In 2008, a stroke and subsequent traumatic brain injury (TBI) nearly killed Stacey Buckner. Today, she says her miraculous road to recovery led her to the outreach work that has become her life’s mission.

Through her program, Off-Road Outreach, Buckner has helped more than 1,000 veterans in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Using her own off-road vehicle – a Jeep that has accommodations for water, heating, and cooking – Buckner provides mobile showers, laundry services, and meals to homeless veterans in her hometown, known for its proximately to Fort Liberty, a military installation of the US Army.

Buckner also connects veterans to support services and often shares with them her personal story of struggle and survival.

“I was released from the hospital in a wheelchair,” Buckner said. “I still wasn’t completely walking on my own. I had a stutter. No one wanted to hire me.”

Buckner worked to regain her speech and motor skills, and with the help of an organization that supports people with disabilities, she was ultimately placed in a job at the Fayetteville VA Medical Center. Her day-to-day tasks included calling and reminding veterans about their upcoming appointments.

As she learned more about issues facing veterans in her community, especially those experiencing homelessness, she began reaching out to those in need in her spare time.

“On my way to work, I would drive past the strip mall. And I noticed that there was a lot of homeless people that lived behind there,” Buckner said. “I brought them hygiene packs, food.”

One day a woman refused a hygiene pack, and her explanation was eye-opening for Buckner.

“I was actually burdening her because she’d have to carry it around all day,” Buckner said. “She said, ‘I’m homeless. Where am I supposed to shower?’”

An outdoor and off-road enthusiast, Buckner had existing modifications to her Jeep for camping and recreation purposes, including a shower hookup. In that moment, “it was like God spoke to me,” Buckner said.

“I wrapped a tarp around my awning and set up the shower. … It was life-changing for her. Just to see her go from someone that looked so defeated to smiling and to feeling so good about herself, it was just like, ‘I have to do this more often.’”

‘It takes boots on the ground to find them’

Soon, Buckner was offering weekly showers to those living in homeless camps. Many of them, she learned, were veterans.

According to the most recent count by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than 33,000 veterans were experiencing homelessness in the US.

“A lot of these veterans, they’re deep in the woods. It takes boots on the ground to find them and meet their needs,” Buckner said. “Gaining trust amongst the homeless veteran community is really important.”

Since 2015, Buckner has been doing just that. Each week, she travels to hard-to-reach places to serve veterans who are unwilling or unable to access services. Without judgment, Buckner asks what she can do to help them.

“There should be no homeless vets, period,” Buckner said. “I am to a lot of them their only family.”

Buckner offers immediate services like showers, food, and clothing to anyone living in the encampment. For homeless veterans, she also provides wrap-around services and works with volunteers – whom she calls “community ambassadors” – as well as local nonprofits to connect them to medical care, employment, housing, and suicide prevention programs.

“We have a huge suicide problem amongst our veterans,” Buckner said. “They need that camaraderie after they get out of the military. Even though I’m not a veteran, I do have mental health issues related to my TBI (traumatic brain injury), so I can relate. Finding your purpose and peer support is huge.”

Expanding to provide fresh food and more

Off-Road Outreach helps about 50 to 75 homeless veterans a week through its services, Buckner says, and often teams up with local businesses to offer other services like haircuts and to distribute items like mattresses, socks, and shoes.

“We have shoe companies that will donate nice shoes to our homeless vets,” Buckner said. “It really makes a difference when you’re homeless because you’re doing a lot of walking.”

Buckner also launched a fresh food initiative called Veggies for Vets that serves about 50 veterans a week through a community garden. In tandem with veteran-owned farms, Buckner also distributes fresh produce to combat food insecurity and health issues. She does not take a salary for the work and credits her own disability for giving her new abilities.

“Coming out of the hospital with a traumatic brain injury, you don’t know your purpose anymore, you’re a completely different person,” Buckner said. “This is a lifetime process of recovery. I’m just thankful that I’m walking, and talking, and being able to inspire people, and give them hope, too.”

Want to get involved? Check out the Off-Road Outreach website and see how to help.

To donate to Off-Road Outreach via GoFundMe, click here

Kevin Maxen has become the first male coach in a US men’s professional sports league to come out as gay.

In an interview with Outsports, the Jacksonville Jaguars associate strength coach said he no longer wanted to lie, as well as hoping to inspire others by publicly coming out.

“I don’t want to feel like I have to think about it anymore,” Maxen told Outsports. “I don’t want to feel like I have to lie about who I am seeing, or why I am living with someone else.

“I want to be vocal in support of people living how they want to live, but I also want to just live and not feel fear about how people will react.”

The coach said he has been going out with his boyfriend Nick for over two years and wanted to be able to talk about his relationship publicly and share in conversations with fellow coaching staff.

“You have other coaches who have significant others, and they’re talking about their significant others,” Maxen said. “And I felt guilty that I couldn’t do the same thing, that I was letting myself down.

“I want the person I’m with to be able to share that with me.”

Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players in NFL history to publicly come out as gay or bisexual. Carl Nassib became the first active NFL player in league history to announce that he is gay in 2021.

Maxen also touched on his journey before coming out and what he has learned along the way.

“As a Black Jew who has dated both men and women, who has been a strength coach at the highest level of professional football, I’ve learned that how I look, what I believe in, and especially who I am physically or emotionally attracted to should not impact the way I or other people view my worth.

“And it should certainly not dictate what I feel I am capable of accomplishing.”

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan released a statement to show his support for Maxen.

“Kevin is a Jacksonville Jaguar through and through, and a key member of our football team and community,” Khan said in a statement per ESPN. “I look forward to seeing Kevin next week at training camp, and hope that he comes to work each day during camp and through the season feeling confident, free and at peace. I know our players and staff feel the same.”

