World travelers Jennifer Sumner and Barbara Castleton have each explored exotic places and don’t let not having a partner who likes to travel slow them down.
Jennifer Sumner is a retired teacher and business consultant, a wife, grandma and watercolor painter. She loves to travel internationally and she also travels around the western US in a sprinter RV. When she’s not traveling, she applies her appreciation of diversity and multicultural awareness to working for racial justice.
Barbara writes:
Nothing pleased me so much as when my 6th grade teacher complimented me on a tale of wildest fantasy. It was not the compliment that mattered but rather his “getting it”, my teacher’s understanding and appreciation for the story itself. That remains my goal, to use experience, inspiration, and words to powerfully communicate an idea or story. Yet, in the manner of a bad pun, my personal self-confidence diminished as my desire to write grew. A BS in Journalism from the University of Oregon led to a short-lived career as a copy-writer, followed by years of getting-by positions in health care. Throughout those same years, I raised an amazing child to young-womanhood and swallowed a great lump of heartache when she left home for school. I was 47, without specific goals or purpose, scrambling to remember who I was and what I wanted in that long ago life before I became a mom. One day, I recalled the Peace Corps, an organization that lets the young, the middle aged, and even the old to “give back.” Applying and being accepted into the Education Sector was a magic wand that blew stardust over my future and set a myriad of adventures in motion.