I have spent about half of my life playing the hammered and fretted dulcimers in concert halls in this country and others, playing piano for school choirs and community productions of musicals, playing conga drums in Caribbean influenced Celtic Music, playing bodhrán in Irish pubs, and playing guitar around campfires in the Grand Canyon.

I have spent the other half of these years tromping through the swamps of South Texas, backpacking on the Appalachian Trail in the Smoky Mountains, trying not to step on the billions of bright insects in the rain forests of Costa Rica, back country skiing along the Continental Divide in Colorado, rafting the Rio Grande de Santiago in southwestern Mexico, and in the last several years, running the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. . . the Grand Canyon . . . living in the bottom of the Grand Canyon for almost three weeks each trip changed my thinking about what life must inlcude. The Anasazi grew their crops and raised their children on the water of the river. The Havasupai and Hualapai still do. They live there, play music under the stars, make a living and a life in the out of doors. Things are different in my life, but I'd like to change all that. I saw the pathway that leads in the direction of a life out of doors after these four excursions of 18 days each through the Grand Canyon. The outdoors are calling me to make my living with music under the roof of the sun and moon.

So . . .

. . . any ideas, guidance, suggestions, opportunities that you can point my way will be greatly appreciated. I'm a skilled outdoors woman, and a skilled musician. These two trends must contain the seeds for a way to make a living . . . somehow. . . and now is the time to begin. See the Rivers and Dulcimers Page to watch my first step, and look out for future excursions - sea kayaking off the coast of Baja California is the next step.

©Bonnie Carol 2001* Bonnie@BonnieCarol.com * www.BonnieCarol.com *15 Sherwood Road * Nederland, Colorado 80466 * 303.258.7763