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male coach in a major American men’s pro sports league,” with WNBA coach Curt Miller, who publicly came out to the media as gay in 2015, also a publicly out male coach in an American professional sports league.

A commentator for Australian network Channel Seven has been criticized for a comment he made about Matildas star Katrina Gorry during the team’s 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland in the Women’s World Cup on Thursday.

“Certainly, motherhood has not blunted her competitive instincts, that’s for sure,” David Basheer said during commentary of the match. “She is one fighter for Australia.”

Gorry, 30, gave birth to her daughter Harper in 2021.

Social media was rife with criticism of Basheer. One Twitter user described the comment as “painfully ignorant,” while another asked: “Has he met many mothers? If anything’s going to make you formidable and fierce it’s motherhood!”

Australia’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Ireland got the co-host’s campaign off to the best possible start, despite being dealt the blow ahead of kick-off that captain Sam Kerr would miss the opening two matches of the tournament with a calf injury.

Seven said its coverage of Australia’s match against Ireland attracted an average audience of 1.94 million, peaking at peaking at 2.28 million viewers.

The match also registered a 47.6% share of the country’s audience.

The Matildas return to action next Thursday when they face Nigeria.

Canada captain Christine Sinclair missed a penalty and with it the chance to become the first player in history to score at six World Cups in Canada’s 0-0 draw with Nigeria.

The 40-year-old striker, making her 324th appearance for the Canada national team, saw her spot kick saved by Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie early in the second half.

Nnadozie was impressive throughout the Group B contest, making a number of vital saves to earn a determined Nigeria side a crucial point.

Deborah Abiodun was then shown a late red card, but the 10 players of Nigeria held on for the goalless draw.

“I’m probably going to embarrass her, but I think she’s one of the best young goalkeepers in the world,” Nigeria coach Randy Waldrum said, according to the BBC.

“I think Chiamaka’s save really lit the fire and made us realize there’s still something to play for.”

Sinclair is one of three players in history – alongside Brazil’s Marta and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo – to score at five FIFA World Cups.

One of football’s all-time great goalscorers, Sinclair has racked up a remarkable 190 international goals and will have the chance to add to her tally – and make history – when Canada faces the Republic of Ireland, which lost 1-0 to host Australia on Thursday.

Canada is considered to be among the favorites to compete for the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand following its recent successes.

In 2021, it won the gold medal at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics, beating Sweden in a penalty shootout to claim its first major international title.

Despite victory at the tournament, Canada has struggled when it comes to World Cups despite its talented squads.

It has reached the knockout stage of the last two editions of the tournament, including reaching the round of 16 in 2019 which marked the first time the team had reached the knockout stage of a World Cup held outside of the US and Canada.

However, with its increasingly star-studded squad – comprised of players regularly appearing and winning trophies around the world – expectations are high this year.

From plenty of attacking depth in Sinclair and Adriana Leon to a resolute defense comprised of players such as Allysha Chapman, Kadeisha Buchanan, Shelina Zadorsky and Ashley Lawrence, it is difficult to pick out a weakness in Canada’s team.

Nigeria, the highest-ranked African team at the 2023 tournament at 40th in the world, will next face host Australia on July 27.

Although the Super Falcons reached the round of 16 in 2019 – the first time it had done so since 1999 – Nigeria has lost more matches and conceded more goals at the World Cup than any other team.

Over the years, Nigeria has become one of the fixtures of the World Cup, playing in its ninth edition as one of seven nations to have featured at every tournament.

Wyndham Clark saw his Open Championship first round thrown into chaos by the unlikeliest of enemies: an iPad.

Bogey-free and two-under par, June’s US Open champion had been cruising around Royal Liverpool on Thursday before he stepped up to the 14th tee, a 452-yard par four.

Trouble brewed immediately as the American’s drive went sailing right and long over the fairway, but things went from bad to worse when the ball ricocheted into a spectator’s iPad, settling in a tuft of long grass.

An unfortunate break, but Clark’s nightmare was only just beginning. The 29-year-old was left staring at the ground in horror after his attempt to hack a shot out of the long grass saw his ball squirt forward mere inches, his club head pulling up clumps of grass on the swing-through.

Clark’s fortunes started to turn when his successful second escape attempt narrowly avoided a bunker, but there was no luck involved in his subsequent two shots to scramble for bogey. Chipping from the rough onto the green, he lasered a putt from 18 feet to complete a remarkable salvage job.

A birdie at the subsequent hole kickstarted a final flourish for the world No. 10, as he closed with another birdie to card three-under for the round, two shots shy of leading trio Christo Lamprecht, Tommy Fleetwood and Emiliano Grillo.

“A little unfortunate off the tee, obviously, hitting the guy is never good, but it really went into a bad spot,” Clark told reporters.

“If I didn’t hit the guy, probably would have been in fine grass and I would have been able to hit it up near the green.

“Getting up-and-down and making about a 20-footer really is a round saver because you make double there, you probably still birdie the next one, maybe, maybe not … making that putt made me feel like I regained the momentum.”

The question is: what was the condition of the iPad?

“Well, I don’t care now,” Clark added. “It screwed me up.”

Clark was playing his first major round as a major champion following a shock first win at the US Open in California last month.

The Denver-born golfer, whose sole win on the PGA Tour had only come in May, held off the challenge of four-time major champion Rory McIlroy to win by a single stroke at Los Angeles Country Club.

The victory changed Clark’s “life and world,” but he is in no mood to sit and reflect just yet.

“What’s great with golf is you have to go play the next week, so you can’t focus too much on it,” Clark said.

“Maybe this fall, I’ll reminisce a little bit more and soak it in, but as of right now, I’m focused on this.”

