Thank you for visiting the Eco-Discovery Tour website. We are now on the road full-time and will be keeping the website up to date with new visits, pictures, and information as we go! You can keep in touch with our updates through our blog ecodiscoverytour.blogspot.com and please tell your friends, and visit our website again soon!
From the Road
John & Kate
The Eco-Discovery Tour
In the summer of 2009 we will be leaving on a journey of discovery and celebration.Using a vintage 1962 Airstream Flying Cloud as our home on wheels, we plan to travel the country to find and share the efforts and initiatives of Americans everywhere to change the way we look at our lives, and attempt to live in harmony with our planet.A journey that will by its very nature continually take a new shape, mature, and through a combination of luck and serendipity, hopefully morph into something greater than the original goal.
In the fall of 2008, as the economy and the environment continued to deteriorate, we as business owners were faced with the decision of where to go from here.We were inspired by the adversity to ask ourselves what we really wanted to do with our lives.A few weeks before Thanksgiving, we discussed “doing something really crazy”, and without batting an eye or even knowing exactly what it was, we both said “yes”!We then started to put together the idea that had been brewing in our minds during many conversations about the meaning of our lives over the years.We both believed that we were seeing just the beginning of what may be the most dramatic restructuring of our society, economy, and environment that this or possibly any generation has ever seen.The question was what we were going to do not just about it, since survival itself may become a real challenge, but also do with it.We felt the current situation in the world has the potential of creating new opportunities, and to change the very fabric of our society at a time when the ability to change and adapt could become the key to our very survival.
As the idea for the Eco-Discovery Tour began to take shape we realized the time may be now or never, and that the opportunity to make something good out of something difficult was never more relevant.By Thanksgiving, as we gathered with some friends to celebrate, the concept for the great Tour was becoming clear.We gave a little tease about it to a few people at the gathering and we will never forget when one of them said “I’ll bet there are a lot of baby-boomers out there that would like to do this!”We thought for a moment and said “Yes, but how many of them will actually do it.”
Within a week, we had located a vintage 1962 22’ Airstream Flying Cloud.Amazingly it was for sale here in our home town of Bend, OR, and exactly what we were looking for.It had a good solid shell capable of being restyled to modern eco-friendly standards while keeping a piece of American history alive.Two days later we bought our future home and named her “Doris Mae” in honor of Kate’s mom.Doris had taught us that there is a lot more in life than just material goods, and that anything is possible if you believe in yourself and follow your dreams.
Now as we begin our journey, we would like to share it with you. Please visit our website often, subscribe to our blog, tell your friends, and join us on the Eco-Discovery Tour!
John Byfield & Kate Heber
Copyright 2009 Eco-Discovery Tour All rights reserved
