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 July, 2020
Dear Friends,
It's not easy being a travel writer in the Covid Age. So when Bob and I had the chance to take a socially distanced trip to our neighboring state of Missouri, we were as excited as if we were going to Italy.
Our destination was the region around Columbia, Missouri, a lovely city that’s home to the University of Missouri. We camped at Finger Lakes State Park, which is located just north of the city. Once a coal mine, the park has been reclaimed as a beautiful nature sanctuary that’s especially known for its long, narrow lakes that wind through woods.
For four days we hiked, kayaked, swam, and biked portions of the 240-mile Katy Trail State Park, which follows the Missouri River for much of its length. We saw people nearly everywhere we went, clearly enjoying being outside while still remaining socially distanced.
On one of our bike rides we were fortunate to have the company of Mike Sutherland, an avid cyclist who’s also director of Missouri State Parks. He told us that visitors are flocking to parks throughout his state. “Many people are eager to travel again, and camping and outdoor activities are attractive because they make it easy to social distance,” he said. “We’re getting a lot of first-timers in all of our parks, and our campgrounds are much busier than usual. We’re working hard to make sure visitors can enjoy the outdoors while still remaining safe.”
His comments made me realize that one of the silver linings of the Covid Age is that many more people have discovered the joys of the outdoors. RV sales are soaring and parks around the nation are seeing increasing numbers of visitors. Closer to home, people are enjoying local parks, tuning up their bicycles, planting gardens, and spending more time in their backyards.
I think many of these people are realizing what countless spiritual seekers have discovered before us: nature is a source of great comfort and healing. My personal opinion is that God must love hiking, because it's so much easier to find him on a trail than in a building.
I'm reminded of these words from the great nineteenth-century conservationist and naturalist John Muir: "Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life."
Let's hope that after the pandemic is over, it will have created a whole new generation of people who love the outdoors and want to protect it.
Blessings on all your journeys—
Lori
(photo by Bob Sessions)
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Recommended Reading:
 Florence Williams' The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative explores the science behind nature's positive effects on the brain.
Learn about the therapeutic Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku in Dr. Qing Li's Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness.
Richard Louv launched an international movement to get kids away from screens and into the great outdoors with his Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.
Book Updates:
I'm delighted that  Near the Exit: Travels with the Not-So-Grim Reaper won a silver award for religion book of the year in the INDIES Awards sponsored by Foreword Reviews.
Writes reviewer Katie Asher: "A helpful reminder that no one escapes this life alive, Lori Erickson’s Near the Exit is a travel text and an act of religious exploration, presenting spiritual meditations from some of the holiest places on Earth. . . Showing how coping mechanisms and spiritual practices from around the world can be valuable for learning more about our own lives and eventual deaths, Near the Exit is an ideal guidebook to facing the  inevitable."
My previous book Holy Rover: Journeys in Search of Mystery, Miracles, and God is a memoir told through trips to a dozen holy sites around the world.
For a full list of reviews, awards, and media coverage for both these titles, see my Lori Erickson website.
And if you've read and enjoyed either of my books, I hope you'll write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Your review will help other readers discover my work.
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