It’s something many couples dream about. But few actually do it.

Matt and Leah Prior have quit their jobs, sold everything and on July 15 set off on a round-the-world overland journey with their two children: Jack, 3, and Charlotte, 1.

Travel has always been part of the Prior family’s DNA.

The couple met in Laos in 2011. At the time, Matt was raising money for the British Red Cross while driving a London black cab around the world, while Leah was on a year-long globe-trotting adventure after teaching in South Korea for a few years.

They instantly connected and maintained a long-distance relationship for a year after his road trip ended before moving to Hong Kong to start a life together.

During that same trip, Matt ran into the Zapp family, who traveled the world for 22 years in a 1928 Graham-Paige classic car and welcomed four children during the journey.

And now, that dream has become a reality. Taking off from London, the family is traveling in an INEOS Grenadier 4×4 with a Patriot Camper X3 off-road trailer, which has a pop-up tent. They will travel through over 100 countries over the next five years, stopping at national parks and protected areas to support social and environmental initiatives.

After the UK, they’ll cross Europe and the Middle East before moving on to Central Asia, China and the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Americas.

During the project, dubbed “Project Wild Earth,” they will also share stories on their website and social media accounts about inspiring rangers, support organizations, government officials and entrepreneurs they work or come in contact with.

“We have a unique window of opportunity before our kids start school, so if we are going to do something a bit wild as a family, now’s the time to do it,” says Matt.

“We hope to contribute to the protection and preservation of our planet’s biodiversity – and if we can deliver on this, I will feel like we have played our little part in leaving the world better than when we first entered it and helping to adjust the course away from the one we’re currently on.”

The road to Project Wild Earth

After reuniting in Hong Kong, the Priors lived in the busy city for just over a decade.

Leah, an American, worked as a primary school teacher and helped establish a Sudbury school in Hong Kong that empowers children to direct their own education.

Meanwhile, Matt, who is British, held many roles: a commercial pilot, co-founder of AdventureX specialized adventure travel company, and the director of The Explorers Club in Hong Kong, to name a few.

When political turmoil rocked the city in 2019, the couple started reassessing their plans.

Ready for a change, they hoped to move to Indonesia to live on an organic farm and start a family.

The Covid-19 pandemic forced them to press pause. The Priors found themselves stuck in Hong Kong, which had some of the strictest pandemic restrictions in the world due to its “zero-Covid” approach.

Matt worked as a pilot throughout the pandemic, delivering supplies worldwide under challenging conditions.

“There were endless tests, forms, tracking and tracing… I had to quarantine in hotel rooms for weeks on end,” he recalls. “Sometimes with armed guards and no ability to even open your window.”

Meanwhile, Leah was pregnant with Jack. At the time, Hong Kong public hospitals had banned partners from labor wards, meaning Matt couldn’t be there while she endured an emergency C-section to give birth to their son.

“Jack was a bright light during a dark period,” says Matt. “We moved out to Sai Kung [in the eastern part of Hong Kong’s New Territories] to be in nature, which helped a lot and allowed us to live a simple life away from the city.”

When Leah became pregnant with their daughter in 2022, the city had yet to relax its policies, so she moved to the US temporarily. Matt continued working in Hong Kong but was able to join her for the birth this time.

“When these things unfolded in Hong Kong, we had to reconsider everything. Everything was on the table and open to discussion,” he says. “We were essentially looking at a new start, a new location and potentially new occupations. This was a family decision this time, not just what we might want to do individually.”

While weighing their options, they remembered the Zapps’ inspiring adventure and devised Project Wild Earth.

“Our idea to do an overland journey as a family resurfaced once again. This time it was our preferred option, all things considered, and the one that our hearts and guts were pulled towards,” says Matt. “It’s probably not the most sensible decision career or finance-wise, but it felt right.”

‘Protecting nature would be our north star’

When deciding how to dedicate their time on the road, they kept returning to their interests and values.

“It became clear that protecting nature would be our north star, which naturally led us to conservation,” says Matt.

They started researching global environmental projects and speaking to many people in the sector about how their family could make a difference.

As their project started taking shape, the couple began building a global network of partners and compiling a database of over 250 projects worldwide.

The initiatives traverse a wide range of efforts, from Tompkins Conservation’s rewilding project in Patagonia to the Allen Coral Atlas, which maps coral reefs and monitors threats. Then there are projects that return land to indigenous tribes, innovate nature-based tourism, significantly reduce fishing bycatch, restore rainforests via agroforestry, and harness technology to improve wildlife monitoring and conservation.

During their journey, they plan to volunteer time and skills and help spread the word about each project’s work. 

“We are looking for projects that are not only inspirational but can also serve as a potential blueprint for others to use and start their own projects. We believe in referring to nature as much as possible in terms of finding a solution,” says Matt.

“I also love the cutting-edge use of technology as long as its deployment has a tangible effect on the ground.”

Projects focusing on agroforestry, permaculture and regenerative agriculture in our food systems have also piqued the Priors’ interest, as have grassroots initiatives.

“Regardless of what resources you have available, grassroots projects show that there is still a way to organize and take action, which is what this is all about,” he says.

“We want to demonstrate that we can create a better world by shifting from doom and gloom to one of creativity, inspiration and action.”

Stories from the road

Inspired by advice from The Jane Goodall Institute and Roots and Shoots youth service organization, Matt and Leah plan to raise awareness about conservation efforts through storytelling.

Both organizations were founded by renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall.

“She’s a huge inspiration to us and the main reason we have zeroed in on storytelling, based on her belief that this is what really gets people to change from within,” says Matt.

“We hope over time, as we share more and more stories and examples of what is going on around the world, that it will inspire people to take action in many forms.”

