Go Great Circle #2: Charlie's Dream

In the next day or two I need to write a very special letter to my Father’n Law – Dad McGinn.  Ever since I was a teenage boy, I have dreamed of being a National Geographic Photographer, prancing around the globe, or living in the ruts, mixing it up with folks in exotic lands.  

                                                                                                                       Charles McGinn

As God, in his goodness would have it, I HAVE known a greater part of my dreams.   Wife, Kids, camera.  Indeed,  I have the raw pleasure of shooting pictures most everyday.  And some of the folks are occasionally exotic.  For the unacquainted, I work for the State of Arkansas, serving our Governor Mike Beebe.  Must be one of the greatest jobs on earth.  I get to watch leadership in action, tour all parts of the Natural State, and see what makes our little nation click.  But still --- its not the same as living out of a pack, under the lure of constant uncertainty.

But in a couple of days, I will come closer to my boyhood dream than I have been in decades, all due to the vision – and generosity - of McDad.

Chas/Charles has been talking the Great Circle for decades.  These days he is less apt to remember that he has had this conversation with us only recently.

Dad's vision for our trip is part Romantic – part Capitalist. 

He wants us to do what most folks only dream about… and make a video in the process. (Then sell it to you, even as we encourage you to join us in your own planet circling venture)

In keeping with his idea, dad wrote in a recent letter:

“Again, Make it  Great Circle, Not Great Zig Zag…   So that the journey will be the shortest possible for the cash-poor traveler.  It’s round the world, not see the world.  If people start doing this I truly believe mankind will finally begin to realize that we are all on this planet together and that there is plenty of room And that folks are pretty nice everywhere if you give them half a chance.  Least ways, there’s no reason for talking about nuclear bombing your neighbor.” 

To be continued.

Go Great Circle: Part 1

GGC: Kirk Jordan

What is it and why?

Over the last weeks or year, you may have heard me whisper of my forthcoming trip, something we call “The Great Circle.”  Then I blush with pleasure.

Truth is, I have tried not to talk of it too much, cause every time I do I feel like I am boasting, and then I remember the Lords’ specific injunction about declaring our future with the certainty that we control it.

            Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

(James 4:13-17 ESV)

So… with that stern warning in mind, I want to tell you what is on my plate (Lord willing) and how such a idea has come about.

On December 3^rd. I intend to leave Conway Arkansas, with my daughter Kayla in tow, fly to New York City, meet up with my sister-in-law Carlin and her husband Ray/Reza (hereafter, sister and brother) then, over the course of the next month circumnavigate the globe.  From there we will hit seven major cities around the world, and return to the USA one month later.   We plan stops in Milan, Istanbul, Dubai, Mumbai, Singapore, Melbourne,  and Auckland.  (Followed by a stateside visit with my first Dad in Lincoln, Oregon.)

The idea is that of my Father-in-Law, Charles McGinn, also known as Dad, or McDad.