| Dave Clingman lives in Coarsegold, California as of February 6, 2008, and has lived here since August of 1991. However, he has now been evicted from his home of twelve years by the new owners of the land on which he has been living. He does not know where he will go, but he knows God is still in control. He is worried a bit, but he keeps reminding himself that God was not surprised by this eviction. Dave enjoys backpacking and nature, even though he doesn't backpack as much as he once did. He has discovered that when he actually LIVES in nature, his drive to get out into it with his backpack is less strong. He also enjoys working out at the gym, even though at times it is difficult and painful. For the past thirteen months, he has been
traveling more than ever. It all started with a simple five day vacation to Mazatlan in December 2006. He enjoyed that trip so very much that he decided two things: First, he will come back to Mazatlan again next year (something that didn't actually happen, though he did in fact travel to Costa Rica the following year as a substitute to Mazatlan -- but that is altogether another story). Second, he decided that he can indeed do some traveling and actually enjoy it. So, he started going different places.
What was it about Mazatlan that was so magical? That is a question that has been posed to him many times. He still is not quite sure of the answer. That trip was just the right amount of sight seeing and relaxing, with actually a bit more emphasis on the relaxing part. It was a different type of setting and life style than he had previously experienced on his own. He still wonders himself what made that trip so amazing.
His next trip after Mazatlan was to Hawaii in February 2007, which he enjoyed but not quite as much as Mazatlan. The beach and ocean never really held his interest or attention or attraction the way that mountains do. Still, that did not dampen his desire to travel yet more.In April 2007, Dave attended a new (to him) computer conference in Cleveland, Ohio. That trip was more
business related than for fun, but Dave still had plenty of fun. The Notacon is a very fun conference, and he will be back again in 2008. Less than two weeks later, in May 2007, he flew nearly halfway around the world to Paris, France for five days and simply LOVED that trip. For this trip, he met someone with whom he had been communicating online for a few months, someone with whom he had become deeply infatuated. Johnny turned out to be every bit as wonderful and caring and smart and respectful in person as he was in emails, chats, and telephone conversations.
Dave fell in love. That is what made that trip so special. Paris is a wonderful city, full of history, with more things than a person can hope to see in several weeks, let alone in just five days. But Dave and Johnny saw many many things. Dave's favorite activity was climbing the stairs inside the Eiffel Tower. But of course, what made Paris so special to Dave was meeting Johnny, sharing the experiences and activities with Johnny. And what is it that made
Johnny so very special in Dave's heart? Johnny is a very caring and giving man. Johnny took care of Dave and was concerned with Dave's foot was bothering him. He was respectful of Dave. Dave had asked Johnny to not try to kiss him until he was ready. Johnny LOVES to kiss, but Dave wants a kiss to really mean something. After two days, Dave kissed Johnny for the first time, and it was amazing. The many kisses they shared all over Paris were all
amazing. Johnny is amazing.But distance worked against Johnny and Dave. Johnny lives in Romania. Talk about long distance romance! Dave and Johnny shared one more trip together in August 2007, which wasn't quite as magical as Paris but was still a wonderful trip. Dave flew to Germany for a computer conference, and Johnny met him there. After the conference, D
and J drove all over Europe in a rented car, visiting Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Licthtenstein, Italy, and Salzburg and Vienna, Austria.
But back to Dave's trips.Dave attended two more computer conferences, both of which were in Las Vegas, Nevada: Interop in May 2007 and Defcon in August 2007. In fact, the Defcon trip was part of the Europe
trip, sort of, as explained on those pages.After Europe, which was the biggest vacation Dave has ever had in his life, he attended a couple of conferences in his own state of California, the TravelExpo in San Francisco and Toorcon in San Diego.Then Dave flew to Alaska for a few days. Dave had wanted to see Alaska pretty much his entire life, and this trip was in some ways the fulfillment of a life long dream. Dave seriously considered moving to Alaska, and now that he is being forced from his home of twelve years, he might actually do it.In January 2008, Dave and his friend Dan flew to Costa Rica for ten days, and they had a wonderful
time. Those pages are not in this website just yet, but Dave will hopefully get them posted sometime in the near future. During their ten days in Costa Rica, Dave and Dan spent time in San Jose, La Fortuna and the Arenal Volcano, Monteverde doing ziplines and sky bridges, and Playa Hermosa on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. Dave returned from the Costa Rica trip just a few days ago, and now he is busy trying to get things organized and moved to his new home. Where is his
new home? As of this writing, Dave still does not know. With just three weeks left before his move, Dave still has no idea where he will be moving. A very scary thought. But as already stated, he is confident that God has a purpose and a plan for this move. Until next time -- Dave Clingman
aka whstler |