They hope it may lead some to reassess their consumption habits and prompt others toward a career change, partnerships, documentaries, starting their own projects or volunteering with conservation organizations.

“When people ask us what they can do to help, we often recommend the Key Conservation app, which helps conservationists raise funds and support for their campaigns in real-time,” says Matt.

“We hope people think about nature and biodiversity a little more and appreciate what we have here on our planet.”

As they will be driving most of the journey, the Priors plan to offset their carbon footprint through monthly membership program Mossy Earth, which supports rewilding and biodiversity projects.

The family has calculated an initial emissions estimate based on UK averages – 12.7 tonnes of CO2e per adult and 6.35 per child – but will track their mileage, water and waste usage carefully on the road for a more precise figure.

“This is something the kids can get involved in. I have no doubt they will enjoy it and keep us accountable, which is great,” says Matt.

All in the family

Before taking off, Matt and Leah embarked on several long-distance test runs with Jack and Charlotte in the UK and the US.

These long drives and camping adventures helped the couple better understand how to plan their travel schedules, break up long drives and entertain the kids without using screens.

By including their children in the journey and conservation work, the Priors hope to expose Jack and Charlotte to as much diversity, innovative ideas and natural beauty as possible.

“From our perspective, it’s very important that the kids are involved from day one. They’re the future,” says Matt.

“The life skills they’ll pick up, as well as overcoming challenges that affect us all, and just interacting with people from all places, ages and backgrounds, will be priceless.”

They’re excited for the kids to participate in many projects and learn about different ecosystems, wildlife, restoration, regenerative farming practices and conservation in general.

Matt hopes Jack will enjoy using the SeagrassSpotter app to help document seagrass in coastal communities – data Project Seagrass then uses to better predict where it can be restored.

“We’re going into this eyes wide open,” he says. “We know this is not going to be a walk in the park, but at the same time, kids are adaptable, and nature is an amazing playground, which can be inspiring, entertaining and educational.”

To be able to spend this precious time together with our children is very special, he adds.

“We hope that nature and supporting others will become part of our kids’ DNA going forwards. But where this journey ultimately takes them will be up to them.”

Two tourists who snapped selfies with dingoes have been fined more than $1,500 each for taking the “extremely dangerous decision” to interact with the native wild dogs following a recent spate of ferocious attacks, Australian authorities said.

In a statement Friday, Queensland Department of Environment and Science compliance manager Mike Devery said the two women were lucky not to be attacked in the separate incidents on the popular tourist island of K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island.

An image provided by the department showed an unnamed New South Wales woman, 29, laying down next to a pack of sleeping dingo pups. “She was lucky the mother of the pups wasn’t nearby,” Devery said.

The other tourist, a 25-year-old Queensland woman, appeared in a selfie video posted to social media that showed her with a growling dingo, “which was clearly exhibiting dominance-testing behaviour,” he said.

“It is not playful behaviour. Wongari are wild animals and need to be treated as such, and the woman is lucky the situation did not escalate,” he added, referring to dingoes by their indigenous name.

In an update Friday, the department said a 23-year-old woman was hospitalized with serious injuries to her arms and legs after she was bitten by dingoes while jogging on an island beach Monday.

“There was a big piece missing out of her arm there and there was puncture wounds all up the side of her legs,” Shane Moffat told Nine News.

The leader of that dingo pack was later euthanized, the department said. It had also been involved in recent biting incidents that led to the hospitalization of a 6-year-old girl, the department said.

“It was also clear from its behaviour that it had become habituated, either by being fed or from people interacting with it for videos and selfies,” the update said.

“Our number one priority is to keep people on K’gari safe and conserve the population of wongari (dingoes), and those who blatantly ignore the rules for social media attention can expect a fine or a court appearance,” Devery said.

Amsterdam’s city council has approved a proposal banning “polluting” cruise ships as part of the city’s latest move to clamp down on overtourism.

The center-left party D66, which sits on the council, said in a statement Thursday that the proposal was “adopted with a clear majority.”

The municipality of Amsterdam will now investigate how to implement the proposal, according to van Buren’s spokesperson. This will include discussions with the managers of the North Sea Canal, the councils of other cities on the canal and the Dutch government.

D66 party chairwoman Ilana Rooderkerk emphasized in the statement that “polluting cruise ships do not fit with the sustainable ambitions” of Amsterdam.

“Cruise ships in the heart of the city do not fit into Amsterdam’s goal of reducing the number of tourists,” Rooderkerk added.

Amsterdam is expected to receive more than 18 million overnight visitors this year. By 2025, that number could reach 23 million, in addition to another 24 million to 25 million day visits. Under a 2021 ordinance called “Amsterdam Tourism in Balance,” when the number of overnight visitors reaches 18 million, the council is “obliged to intervene.”

Earlier this year, the city launched a campaign revamping its approach to tourism, notably including tactics designed specifically to discourage British tourists on stag parties.

The online “Stay Away” campaign aimed to deter young British men planning to visit Amsterdam to cut loose and “go wild,” warning visitors between the ages of 18 and 35 of the consequences of of drinking too much, taking drugs or behaving antisocially.

Amsterdam also announced this year that it would ban the use of marijuana on the street and take new steps to discourage alcohol in its red light district, the traditional center of the city’s legal sex trade.

This followed an announcement from the city in 2019 that it would end tours of the red light district, citing concerns about sex workers being treated as a tourist attraction.

In its bid to “limit tourism and prevent nuisance,” Amsterdam also plans to restrict river cruises, convert hotels into offices and impose earlier closing times on bars and clubs.

Liesbet Collaert was about to blow up her life.

She’d arrived in San Francisco, California just three weeks earlier, part of an overland journey across North America with her long-term boyfriend, Karl.

