If all goes as planned, you’re reading this and Beth and I are in Gulfport, Florida, a delightful little town fifteen minutes from our oldest daughter’s digs in St. Petersburg. If not, we’re somewhere between New York, 35,000 feet above the Atlantic and where we land in Sarasota. After a 3 hour departure delay, I’m …
I remember what it was like to be at the top of a ski run. After disembarking from the chair lift and just before the surge forward and downhill, there exists a moment unlike no other. No. I take that back. There are other times when I have felt like I was suspended above a …
Thursday, I am leaving for a four day trip to Nashville, Tennessee. Our good friend, Jeff Coplan, has invited me to take part in a cool project that has just the right amount of “zing” to excite and frighten me. CreatiVets is a nonprofit that works with wounded veterans to help them heal via the …
In between my first music career as a saloon singer and my second one as a children’s singer-songwriter, I spent 7 years as a commercial carpet salesman and estimator. Although it was far from the perfect job for me, I did well, eventually making a six figure income in my twenties. As a good employee, …
This past week we finalized our plans to visit Crete, the largest of Greece’s islands, after our 12 days on the mainland. We watched videos made by other travelers in order to determine which sites and cities we might visit (and avoid) and checked out maps to figure out how many possible destinations might align …
Lately, I have been really enjoying our children’s concerts. Having grown more accustomed to songwriting programs with upper elementary and mindfulness workshops with middle schoolers, the return to our performing roots has been wonderful on a different level. Energetically, it takes more out of Beth and I to drive to a gig, unload our tuck, …
My least favorite part about summer on the east coast is the high humidity. In July, we will have a pool at our RV camp. I can hang out in a pool for hours without a care in the world. In August we will be steps from the Atlantic Ocean. I look forward to early …
It’s Monday, 3:30 pm, and the Bierko team has been rocking the ready-set-go! Today we organized our kitchen and pantry in the RV. As any traveler will tell you, creating an ergonomic environment is one of the keys to success on the road. Whether you are car camping or RV glamping, I think there’s serenity …
I am writing this on a humid Sunday afternoon, three days before we shove off for one hundred days of travel. Our little cabin in the woods will sit mostly empty save for three weeks in July when a concert violinist, his cellist spouse, their two teenagers and a dog call this spot home. The …
“One and done” might be our hope in our personal and professional lives, but it rarely proves to be so. In my 64 years, I’ve learned that almost everything is like the pencils we got in first grade: you use it, then you sharpen it. Repeat! Another highlight of first grade was kissing Dale Benerofe …
My stepfather turned 89 last week and my mother will reach that same milestone in November. To me, people living that long is truly amazing. When I was a ten year old boy, I thought 89 was friggin’ ancient. For Pete’s sake, that was people who were born in the 1880’s and said “for Pete’s …
In between chapters of whatever book I’m reading on Kindle, I like to peruse Reddit. My feed is full of cars, guitars, birds and lots of user-created questions like this one… “Which rock bands should just retire”? As you might imagine, the answers people post are focused on the bands that peaked in the 1970s …
Today, I ordered our Starlink kit, the go-to WiFi router and satellite dish for nomadic adventuresrs. I started seeing these kits last season. I’m looking forward to not depending on our cell service or the sometimes spotty internet connections at campsites. When we traveled across the country a few years ago, the technology was all …
My wife was listening to a Scott Galloway interview, today. Per usual, I overheard enough to think, “Yes. He’s right about that” followed shortly by, “Jesus, Dude. You can be a real dick, sometimes.” Masculinity, it seems, can be characterized by some as the tendency to say what you are thinking with assertive language. To …
I didn’t know this, but Memorial Day used to be referred to as “Decoration Day.” On this day, the custom was (and still is) to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers with flags, Red poppies or coins. The coins are an interesting tradition. Leaving one on the headstone of a soldier sends a message to …