Synopsis
" Life on the Shoulder is about a journey on many levels. It is one that travels back through time, experiencing the places known and recorded in the pages of history and the journals of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. It is also a journey through the current American west, an area of diverse environments, staggering beauty and powerful natural forces. The landscape also proved to be one of emotional hills and valleys, mountains of elation, pits of exhaustion, prairies of boredom, storms of fear, anger and frustration, and stunning sun flashes of inspiration. "It was a discovery of self and my connection with everything outside of my being. The spiritual lessons taught on this journey made me understand how narrow our scope of life can be, how much energy is wasted on worry, and how, at the moment when we feel we are most alone, we are truly in the company of our most trusted and dependable guides. As a great deal of time was spent literally riding "on the shoulder" of many roads and passing many sights, I, in turn, was passed by many other travelers, be they in cars, trains or logging trucks. The analogy to life became quickly apparent. By living a "life on the shoulder," one allows oneself to step back and permit life's events to unfold naturally, at their own pace, with acceptance and without force. While Lewis and Clark have been credited with exploring the western wilderness, I believe the exploration of the greatest wilderness lies just beneath the skin in the hearts and minds of us all." – Gordon T. Ward
About the Author
Gordon T. Ward was born in Tacoma, Washington, and his family moved to New Jersey when he was eleven months old. Both of his parents were talented artists and enjoyed the outdoors, and his family divided their time between the family's home in Bernardsville, New Jersey and a summer cottage in Maine. After high school, Gordon went on to major in fine arts and psychology at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey, where his father was a professor. Gordon soon began his own career in education, teaching language arts and history. In the summer of 1994, he used his love of history and the outdoors to cycle, hike and canoe 1,800 miles of the Lewis and Clark Trail in order to establish a school scholarship. A lifelong writer, Gordon used his experiences on the Lewis and Clark Trail to write Life on the Shoulder, which details his experiences and the changes that have taken place in the varied environments along the trail. The author has also written speeches, articles, a self-published collection of original poetry, and completed a manuscript entitled A Bit of Earth about the history of the land where he spent his childhood. It includes personal anecdotes and addresses his belief in the link that we all have to the past and the future. Gordon also manages his own, part time, experiential education company, GTW SERVICES LLC, which allows him to offer teambuilding programs to many types of groups and deliver presentations on various topics. The author currently resides in Bedminster, New Jersey. Gordon loves being a father to his daughter and son, and continually pursues his passions for songwriting, playing guitar, and running.
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