Now, Liesbet was about to abandon her travels (unthinkable), abandon the plan (out of character), and abandon Karl (unbelievable).

Why? Because Liesbet had fallen in love with someone else, and she couldn’t shake the thought that she was meant to be with him.

It was 2004 and Liesbet was 28. She’d met her American boyfriend Karl a couple of years earlier, on a trip to Australia. Back in her home country of Belgium, Liesbet was a trained teacher, but while she enjoyed her job, her thirst for adventure superseded everything else. Liesbet was always working out ways she could work from the road, always figuring out her next trip.

When Liesbet and Karl pulled up in San Francisco, they planned to only stay for a week. They were crashing with a friend of Karl’s – a guy called Nik who owned a San Francisco townhouse he’d converted into three apartments. Nik lived in one of the studios, and he rented out the others.

That first day, after greeting Nik and dumping her bag in his apartment, Liesbet headed back downstairs to grab a CD from the campervan.

“As I come into the yard, I get greeted by two beautiful, amazing, fluffy dogs wagging their tails,” recalls Liesbet. “And of course, I was totally enamored with them, hanging out with them…”

When Liesbet looked up, she noticed a man standing in the doorway of the ground floor apartment, smiling at her.

“Hi, I’m Mark,” he said. “Mark Kilty.” He was the dogs’ owner, and one of Nik’s tenants – the occupant of the downstairs apartment.

Liesbet introduced herself, explaining she and her boyfriend were staying with Nik for a few days.

“We talked a little bit – and a little bit turned into an hour,” recalls Liesbet.

Liesbet’s first impression of Mark was that he was “a very attractive, tall, dark-haired man” (“I was attracted to his looks more than anything else,” she admits.)

But after their extended conversation, Liesbet decided Mark was also “very well-spoken and intelligent.”

Mark was 33 and recently divorced. He’d grown up on the East Coast of the US, but moved to California in the late 1990s – he was a software engineer and had arrived just in time for the dot-com boom.

Mark was pretty happy with his life – separating from his wife hadn’t been easy, but he loved his work, his dogs and his life in the Bay Area.

But when Liesbet talked about her myriad travels and her nomadic lifestyle, Mark was immediately fascinated. It was like she’d opened up a window to a life he’d never even considered, but was immediately enthralled by.

“I was very intrigued with her lifestyle, and what she was able to accomplish with relatively little financially – and how much she had been able to see places and go places and experience things.”

Liesbet crossed paths with Mark multiple times over the course of the next few days. It turned out Mark was good friends with his landlord Nik, and so Mark, Nik, Liesbet and Karl often hung out together.

“We went out for drinks,” recalls Liesbet, “Mark was a sailor and took us all out sailing. The group grew a little closer.”

Mark liked Liesbet, but he was conscious of not crossing any lines – she and Karl seemed pretty committed. But as the days rolled on and the week in San Francisco turned into three, Mark’s feelings began to spill over, and he started to suspect they were reciprocated.

As for Liesbet, the time in San Francisco just felt surreal. She knew she was falling for Mark. And she didn’t know what to do about it.

“Karl was really looking forward to the next step of our trip – we were going to meet my parents at some point in California, and then we’re going to go to Mexico,” recalls Liesbet. “And every time he brought that up, I was… I was quiet.”

The more time progressed, it was more and more emotionally laden, like my heart would beat harder as we sat next to each other on the couch, talking

Liesbet Collaert

Karl encouraged Liesbet and Mark to spend time together – it’d be just him and Liesbet for the next several months, so he figured it was nice for them both to enjoy other social interactions while they could.

“The more time progressed, it was more and more emotionally laden, like my heart would beat harder as we sat next to each other on the couch, talking,” recalls Liesbet.

The night before Liesbet was due to leave, she and Mark found themselves alone in his apartment. Mark was showing her photo albums from his college years, and the two of them were sharing stories about their lives before they’d met.

“At some point, he put his arm around me, and I just remember my heart going faster. And I think I turned. And I think that’s how it happened,” says Liesbet.

“We kissed,” says Mark. “We were both glad about it, but we felt bad about it also. Because obviously, she was in a relationship. And I’m pretty sure she was leaving the next day.”

When Liesbet left that evening, the only acknowledgment of what happened was Mark’s parting words:

“If you ever break it off with Karl, just let me know where you are, and no matter where you are, I’ll come pick you up,” he said.

A spontaneous decision

The next day, Liesbet and Karl prepared to say goodbye to San Francisco. Mark went to work, knowing they’d be gone by the time he got back.

As she helped Karl pack the camper, Liesbet battled a mounting feeling of dread.

She didn’t know what the future held. But she knew she couldn’t carry on with Karl, pretending her feelings for Mark meant nothing.

She decided she had to tell Karl the truth.

“I have feelings for Mark,” she said. “I think I’ll end up coming back here.”

She tried to sound confident and determined, masking the fear, sadness and confusion she felt. Karl seemed shocked, but didn’t try to persuade her to stay with him.

“He was very heartbroken,” recalls Liesbet. “He simply said, ‘If you think you’re going to come back, you’d better just stay.’”

So instead of getting into the RV together and driving on, Liesbet and Karl went to the bank and split up their finances. Then she took all her belongings out of the campervan and said goodbye to her boyfriend of three years.

“That was a very, very hard emotional time for both of us,” says Liesbet.

She watched Karl drive off in the RV, wiping away tears. Then she headed back into the apartment block, let herself into Mark’s apartment and dumped her stuff in the corner. Feeling emotionally and physically exhausted, she climbed onto Mark’s bed, comforted by his two dogs.

