I’d love to hear more about why/how you chose France vs Spain, Portugal, or Italy and what was your process for figuring out which city to move to within France. Also, did you do all of your own research or did you use a service to help steer you along the way?

First a little background. We have lived overseas once before, when Joan worked for an international school in Seoul, South Korea. It was a great experience and a very easy transition. At the school, we had a built-in community of English-speaking expats from around the world, and Seoul is a modern city with all of the modern conveniences you would expect — a great public transit system, every kind of cuisine you can imagine. It was different, yet familiar.

We’ve always talked about living in Europe at some point, but due to work obligations, it always felt like more of a “someday” dream — more concept than concrete.

That perspective shifted as I looked at retirement and began to think that maybe the time was right.

Initially, we didn’t settle on Dijon or even France. We just loved the idea of living in Europe and the ease of traveling and experiencing so many different countries so easily. I saw a news story of a village on Sardinia offering the infamous 1 euro house deal and imagined what it would be like to refurbish an ancient home in a small, remote village. That seemed a bit too remote and far removed for our tastes, but it did get me thinking about how close other places in Europe are, and how easy it would be to travel to the UK, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and more.

At this point the algorithm kicked in and started suggesting content. We learned about an expat couple that moved from Missouri to Albania, and followed that rabbit hole. Joan had a friend who moved to Portugal, and so we did some research on that (many of the doors are closing there).

Then on October 26, 2025 we watched this video from Amelia and JP Abroad on their 10 favorite retirement spots. They listed cities across the world, but Dijon, France piqued our interest. It seemed to have the right mixture of history, vibrant culture and modernity

From that, the algorithm suggested Suzi from Fired Up in France. Suzi is an American expat who has been living in Dijon for 17 years, and has a great channel with a lot of content for people curious about moving to France in general, and Dijon in particular.

This kicked off more research, learning about moving to France and getting to know the city of Dijon.

There are many wonderful things about France, and one of the financial elements that tips the scale is their favorable tax treaty with the U.S.. We still file and pay income taxes in the U.S., but don’t get double taxed in France — not true for all countries.

As for where in France, there are many wonderful cities, towns and villages to choose from. For us, we liked the climate of Dijon — very similar to what we experienced in Bend, Oregon, but with slightly warmer winters and slightly cooler summers. We didn’t want hot and sunny, but we also wanted more than a village — something where we could immerse ourselves in French culture, history, food and wine but also enjoy great public transportation, excellent walkability (Dijon has entire sections of centre-ville that are pedestrian-only), and good cost of living (about 30% lower than Bend, Oregon).

Dijon is located roughly 1 hour 40 minutes from Paris by high-speed rail, and we have excellent high-speed rail connections that can get us throughout Europe. Plus, most of the trains allow dogs, which is important for our two labradoodles.

Once we decided on the move, we enlisted help from two companies. Daniel Tostado Avocats helped us with our long-stay visitor visas. These allow us to establish residency in France, but there is a fair amount of paperwork to go through — tax records, bank statements, proof of income — and they were very helpful guiding us through the process. We had to travel to San Francisco to submit our paperwork, and we didn’t want to have to go through that process twice.

We started looking for long term rentals, initially using Seloger.com. Initially, we were getting virtually acquainted with the various neighborhoods and the rental market. About a month before we were scheduled to land in France, we worked with Ibanista to help us focus our search. They were extremely helpful in scheduling (and translating) walkthroughs, ultimately finding the apartment we ended up loving and walking us through the details of the lease agreement (which of course, is in French).

In six months we went from dream to reality. Now we are walking the dogs through centre-ville, stopping for a coffee and a croissant, and slowing down to savor the day.

We’re still setting up the apartment and getting settled in, but Dijon feels like home.

The first order of business will be finding long term housing. We plan to live car-free, relying on public transportation and our own two feet to get around.

Dijon is a little bigger than Bend (160k vs 110k) but still quite manageable. Both high speed rail and regional trains serve Dijon, making it a great base for exploring Europe. We already have two trips planned—Switzerland for a couple days at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and southern England for a workshop and hiking on the coast.

Meanwhile, the house in Bend has been emptied and we are revisiting some of our favorite places one last time before heading to our next stop: San Francisco.

