class to our itinerary.

As we found Chef Fabio’s house close to the heart of Alba, we didn’t realize we would be stepping into the home of the third generation of Montaneras. As we made small talk at the beginning, I asked Fabio how he was motivated to become a chef. He shared it was because of his grandmother. Then he shared that we were in his grandparents house and he was the third generation to live here. I thought I was here for a cooking class. I didn’t realize that I was going to learn more about northern Italian culture and heritage.

While I paid attention to the cooking lessons, I felt I was surrounded by his grandmother and her love of cooking passed on to her grandson. I could almost see her moving around the kitchen and then serving us in the dining room. Being someone who has moved around the United States every few years, I have no real sense of a home place. My extended family is widely scattered around our vast country. It is hard to imagine someone having the roots of a single house for many generations.

Chef Fabio was a fabulous teacher and every couple of weeks we bring out one of his recipes to enjoy. As we hand work the dough for pasta, the smells and tastes of our class with Fabio are rekindled. But most of my memories are about the stories of a Northern Italian family and place that Fabio shared.

Antelope Canyon, Arizona

For decades I’ve marveled at photos of the many shades of orange and pink of Antelope Canyon, Arizona.

Seahorse image from Lower Antelope Canyon

The public tours are a relatively noisy untamed tourist attraction. But once I entered the canyon the unique light and color displays overwhelmed. Everywhere I looked there was another “painting with light” opportunity. I just wanted to find a place to sit and almost microscopically capture each shift in light and color and shadow. From the deep blue of the sky to the many shades of orange brown to the dark shadows of orange and brown, I couldn’t begin to pick out a place to focus.

When I could shift from being mesmerized by the colors, I could see the layers of sand compacted over the eons. Each line represents thousands of years out of the millions of years it took to form the canyon. As we stopped in a wide place in the canyon, our Navajo Guide pulled out his hand carved flute and began playing a haunting tune. His presence reminded me that while the canyon was millions of years old, the Native American peoples have inhabited this area for thousands of years.

Navajo Guide for Antelope Canyon

While hundreds of photos had motivated me to finally travel to Antelope canyon, I still was not prepared for the beauty of the place AND the people. I could see, hear and feel the history of this land.

As we climbed out of the all too brief walk through the canyon, the Navajo guide asked us to look back.

Exit at the top of lower Antelope Canyon

What I saw was this dull brown arid landscape stretching into the distance. All of the vibrant colors and formations were hidden from view. How many times in my life have I passed by something dull looking, not realizing the vibrance of forms and colors so close by?

Writing myself back into Existence

As I look back on this post and my extended list of “profound” experiences, I realize how important photographs are to keeping the experiences alive. So am I really writing myself back into existence, or encouraging the slideshow of images and feelings to cascade across my mind?

Can I step into the same river twice?

Peace.

Posted in Architecture, Art, Content with Context, National Parks, Travel | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Presence of Photography

Posted on May 15, 2025 by Skip Walter

Stop the coup in the United States! Vote! Resist! Persist!

As part of striving to be a traveler rather than a tourist and wanting to be awake to the wonders of life as I walk this planet, I take photographs to aid my failing memory. Sometimes they are snapshots. Sometimes I am more mindful of trying to capture the light or capture the “story” in front of me.

Lower Antelope Canyon with a small plane flying overhead.

I am reading and studying as much as I can about observing and photographing.  The article “How Photography demands your presence” caught my imagination:

Sherry Turkle: “What is a place if those who are physically present have their attention on the absent? The Internet is more than old wine in new bottles; now we can always be elsewhere.”

Daniel Levitan: “The suggestion is that taking a picture, especially when done thoughtfully, can enhance your experience by making you pause and reflect on the significance of what you are witnessing. In other words, the act of photography actually promotes ‘mindfulness’, as it prompts you to examine and appreciate the world in greater detail.”

With a camera — and perhaps especially the ubiquitous smartphone — you are able to document your life in a way that preserves memories and potentially deepens your understanding of your personal history. Photography acts as a tool for reflection, helping you to revisit and relive past experiences. Rather than detracting from the present, capturing an image can promote future reflection, making it easier to appreciate the richness of your experiences over time.

For me the smart phone is much more of the latter.  Taking photos of our meals and the wines we encounter preserve memories that I never had access to in the past.  When the photo is combined with GPS coordinates on a map to show where we were at the time of the photo, it is much easier to retrospectively reflect and write about an experience.

Tracy Kidder:  “Every story has to be discovered twice, first in the world and then in the author’s study.” 

Is this true for photography as well?  I believe so.

“Every picture tells a story” speaks to me as I walk through “my woods.”

“The origin of the proverb ‘every picture tells a story’ can be traced back to the growing recognition of the power of visual imagery in the 20th century, particularly with the rise of photography and visual media. This saying highlights how a single image can provide insight, capture a moment, or communicate complex ideas in a way that words may not be able to. It also emphasizes the idea that visuals, whether through art, photographs, or other media, can be just as powerful, if not more so, than verbal communication in conveying meaning.”

I want all of my photos to tell a story.

Each time I pass this long abandoned car, I ask myself again what is its story. How did this car get here? The nearby road has only been in place for a few years, long after this car was abandoned. Was it just dumped here or did some folks get liquored up and wrapped the car around this unsuspecting unmovable tree? Why has the car stayed here for decades? So many questions.

I wonder if my photographs are art, even if they don’t tell a story.