“Then for the rest of the day, I cried,” says Liesbet. “It was not an easy decision.”

Several hours later, when Mark came home from work, the first thing he noticed was that the campervan was gone. His heart sank.

“I’ll probably never hear from her again,” he thought.

Shaking off the thought, he parked his car and headed into the building.

“I go up to the apartment door and the door was unlocked, which was a little bit odd,” recalls Mark.

He stepped inside, expecting to be greeted by his dogs, who usually waited for him at the door. Instead, they came out of the bedroom.

“They were wagging and happy to see me and I sort of got down on the ground with them – as I do with dogs – and hung out with them and petted them.”

Mark comforted himself with the dogs’ affections, pushing thoughts of Liesbet out of his mind.

“And then, I don’t know, four seconds later, five seconds later – Liesbet steps out from the bedroom door.”

Mark jumped, looking at her in disbelief, then swore loudly.

“My jaw hit the ground,” he says. “I was just in shock.”

Liesbet interpreted Mark’s reaction as an indication she’d made a “massive mistake.”

“Maybe this was not such a good idea,” she thought. The tears which had been falling freely all day threatened to start up again.

But then Mark got up and embraced her, giving her a long hug.

They stood, arms around each other, for a long while. Then, softly, Mark asked why she was there.

“I decided to stay,” said Liesbet.

New chapter

That’s how Liesbet moved in with Mark after knowing him for just a few weeks. After Mark got over the initial shock, he was thrilled and the two spent the next few weeks in a happy daze.

“There were a lot of emotions and a lot of excitement,” says Mark.

“There was the romance of being together, and actually being able to express our emotions for each other,” adds Liesbet.

It wasn’t all perfect – Liesbet still “felt guilty and bad about Karl.”

She also questioned her decision to abandon the overland adventure.

“In the past, I had left boyfriends for my travels,” she says. “With Mark, it was the opposite – I was abandoning my travels for a man, so I struggled with that.”

Plus, there were logistical issues at play – Liesbet’s tourist visa only allowed her to stay in the US for another month. She couldn’t just live, jobless and visaless, in Mark’s apartment for the foreseeable future, nor did she want to. But neither she nor Mark felt able to make any long-term plans just yet. In the end, Liesbet applied for a visa extension, which was granted, and the two put thoughts of the long term to one side and decided to just enjoy the moment.

About a month after she’d moved in with Mark, Liesbet flew with him to the East Coast to meet his family. A few months after that, Liesbet’s parents came to visit. Their respective families took the sudden change in circumstances pretty well, and everyone got on.

As time went on, Liesbet and Mark started talking about potential adventures they could go on together when Liesbet’s US visa ran out. As a keen sailer, Mark had always dreamed of spending an extended period on the water. Liesbet was prone to seasickness, but she was willing to give life on the ocean a try. She was excited that Mark seemed up for an adventure, and as much as she was enjoying San Francisco, she had itchy feet.

So, in 2005, Mark quit his job and the couple bought a sailboat, planning to sail around the California coast towards South America.

“It was definitely a big leap of faith,” says Mark.

Unfortunately the adventure got off to a bumpy start. Liesbet badly struggled with her seasickness, while Mark’s dogs hated being on the water.

After just two days at sea, the couple made the decision to abandon the boat, put it up for sale and purchase a campervan instead.

“Ironically, I was ‘back on plan’ but with a different boyfriend and two dogs,” says Liesbet.

A bump in the road

Liesbet and Mark spent the next year driving through Central America, traveling to Panama, and then back up to Texas.

The beginning, says Mark, was a “honeymoon period.”

“You’re just enjoying the company and the relationship growing and those kinds of things,” he says. “But we definitely hit a bump.”

Liesbet could feel Mark pulling away. “He wasn’t really holding my hand,” she recalls. “There was something about him that felt a little off.”

The situation worsened. And then, when they reached Honduras, Mark said he wanted to end things.

Liesbet could have left there and then, and flown back to Belgium. But something made her stay. And so for the last few months of the trip, she and Mark lived together, broken up, in the tight confines of the campervan.

Both of them were lonely, and both of them struggled.

They reached Texas, where they’d arranged to stay with Karl – yes, Liesbet’s ex-boyfriend Karl. It was now over a year since Liesbet ended things with him, and he was now dating someone else, living happily in Austin.

When they’d made the arrangement, Liesbet and Mark were in love. Now it was just awkward.

“Mark stayed in the campervan in Karl’s drive, and I was staying in Karl’s spare bedroom,” says Liesbet, adding it was “all very ironic.”

Things got worse before they got better – one day Mark drove off, without telling Liesbet, and she had no idea if he would ever come back. Three days passed, and then she got a call from him, out of the blue.

“I really regret my decision,” Mark said. “I want us to start over.”

Today, Mark thinks the break-up was the result of him feeling overwhelmed – his life had changed so quickly and so drastically, and spending 24 hours a day with someone in a tight space isn’t easy.

But when he drove off, alone, in Austin, he had “a lot of time to think about what I want to do and who I would like to do it with.”

“Everything sort of pointed back to her,” he says.

Liesbet and Mark reunited, but this time they thought long and hard before diving in.

“When we got back together, we had some very long conversations about what we could improve in our relationship, about things that we each needed, personally, to make this work for both of us so that we can have a good relationship, but also so we can both, as individuals, be in a better place,” says Mark.

From there, Liesbet and Mark continued traveling together and both started working freelance on the road. They decided to give the sailing dream another shot – this time buying a bigger boat, a catamaran, which was more stable and comfortable for both Liesbet and the dogs.

The couple sailed to the Bahamas, then towards the Dominican Republic. Later, they sailed down the Panama Canal and on the Galapagos Islands to French Polynesia.

