“If a man does not keep pace with his companions…perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears however measured or far away.”

This quote has been staring down at me from its perch on the wall of my grandparents cabin for as long as I can remember. It has always been there. The embroidered, framed cloth within the old black plastic picture frame. Now as I approach our departure date for our trip, it words speak stronger to me now than I have ever cared to notice. The words have always been there yet I had forgotten them over the course of the last five or so years since the last time I was up here at our northern Wisconsin cabin. On the quick approaching eve of my 25th birthday as I make all the last minute preparations for South America and decompress after a year of working in newspapers, it’s as if those words have finally soaked in. I look upon them now with a clear conscious and under a new light. Six days until we depart. Crank up the drums. -M

I have officially become a hypocrite and have started my own blog. I never thought the day would come. But with the changing times in today’s media so also comes the opportunity to change one’s opinions, so here I am. This blog is going to serve as a journal to an adventure of sorts. On January 2nd, 2008 my brother Eric and I will embark on a six-month-long fly fishing and backpacking trek throughout the whole of South America. During that time, I will be posting journal entries, stories and pictures of mine from our travels as they come. First things first, I have to start packing. This is the calm before the storm. Much more to come…….M