“On the personal, internal side are two questions: What are your interests? How do you respond to your interests? The first question asks what is important to you. It’s unlikely, maybe impossible, to do good photography with subject matter that don’t interest you. The second question points you in the direction of how you want to express yourself, and even how you want others to respond to your imagery. Or, stated differently, how do you want your photograph to look, so that others will get the message you want to convey?”

— The Art of Photography: A Personal Approach to Artistic Expression by Bruce Barnbaum  https://a.co/hkkrsjW

I have a deep interest in sunrise colors, particularly the pre-sunrise colors of Seattle sunrises.

I have thousands of sunrise photos that capture the colors and the location of the sun as it moves between the winter and summer solstice. The colors wake me up each morning. I have to get out of bed to chase the light. Yet, what is the story. Are these snapshots or something more? Does a single photo tell the story or is it the curation of the many different colors and locations?

How thoughtful am I as I compose the shot of a sunrise. Should I focus in with my zoom or do a panorama shot?

Is there enough visual power here or do I force the user to zoom in to see the Seattle skyline?

“Understanding composition and applying it separates the artists from the snapshooters. A single, interesting object of exceptional visual power may sometimes be enough to produce a wonderful image, but rarely. Usually it is the relationships of lines, forms, colors, etc. that create the exceptional compositions and the most insightful photographs. The savvy photographer looks at all parts of the intended image to uncover hidden relationships that produces the extraordinary image; she rarely confines her seeing to a single object of interest. There are two aspects of good composition that are of prime importance. The concept of a unified thought is one; simplicity is the other. The two are strongly interrelated.”

— The Art of Photography: A Personal Approach to Artistic Expression by Bruce Barnbaum https://a.co/e1ihirg

I am fascinated with architecture. Most of my fascination is cathedrals and ancient buildings.

“In the examples of my own work just discussed, I attempted to express a bit of this second consideration. The slit canyons overwhelmed me in a very specific way—as cosmic analogies, or as analogies to force fields—and my imagery is based on conveying that impression to others. Similarly, the cathedrals struck me as grand, musical, and infinite in their marvelous forms. Again, I tried to emphasize those qualities in my imagery. I did not simply conclude, “These things are interesting!” and begin to shoot, but rather I responded to the specific ways that I found them to be interesting. I approached them in an effort to express my strongest feelings about them photographically.”

— The Art of Photography: A Personal Approach to Artistic Expression by Bruce Barnbaum https://a.co/gC0J1Jx

I try to get interested in modern architecture, particularly skyscrapers. But I have such a hard time figuring out how to photograph them.

“The unity of forms amidst the complexity of the architecture is a vivid example of Goethe’s statement that “Architecture is frozen music.” This is also an example of positive/ negative space in which the nearby columns and archways form the positive space, and the distant nave the negative space.”

“I dislike the architecture of all but a very few commercial buildings. They are cold, austere, impersonal, and basically ugly. I feel that these giant downtown filing cabinets are built for function with little thought given to aesthetics.”

— The Art of Photography: A Personal Approach to Artistic Expression by Bruce Barnbaum

“Buildings as giant downtown filing cabinets” is a wonderful flipping of a photo concept.

Just as I strive to progress from a tourist to a traveler, I endeavor to become present to creative photography.

“Understand what you want to say!
Understand how you want to say it!
Then say it without compromise!
Now you are thinking in terms of creative photography!”

— The Art of Photography: A Personal Approach to Artistic Expression by Bruce Barnbaum https://a.co/bwJZ330

I still love my sunrises. I really love being present to my sunrises.

Peace.

Posted in Content with Context, National Parks, Nature, Observing, Photos, PhotoSynthesis, Reflecting, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Wine Tasting and Experiencing History in Laguardia Spain

Posted on May 6, 2025 by Skip Walter

Stop the coup in the United States! Vote! Resist! Persist!

We really enjoyed our Sommelier Wine Tour in Barbaresco and Barolo Italy in the fall of 2023.

After having such wonderful wine tasting experiences in Italy, I went searching for an out of the ordinary wine tasting experience in the Rioja region of Spain. I came across this article “Exclusive Rioja Wine Tasting Masterclass in Laguardia.”

“Mikel didn’t stop learning there – he continued on to get a two-year degree in Viticulture! He also obtained a Wine Tourism degree through the Basque Culinary Center. Busy doesn’t even begin to describe Mikel! Between managing PR, wine tourism, and sales for the fancy Gómez Cruzado winery, taking care of his two young kids, and teaching Rioja wine classes, he’s also squeezing in a master’s degree in Wine Business Management! Needless to say, he is energetic and dynamic!

“Mikel’s Rioja masterclasses are superb. His objective with the private, personalized tastings is to introduce cult, tiny batch, garage, and super collector wines to high-end wine lovers visiting the Rioja region. He includes the small producers and vignerons that are part of the new wave of Rioja wines. They are also personal, dear friends of Mikel’s. Therefore, he has unprecedented access to rare wines.”

Yes. This experience is exactly what I was looking for. But I could find nothing in my searches about Mikel Ruiz de Vinaspre other than this article. He wasn’t on Linkedin or Facebook or Twitter. I couldn’t find any pointers for how to communicate with Mikel. The blog post shared that he worked at Gomez Cruzado in Haro, Spain. But there was no mention of Mikel on the website. I took a chance and reached out to Mikel through the winery information email address. Finally, he responded.

We had a lengthy email correspondence both about taking his Masterclass as well as enjoying one of his winery experiences at Gomez Cruzado.

The day finally arrived for our appointments to visit Gomez Cruzado AND later visiting Mikel for his Masterclass at his home in Laguardia Spain.