Throughout this experience, Liesbet and Mark operated as “a team,” says Liesbet.

In 2007, Liesbet and Mark got married.

Their first celebration was a small, simple legal ceremony, with just a couple of friends as witnesses. Three years later, they had a larger wedding party with all their loved ones in St. Maarten. During the ceremony, Mark belatedly proposed – he’d never officially done so in 2007, and it felt only fitting to do so now, in front of Liesbet’s friends and family.

It was, says Liesbet, both “funny and romantic.”

Difficult times

One day in 2014, Mark was alone on the catamaran when he noticed a lump on his chest, just above his right nipple.

Earlier that week, Mark had also tripped and bumped his right chest.

“It hurt a lot more than I thought it should hurt,” he recalls.

This, combined with the lump, set off alarm bells in Mark’s mind. The year before, his sister had passed away from brain cancer. What were the chances of him also having cancer? And what were the chances of him having what looked like male breast cancer?

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind, mentioning the lump to Liesbet briefly, in passing, when she got home.

But a month later, Mark and Liesbet decided the lump “wasn’t really noticeably getting worse, but it wasn’t getting better.”

A biopsy in a hospital in Tahiti confirmed Mark had a type of breast cancer.

“Your whole world shatters when you hear those words, ‘You have cancer,’” says Mark.

“You don’t believe it at first,” says Liesbet.

The two also struggled with the relative rarity of a male breast cancer diagnosis.

“It was a big emotional rollercoaster the first few weeks,” says Mark.

Mark returned to the US for treatment. He didn’t struggle too much physically, but he found the emotional side tough, “especially just after losing my sister a year ago, having that fresh in my mind of what cancer does, intimately, in a family relationship.”

He felt “elation” when he was eventually given the all-clear.

“But there’s definitely a lot of elements of depression that go with that kind of diagnosis in that kind of situation, because it haunts you for the rest of your life,” he says.

Today, Mark manages his fears and uncertainties as best he can.

“I’m very fortunate that it turned out the way that it did. I don’t know if lucky is the right word. But you might say that,” he says.

Mark and Liesbet supported each other through Mark’s illness. Then, when Mark was finished with treatment, they started wondering what to do next. They still wanted adventure, but felt the need for a new chapter.

They left behind sailing and started traveling North America house-sitting and pet-sitting. Later, they bought another campervan and got back on the road again, traveling further afield once more.

On the road

Fast forward to today, and nearly twenty years after they first met, Mark and Liesbet are still traveling the world together. They document their travels on their blog, Roaming About, and Liesbet also published a travel memoir called “Plunge – One Woman’s Pursuit of a Life Less Ordinary.”

The couple don’t see themselves settling in one place any time soon, but they have a mental list of places they’ve visited and loved that they could see themselves perhaps returning to one day.

Liesbet and Mark still see themselves as a strong team. Traveling the world and navigating difficulties along the way, especially Mark’s illness, has only forged them closer together over the decades.

I can’t imagine anyone else that I would have ever gone on the last 20 years of my life with, and this adventure we’ve been on

Mark Kilty

“These are big, life-changing emotional things that happened to us,” says Liesbet. “I think because of the downs that we’ve had, we did grow closer and we can face pretty much everything right now, to be honest, and I know that sounds grand or whatever – but I think we can handle a lot as a couple right now.”

Looking back on their life together, Mark says he simply feels “joy and happiness, and contentment.”

“I can’t imagine anyone else that I would have ever gone on the last 20 years of my life with, and this adventure we’ve been on,” he says.

For Liesbet, their story illustrates the importance of living life with no regrets. She’s never regretted her spontaneous decision to stay behind with Mark in San Francisco – even if it hadn’t worked out, she knew she had to give life with Mark a go.

“I feel like you shouldn’t regret things that you could have tried,” she says. “I feel things are worth a try.”

Open Championship organizers were hoping their new hole would inject extra drama to proceedings this week. Less than 24 hours into the major, their wish has been granted – and then some.

It may be the shortest hole on the course, but Royal Liverpool’s par-three 17th hole is already proving a tall order for some players at the 151st edition of the tournament.

Lucas Herbert had arrived at the penultimate tee with a share of the lead after an excellent start to his first round Thursday. Six excruciating swings later, the Australian’s name had plummeted down the leaderboard.

“Well, I could have told you there would be carnage,” Herbert said.

‘Little Eye’

Designed by hole architect Martin Ebert, ‘Little Eye’ did not exist the last time Royal Liverpool staged The Open. When Rory McIlroy lifted the Claret Jug in 2014, the 17th hole was a 458-yard par four.

Now though, it’s a 136-yard hop from tee to flag, almost 60 yards less than the course’s next shortest hole.

It’s a stone’s throw for the game’s elite and, playing out towards the ocean, offers a scenic view. Cute, but also deadly; players must clear a swathe of bunkers before attempting to land their ball on an infinity green raised well-above their eyeline.

With steep slopes trailing off into deep bunkers either side, and another sprawling sand trap at the back, there is little room for error. Throw wind into the equation – a likely factor on a coastal course – and those margins become even slimmer.

For the icing on the cake, large grandstands at both tee and green add an extra layer of pressure and drama – exactly as it was intended.

“One of the sentiments that was felt after 2014 … was that the course could do with more drama,” R&A CEO Martin Slumbers told reporters Wednesday.

“I am a believer that the best par-three’s in the world are short. The 12th at Augusta, 17th at TPC, 8th at Royal Troon. This gave us an opportunity to change that hole to create drama.

“It’s hard, but if you want to go and do your research go and compare it to the size of green at TPC, Postage Stamp, 12th at Augusta. It’s a bigger green, the 12th at Augusta, which I think everyone in this room would probably put in the top three par-three’s in the world, and it has a lot of jeopardy in there.