Photo credit: Stéphane Rouillard “KyonyxPhoto”

INGREDIENTS

• 4 rashers (strips) of smoky bacon
• 1 chorizo sausage, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced finely
• 4 kinds of mushrooms, sliced
• 3 small pots carbonara sauce
• 1 teaspoons chili flakes
• 400 grams pasta of your choice (penne works well)

STEPS

1. Fry the bacon & chorizo: Fry 4 rashers of smoky bacon and 1 chorizo sausage, sliced together until the bacon is crispy and the sausage is darker and cooked through.
2. Cook pasta: While the meat is frying, cook 400 grams pasta of your choice according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
3. Add garlic & mushrooms: Add 2 garlic cloves, sliced finely and 4 kinds of mushrooms, sliced to the pan. Sauté until the mushrooms are softened.
4. Add sauce & simmer: Stir in 3 small pots carbonara sauce and 1 teaspoons chili flakes. Mix until bubbly, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Combine & serve: Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Serve immediately — eat!

NOTES
Feel free to mix up the mushroom varieties — a combination of cremini, shiitake, oyster, and button works great. Adjust chili flakes to taste.

After a lot of conversations, long walks, and asking ourselves what we want the next chapter of our life to look like, we’ve decided it’s time for a change. This May, Joan and I are moving to Dijon, France.

Bend has been our home for the past nine years, though we’ve bounced around between LA and the Bay Area for work, it’s here where we’ve built community, friendships, and a life we’re deeply grateful for. Leaving Bend doesn’t mean we’re closing the book on this place or the people here. We’re just turning the page.

This move isn’t about running from anything. It’s about curiosity, a different pace of life, and choosing new adventures while we still can. Everything that matters most to us — connection, time outside, shared meals and good conversations — all come with us.

We are excited. And more than a little nervous. And very aware of how lucky we are to get to do this.

And yes, our door is always open to friends. Burgundy hikes, bike paths, wine, and long, leisurely French lunches are officially on the menu. ????

It was an epic experience, and one I’ll be replaying for a long time.

Here are a few highlights.

I’ve put together my packing list (your feedback welcomed) and reviewed it with a fellow Six-Pack of Peaks Challenger and Kilimanjaro alums Jason (watch the interview).

Summit Day

I leave for Tanzania in three weeks from today. We begin our 7-day trek on the Machame Route on Sunday, January 18th and our Summit Day starts in the wee hours of the morning on the 23rd, which is in…

I have three weeks to finalize my packing and wrap up my training.

“The word adventure has gotten overused. For me, when everything goes wrong – that’s when adventure starts” – Yvon Chouinard

Planning for Adventure

I don’t know if anyone has stumbled into an adventure up Mount Kilimanjaro. It’s the sort of adventure that requires loads of advance planning; budgeting expenses, booking flights, training, even meeting with my doctor.

Undoubtedly there will be surprises on this adventure. When experiencing anything for the first time, every step unveils something new and often unexpected, no matter how many YouTube videos you’ve watched or trip reports you’ve read.

Taking on an adventure like climbing Kilimanjaro requires a level of planning. It’s mostly a matter of prioritizing what matters to you. While plenty of people claim to love “outdoor adventure” (whatever that means), fewer take the necessary steps to prioritize adventure as part of their month-to-month, week-to-week, and day-to-day lives.

It’s part of why I created the Six-Pack of Peaks Challenge. The challenge involves committing yourself to adventure. Planning hikes that may require a full day (or two) up mountains that will test your body and spirit. There will be surprises, but you won’t stumble into completing it without at least a basic plan.

Cheers to an adventurous 2026!

Where is adventure calling you in the year ahead?

It’s worth noting that our top elevation on the Sawtooth Loop was 9,495 feet — almost 10,000 feet lower than the top of Kilimanjaro. Also, we were carrying all our own gear (~30-35 lbs), whereas we will be carrying less weight on Kili.

For easy reference, on Kili, our total mileage will be 35.75 miles and 69.7 energy miles — less than on this trip.