Haro, Spain, is home to many winery tasting rooms within easy walking distance. Unlike most of the wineries in Spain, you don’t need a reservation to have a tasting. However, we wanted to experience as much of what Mikel was involved in as possible. So we booked the Premium Experience.

Gabriela gave us a very informative tour. She shared about the whole Rioja wine region, the Basque Rioja wine region, the history of the Gomez Cruzado winery, and the process of making their fine wines.

I am fascinated with the architecture of each winery. While on the outside of the winery the walls are made of stone, on the inside beautiful old wooden beams predominate. I love the different aging barrel sizes that populate European wineries. In the US, one size of barrel tends to dominate. I couldn’t resist poking my head into the large oval wooden barrels.

After our tour, we climbed the stairs to the private tasting room above the barrel room. We tasted eight wines while enjoying a sampling of local specialties. The range of newer and older vintages of Tempranillo grapes were a joy to behold.

After leaving the winery, we wandered into the old town of Haro and enjoyed a slow “watching the world go by” lunch.

We had some time before our meeting with Mikel at his home in Laguardia so we wandered the narrow streets of the old hilltop village.

Mikel shared that there are no automobiles or trucks allowed in Laguardia as the town is built on top of layers and layers of old tunnels and caves.

At the appointed time, Mikel greeted us at his front door.

As we stepped inside, Mikel explained a bit about his home.

Mikel introduces us to his home in Laguardia Spain

Mikel asked if we wanted to get started with the tasting or explore the tunnels under his home. Easy decision. Lead the way to the tunnels.

On our way to the tunnels, Mikel stopped on top of a glass floor which looked down on a 500 year old fermentation vat carved into the stone foundation of the home.

Mikel showing us the 500 year old stone wine fermentation tank

Our first stop on the way to the tunnels, was to look at the “spout” for pouring wine for the townspeople of Laguardia several hundred years ago directly from the fermentation tank.

As we descended the ancient stairs to several layers of tunnels, Mikel explained that when his father bought the house he decided to excavate the tunnels under their house. He also got permission to excavate the tunnel that runs under their neighbor’s houses. I realized that there was no railing to hold on to. Being very unsteady due to my surgically repaired right leg, Mikel said it was OK to hold on to the rock wall.

I was mortified when I dislodged one of the stones from this 500 year old stairway. Mikel assured me it was OK, but I felt like I had desecrated a piece of history.

At each level, Mikel stopped to share a bit of the history of these tunnels and caves. At this stop, he explained how the Basque and the Romans agreed not to fight with each other.

Mikel explaining how the Basque and Romans had a truce

We descended to the lowest tunnel.

Mikel shared that after his father excavated this tunnel, they tried to find out what this architected cave was used for. Their home is close to the Church of Santa María de los Reyes. From their research, they believe this tunnel was used as a hidden church during times of religious persecution. We came for wine. We received a historical experience of a lifetime.

We came back to the kitchen of Mikel’s home. He prepared a collection of four very small boutique wines for us to taste.

Mikel offers his masterclass in Rioja wine to celebrate the innovation of his friends and colleagues exploring non-traditional grapes and wine making techniques in Rioja. He shared that most wine tasting experiences will only present very traditional Rioja Tempranillo wines. He wanted a way to let those of us passionate about wine know what will be coming from Rioja in the future.

Mikel describing the Rioja wine region and innovative winemakers

What a day for Rioja wine tasting of the traditional and the innovative.

As we left Mikel’s home, I asked about the Athletic Bilbao flag above their door.

Mikel explained that everyone in Basque country is very proud of their La Liga futbol team. I didn’t realize that in order to be a member of this Basque team, you have to be born and developed your futbol skills in the Basque country. Athletic Bilbao is one of just a few teams that have never been relegated from the premier division. When you consider this residency restriction, the success of the futbol team is amazing.

At the end of this wonderful day, Mikel shared that we were the first “students” of his Masterclass that did not come through his booking agency. He let us know that we were the first visitors that ever found him on our own. I guess my research for these European trips is pretty good.

I do enjoy getting off the beaten path of a tourist as I try to become a traveler.

Peace.

Posted in Architecture, Biodynamic, Craft Alcohol, Wine | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Walking in the Woods on Bainbridge Island

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Skip Walter

Stop the coup in the United States! Vote! Resist! Persist!

I keep my sanity in this crazy world by trying to walk in the woods on Bainbridge Island every non-rainy day. I love the immersion in the deep greens on my walk no matter the time of year.

My walks start by passing the small flocks of sheep and chickens at our nearby neighborhood ranch.

I check to see that the flocks are the same size as the day before. Cougars and big dogs have thinned the flocks in the past. This spring there is a young noisy youngster sheep who has a strong pair of lungs.

As I meander along the Bluff Trail, I encounter this small grove of trees. I particularly like walking through at golden hour or stopping to look up at the sky. It seems like somebody tends this grove regularly, but the neighbors claim that this grove emerged naturally.

As I descend a short hill, I look for the first of two gnome homes. Some crafty soul has placed tens of these around Bainbridge for the enjoyment of hikers like me. I appreciate today’s adornments by fellow hikers looking to add a little greenery or color to these gnome homes.

“Every picture tells a story” speaks to me as I walk through “my woods.”

“The origin of the proverb ‘every picture tells a story’ can be traced back to the growing recognition of the power of visual imagery in the 20th century, particularly with the rise of photography and visual media. This saying highlights how a single image can provide insight, capture a moment, or communicate complex ideas in a way that words may not be able to. It also emphasizes the idea that visuals, whether through art, photographs, or other media, can be just as powerful, if not more so, than verbal communication in conveying meaning.”

