One of the great things about being a full-time traveler is that you can focus your energy and efforts on just one thing at a time without the daily distractions of typical life.  While on the road sometimes we’re exploring, sometimes we’re working, and sometimes we’re studying.

This Semester: History and Culture through 1500 a.d.

Last year I studied physics (theory of relativity, quantum physics and astronomy).  So much has changed in physics since my youth.  So much fun!

This year I’m studying history from the beginning of human history to 1500 a.d.  I’m approaching this from four angles:

1. World history (western and eastern) through 1500
2. Cultural development through 1500
3. Western literature through 1500
4. History of creativity and technology through 1500

Doesn’t that sound fun?  This will be a foundation for my next “semester” when I will probably explore from 1500 to present.

No, I’m not enrolled in a college.  I have a master’s degree, so I don’t need the twelve credit hours.  And college tuition is way overpriced these days.  I just want to learn, so I bought the text books recommended for the courses.  Nowadays there are online learning opportunities, and I may take advantage of some one day.  But I like this approach of just studying the texts for this semester.

As a 50-something, studying these texts is remarkably different than when I was a 20-something.  Experience has taught me that what they present as facts changes over time.  So I add my own grains of salt to their ideas about the origins of man and the first civilizations.  I anticipate that they will present different “facts” thirty years from now as they discover new artifacts.  That’s the nature of progress.  Sometimes I’m led to conclude — we just don’t know what happened in history at that time.

In addition to my “college classes”, Wendy and I are enrolled in two classes this winter with our boating friends:

1. Marine Weather
2. Marine Electrical Systems

These 9-week classes are taught at the nearby John Wayne Marina by some amazing instructors with the United States Power Squadron.  These are practical classes designed to help us stay safe as we chug our ship through the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Canada’s Inner Passage.  This is challenging stuff and Wendy and I are working hard to wrap our brains around marine weather and the electrical systems of a boat.  Part of the fun is to rub shoulders with our fellow students who are retired pilots, engineers, doctors and educators.  Smart and genuinely good people.

All I can say is — Wow!  What a privilege to have the time, energy and money to enjoy learning anything I want to study.  Life is good.

• Clay