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Falling in Love with The Process
"The red-orange colors of the rocks glistened in the sun. The water was cool, not chilly, but just the right amount of temperature change to make your body feel that something is different. Different is good."
After narrowly escaping death from Lyme disease complications in the Appalachian wilderness, Dustin Waite found himself unemployed and wondering how best to move his life forward. Falling in Love with The Process follows Dustin on a whirlwind year of global travel as he traverses the snow-covered Mongolian landscape, dives with tropical fish in Honduras, hikes up Nicaraguan volcanoes, and motorcycles around the United States—all while exploring intimate love affairs and attempting to write his first book.
Reflections on career struggles, having children, alcoholism, and why our expectations for life don't always make sense propel this gritty, candid story across the world. Falling in Love with The Process will shock you and seduce you and have you laughing and crying as you follow Dustin's journey to balance his wanderlust with an unbalanced bank account. But hey, what could go wrong?
After narrowly escaping death from Lyme disease complications in the Appalachian wilderness, Dustin Waite found himself unemployed and wondering how best to move his life forward. Falling in Love with The Process follows Dustin on a whirlwind year of global travel as he traverses the snow-covered Mongolian landscape, dives with tropical fish in Honduras, hikes up Nicaraguan volcanoes, and motorcycles around the United States—all while exploring intimate love affairs and attempting to write his first book.
Reflections on career struggles, having children, alcoholism, and why our expectations for life don't always make sense propel this gritty, candid story across the world. Falling in Love with The Process will shock you and seduce you and have you laughing and crying as you follow Dustin's journey to balance his wanderlust with an unbalanced bank account. But hey, what could go wrong?
292 pages, Paperback
Published December 15, 2023
3 people want to read
About the author
Dustin E. Waite
2 books11 followersDustin Waite is an environmental scientist for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control. Although his BA from Cornell College is in Geology and Marine Sciences, his resume includes an eclectic mix of experience.
He began his professional career as a geologist in southern California where he remediated contaminated sites and was part of the team to help open Vista Hermosa Park, the first public park in downtown Los Angeles in over one hundred years.
Waite then pursued a career in education while working with The Greenway Foundation in Denver, earning the title of Colorado Certified Environmental Educator. He relocated to Maui where he put his passion for teaching and natural history to good use while helping design The Lahaina Heritage Museum.
After hiking almost 1,600 miles on the Appalachian Trail, a rare heart condition forced him to spend time back home in Iowa. Upon returning to complete the final six hundred miles of the Appalachian Trail, Waite continued to stay on the go.
Dustin’s travels have included riding his motorcycle across the United States multiple times and extended trips in New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Peru, India, Costa Rica, Lichtenstein, Austria, and Slovenia, as well as hiking the Appalachian Trail, which served as the inspiration for his first book, External. In 2016 and 2017, he traveled to Mongolia and Central America, the inspiration for Falling in Love with The Process.
Since the pandemic, Waite, like most people, had his life and travel plans upended. He embraced the pivot while living out of his vehicle for six months, visiting oceans on both sides of the country, hiking, camping, and backpacking until he ultimately had coffee in Pismo Beach with a girl he lived three doors down from in college. They now live together in Sacramento with a white boxer named Tuula.
He began his professional career as a geologist in southern California where he remediated contaminated sites and was part of the team to help open Vista Hermosa Park, the first public park in downtown Los Angeles in over one hundred years.
Waite then pursued a career in education while working with The Greenway Foundation in Denver, earning the title of Colorado Certified Environmental Educator. He relocated to Maui where he put his passion for teaching and natural history to good use while helping design The Lahaina Heritage Museum.
After hiking almost 1,600 miles on the Appalachian Trail, a rare heart condition forced him to spend time back home in Iowa. Upon returning to complete the final six hundred miles of the Appalachian Trail, Waite continued to stay on the go.
Dustin’s travels have included riding his motorcycle across the United States multiple times and extended trips in New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Peru, India, Costa Rica, Lichtenstein, Austria, and Slovenia, as well as hiking the Appalachian Trail, which served as the inspiration for his first book, External. In 2016 and 2017, he traveled to Mongolia and Central America, the inspiration for Falling in Love with The Process.
Since the pandemic, Waite, like most people, had his life and travel plans upended. He embraced the pivot while living out of his vehicle for six months, visiting oceans on both sides of the country, hiking, camping, and backpacking until he ultimately had coffee in Pismo Beach with a girl he lived three doors down from in college. They now live together in Sacramento with a white boxer named Tuula.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 23, 2024
Just to let the many "readers of my reviews" know that I beta read this book. So, I could be biased. But when I read the first set of chapters one at a time, I loved it. I told him to fix some shit and he did. Now, we have a great book about traveling around and writing your first book. I apparently gave him an epic review on his first book, and now I have to figure out an even epic - er (is that a word?) review to follow.
Dustin really sets the scene in this book. He moves through the timeline really mostlly orderly. He will pick something in the past, but it applies to what he's talking about in the present. But it's not a confusing back and forth in time without a smooth transition, something I hate. I love the tidbits of lessons in traveling and how it relates to life and / or writing a book. He's also traveling not only to high tourist spots, but also to the hidden gems within the country. You will not get a travel guide from this book, but you will get something more. I feel it's akin to How to Grow by Marcus Bridgewater, because that wasn't about how to garden, but really about how the garden applies to your life. And Falling in Love with the Process applies to your life.
If you are writing your first book (or struggling) or you just don't know if you want to take the plunge and travel more, this is the book for you absolutely. If none of that applies, this book is a great read. Perfect for a quick read like what they say those Summer Beach Reads are called. So, go read this book and have fun.
Dustin really sets the scene in this book. He moves through the timeline really mostlly orderly. He will pick something in the past, but it applies to what he's talking about in the present. But it's not a confusing back and forth in time without a smooth transition, something I hate. I love the tidbits of lessons in traveling and how it relates to life and / or writing a book. He's also traveling not only to high tourist spots, but also to the hidden gems within the country. You will not get a travel guide from this book, but you will get something more. I feel it's akin to How to Grow by Marcus Bridgewater, because that wasn't about how to garden, but really about how the garden applies to your life. And Falling in Love with the Process applies to your life.
If you are writing your first book (or struggling) or you just don't know if you want to take the plunge and travel more, this is the book for you absolutely. If none of that applies, this book is a great read. Perfect for a quick read like what they say those Summer Beach Reads are called. So, go read this book and have fun.
April 27, 2024
If you gave any type of travel wanderlust, this is a book for you! Such a great story about traveling and writing a book for the first time that I’m inspired to start traveling in a totally different way than I how I usually do travel. Of course I’m not nearly as brave as the author in this book. He does such a good job relating to life in this time frame and I’m so happy to hear about the experiences and stories that he shares. Now I need to go reread it to find the perfect T Swift soundtrack for it.
April 25, 2024
What a great story of over coming adversity, trials, tribulations, love, heartbreak, travel, adventure and moving forward with determination and a positive attitude.
I love wanderlust travel stories and Dustin has a fun, descriptive way of making you feel like you are on his journey with him. I highly recommend this book.
I love wanderlust travel stories and Dustin has a fun, descriptive way of making you feel like you are on his journey with him. I highly recommend this book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews