A Little More About Us

Whether you’ve been following along since our slow start almost a year ago, or you’re new here, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for following along and to share a little more about us! Even those of you who know us might be surprised by one or two of these facts! So without further adieu, let us introduce ourselves a little bit better!

Derek:

1. Derek is a self-taught musician/songwriter. Though he can play nearly any instrument he picks up, he prefers drums, guitar, and piano. In that order.
2. Derek has a professional background in information technology, and he has worked for both a nationally recognized IT company and a privately owned local business in the United States. He continues to do remote work and freelance jobs in this field. Derek also does all of our IT work to keep this site up and running.
3. He loves all things rock climbing and hiking.
4. Being a bit of a gamer as a teen, Derek still enjoys playing video games occasionally, but he has transitioned more into video game development and animation.
5. Wind, rain, and stormy skies are his idea of perfect weather for almost all occasions– partially because it thins the crowds and partially because he enjoys a survivalist vibe.

Kacie:

1. As a natural glossophile (one who loves languages), I have become somewhat proficient in Spanish, Italian, German, and French. I’m also studying Mandarin and Japanese.
2. While Derek struggles to find the time to keep up with his many passions and interests, I am the exact opposite. I struggle to find things that I am deeply passionate about. Because of that I have never really found a solid path in life. I have worked in food service, retail, banking, clerical work, and education, but nothing for more than a few years before I am on to the next idea.
3. I enjoy martial arts and yoga. Team sports and other types of physical fitness are not for me! I also enjoy meditation and reading, mostly non fiction.
4. I am still extremely close to my three friends from high school. Despite going very different directions in life, and not living near one another, we still talk almost daily.
5. A foodie at heart, I’m something of a cheese, chocolate, and wine connoisseur. Individually, though, not all at once or even paired together.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Both of us:

1. We’ve always enjoyed vacations and traveling, but true wanderlust struck in 2014 during our summer in Italy.
2. Though we have a difference of opinion on our favorites, we both agree cherry pie is an obvious second choice.
3. We are both die hard night owls. We both wish we weren’t. Although, we have been desperately trying to change this sad fact, we’ve not had any luck so far.
4. We are movie buffs, who particularly enjoy horror flicks. Although one of us tends to be a little more critical than the other…
5. We don’t watch too much TV, but we did watch every episode of the X-Files. They should have stopped making seasons long before they did, but the early ones were great! We added Roswell, New Mexico to our 2019 road trip just because of the show. (Spoiler alert: There really aren’t any X-Files references in Roswell.)
6. Neither of us have “acquired the taste” for beer yet. We just can’t seem to get on board that bandwagon, but we will try a new brewery every once in a while just to remember that we still don’t really like beer.
7. Derek and I both grew up around motorcycles. We owned our own bike for awhile and together we’ve ridden all over Southern Illinois and Southeastern Missouri.
8. Our favorite restaurant (that we’ve found so far!) is a Mexican restaurant called Tequila’s in Carbondale, Illinois. They have the best margaritas we’ve ever had, and on Saturdays pitchers are only $8.99! Derek even bribed one of the servers to give us the recipe, but it’s just not quite the same when we make them.
9. Although we are currently doing long term travel abroad, our ideal goal would be to have a home base and take several shorter trips each year.
10. We have been to 6 countries and counting:

• 2009 (home country) United States
• 2013 The Bahamas
• 2014 Italy
• 2014 Vatican City
• 2019 Canada
• 2019 China

What about you? Do you share any of these interests with us? Tell us something about you! We love getting to know who’s following along!

Want to stay in touch with us? To get the latest updates and travel tips on how we do what we do, sign up below!

First Name:
Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human: