An Unexpected Journey
An Unexpected Journey - June 25th, 2026
Adult Memoir, Non-Fiction
SOFTCOVER @ $TBD
HARDCOVER @ $TBD
A Message to Readers:
Thank you for choosing to read this memoir. I wasn’t planning on writing a book about my travels - I had actually started a YouTube Channel instead. I thought it would be a lot more fun to watch the adventures I go on rather than write about them. As an example, recording/watching a museum visit is much more fun than reading about it.
So, with my YouTube Channel set up, all of my ‘needed’ necessities shoved into the back of my mid-sized SUV, a promise to my 12-year-old self, and an unhealthy lack of fear of the unknown, I set off down roads with no idea what was going to happen.
My three main objectives were:
Never see a snowbank ever again in my life, or have to live in sub-zero temps, or deal with black ice, or blizzards, or… You get the point.
Live an adventurous life - something different from the first 54 years of my life.
Sit in a lawnchair and watch lizards jump on and off rocks in the desert.
The above three points are what my first 54 years of life had boiled down to: No icy winters or cold temps, adventure, lizards on rocks, and a lawn chair for comfort.
Simple and stupid, and it worked for me.
Well, what is that phrase about making plans and the universe laughs? Mmm hmm…
I met a man.
I knew I’d most likely meet new people during my travels, but meeting a romantic interest wasn’t on that carefully crafted BINGO Card.
Throughout this book, you’ll read all about him, and how we met, and our time spent together and apart, and serendipitously together again, as well as my thoughts on the biggest adventure, to date, that I have experienced.
I’d like to add and stress that even after the death of this gentleman, whom I had befriended, I was only journaling about my experiences for myself. Actually, this was the first time in my entire life I had ever journaled or kept a ‘diary’; I never had the discipline to write each day. That’s an odd thing to realize as a published author, too.
Anyway, I had started journaling my experiences with him after his death. Yes, you read that correctly - after his death, and experiences with him. My goal was to keep these notes for myself so I wouldn’t forget any of them. My end-all was to never publish a book. However, he had different plans. Again, you read that correctly. This book is Fred’s idea - and you read that correctly, too.
I have been journaling since March 12, 2025 - the day he died - and for the purpose of this book, will include all experiences through March 31, 2026. He has lit a fire under my derriere, which you will read about further along in this book. I told him that I would finish writing in March of 2026, with a hopeful release on what would have been his 64th birthday, June 25, 2026. Typically, writing a book and all of the other processes of getting a book to market take a lot longer than a few months, but he’s on a mission, and I’m in the office pulling 10 to 12-hour days to get this done for him. In reality, though, I’ve been writing since March 12, 2025.
My other conundrum was that I wasn’t comfortable with slapping a price tag on it; I didn’t want to ‘cheapen’ or ‘disrespect’ Fred or our relationship. He, however, has made it clear that this book needs to be written and sold to the masses as soon as possible. Again, you read that correctly, and you’ll find out how he expressed his urgency further into the book.
I’ll also add that although I have been documenting this experience since March of 2025, the writing for the rest of the book didn’t really begin until early February 2026, after I received my latest homework assignment to write this book.
Additionally, these are solely my memories, my views, opinions, and experiences with Fred. I have not spoken with anyone in his family or any of his friends.
As this is a compilation of several notes and documents, there are repeats of information. However, the repeats will have different info and most likely are placed to support the story being told at that time. The Timeline portion of the book, covering events from 3/12/25 through 3/31/26, lays out most of them in chronological order.
I’ll add that there are tidbits of thoughts I noted in the middle of the night after waking up unexpectedly. Going through those entries now, after some time has passed, I wasn’t always sure what I meant at 3:33 am that particular day, so I left the tidbit. I might actually remember what it means in the future.
Interestingly, though, as you read this book, you’ll recognize the result of why something happened the way it did. The culmination of events, or the answers to hanging questions, etc. It’s been a unique ‘learning experience’ for me, cementing that old adage, ‘Everything happens for a reason.’ And yes, it does.
This book is very much a compiled keepsake for me to use as a reference rather than digging through countless post-it notes, notebook messages, Google Docs, texts, DMs, receipts, etc.
Lastly, for people in his family or friend circle, I don’t use their names because they're not aware of the book's creation, and instead use descriptors when possible. There is one person, however, from Fred’s life whom I list as ‘L.M.’ - her initials. I don’t know her personally, nor have I ever spoken to her, but I feel she should be mentioned since her name comes up both before and after his death.
With all that being said, both Fred and I hope you enjoy this book and the adventures we have shared thus far, and that we (hopefully) get to continue to share in the future.
Adult Memoir, Non-Fiction