Each time I pass this long abandoned car, I ask myself again what is its story. How did his car get here? The nearby road has only been in place for a few years, long after this car was abandoned. Was it just dumped here or did some folks get liquored up and wrapped the car around this unsuspecting unmovable tree? Why has the car stayed here for decades? So many questions.

As I get to the end of the Bluff Trail, I search the containment ponds for ducks. I wonder if the ducks will have a family before the pond evaporates or a predator finds them. Another photo that generates so many questions.

More recently, Paul and Debbie Brainerd funded the creation of a labyrinth and small oasis on a bluff overlooking Blakely Harbor. Sometimes I stop if the light is just right to capture the sun’s rays as it traverses the spirals of the labyrinth. Sometimes the grands are with me to follow each twist and turn in the labyrinth to arrive at the magic pumpkin in the middle.

As I continue down the hill to Blakely Harbor and Log Pond, I scan the pond to see what the tides have brought in today. This interesting stump showed up one day and then stayed for months until a king high tide took it out to sea.

While observing the stump one day, I thought I saw another stump move in the pond. To my surprise, the moving stump was a river otter. It swam right toward me wondering why I was invading its privacy.

Our local artists regularly decorate what remains of the sawmills at Blakely Harbor’s Log Pond with colorful graffiti. I slow down to see what has changed since my last walk.

During really low tides, I have to wander out to the temporary spit of land so that I can show up in Google Maps as walking on water.

Thanks to a gift from a local land owner and the Bainbridge Island Parks and Recreation Department long process through many layers of bureaucracy, we now have a bridge across Log Pond. Yet, I never know who or what I will encounter when I walk across the bridge.

As I climb back up the bluff, I walk respectfully through Port Blakely Cemetery. I am surprised that many of the graves date back to the 1800s. I finally stop one day to read the inscription on the tallest gravestone.

The inscription reads “Sacred to the memory of brother knights drowned by the sinking of the streamer “Dix”, Nov. 18th 1906.” I think I am about to learn some local history as I return home to learn about the Steamer Dix.

“On Sunday, November 18, 1906, the inland passenger steamer SS Dix collides with the steam schooner SS Jeanie two miles north of Alki Point and one mile west of Duwamish Head. The Dix, traveling from downtown Seattle to Port Blakely on Bainbridge Island with 77 passengers and crew on board, sinks within five minutes with a loss of at least 39 lives. It is the greatest maritime disaster ever recorded on Puget Sound.”

Some days I walk in the woods for exercise. On my better days, I pay attention to the gifts of nature and small slices of history hiding quietly in the woods.

As I return home late in the evening from another walk in the woods, I watch the setting sun reflect its rays off of the Seattle skyline.

Peace.

Posted in Daily Moment of Zen, Exercise, Explorations, Nature, Observing, Photos, Reflecting | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

May Day Protest Seattle 2025

Posted on May 2, 2025 by Skip Walter

Stop the coup in the United States! Vote! Resist! Persist!

I joined the May Day 2025 protest march in Seattle that started at Cal Anderson park on Capital Hill.

My favorite message from the day of passionate speeches and a committed mass of protestors, was the green sign above “Now you pissed off grandma.” These wonderful ladies of a certain age made this man of a certain age laugh. I needed this boost.

Our peaceful group from a wide age range and all walks of life came out to celebrate both our union workers and strongly protest against all the wrongs of the current administration.

The main stream media did our protest no favors by estimating only 1000 people showed up. By my count through my own photos, there were at least 5,000 marchers and many more. The media should be actively pointing out that millions marched in every major city in the US yesterday. Note: I’ve red circled my marching self as I proudly wore my Bainbridge Bay Hay and Feed orange laughing pumpkin hoodie.

For the first couple of hours, several speakers shared their passion about May Day and what it means to each of them. The crowd was a relatively equal mix between union members and those of us protesting the current lawless and grifting federal administration.

I was impressed with the members of the SEIU union who all wore purple Tshirts and constructed a 20 foot puppet to accompany our march.

I loved the mothers marching with their six year old children or walking with their well behaved dogs. To help us out on this first hot day of spring in Seattle, many volunteers pulled little read wagons full of free water and masks for the marchers.

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the Bud Light truck we had to walk around on Capital Hill as we started the March. I was hoping that Anheuser-Busch was really supportive of the March and was going to share a few beers on this hot spring day. No Joy. The beer truck in the middle of the March reminded me of my protest days at Duke when the carillon at the top of the Chapel Bell Tower played the Mickey Mouse theme song during our Vietnam protests. You have to laugh a little even in the midst of such government madness.

I was incredibly impressed with the May Day Seattle 2025 organizers and all that they did to keep us safe. At each intersection a group of the volunteer bike brigade members closed off the street. The Seattle Police car brigade supported these efforts by closing down all the major intersections. Here the bicycle brigade and the police stop traffic and public transportation at the Broadway intersection on Capital Hill.

Fortunately, there was not much in the way of counter protestors. There were a few right wing nut evangelical Christians shouting that none of us would be saved carrying signs sharing that we would all burn in hell. Somebody at the top of the Hotel Theodore decided that they needed to spray water at us with a fire hose from the top of the hotel. These distractions were easily ignored and did nothing to change the peacefulness of the March.

