It's a big adventure. I sold my house, gave away or sold most of my possessions. Put stuff in storage and got in my car and started driving.

My goal was to see all of America. Well, a lot of it. From coast to coast and all 48 continental states.

And I did it. I drove 20,474 miles in my car over the course of five full months.

Why?

There are multiple reasons why I did this.

First off I love to travel! I have done a fair amount of travel around the world including visits to Japan, India, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Egypt and more. You can see all of that in the travel section of my website here: Adventure Traveling around the world

But, in all that travel during my life I have done very little travel in this great country of America! Yup. It's been a blind spot in my travel. So it has always been on my mind.

Secondly....

I am not getting any younger. Time passes very quickly and now I am in my fifties and the thought keeps coming back to me that if I don't take on this adventure of seeing America soon I may never get to do it. And.... this adventure has been on my mind for a very long time. Let me tell you a story.

When I was a teenager, possibly a pre-teen I was given the gift of a big beautiful atlas of the United States. It was a big over-sized hardcover book with a red cover. I was totally enthralled. You have to remember that it was the 70's and there was no internet at all. Books were everything. I loved that atlas. I would look through it all the time. the states were in different colors and it had major cities, major highways and facts about each state.

It inspired a dream in me that someday, when I was an adult, I would travel to all those states and see America.

Well.... ten years passed very quickly. The seventies soon turned into the eighties. I was now a young man in my 20's. And a movie came out called "Mask".

It is about a teenaged boy (Eric Stoltz) who has a facial deformity. The theme of the movie is that you can have a deformed face yet have a beautiful soul. The doctors were always amazed by the fact that he should have died but continued to live.

But the big thing for me, the thing that really struck me is that this teenager had the dream of visiting Europe, seeing all the major sights. He had a map of Europe on his bedroom wall and he would show people, and tell people that is the reason why he is still alive. He had this grand dream of seeing Europe and all the wonderful sights. The movie ends with him dying. And the camera pans over his map of Europe. He never got to fulfill his dream. He died before he could do it.

(This movie is based on a true story. The young man's name was Rocky Dennis.)

And it struck me hard because when I was a teenager I had that same dream. And now here it was ten years later and I hadn't done it. I was living my life just like everyone else and my big dream of seeing America had fallen to the wayside.

Fast forward to now....

Now I am a mature man in my 50's and again I wonder. Wow! Where has the time gone? And the thought keeps coming back to me: "If I don't do this big adventure now I may never do it". I am starting to have health issues and it would be very easy for me to get to a point where I can't physically do it. Or I could just die and that would be that. Dream unfulfilled.

So..... I sold my house, got rid of most of my stuff, packed the car and headed off on my dream.

Ahh... but why all the medieval stuff?

True, I am calling this adventure "Seeing Medieval America". And there is a very good reason for that.

I love medieval things. I always have. And believe it or not there are lots of medieval-esque things in America. And there are hundreds of castles. Which I also love.

And I have another dream - the dream of building my own castle.

But I am totally at a loss for how to do it!

So... on this adventure I am visiting castles, getting to know them, coming to an understanding of how they were built. And this is all good research that will help me build my own castle.

And those are the reasons for my trek around America.

Would you like to get involved? Maybe help in some way? Maybe be updated on my progres?

So, How do you participate in the fun?

There are seven different ways:

1. Have some work for me? Do you need an article, tutorial or book written? I can write it. As long as it is within the realm of subjects I cover!
2. A one time donation through paypal

1. A monthly pledge through Patreon
2. Buy something for me on my Amazon Wish List
3. Spread the word! Tell your friends, family, social network about his website and youtube channel!
4. Have some skill with one of my subjects? Write an article, create a tutorial. Contribute to my website. You will become famous! Well.. not really famous. But I sure would be grateful!! And of course you get credit and I email you a certificate of contribution.
5. Buy one of my books. They are in various forms and all available on amazon.com. Check out Will's Books here

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About Patreon: What can you get?

If you sign up to be a patron I have a whole lot of goodies for you to choose from Including:

• A certificate of contribution
• A postcard from my hometown
• Honorary Knighthood
• My meadmaking ebooks
• My book on Fantasy and Medieval Dioramas
• Shoutout on my youtube channel
• A hand-made Nail Sword, forged by Will

Learn more about these donation tiers on my Patreon Page here

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