Simplify!
We lived the typical American middle class life. We were busy every day, every evening, and every weekend. We owned a huge house, full of every imaginable thing. We volunteered our time generously, and were quite fulfilled. We had it made.
But it was too much. Rod would drive home from a long day at work, planning for the Scout meeting that evening. Driving home, he would see that the lawn needed mowing and that the weeds needed pulling. And the trim needed paint. He’d park in the driveway, because the garage needed cleaning. With barely a minute to grab a bite, he'd make mental notes of all the chores that would not get done, and head out the door to the Scout meeting. Free time meant
time to fix things, maintain things, buy things, and otherwise be possessed by the possessions.We were quite satisfied that we had most of our priorities in order. After all, the majority of our time was spent either with family or volunteering, or working. But still, there was just too much. And with the kids now grown, we had the opportunity to make some changes
We made a decision to simplify. Radically. We figured that by taking two years to simplify, we could ease into it. Our goal was to leave on the trip with no worldly possessions other than our backpacks. And other than a few boxes of memories stored away, that's exactly what we did.
Pasadena
In August 2000, Rod got a call from his son Arlo to see if he wanted to join the company in Pasadena. Since we had already 
committed to our trip, we decided to use Pasadena as an intermediate step. It was a great idea.Rod walked to work. Fran bicycled to the store. We rarely needed to drive. We rented a tiny one bedroom cottage. We owned very little, so didn’t need to spend our time fixing or buying things. We could be backpacking the San Gabriel Mountains in 17 minutes. We loved it. We were well on our way to the simpler life.
Los Angeles also became a great introduction to the rest of the world. With a tremendous immigrant population, Los Angeles seems to have every culture represented. We visited Thai Town and China Town. We went to a great Greek festival in a Hispanic neighborhood, combining the best of both. Rod heard the drums of the Vietnamese dragon parade. Fran listened to the Dalai Lama. In Los Angeles, you can visit virtually any place in the world.The Great Giveaways!
We sold the house, two cars, 14 rooms full of furniture, appliances, tools, and the billiard table. Everything.
But there are some things we couldn’t sell. Fran inherited the baby grand piano from her mom. We sent it off to Fran’s sister, along with other family stuff. Some very special gifts that we had received over the years we returned to the original givers.
There were also plenty of people who could benefit from our simplification. Both of our sons were setting up households, so tonnage went their way. A Scout troop got several pickup trucks full of things for an auction. Relief organizations got tons of clothes, blankets, and shoes. Boots went to Guatemala.
As we gave things away a strange thing happened. At first there was just so much stuff, and it was hard to part with. But with each item we gave away, our load became lighter. And we saw the joy in the people who received it. It became easier and very satisfying. Giving away everything we own transitioned from a chore to a real joy.
Just before we departed, we had the final going away party. It was the party to make the last few things “go away”. Arlo nicknamed it the house-looting party. What remained was then donated to a local church. After storing a few boxes of memories with friends, we are down to just our backpacks.