I was glad to see several signs pointing out that “Trump is killing us.” I mentioned yesterday that his policies to not approve the next Covid vaccine, shutting down all safety inspections for agricultural products, cutting Medicaid, stopping medical research and hundreds more atrocities are all aimed at killing more of us that his actions during the Covid Pandemic. We have to stop Trump and all his Republican supporters who are trying to kill us. These government actions are why I protest and march.

As I returned to Bainbridge Island, I was delighted to honk my horn in support of the protestors at the Highway 305 and Main Street intersection. I am proud to be one of the millions of citizens who took to the streets this May Day to support our unions and protest the actions of the Republicans and SCOTUS.

I have no idea when the 70 million people who voted for this Trump felonious, grifting, lawless administration will wake up. I only hope it is soon so that we can reclaim this amazing country which has given me and my extended family so much these last 75 years.

Stop the Coup. Vote. Resist! Persist!

Peace.

Posted in Citizen, Narrative, organizing, Reflecting, Resilience, Stop the Coup, Wake Up! | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Resilience Building

Posted on May 1, 2025 by Skip Walter

Stop the coup in the United States! Vote! Resist! Persist!

I love the following quote from Enlightened Aging:

“The path to healthy aging is not centered on the consumption of health care services. The path is instead centered on developing the ability to adapt to changing circumstances—the ability to bounce back from an illness, injury, loss, or any other setback. In a word, resilience. Don’t be fooled by the ads. You don’t procure resilience; you build it.“

Over the course of the last seven years after my serious auto accident, I worked hard at building resilience. 

To build resilience, I put together a “team” of healthing professionals to work on my physical, cognitive and spiritual practices.  All of these team members are in their own special ways constantly pushing me to go past any real or perceived boundaries.  My cognitive therapist after hearing about my resilience building efforts immediately asked “for what? You can’t stop at resilience building.  You must push on to the next level of transformation,” she urged.

As you might guess, I am not catching any sympathy from my wonderful therapists.  

From this wheelchair in April 2018 at Harborview Medical Center:

To this hike in February 2020 at Joshua Tree National Park:

While laying in my hospital bed at Harborview hospital after my third major surgery to reconstruct my left ankle in May 2018, the pain was close to unbearable.  I’d never experienced pain of that magnitude.  It took over 24 hours to get the pain under some kind of control through a mixture of drugs and a nerve block in my left calf above the ankle incisions.

As the pain subsided, I looked at my leg immobilizer, my ankle cast, and my left arm cast and despaired of ever walking again.  When I was by myself, usually in the middle of the night, I would quietly sob, thinking that I would never be able to walk normally again, let alone hike in some of my favorite places.  I thought I would have to be satisfied with the memories of a lifetime of hiking in the Presidential mountains in New Hampshire, the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, the Olympic Mountains of Washington, the National Parks in Utah, and my beloved high desert of Joshua Tree National Park.

However, with all of the unbelievable skills and patience and dealing with my hard headedness, my team of medical professionals and therapists helped me walk again.  While it took two more major surgeries to get my left femur stabilized, I was able to start walking and hiking on Bainbridge Island in 2019.  I was still limited to about three miles on any given hike before the pain in my ankle and knee would rise to a level where I needed a dose of Advil.

After two months of slow painful hiking, I decided to try a different type of compression sock (Copper Fit knee high) and purchased some ankle high Hoka lightweight hiking boots.  Slowly but surely I pushed through the three mile barrier without any increased pain or need for Advil.  Over two months I was able to build up to hiking 8 miles at a time.

However, it was a challenge to get long walks in while it was raining so much during the month of January 2020. As I wrote this in 2020, it was the first official sunny day in 80 days. For months I knew I needed to get out of the PNW weather.  I wanted some heat and sunshine.  I needed some heat and sunshine. Joshua Tree beckoned.  It took a couple of weeks to find a date that we could sandwich between a family friend’s funeral and my son needing some help transporting household goods to his new home in Santa Barbara, CA.  Finally, on  February 9th we got away and headed south.

We arrived at Joshua Tree late on February 12.  I couldn’t wait to get up early the next morning to climb Ryan Mountain with Jamie.  This hike was Jamie’s first in Joshua Tree.  I neglected to tell her how hard it would be.  While a relatively short hike (3 miles round trip), it is pretty steep (1500 feet elevation gain in 1.5 miles).  The entire trip is composed of an endless series of stone steps.

We made it to the top in good shape.  Jamie and I celebrated the 360 degrees of views from the top of Ryan Mountain with trail mix and lots of water.  In the background you can see the smog that rolls in from the LA Basin to cover Palm Springs.  Not only did I make it to the top, but I carried a backpack for the first time since I started hiking again.

I knew that the easy part was over.  With each step up, I tried not to think about the degree of difficulty coming back down.  I can walk up steps relatively easily now.  But going downhill requires much more work from my right leg. 

The concentration required to place my hiking poles in just the right spot and place my feet correctly and safely gets quite tiring.  My right quad still needs a bunch of strengthening for this kind of downhill workout.

Over the last seven years and seven major surgeries, my constant mantra is: I will get out of my wheelchair. I will walk again. I will hike again.

I will walk again.

Building Resistance

When I became somewhat conscious after my first four days of surgery, I looked at the cast on my forearm, the external fixator on my ankle, and the full left leg brace, and it occurred to me that I wasn’t going to be getting on a plane to go to Denver, NYC, Paris, Orlando, London, and Sydney Australia over the next three months for planned business trips.  I knew I had to adopt something very different than my professional skeptic cynical analytic personality.  In an instant I realized I already had an inspiration in Kathryn Hardie who I had worked with for 18 years at Attenex and FTI Consulting.

