Thank you for finding the Wild Hearted Drifter. If you couldn’t tell already, I like to cover some country. My family farms and raises Simmental bulls in Nebraska. Those roots do run deep, but I have grown up with adventure in my blood.

As a young girl, I remember traveling with my grandparents to deliver, buy and sell cattle all over the Midwest. When my sisters and I became old enough to show cattle, we started pulling the truck and trailer farther distances. My mom would remind my dad often that this was not exactly vacation, as there was always manure to scoop, cattle to feed, and three of us girls to look after.

When the opportunity came to move out of Nebraska after college, I took it. I like to say the Lord had a sense of humor with my first big move request after college. In the job interview, I petitioned, “Don’t put me in New York or LA, but I want to see agriculture outside of Nebraska.” After landing the job I found myself in Dallas, TX, a city with more people than in the entire state of Nebraska.

Since that move to Dallas in 2015, I’ve had addresses in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska and Arizona. Most states have included several moves within them. I fell in love with open country and mountains, often finding what each town and place had to offer. In Colorado, I started trail running. Wyoming was all about hunting. So, I got my first bow and took up archery hunting. I learned to ski, extending trips to see the mountains from my Volkl’s. I’m a firm believer in finding community wherever you are. When my work took me to Montana in 2020, hobbies were quite limited due to COVID. Still, there was a whole community I had only ever known from outside the fence, known as team ropers. A special family took me under their wing in October of that year. By December, I had my mountain dog Dutch and my first (leased) horse, Disco. I was hooked.

As any team roper knows, Wickenburg, AZ is the place to be if you want to rope in the winter. Arizona became a dream, then a goal, and shortly after, a reality. God brought me a job with the means to be mobile, the best horse I could have bought at the time, and a supportive family who went all in with me on my dream.

There’s certainly more to all of these invisible strings which brought us here, and we will get there. For right now, I want to welcome this community to my story, as it is still being written. This lifestyle is surely out of the norm, and I have so much gratitude for the Lord choosing me to live it.

As mentioned, every Friday, I will share what’s on my wild heart. I’m not sure what all this blogging journey has for me, or you. But I do know it’s part of my assignment and calling. I chuckle as I write this, knowing full well this is one of the greatest assignments God asked me to do, and so thankful I have community to share it with.

Enjoy the Wild-Hearted Drifter adventures. Drop a comment, say hello, or just come along for the ride. I’m glad you’re here.

Claire