I have never posted a re-run of one of my blog articles, but today it seems appropriate. My entry here last week explained that I am about to depart on a six-month backpacking trip around the world, and I promised to give you all the details of my personal blog so that you can follow the trip. Well,here it is. Just click here to go to the website–http://fullcircletrek.com. Please subscribe so that I can see some of our wonderful Canvas on Demand customers on the site…and so that you can get regular updates of my adventure! And while you’re on the site, make a comment so I know who you are!
I will be traveling with a friend from Chicago who is also a woman in her mid-60s. As sojourners on this adventure, we will visit more than twenty countries and traverse nearly 30,000 miles. Yes, if you’re doing the math correctly, that is 5,000 miles more than the actual circumference of planet earth. And let me emphasize that this will NOT be a vacation. No fine restaurants, comfy hotels, or suitcases on wheels. We will travel on the proverbial shoestring. The packs flung over our shoulders will contain only the essentials, and at day’s end, we will be reminded that home is where we unfold our bedrolls. We are preparing physically and emotionally to have our bodies, our patience, and our perseverance stretched to the limits. We will eat food we won’t recognize and often sleep like sardines in backpacker bunkhouses alongside fellow-adventurers of every stripe and from every corner of the globe.
So in preparation for our departure this coming Tuesday, I am posting a re-run of one of my favorite “On-the-Road-with-Mom” entries below. These images and these customers will serve as an inspiration to me as I snap away for the next six months. The article is titled: It’s A Small World…
When you hang a spectacular canvas of shot you took in some far-flung corner of the globe, you realize that it is, indeed, a small world, after all.
Consider this canvas belonging to Michael from Gold Canyon, Arizona. He explained that he took this wonderful image a few years ago during a trip to Papua, New Guinea. “We were able to visit a Huli tribe in the Highlands region. Some of the men commit to growing out their hair for 18 months to 2 years in order to make a ceremonial headgear known as a wig. Thus they are called Huli Wigmen and the wigs are worn during ceremonies. This photo shows a Wigman with exotic feathers adorning his wig, preparing his face paint for a ceremony.
And here’s another one belonging to Belle, a customer from California. Her co-worker took the photo from inside the tour bus in a rural region of China. “That co-worker highly recommended Canvas on Demand, so we decided to give you a try. We were extremely satisfied with the final product and the personalized attention your crew gave us. They notified us right way after receiving the picture file to let us know that a customized size would be a better choice…and they were absolutely right! The end product was just beautiful. THANK YOU.”
Here’s another canvas belonging to Belle, a customer from California. Her co-worker took the photo from inside the tour bus in a rural region of China. “That co-worker highly recommended Canvas on Demand, so we decided to give you a try. We were extremely satisfied with the final product and the personalized attention your crew gave us. They notified us right way after receiving the picture file to let us know that a customized size would be a better choice…and they were absolutely right! The end product is just beautiful. THANK YOU.”
How small the world can become when you incorporate pieces of it into your personal living space or office! Mom





Tom and Joe, co-owners of Canvas on Demand, share an entrepreneurial spirit, a genuine interest and concern for their customers, and a commitment to their family and friends. Both partners’ exposure to entrepreneurship stems from close relationships with their fathers. Tom worked after school at the family printing business in upstate New York, while Joe was in Indiana working in his dad’s building-supply company. The two would tagalong with their hustling fathers. Joe and his dad traveled by car between cities in the Midwest. Tom and his dad traveled by train to NYC to call on ad agencies.
Tom is a native of Mahopac, New York and a graduate of Rochester Institute of Technology. Tom has spent much of his career in business development in the commercial printing industry. Prior to Canvas On Demand, Tom was the Vice President of Marketing and Merchandising for a large online retailer. Tom is proud of his family that includes his lovely wife of 26 years and four great kids. Tom spends his free time on his bike (the kind you pedal), on his kayak, playing golf, or watching ACC basketball.
Joe was born and raised in Indianapolis, Indiana. He received his undergraduate degree from Ball State University with a major in entrepreneurial studies. His MBA is from Boston College. Prior to Canvas On Demand, Joe has been involved in numerous successful technology start-ups. He is extremely proud of his family-his lovely wife and their three delightful daughters, Joe enjoys a variety of redneck pursuits including hunting, fishing, and watching Nascar.