Kathyrn fought cancer for 10 years with the most positive attitude and full of life force I ever experienced.  I figured if she could fight cancer that long, I could be positive during the surgeries and the rehab for a year.  I wanted to let her know what an inspiration she was for me so I sent her several emails and she so kindly replied and sent a hand written note to Jamie.  Unfortunately, she died suddenly during my third week in the hospital.  It took me awhile to realize that her inspiration will always be with me.

About three weeks into my stay at Harborview, the PT folks showed me how to get from my bed into a wheelchair.  I roamed the halls of the sixth floor somewhat at will a couple of times a day.  One day Nurse Felma stopped me and shared “you know studies have shown that if you have a positive attitude after severe trauma or disease your chances of healing much faster increase dramatically.  And you are off the scale with your positive attitude.  None of us can believe it.”  

I looked around to make sure that she was talking to me.  I am not exactly known for a positive attitude.  There was nobody else there. I guess she was talking to me.

While I am no medical or health expert, I am an expert on my own recovery. I have gone far beyond what my orthopedic surgeon expected. I have gone far beyond what the US health care “system” supports or even encourages.

I believe resilience building starts with having a positive, creative forward looking attitude.

In my corporate consulting I often share/teach my clients and colleagues about the Blame Frame versus the Outcome Frame that I first heard from Robert Fritz and John Grinder.

As I reflect on the hundreds of processes that I’ve learned or created for the needs of a particular group, there seems to be two primary forms.  One form relies on what Robert Fritz calls “structural tension.”  This form is most powerful when combined with Gregory Bateson’s “difference that makes a difference.”

  • What is the current reality?
  • What is the desired future state?
  • What are the differences between the two?
  • What is the difference that makes the biggest difference?

Once the important difference that makes a difference is identified, then that difference becomes the place to start for implementation of the vision/goals.

The other primary form springs from the work of John Grinder who created what he describes as the Outcome Frame orientation.

  • What are we trying to create?
  • How will we know we created it?
  • What resources do we have to get started now?
  • What other opportunities does this lead to?

Every time I use the Outcome Frame process, I am amazed at the creative energy that is released in a group.

Grinder contrasted the Outcome Frame with the process that most of us had drilled into us in our schooling or business careers – the problem or blame frame:

  • What is the problem?
  • How did it get this way?
  • Who caused it?
  • What are you going to do to fix it?

The normal “me” would have wallowed in the Blame Frame. However, it was very clear to go through the rehabilitation to be able to walk and hike again I needed a serious change of attitude. I had to rigorously adopt the Outcome Frame in order to Build Resilience.

I will walk again. I will hike again.

The difference that will make the biggest difference that I can visualize is making it to the top of Joshua Tree’s Ryan Mountain AND descending.

A Resilience Building Model

In my professional life I am always synthesizing and building models to try and understand the world around me. As I reflected on the complexity of creating a resilience building model, I needed a starting point that could quickly show the interlinkage and flow of the resilience building complexity. My starting point for such models is the Enneagram.

  1. Socializing – it takes a village to build resilience and to support someone building resilience.  This is community.  This is my Catholic parish praying for me each day.  This is all the visitors and those bringing meals to me.  It is the interaction with other sentient souls.
  2. Entering – this is the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) sense of reaching the bottom.  I’ve now fallen so far in my health, I recognize that I need to change.  This is Rohr in Falling Upward talking about moving from Life 1 to Life 2.  This is the challenge.  Being there when somebody hits bottom and is looking to change.
  3. Diagnosing – have I reached the bottom of this life pit?  While I am focused on trauma resilience, what is the diagnosis of my other health problems (like looming Alzheimer’s) so that I can begin to make the life style changes that will help me move upward and forward. The changes needed are to switch to a completely Vegan diet or Mediterranean diet and exercise more.
  4. Nourishing – there is a positive and negative to this.  What kind of food do I need to take in to reduce the risk of all chronic diseases?  What does my body need to reduce my chronological age to a younger biological age?  I need to work against no carcinogens in my life – the no smoking, no heavy metals, no exposure to mold – any of the things that cause bodily harm.  What kind of nourishing do I need to do for my mind and spirit?
  5. Learning – now that I have a diagnosis and have started nourishing my body what do I need to learn more about.  What is the unique learning I need to do for my N=1 healthing system.  What are the resources I need to learn about to help me form my Team Resilience.  UltraLearning is a good process model to follow.  This is learning with the intensity of getting to a life worth living instead of being warehoused in a nursing home.  I started writing again and began experimenting with acrylic painting.
  6. Teaming – now that I have learned about my situation, what is the Resilience Team I need to put together that can translate their expertise into what I uniquely need for my n=1 health.  For me the team looks like:
    • Jamie – my spouse, my partner, my friend, and my nurse.  She is the foundation of the Journey of the Foot and all that has transpired during the last seven years.
    • Orthopedic Surgeons and all the nurses and residents that supported them
    • Physical Therapist
    • Occupational Therapist (while I only had three weeks of interaction with an OT, I received a lifetime of expertise and encouragement) and Health Coach
    • Lee Hood – model of biological age (69) versus chronological age (82)
    • Right brain psychotherapist
    • The grand kids – Katherine James Schuitemaker pointed out that they are my mentors for understanding the next generation.
    • Family – our children, their families, my brother and sister, Jamie’s siblings – all have been beyond amazing in helping me recover.
  7. Exercising – to build resilience, all aspects of body, mind, spirit need to be exercised.  The body aspects are to build aerobic and strength capabilities.  The Mind component is to exercise the brain through work or hobbies or life’s passions.  Ultralearning is a good process for intense brain exercise.  Spiritual learning runs the gamut from mindfulness to the different spiritual traditions and their exercises.  Cursillo exercises are in the categories of piety, study and action.
  8. Programming – taking the diagnosis and teaming resources and learning to develop the unique “protocol” for making the life style changes to reduce risks of chronic disease and reduce biological age.  For Alzheimer’s the starting point is Bredesen’s Recode protocol.  A key component of programming is to take into account all aspects of body, mind, spirit.  This protocol is the synthesis and meta level of the nourishing, exercising and socializing creative triangle.
  9. Measuring – if you can measure it, you can improve it.  If you can’t measure it, you don’t know where you are going.  Peter Drucker shares “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.”  With all of the mobile digital devices like the Apple Watch, you can monitor passively and log many of the steps in any protocol.
  10. Sharing – and the cycle repeats at a higher level of organizing.  Once you have gone through the loop and are measuring progress, share the results with others.  Step 12 of AA – spiritual awakening and delivering the AA message – share with others.  This is the most powerful of the socializing activities.

