Sometimes I feel alone where I live. A degree of this isolation is intentional and self-imposed because I wanted to make my home were unlimited amounts of wide-open space and wilderness still exist. Star Valley, Wyoming has so many natural wonders and is a geographical paradise for me. It abounds with all the opportunities for outdoor adventure so plentiful in the Rockies. However, there is one drawback—though its inhabitants are down-to-earth, though we share so many basic needs and desires—my ideas about nutrition, health, wellness, and exercise are foreign and radical to most of the people who share my mountain home. This is the cowboy state, after all, and a lot of meat with a small serving of potatoes is the main course here.
In the end, my plant-based lifestyle, yoga practice, and habit of mediation are viewed suspiciously. Locals also find my involvement in cycling amusing, which is not considered a real sport because I'm riding on two wheels and not something with four legs. And why on earth would anyone want to ride a bike one to two hundred miles in a day? I suppose I do live a unique life-style compared to others in my community. Nonetheless, I possess the energy to work a full-time job, help run a small family farm, be a devoted father and husband, exercise two or more hours each day, prepare and cook plant-based meals, read/study/write about wellness and a plant-based life, and more.
Because I have a lot to offer, people are curious and occasionally have genuine questions. While a few inquiries are merely polite conversation starters, others are pleas. I created this space to preserve my story and start the slow process of much needed change in my family, neighborhood, and community. I am, on occasion, asked about my lifestyle. Sometimes my colleagues at work and neighbors actually want me to share recipes and advice. That is what this space is about—Service, Community, Plant-based Nutrition, Wellness, and Going the Distance.
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