The big wildcard for Kilimanjaro is the elevation. At sea level, the effective percentage of oxygen in the air is around 20%. At the top of Kilimanjaro it’s about 10%, making our bodies work that much harder to get enough oxygen to hike (see this altitude to oxygen chart for reference).

There is no simple modification to Petzoldt’s energy mile theory that accounts for the additional effort required with less oxygen, but it’s safe to say it will take longer, require slower movement, with more frequent and longer rest breaks.

The takeaway from this? We worked hard on the Sawtooth Loop backpacking trip. If the elevation were not a factor on Kili (though it most definitely will be), this would’ve measured as a more difficult hike, done in six days vs the seven we will take on Kili.

At 19,341 feet above sea level, Kilimanjaro is the highest peak on the continent of Africa, making it one of the Seven Summits. It’s also 4,836 feet higher than the tallest peak I’ve hiked to date, Mount Whitney.

There are a number of factors that make this challenging. The weather can be wet, cold, snowy and windy. I don’t mind cold — I’ve experienced that on Mount Rainier — but I’d be very pleased if it didn’t rain on us.

The elevation is the big wildcard. I’ll be talking to my physician about a prescription for Diamox to help prevent altitude sickness, and I’ll be summiting at least four 14ers this year to see how my body responds at higher elevations. It’s been seven years since I last summited a 14er.

Then there is the hiking itself. I’ve estimated the daily milage and the gross elevation gain (and loss) each day, and the actual mileage is not bad. The gross elevation gain is non-trivial, but nothing I haven’t done before. Just not at 19,000 feet.

The table below shows the approximate mileage each day as well as the gross elevation gain. As you see, our mileage each day never goes over 10 miles, and our elevation gain does not exceed 4000 feet.

What are Energy Miles?

What you might not be familiar with is the last column, labeled Energy Miles. In 1976 Paul Petzoldt the founder of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) created a formula for hikers to calculate their energy needs. The formula estimates “energy mile” units. One “Energy Mile” is the energy required to walk one mile on flat terrain. The formula adds two more “energy miles” for every 1000 feet of elevation gain.

Using this formula, the energy miles approximates the effort of walking a level route. So the first day’s 7 miles and 3951 vertical gain would roughly equate to hiking 14.9 miles on a flat trail.

This does not account for the increased difficulty (or more accurately, the diminished efficiency) of hiking at higher elevations where there is less oxygen available. But it does provide a way of normalizing the daily mileage numbers into something a little more realistic.

My Kilimanjaro Training Plan

In my experience, the best training for hiking is… hiking. The reality is that it’s not always practical to devote 6-8 hours hiking several times a week. And so, my training incorporates three key components:

1. Hiking and Backpacking – I’m aiming to do at least one long hike each weekend, as well as back-to-back day hikes and backpacking.
2. Cardiovascular Fitness – My go-to for this is a 45 to 60 minute ride on my Peloton 3-4 times each week.
3. Strength Training – Legs, core, back and shoulders 2-3 times each week.

My workouts are logged on Strava, so feel free to follow along.

Because my climb is in January, most of the higher mountains here in Central Oregon will be covered in snow from November onward, so it will require some creativity to get those long hikes with vertical gain in, and probably more snow hikes up Black Butte.

Have you climbed Kilimanjaro? Any tips to share for training? Is Kili on your bucket list? Leave a comment and let me know.

That attempt was thwarted by an early snow storm that meant winter mountaineering. We weren’t equipped for that, and because it was shoulder season, the gear wasn’t available to rent or purchase. We hiked up Granite Canyon to an elevation of about 9,000 feet when it because obvious we needed a new plan.

So we camped on the snow for the night, and in the morning made our way back down to the valley trail which skirts the eastern flank of the range. It was still a pretty spectacular trip.

This year, I’m finally getting another crack at the Teton Crest Trail, and it’s coming up soon.

Countdown to the Teton Crest Trail

I’ll be posting details of the planning and the full trip report over at SoCalHiker.net if you’d like to follow along.

You might not know that I’ve done some mountain biking. In fact, mountain biking led me (indirectly) to starting up SoCalHiker.net and planning that second thru-hike on the JMT. I living in south Orange County and mountain biking 2-3 times a week. One one shuttle ride down the San Juan Trail off Ortega Highway, I misread a simple drop and went over the bars, fracturing my left wrist in two places. I couldn’t ride for 3-4 months, so I focused on hiking.

