My Bucket List

Become an Eagle Scout

Graduate in the Top 10 from high school

Graduate with honors from the Virginia Military Institute  [also Stonewall Jackson Award Winner]

Get a B.S. degree in Physics  [VMI - 1986]

Drive a nuclear submarine  [5 years as a submarine officer aboard the USS Simon Bolivar - SSBN 641]

Scram a nuclear reactor  [USS Simon Bolivar - 1989]

See the largest living thing on earth – “General Sherman” Giant Sequoia – 1,900 tons

Camp 250 nights under the stars

See the largest living animal ever to exist on Earth – Blue Whale      [I have seen the second largest animal ever though – Fin Whale off the coast of Virginia]

Stand at the lowest spot in the world – Dead Sea at -1,391 feet below sea level

Stand at the lowest spot in the western hemisphere – Death Valley ( -282 feet below sea level )

Stand on top of the world – North Pole

Spend a day at Angel Falls – Highest waterfall in world (3,212 feet high)

Write a book – either novel or historical account

Get a doctoral degree    [ PharmD from Appalachian College of Pharmacy - 2009 ]

Climb Ayers Rock – Australia

Climb Mt. Whitney (highest peak in lower 48 states – 14,505 feet)

Climb Mt. Rainer (2nd highest peak in lower 48 states – 14,411 feet)

Climb Mt. Rogers (highest peak in Virginia – 5,729 feet - several times)

Climb the 5 highest peaks in Virginia (Rogers, Whitetop, Haw Orchard, Garden, Beartown Russell)  [based on 500 foot prominence for peak status]

Climb Mt. Mitchell (highest peak east of Mississippi – 6,684 feet) - July 2021

Climb Big A Mountain (highest peak in Buchanan County, Virginia – 3,706 feet)

Climb Kilimanjaro (highest peak in Africa – 19,334 feet)

Climb Half Dome – Yosemite National Park  (8,842 feet) [done this one three times so far - the inspiration for the North Face company logo]

Climb Mt. Fuji – Japan  (12,388 feet)

Visit Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and the volcanoes of Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii  [2019 - Two weeks on Big Island]

Hike across a glacier – [Athabasca Glacier – Columbia Icefield in Canadian Rockies]

Visit Alaska

Visit the Great Pyramids of Giza – Egypt

Visit Machu Picchu - Peru

Visit the highlands of Scotland

Kiss the Blarney Stone

Own a classic muscle car – '65 Pontiac GTO?

Thru hike the entire Appalachian Trail in one summer – 2,181 miles

Identify a new species (plant or animal)

Explore and map a new cave system

Discover an unknown shipwreck

Discover a historically significant artifact or document

Develop my own family genealogy with over 25,000 names

Research, locate and place new stone markers for 25 Buchanan County, Virginia veterans

Start my own company

Map the location of the graves for 200 of my ancestors  [Google "My Maps" project in progress]

Win a 5K race in my age division (several times) - [ I actually won the ACT 5K outright in Elkhorn City, KY at age 50 - did not expect that one ]

Run a Marathon (26.2 miles) – [ 14 so far I think - PR was a 3:44 run at the Virginia Creeper Marathon in 2016 ]

Finish an Ironman Race (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run)  - Louisville Ironman - August 24, 2014

Learn to read music / play an instrument / write a song

Get certified to Scuba dive

Snorkel / Scuba on a coral reef - [Bahamas, Dry Tortugas, Hawaii]

Go deep sea fishing - done this many times

Learn how to surf

Break the sound barrier (Mach 1) in a jet

See a supernova – largest explosion in universe (think 100 octillion hydrogen bombs) - [Supernova in M82 galaxy - January 26, 2014]

Go into outer space – orbit the Earth

Learn the constellations, major stars, astrological history, etc.

See the Southern Cross  [Mauna Kea, Hawaii - 13,803 feet - 2019]

Identify over 700 different species of birds in the North American ABA Area  (554 and counting…..)

Visit the Taj Mahal - India

Visit Rome, Italy

Visit Paris, France

See the Himalayas

Visit Patagonia – Argentina

Visit the Great Wall of China

Hike above 20,000 feet

See an active volcano erupt  [ mini eruption at Mt. St. Helens ~ 1990 ]

Swim in a dormant volcano caldera  (Crater Lake Oregon - water temp in mid 30's - {it was a short swim} )

Swim in all four oceans

Visit all the National Parks in the United States – just a few more to go

See Old Faithful erupt – Yellowstone National Park

Hike Angel’s Landing Trail – Zion National Park [3 times so far]

See Crater Lake – deepest and clearest lake in the U.S.

See the Grand Canyon

Raft through the Grand Canyon

Swim in the Loch Ness - Scotland

See a ghost or other unexplained phenomena

Stand on the Continental Divide

Visit Antarctica

Learn how to send and receive Morse Code

See the Matterhorn

See a Mountain Lion in Virginia

See a Bald Eagle in Buchanan County

See the fastest animal on Earth in the wild - Peregrine Falcon

See a Grizzly Bear in the wild

Go to the top of the tallest building in the world (at the time)  [ Sears Tower in 1978 – also been to the top of both World Trade Center Towers in 1985 ]

See a Black Bear in Buchanan County, VA (my home county) - many times now.

See a Gray Wolf in the wild   [ at Yellowstone National Park ]

Visit Iceland

Tour Paris France

Go to Madis Gras – New Orleans

Go to Festival – Rio de Janeiro

Go to Octoberfest – Germany

Go to the top of the Gateway Arch – St. Louis (2010)

Visit Washington DC – (several times - one of my favorite places to visit)

Visit New York City – spring break trip in 1985

See a solar eclipse – [ May 30, 1984 – Lexington, Virginia ] (very rare event) - also in 2017

See a lunar eclipse (several times)

Visit Athens, Greece

See the Liberty Bell

Fly in a vintage WW II aircraft

Kayak down the Levisa River, to the Big Sandy River, to the Ohio River [starting at my home town in Virginia]

See the Aurora Borealis – Northern Lights

Live to be 100.......this will probably be the last one I accomplish!