Whitebeard

Hi,

I am a father of six, we are a blended family, my wife had two girls and I a girl and boy when we met. Together we have 5 grandchildren and one more on the way. We met in church, both in the choir at the time, after a few years of a friendship a close friend pointed that Sharol was a great woman and a good choice for a wife. Well... not in those words, but something changed for us we started seeing each other differently. We met for dinner with a friend one night and I knew, I called her the next day, we were married six months later. She was pregnant 2 months after that with our youngest son. Five years later... when I was 40 she gave me my youngest daughter and travel buddy. Hannah aka The Kid... or TK.
On June 14, 2016, my wife Sharol died in my arms a few feet away from our apartment and in front of her 13 year daughter. It has been a long hard road recovering from her absence. We were married for 19 years... we almost made it to 20. Anyway, In 2017 TK and I went and purchased "The Puddle Jumper" from Nissan and our outdoor life begin. Driving help with the passing for both of us. We loved driving and it meant living this place behind. I've spent the past 4 years wanting to leave NYC but unfortunately we're still here. We started out with long drives, concerts, weekend getaways then camping. The next year, 2018 I added hiking...the end of 2019 I started looking into overnight backpacking and "back country" camping. I'd planned to ratchet up our adventures, as well as look for online jobs. Losing a spouse means an income as well and Sharol income was far greater than mine. In January of 2019 I lose my job. So, the open of 2020 was not a good one. However, as I started preparing this years camping season by looking for ideas on YouTube I came across The Epic Family Road Trip, which lead to TrailRecon and then to what I discovered is the "Overland" community. I we started binge watching EFRT, I found Expedition Overland and we were hooked! Eventually I landed here, Overland Bound.
Hoping to learn more and to connect with people. so... yep, there it is.