“Whether it’s a great hole or a really great hole, I’ll wait until Monday morning,” he added.

Cameron Smith, who triumphed at the 150th edition of the tournament at St. Andrews last year, got his first taste of the new hole during a practice round on Sunday, and the Australian believed Slumbers’ aims had been realized.

“That’s probably the right word, drama,” Smith told reporters Monday.

“It’s a tough hole. We played it yesterday and it was straight into the wind, 30 or 40 miles an hour, and it was not a tee shot that you want to have.

“There’s not much room for error up there, and I think it’ll be a really exciting finish to an Open Championship for sure. I think it’s a great hole.”

‘Monstrosity’

Not all were as glowing in their reviews as the defending champion.

Billy Foster, caddie for 2022 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, said organizers had created a “monstrosity.”

“Unfortunately, I think this Open Championship could be remembered for a calamity that happened,” Foster told Golf Monthly on Monday.

“The green is very small. If you land it a foot short it rolls back into a coffin that’s underground, so deep. This is challenging the best golfers in the world that will be making 6s, 7s and 8s.”

Fitzpatrick was coy with his own thoughts on the hole ahead of the tournament. Initially describing it as “interesting,” when the Englishman was asked to explain further, he added: “I’ll leave it at that.”

The 28-year-old was more expansive after his first round. Though an opening one-over 72 marked a disappointing start to his latest pursuit of a second major, he did birdie the 17th hole.

“It’s a tough hole,” Fitzpatrick said Thursday.

“I think if you hit a half decent shot and miss the fairway, miss the green by a couple yards, you’re in the back of the bunker, you’re making double, you lose The Open, it’s going to sting. There’s no doubt about that.

“But at the same time, it’s the same for everyone. It’s going to require a good shot on there, regardless. It is maybe a little bit too penal on that right side, but it is the same for everyone.”

Pete Cowen, coach of May’s PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka, offered a more scathing criticism of the bunker set-up, saying that the hole could “ruin” a career.

“I hate it. I haven’t heard a player say a good thing about it. They’ll just deal with it,” Cowen told golf news site Bunkered on Wednesday.

“It could ruin somebody’s career if the wind goes in the wrong direction all of a sudden or there is bad luck rolling down from the wrong place.

“Why would you make a 120 – 130-yard par-three impossible? It’s called an infinity green and that could be it. They could be playing infinitely backwards and forwards across the green.

Cowen added: “That face on the bunker to the right is probably too steep. The players can’t get enough impetus on the ball to get it up on the green.

“It will just come back to them in the bunker –  that in itself is a problem. If it does that it could come back into a footprint and if that happens, then good luck.”

Koepka, who parred the penultimate before carding one-under 70, was not surprised by his coach’s comments.

“Sounds like Pete said it,” he told reporters.

“I don’t know, it’s fine. I think it’s a good hole. I think that’s how par-three’s should be. I’m not a huge fan of the 250 [yard] par-three’s. It’s very boring three-iron; you know what you’re going to do.

“All the great par-three’s are nine-iron and less and difficult greens.”

Harsh but fair

The five-time major champion is far from the only fan of ‘Little Eye.’ Even it’s biggest casualty yet is a supporter.

Herbert’s strong start crumbled after his 17th tee drive skewed left to settle at the bottom of the green’s slope. After his next shot sent him over to the other side, the world No. 56 finally made it onto the green with his fourth shot only to two-putt for a triple-bogey.

Having eagled the 15th, it derailed Herbert’s round, dropping him to even-par overall, but he gave the hole his approval nonetheless.

I think it’s a great hole,” he said.

“[If] There’s no wind, it’s a gap wedge and you can make a two pretty easily. But that wind gets going, and you can’t really feel it too much on the tee, it becomes a really tricky shot.

“I saw the group behind me –someone else came off the front of the green in the front bunker. Our group all missed the green … Felt like there was about 5,000 professional golfers sitting around us in the stands watching it. It’s just not easy.

“I could have hit a poor different shot and made a bogey there and got away with one, but as I was, I made a triple. You know, doesn’t make lunch taste any better, but to get myself to the position I was in, that anyone even cared about that triple is kind of what I care about.”

Jordan Spieth, 2017 Open champion, said the hole had potential for “carnage” if winds pick up, but – like many of his competitors, including Jon Rahm – ultimately described it as harsh but fair.

“You have a big enough area to hit,” said Spieth, who parred the hole on course to a two-under 69 first round.

“The greens aren’t surfaces that’ll rip back if you flight the ball the right way. You have to hit a really nice shot. If you do, you have a good look at birdie, and if you don’t you have a difficult par.

“I actually think it’s fair. I wouldn’t necessarily put it in the top three greatest short par-three’s, but I think it’s a really good one, and I think it’ll be really exciting because not only do you have that hole, you have that and then 18 right afterwards that you have to hit two really, really nice tee shots.”

England’s Jason Day added: “I like that hole. I think they’ve done a great job with it.

“There’s definitely a lot more character than what we had before, which was the hole going back down the hill.”

Approaching the end of the first round, the scoring average for the 17th hole stood at 3.14, ranking it as the 8th hardest hole.

Should Merseyside winds pick up, that average could well soar. Royal Liverpool member Matthew Jordan, who impressed with a two-under 69, may be better placed than any other on the field to navigate ‘Little Eye’.

“I think it’s good … But to be honest, not many people have said that many good things about it at the moment, which has kind of surprised me,” Jordan said.

“I thought when we first did it, it might be too easy, but everyone is saying how it could be too hard.

“I’ll reserve judgment until Sunday, I think, and that’s when we’ll all have a better idea.”