Fast forward another ten years. My friend Ben and I were talking about bikepacking the Deschutes Tier of the Oregon Timber Trail, a bikepacking route that wanders from the California border all the way through Oregon to the Washington border. We just wanted to do one of the tiers, and yet, on the first day out I went over the bars again, this time creating a “non-displaced fracture” to one of my ribs.

Let’s just say my mountain biking and bikepacking experience hasn’t been as successful as my hiking and backpacking adventures.

I believe in the power of setting big gnarly goals. They help stretch you and give you something to grow for. One such goal for me is to complete The Big Lonely — a 350+ mile, self-supported bikepacking race in Central Oregon that helps raise funds for the Adventure Access Fund.

Last year’s race there were 12 entrants, and only half of them completed the route. In my mind, a “win” will mean completing the route without breaking a bone or my bike.

My goal is to complete it over five days, not a pace to win a spot on any podium, but maybe within the realm of possibility.

I’m still primarily a hiker and backpacker, so this endeavor is reminding me what it’s like to be a total noob. It’s humbling.

If you have any words of wisdom, I’ll all ears.

Countdown to The Big Lonely

The rules: In no particular order, choose 10 albums, one per day, which made an impact (at some point in your life) on you. Post cover, no explanation, and nominate someone each day to do the challenge.

My friend Jason tagged me, and the result is this blog post.

I’m nominating you, since you’re reading this.

Post your list in the comments.

Some of the captures on the WayBackMachine are missing a few bits and pieces — some CSS here and and image there — but you’ll get the gist.

1999 – A Web Portfolio

In 1999, this site served as an online portfolio of web projects that Jim Styles and I had worked on. It was hosted on Microsoft IIS with a SQL Server backend to give us flexibility to demonstrate our ASP coding skills.

2001 – Re-launched with a Focus on Instant Messaging

In 2001 the dot-com bubble had burst. The startup I had worked for shuttered. And I repurposed BigBlueBall as an online community supporting instant messaging. We were still running on ASP and using Snitz Forum software to drive the community component.

The site went through a number of redesigns as we tried to get it right. Blue became the prominent color.

2004 An Evolving Design

The interface evolved to a fluid design that could expand to fill the resolution of your screen.

Headlines started to look like headlines. And we migrated from a Microsoft platform to open source PHP and vBulletin forums (which still look frozen in time to this day).

2010 – Migrating to WordPress and bbPress

Fed up with vBulletin being hacked over and over, we migrated to WordPress for the CMS and bbPress for the forums. At this point, the site was pretty quiet, and the forums where a ghost town. Facebook took over the world, or a big chunk of it.

Next up… looking back at the key contributors

Were you a participant or moderator in the BigBlueBall forums back in the day?

Here are a few of the names that stand out (in no particular order):

• Philip
• patndoris
• DJHyperbyte
• rustedtight
• Shifter
• Detn8r
• PolarBearNPR
• David
• MrEggSalad
• sarahtowny
• princeg
• Tigerblade
• RabidKitten
• Spike
• Oreo
• sciencefeeling
• MrOats
• Anna
• Nessa
• AwesomeSauce

I want to hear from you. Leave a comment with your BBB username and I will be in touch.

In 2001, I repurposed the domain as a public news and discussion forum around the topic of instant messaging. At one point, we had over 40,000 form members discussing AIM, ICQ, Trillian, MSN Messenger and so many more. The website was getting over 500,000 pageviews a month in 2006.

As Facebook and smartphones took off, interest in instant messaging waned. One by one, most of the old instant messaging applications eventually shut down.

And my personal interests shifted more toward being unplugged and outdoors.

In 2010 two things happened that essentially “killed” BigBlueBall.

First, the site was hacked, not just once, but multiple times throughout the year. Specifically, the discussion forums were hacked to redirect to other websites. The first hack was on February 18, 2010. I would undo the hack, repair the website, and it would get hacked again and again. This went on for about a year until finally in early 2011, we migrated to a new system that ended the attacks.

