The future of the History Adventuring project


My fascination with old photographs goes way back. I've always enjoyed old movies, old books, old photos. And what I wanted to do was to step into them in my imagination. A few years ago I started calling it "history adventuring" and mostly I did it on my computer. Then I started sharing these old photos on the web, and asking people to join me in my journey of imagination. And then, to my surprise, some people wanted to share this journey IRL (in real life).

As a person with mobility issues because of a medical emergency I survived many years ago (please don't ask), going out into the "real world" is difficult for me. But I've been trying it lately, and I like it, and I would like to do more of it. I don't drive, but I can sight-see with the best of them. When I look out at the mountains surrounding Phoenix I see a time when they were protected by Apaches. I can see the Phoenix of Dwight and Maie Heard, when suburbia was only two miles from downtown Phoenix. When I go to California, I follow the paths of the people who built the missions in Old Spain, I look at the San Fernando Valley and I can see it through the eyes of William Mulholland, who brought water to Los Angeles in 1913.

This year I've decided to expand my history adventuring. I will still spend the majority of my time on my computer, but I'll be getting out more. I will be talking face-to-face with people who share my enthusiasm for history adventuring, both in Phoenix and in Los Angeles.

If you think that I've ever had some great big idea, you flatter me. I just wanted to explore, and to learn, and to enjoy. And I want to continue doing this for as long as my old body can do it, which I figure will be a long time! And my offer still stands, if you need my help on something related to history adventuring, I'm glad to give it. You can write a book, make tee-shirts, makes videos, heck you could even make a movie, and I'll help you. My reward for this is that I can continue to go history adventuring, and maybe get a cheeseburger. My intention isn't to get rich, it's to enrich the life I have, and to me there's nothing more enriching than my history adventuring. I can't get enough.

Like the best things in life, I've stumbled into this. I had no plan other than looking at stuff, and I really still have no plan. I'm a visual person, not an organizer, so I lean heavily on my computer, and on my "left brained" friends to help me. And as this grows, as I'm sure it will, I suppose that people will imagine that I had it all planned, but I didn't. I'm making this up as I go along, which is what I consider the best adventure of all.

Thank you for walking with me. And there is so much more to see!

Image at the top of this post: Looking west on McDowell towards Scottsdale Road in the 1960s, Scottsdale, Arizona.
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