num_pages: 320
description: Earth Trails, Heart Trails, is a dynamic journal tracing a three-month journey through the American southwest. From one historic corner to another, two experienced RVers take us from Michigan to Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and home again. Julie and her husband Kel invite readers to share the solitude, natural history and sheer beauty of places like Arches National Monument, Big Bend National Park, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, Chiracahua Mountains, Chisos Mountains, the Colorado River, Comanche National Grasslands, Death Valley, Guadalupe Mountains, Gila National Wilderness, and Huron National Forest. The list of national treasures seems endless and this author unveils them with visual clarity and written grace. Through the medium of camping, hiking, simple meals, petroglyphs, and a step-by-step exploration of wilderness areas around cliffs, canyons, hot springs, bird preserves, Indian ruins, and rivers, Julie Kohlhaas compares, contrasts, and parallels the inner landscapes we all inhabit. The regions of marriage, relationships, parenting and grandparenting; the tensions between a stressful, materialistic culture and the human need for solitude, reflection and self-enlightenment; the environmental dangers that threaten natural wildlife, bioregions, and the ancient lands of native peoples---these are all a part of the journey. Julie Kohlhaas taps the wisdom of other journalists---A Country Year, A Garlic Testament, A Walk Across France---as well as the essential knowledge of writers like Barbara Kingsolver, Edward Abbey, C.S. Lewis, Gary Zukav, John McPhee, Stanley Crawford, Sue Hubbell, Wallace Stegner, Susan Trott, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. A lifelong learner and a voracious reader, this author braids together her own life experience, personal reflections of a very interesting life, and treasured insights of the great writers whose influence has been felt. Extrovert or introvert, traveller or home-body, workaholic or retired, single or married, old or young---chances are you will love Earth Trails, Heart This journal is a "word map" of a Southwest winter my husband and I spent towing a twenty-six-foot trailer. It was our fourth trip to this remarkable region. Each year we visit our favorite places, such as Big Bend National Park in Texas, Gila National Wilderness in New Mexico, Organ Pipe National Monument in southern Arizona, Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Arizona, and the list goes on. Every year, though, we learn of new places to visit from magazines such as Backpacker and Outside, from Internet research, from the advice of fellow travelers who appreciate the primitive, wilderness areas that we love so much, and from our own intuitive wanderings. These journal pages trace geographic maps, relationship maps, and personal maps of growth. I invite you to share the maps of our journey, as you reflect on your own. Perhaps we are all called to be cartographers in our own lives.
language: English
title: Earth Trails, Heart Trails: A Southwest Journal
titlecomplete: Earth Trails, Heart Trails: A Southwest Journal
publisher: Acorn Pub