Now that I have a model for Building Resistance and have tested it through seven (and soon eight) major surgeries, it is time for me to start Sharing. My original intent was to write a book. However, in this modern age a more appropriate medium is the mobile app. Now that AI application building tools exist, I can build that app without needing a staff of programmers.

The next phase of my Building Resilience Journey begins – helping others to build their resilience after serious trauma. Maybe I am finally pushing on from resilience building to transformation.

We all need to build resilience to combat the current administration and their commitment to killing the citizens of the United States. In 2020 during the Covid crisis, Trump, his administration and the Republican party killed 750,000 Americans through their wrong headed Covid policies. Now through the Trump administration and the Republican party with very specific policies (Project 2025 Playbook), the US Government is trying to kill even more citizens. By stopping Covid vaccine approvals, allowing measles and salmonella outbreaks to go unchecked, stopping USDA and Agriculture department safety policies and inspections, and hundreds more unlawful actions, the current Republican administration aims to kill more citizens than they did with Covid.

Today is May Day. It is another day of protest. We must stop the coup and the policy led killing of Americans.

Build Resilience.

Vote! Resist! Persist!

Posted in Health Care, Health Coaching, Learning, National Parks, Nature, Outcome, Reflecting, Resilience, Stop the Coup | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Alive Day – April 7

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Skip Walter

Stop the coup in the United States! Vote! Resist! Persist!

Every year on April 7th I celebrate my Alive Day.

April 7th in 2018 is the day I should have died in an auto accident on I-90 east of Seattle.

Thanks to the work of first responder Lt. Josh McBride of the Seattle Fire Department who was a few minutes behind our accident, I am alive today.

I learned about the idea of an Alive Day from Senator Tammy Duckworth:

“WASHINGTON D.C. (WICS) — U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement ahead of her “Alive Day,” the day she almost died in a shootdown that took both of her legs and partial use of her right arm:

“Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of my Alive Day, the day I almost died in a dusty field in Iraq after our Blackhawk was shot out of the sky—but didn’t. I’m only alive today because my buddies—who thought I was dead—refused to leave my body behind. As our nation marks Veterans Day, I’m thinking of their heroism that gave me the opportunity to not only live, but live a life so much fuller than I ever imagined.”

I should have died. Lt. McBride estimated I had only about one minute left to live as I was not breathing. I was pinned between the compressed steering wheel and my drivers seat. The cynic in me is pissed because I don’t remember seeing the white light. Evidently when I got to the Pearly Gates St Peter said: “it’s not your time. I am throwing you back. You are part of our catch and release program.”

Due to retrograde amnesia I have no memory of my first four days in the Harborview Medical Center Intensive Care Unit (ICU). I do not remember anything about the first two surgeries to repair my many compound fractures. I have no memory of three inches of bone removed from my left femur. I have no memory of this photo taken four days after the accident while I was in the ICU.

Over the next year I asked my orthopedic surgeon if I would ever be able to walk and hike in the woods again. She always answered “we’ll have to wait and see how you heal.” It wasn’t until four years later during a deposition in our litigation that she shared:

“So, I never thought he was really going to walk much again.”

“From defendant counsel cross examining my surgeon: Q: And how would you describe his recovery from his injuries? I mean it sounds like he had a very good recovery, would you agree with that?  A: Yeah. I’d call it miraculous. I think he’s had terrible, life changing, really bad injuries into his joints, some of the worst that I’ve seen in my 17 years here (at Harborview), and that I — I think he’s stoic and pushes through; so, his recovery to me is outside the spectrum of what I expected at all, and that’s sort of how I summarize him.  Q: And you believe — you characterize that as really a miraculous recovery, then, correct? A: I think his function is miraculous given his injuries by x-ray and what they were, yes.”

Remembering that she is an orthopedic surgeon at a Level 1 Trauma Center that serves four states in the Pacific Northwest, I couldn’t believe that she said I was one of the worst cases she had ever seen. Then I realized that if I had worse injuries I would be dead.

I am glad to be alive.

I am glad to be alive to see how our three children and our four grand children and their families are growing and thriving.

