2022
Hello, Everyone!
My name is Tanner Sousley and I am from Tacoma, Washington. I want to introduce myself here and see how some fellow guides got their start.
So here is how I got started:
In September of 2015, I was struggling to keep my sanity as I was working a full time job, saving up for college, and I got a phone call from my Uncle who had just moved to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. He wanted me to come and live there and work with his monument company so, without much hesitation, I moved over there! It was my first time being away from home, and I loved the freedom. I didn't have very much time to make friends or even go out as I was swamped with a full time job with a ton of overtime. I would wake up as early as 3am and load up the truck with headstones, hit the road, and drive often times 12 hours a day while installing the headstones in cemeteries from Eastern Washington, to Eastern Montana, up to the Canadian Border and down to Boise, Idaho.
I used Google Maps for everything but most of the time, the cemeteries I needed direction to weren't listed so I would add them myself. Then, I began taking pictures of them. I would be on the road constantly which means restaurants, gas stations, rest stops, and any other place you can think of started getting reviews from me. I have always been adventurous so I began taking different routes every time I needed to get somewhere.
Last Fall I was setting up a funeral in Idaho for a woman who had passed away from Cancer at the age of 37 and I watched with tears as her 2 young boys laid their mother to rest. That was the day that my mortality hit me. We're not going to live forever and we shouldn't live like we are invincible. So, I did the craziest thing I had ever done in my life and I booked a one way ticket to Europe where I ended up staying for 3 months traveling around Germany, France, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, and Spain! This helped me get a few points as well.
Walking cobble stone streets that had witnessed so much in their thousands of years of existing, and exploring castles, fortresses, and history really began to change my way of thinking. My Visa was up so I had to come back home and now I am working for the City and saving up the funds in order to go back and stay a little bit longer. In the mean time, I will keep exploring!
I look forward to hearing about how you all got started! Go ahead and follow me on Google plus and I will do the same.
Who knows, maybe one day we can meet up!
!~Keep Exploring~!