Second, I launched SoCalHiker.net. I was training to thru-hike the 211-mile John Muir Trail (JMT), and redirected my extracurricular energies into sharing my hike guides, JMT planning resources and gear reviews. It fit better with my personal focus and was a whole lot more fun than battling hackers.

The changes I made to BigBlueBall in 2011 resolved the problems we dealt with throughout 2010, but the web traffic never recovered. Interest in messaging had shifted. My interests had shifted. And the organic traffic we had from Google never quite recovered.

Fast forward to 2020

I occasionally get unsolicited offers to buy BigBlueball via email. Most of the time I ignore them, but when I had one pop-up in my inbox last month, it made me think. Maybe I could reinvigorate the website and breath a bit of life back into it.

And so I’m embarking on yet another side project: revitalizing BigBlueBall.com. I’m going to invest four hours per week to see what I can do to turn those pageview statistics around and breathe new life into an old website.

Let’s call it a BigBlueBall Revival.

On the other hand, days are very real and concrete. They count the here and now with relentless regularity. Sunrise. Sunset. Another day, another dollar. What day of the week is it? How many days until the weekend? What day is that hike on?  And yet, we often fritter away days as if they will go on forever.

What if we measured our lives by days rather than years? Does it add a sense of urgency? 

Malcolm Gladwell suggested in Outliers that it 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert. If you practiced four hours every day, seven days a week it would take 2,500 days to achieve expert status, or roughly seven years. Days (and hours) matter.

As for me, my 10,000th day fell on August 15, 1989. I was 27 years young. I had three kids and was trying my best to win at adulting.

My 20,000th day fell on New Years Eve, 2016. I was 54 years young, happily remarried four years earlier, celebrating 25 years of service with a single employer and getting ready to move to Seoul, South Korea.

My 30,000th day falls on May 18, 2044. I will be 82 years young. I’ve got lots on my life-list to accomplish between now and then, including writing a guide book for the Theodore Solomons Trail, relocating full-time to Bend, inspiring thousands of people to get outdoors more, and thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

Where are does this all lead?

According to actuary tables I should live 94.94 years, or 34,653 days. If the actuaries are accurate, I’ll give up my last breath on Monday, February 12, 2057.

20,502 days down. 14,151 days to go.

And because I need a reminder from time to time, I’ve got

left to get shit done.

What are you going to do with your days? 

Since then, I’ve run two marathons and a number of half marathons. And yet, I’m not what most people would consider a runner. I don’t run regularly. If I don’t run for days, weeks, or even months, I don’t get an itchy desire to lace up my Hoka One Ones and head out. I’d much prefer to amble along a dirt trail, noticing the wind through the trees, the wildflowers reaching for the sun, and the wild turkeys pecking their way uphill.

And yet, at least once a year for the past four years, my buddy Jason and I have travelled to another National Park to run another half marathon. This year, it’s the Grand Teton Half Marathon in Jackson, Wyoming. And this year, instead of logging 5-9 miles a run four times a week to train, I’m not running at all.

My Non-Runner’s Training Routine

Three times a week, I take an indoor cycling class. Specifically a Pursuit class, where your metrics are projected onto a screen at the front of the classroom. The accountability and competition inspires a higher level of performance that makes every other cycling class seem boring by comparison. It only takes an hour, and since the Equinox gym I belong to is two floors down, I have zero excuses. Best of all, it’s fun. Unlike running, I actually do feel an “itch” to go to a Pursuit class when I’ve missed one due to travel or other commitments.

And then I hike, usually twice a week. Hiking, by necessity, takes longer. I have to travel to-and-from the trailhead, and traveling at even a brisk hiking pace, most hikes consume half a day or more.

In between, I fill in the gaps with strength training and yoga. I’ve been learning Iyengar yoga, which focuses on proper form and has been super helpful for flexibility and recovery.

How well will this non-running training program work? 

I tested this last month in the Oakland Half Marathon. I signed up on a whim, just a couple weeks before the event. I planned to use the Jeff Galloway method, running four minutes and walking one, repeating until finished. I ended up running straight through mile nine, then adding in some walking stretches. I finished with my best half marathon time since 2012. My time wasn’t my fastest ever, but it felt like validation that a non-running training regimen could work.

We will find out in…

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