Walden on Wheels: On The Open Road from Debt to Freedom Paperback – May 14, 2013

I not only learned about the author's journey; I also looked inside myself & saw more than meets the eye. Even my eyes. I've had hardships like everyone else, and I have always thought that if we learn from our mistakes, than it wasn't a complete waste of time. I look back on my childhood born in the U.S., but raised in the wilds of Canada. I had adventures practically every day. My dogs & I had great times. I learned at an early age, unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on how you look at it), that I can always trust my animals. The unconditional love that I have never found in a human being. Now almost 50, gosh I don't feel THAT old, I still depend on my animals. Horses are very misunderstood animals. They grieve their dead forever; longer than most humans. I've heard elephants do too. Horses have every feeling and emotion that humans do. I recently lost one of my best horse friends. A huge piece of my heart is buried in that hole with her. After waiting a year, I will never forget the day that she gave herself to me, mind, body, soul, love, respect and trust. I will always be indebted to my children for making me smile and laugh. I wear those new wrinkles with pride. Didn't have them before the day they were born. Yes, all 3 were born on the same day. My kids and I have endured many hardships, but have come through them all stronger, better people for it. We have a special bond. Finally, finally I have unconditional love from at least 3 human beings. I haven't been as lucky as Ken. It seems he feels kindness wherever he went. Maybe because he believed he would find it still left in humans. I used to be more of an optimist, thinking there was good in every single person I met. I was quite shocked to grow up & learn that kindness is difficult to find. I have believed for a long time now that the reason I can't find the people I am looking for is simply because they do not exist in the particular State I currently live in. Yes, I've been back in the U.S. for my adult life. Before I was married, had children, then a divorce; I would take off with my dog, my camping gear and my truck. I'd yell, "Road Trip." I slept in some places that made my friends cringe. I also saw the open road and was very glad to be back in nature, where I found solace as a child. Maybe not a smart thing for a young woman to do. But my dog, who loved people, was scary looking and big. She was also extremely protective of me. Also a great judge of character. I followed her lead. She knew people better than I did. As for Canada, you haven't lived until you have dragged your 2 dogs away from the tree where that bear cub was crying for it's mama. I could tell by his fur which of 'our' bears was his mama. She was beautiful, but twice as big as most of our bears. Thank you adrenaline. Each dog weighed more or as much as I did. When we got back to the road, I promptly lost my cookies. However, it is one of many stories of my adventures growing up in Canada. My children still can't fathom my childhood, but at least they believe me now.This book hit me in so many ways. I love words and this author provided a plethora of words and put them together in such a way I can only dream of doing. This author changed my life. I remembered that I have to slow down again, and smell the proverbial flowers. This book made me want to yell "Road Trip!!" and pack up dogs, cats, rabbits, horses and children and go back to the way I was. Well, there's school. The fact that I don't have a horse trailer, and my truck is sitting there with a broken transmission. On my bucket list is camping with my horses and children. Unfortunately, a surgeon ruined my foot & leg, which in turn exacerbated my back injury, and now I have some strange bone & swelling growing on my other foot. I realized I put too much weight on my other leg, and it doesn't like it much. I'm truly afraid that my road trips are a thing of the past. However, nobody can take away those wonderful memories.It is really sad to see people so into their own lives that they no longer have time for others. I think I am living in a selfish State. A State dependent on the internet and other luxuries. A people who want what they want, and they want it NOW. Bigger, better, faster. NOW NOW NOW!!I would recommend this book to anyone & everyone, however, I'm afraid not all people would 'get' it. Thank you Ken for sharing your life, journey and adventures, especially with those of us confined to just reading about it. Thank you for making me remember who I really am.

I was intrigued by this one. I had read Walden in 11th grade high school AP English and I thought it was just ok. I didn't really get it. I think as an adult, I have a larger appreciation for Thoreau and what he was trying to accomplish. I have a large appreciation for Ken and how he went from being $32k in debt to getting out of debt and going to grad school and incurring no additional debt. It's a lesson that way too many people in this day and age need to learn.Ken's debt while staggering to him, is just the norm for 1 year of school for way too many young adults. I get it. You want a great education and you want to go to a great school and study things that interest you. Then you graduate and you face the daunting task of finding a job and start paying for those loans. I was lucky, between the Stafford loan, Dad and my scholarship, I didn't end up with a lot of debt, maybe $12k tops with the interest? We paid it off this year. Not because we couldn't before but because I didn't really feel like it. I went to a state school too.Ken decides he's going to pay off his debt and then go to grad school without incurring additional debt. You have to admire Ken - he's liberal and he feels like he needs to work hard and save and pay off what he owes. It's a novel concept these days. There's no magic loan fairy out there that's going to take away your loan. Get out there, take any type of job and figure out how to pay that loan down. So many people have a sense of entitlement and won't bother with minimum wage or eccentric jobs. They want things handed to them because they have a very expensive degree. Sorry, it doesn't work that way.Ken then decides to go to grad school at Duke and to save money, lives in a van. It's definitely a novel idea. Kind of creepy as he points out. But totally doable. Ken doesn't need material things and he can make do with the library for electricity and the gym for showers. He makes his own food. Loses weight and becomes lean. Participates in research studies. He makes do with what he has and clothes from the Salvation Army. He lives in solitude and finds comfort in that.Ken does wax poetic about consumerism and materialism. I guess that's his right to do so because he's really shaken that - he doesn't need stuff. He's good with following his heart and having only the essentials to get him through.I think to me, the overall lesson is that if you want something, you work for it. You figure out a way to make it work. No one is going to take care of it for you. No one is going to pay your debt off for you. I really liked this one and it was well worth the $4 via Amazon Kindle.