Little did I know before this accident that I had a non-bucket list bucket list.  I had made it 68 years (and hoped to make it a lifetime) without encountering any of the dreaded non-bucket list items below:

  • ​Requiring a first responder to save my life​
  • Riding in an ambulance
  • Needing to go to a Level 1 trauma center (Harborview)
  • Being a patient in a hospital
  • Having one or more broken bones
  • Not being able to walk
  • Having to use a bedpan for functions of daily living
  • Having to worry about becoming addicted to oxycodone
  • Learning how to self-administer twice a day shots of blood thinners
  • Understanding the difference between a physical therapist and an occupational therapist
  • ​Using a wheelchair for many months
  • Becoming a repository for the outputs of a titanium mine
  • ​Learning how to pole dance​ (just to get out of bed)

The most insightful quote of the nine weeks in the hospital is from a nurse at Harborview:

“Doctors fix. Nurses heal.”​

I extend that to:

“First Responders save. Doctors fix.  Nurses heal. Therapists rebuild. Friends and Family love.”​

While I was flat on my back in a hospital bed for nine weeks and most of the next seven months, I dreamt of hiking in the woods on Bainbridge Island again. I read a lot and a quote from Parker Palmer kept me looking forward. I broke down in tears as I read wondering if I would ever be able to make it back to hiking in the Olympic Mountains.  Or even if I could return to hiking in the woods on Bainbridge Island.  My “one day at a time” mantra was failing me.

“A few words about “grace, gravity, and getting old.” I’m writing this Prelude in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For over a decade, my wife and I have come here in the late spring for a couple of weeks of hiking, writing, napping, eating Southwestern food, and enjoying spectacular sunsets. 

At my age, the napping, eating, and sky-gazing are no stretch. But out on a mountain trail, I feel both grace and gravity more keenly than when I first came here in my mid-sixties. 

The grace is that I have the health and resources to get myself out to the high desert; that, after a couple of days, my heart and lungs are still able to adjust to the 7,000-foot difference between Santa Fe and my Midwestern home; that I can stand at a trailhead and still feel confident about getting partway up, maybe even to the top of a trail that climbs from 9,000 to 10,000 feet; that every foot of the way I’m surrounded by beauty that a lot of people never get a chance to see. 

But as I climb, gravity kicks in. I hike more slowly than I used to, stopping to catch my breath more often. I have to be more attentive to where I’m putting my feet lest a momentary imbalance pitch me into a fall. The tug of gravity is an inescapable part of aging. As they say, “Everything goes south.” Energy, reaction time, muscle tone, the body itself—they’re all headed back into the earth, as far south as it goes.”

Palmer, Parker J.. On the Brink of Everything . Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition. 

After months of physical therapy, I was finally able to walk in the woods:

I am more anxious this year on my Alive Day as I have one more major surgery to go through to repair damage from the accident. Sometime this summer I will have a full ankle replacement on my left ankle. Each time I undergo surgery (seven and counting) I wonder if I am going to be able to walk and hike again. I’ve had my ankle CT scanned and a new ankle replacement 3D printed. The silvery bits are the titanium 3d printed sample ankle replacement in the photo below:

Now I just have to wait for a surgery slot to open up at the hospital.

Thank you to all the first responders, doctors, nurses, therapists, family and friends who have kept me alive and thriving these last seven years.

I am glad to be alive.

I am delighted to celebrate another Alive Day.

Posted in Exercise, Family, Nature, Photos, Quotes, Reflecting, Resilience | Leave a comment

The Many Colors of Sunrise on Puget Sound

Posted on April 29, 2025 by Skip Walter

Stop the coup in the United States! Vote! Resist! Persist!

We are blessed with an eastward facing home that looks over the Puget Sound towards Seattle. As the earth turns, each morning I see the sun move on its seasonal journey venturing either north or south of Seattle.

I did not realize how much I needed the colors of sunrise until I spent a year in my “invalid cave” otherwise known as our piano room. In my cave I recovered from five lengthy surgeries repairing my left arm and left leg, knee and ankle. I loved watching the twinkling lights of Seattle late into the night, but I particularly loved the many colors of a Seattle sunrise.

I really liked my invalid cave – except at 5am on a summer morning when the sunlight streams into the room shouting at me to wake up. My incapacitated foot loves the view and the colors, but doesn’t like the early rising time.

I archived my first sunrise photo on September 13, 2010 when we moved into our current house. This day while the yellows dominated, the purples, pinks and grays of the marine layer framed the rising sun.

I have thousands of photos of the Seattle sunrise. I have a long term goal of capturing the sunrise every day of the year so I can show how far north and south the sun moves on its yearly journey. However, I didn’t reckon with the five months of gray and rain we have during the winter months. For those months I have to be content with the occasional sunbreaks of early morning.

My favorite sunrise colors shine over the Washington State ferry as it passes below our house.

I love capturing panorama photos that show the pre-sunrise oranges and pinks against the muted gray expanse of the sky above the cascades. The shadows of Mt.Rainier and Mt. Baker lurk at the edges.

While I love the spectacular reds, pinks and oranges of a September sunrise, I feel sad that the brightest colors are coming from wildfires in the Cascade Mountains.

At times the bright reds of the pre-sunrise during wildfire season are breath taking.

In early January, the sun’s journey is almost as far south as SEATAC airport.

The colors show in layers in early December as the clouds and water reflect the sun’s struggle to rise above the Cascade mountains. The subtle pinks, yellows and oranges tint the winter gray of the ever present clouds.

While I love the moment when the sun rises above the mountains, the best colors and contrasts occur about thirty minutes before the sun rises. The twinkling lights of the ferry and Seattle herald the coming sunrise.

As I get ready for my next major surgery to do a full ankle replacement on my left foot, I look forward to returning to my “invalid cave” to be awakened by the many colors of sunrise.

Peace.

Posted in From My Chair, Nature, Photos, Wake Up! | Leave a comment