michael Franti Archives - Journey of My Mother's Son

Soul Family Retreats

by Dan Clouser | Dec 10, 2024 | Many Little People, Music, The Journey | 0 |

Be part of our Soul Family!

Over the years, Sandy and I have been blessed to meet so many amazing humans throughout our travels. People who many times come into our lives as strangers and stay in our lives as part of our Soul Family.

As a matter of fact, most of the people on this email list are people who we have met in person, people who I have shared a screen with on a podcast, or both. My email list isn’t your typical “marketing email blast list.” It’s truly made up of mostly people who I have connected with personally at some point in our journey.

The greatest part of our never-ending road trip is the ability to connect and reconnect with people we love throughout the country. I value that connection more than you could ever imagine.

Dan and Sandy – Three Becomes Two

by Dan Clouser | Jun 4, 2024 | Four Paws and Six Wheels, Many Little People, Podcasts, The Journey, Youkilis, the Golden Retriever | 0 |

This was probably the most difficult podcast that I ever had to record.

In this episode of “The Journey of My Mother’s Son” podcast, Sandy and I talk about our travels through California and the loss of our best travel companion, Youk.

The end of April was very difficult for us and we’re still working through the grief process. Youk crossed the Rainbow Bridge on April 24, 2024. It was certainly the most difficult thing that we’ve had to deal with since we’ve been traveling. Youk brought joy to such a large part of lives. We literally planned our life around his schedule and well-being. In return, he gave us unconditional love and countless memories that will last the rest of lives.

He was a larger-than-life personality who impacted the world in ways we never could have imagined. Countless people from all over the world have reached out to us since his passing to let us know how much they loved our best-selling author pup.

In addition to Youk, we talk about our travels through several national parks in California (Joshua Tree, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, Yosemite, and The Redwoods), our project at the Southern California Railway Museum, our night under the Golden Gate Bridge, our Pacific Coast Highway Adventure, and of course, reconnecting with friends.

Time to Adventure Again!

by Youkilis (The Golden Retriever) | Jul 10, 2023 | Four Paws and Six Wheels, Youkilis, the Golden Retriever | 1 |

Wednesday was a really great day at Knoebel’s because a lot of people came up to visit me that day! Matthew and Rebecca were still there and Jason, Rebecca’s boyfriend was there. He actually came to see me on Tuesday, but stayed until we all left on Thursday. But on Wednesday, Sherry, and Stephen, and Alex and his girlfriend, Kaylynn, and Lizze, and Stephie, and Lillian, and Lillian’s friend Kelsey all came to Knoebel’s just to visit with me! It was an awesome day!

After Knoebel’s, we were headed back to Matthew’s house for the weekend before starting our next adventure.

I’m really excited for our next adventure!

We’re going to be headed to Colorado for a book signing tour for me and daddy. I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to be able to sign with daddy, but I should be able to. I’ve never seen the Rocky Mountains before, so I can’t wait to see them. It’s going to be really exciting. We haven’t been that far west since 2021 and I really loved seeing that part of the country back then.

Bonjour! I’m officially an International Traveling Puppy!

by Youkilis (The Golden Retriever) | Jun 26, 2023 | Four Paws and Six Wheels, Youkilis, the Golden Retriever | 0 |

Bonjour means hello in French. I learned that when we went to Canada this past week. In Canada, they speak French and English, so I learned how to say, “hello” in French.

We went to Niagara Falls, and it sure was amazing.

But before I tell you all about Niagara Falls, let me tell you about what we did before we got there.

Folk Music, Long Hikes, and a Bath

by Youkilis (The Golden Retriever) | Sep 1, 2022 | Four Paws and Six Wheels, Music, Youkilis, the Golden Retriever | 0 |

On Friday night, we had a full house! Rebecca and Julian came down from Staten Island and Aunt Kathy and Uncle Donnie and Daniel all came down to visit me too. Mommy and daddy made a big dinner for everyone. Mommy did most of the work, daddy just grilled the chicken on the grill.

Uncle Donnie petted me a lot. Not when he was eating though. He doesn’t like when I breathe on him while he’s eating. I don’t know why, but he seems to get a little grumpy if I start breathing heavy on him while he’s eating. It must still have something to do with that time my brother, Buddy grabbed a hamburger off of his plate and ate it. I just think like, “Dude, get over it already, that was like 20 years ago and I wasn’t even born yet.” Some people just need to let things go. I personally would never think of taking food off of someone’s plate. Well, I do think about it, I just don’t actually do it. I’ve found that if I just stare into their eyes with my sad, starving, puppy dog eyes, they’ll just give me some food anyway.

I can’t even count the times that mommy and daddy have told me that they weren’t going to share with me and I just kept staring into their eyes and sure enough, I got some food. It works every time!

We’ve been in Pennsylvania for a Longtime

by Youkilis (The Golden Retriever) | Aug 18, 2022 | Four Paws and Six Wheels, Youkilis, the Golden Retriever | 0 |

After Knoebel’s, we went to Stephie and Eric’s house for a little over a week. That was fun too. Eric put in 30-amp service just for me! That way I could stay cool in the air conditioning on the days that it got really hot. And let me tell you, it got really hot on some of those days! Daddy and I would have to get up at like 5 o’clock in the morning so that we could get our walks in before it was too hot. We went on some long walks too. One day, we walked over eight miles. Daddy was tired, but I could have kept walking. Me and daddy are training to do the Mammoth March in New Jersey on October 2. That’s a 20=mile hike that we have to do in eight hours. Rebecca is going to meet us there and hike with us. Mommy is volunteering and helping the organizers run the event. I’m so excited about that. Sometimes I really have to stay on daddy to keep up our training. He’ll want to sleep in, but I’m right there to nudge him with my cold nose so that he gets his last butt out of bed and we can train for the Mammoth March.

Music Unites Us

by Dan Clouser | May 5, 2022 | Many Little People, Music, The Journey | 0 |

According to Jillian Levy, a Certified Holistic Health Counselor, there are six major health benefits of music therapy:

Music therapy reduces anxiety and physical effects of stress
It improves healing
It can help manage Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease
Music therapy reduces depression and other symptoms in the elderly
It helps to reduce symptoms of psychological disorders including schizophrenia
Music therapy improves self-expression and communication

Anthony Henderson – It’s a Human Thing

by Dan Clouser | Jan 14, 2021 | Many Little People, Podcasts, The Journey | 0 |

In our current polarized world, we really need to just sit down and have genuine conversations with each other in order to recognize the humanity in others.