It’s hard to believe we’ve been on the road for six months. In one aspect it feels like we just left, but mostly it feels like we’ve been gone forever. We have put in a lot of miles in a short time and have seen so much different scenery and been to so many places. It was hard to keep updating the blog with our ever changing day to day travels.
We kind of knew what to expect when we left although the feel this time was a bit different than when we left in 2018. In 2018, we knew we had an end date and we had a house to go back to. This time we left without the stress of continued expenses of a house, property taxes, renters, etc and it felt so good. We talked so much in 2018 about how it would feel when we didn’t have our high maintenance house holding us back. I thought I would be really sad for a long time and even have regrets about selling, but we don’t. Although we absolutely loved our house and are really happy we were able to enjoy 16 years in it, we are happy with the steps we have taken to free ourselves from stuff. It feels really good to be able to wake up every day with no alarm and decide together what to do, where to go and have a wide open schedule. We love the sights we have seen, the experiences we’ve had, and being able to stop and see friends along the way has been so fun. We appreciate everyone that gave us a place to stay, invited us for dinner or just reached out to see how we are doing. It breaks up our time in our tiny home.
Traveling how we travel isn’t always easy. Living in a small space together has it’s challenges and we both have our off days. We aren’t always excited about where we end up having to make camp but deal with what we can find. Rest areas or busy campgrounds aren’t our favorite but sometimes that’s the only choice. Dealing with weather is another thing that definitely affects our moods. It’s hard not to get sick of constant rain or extreme cold when living in a truck camper. Sitting around reading and sleeping all day long is fun for a day, maybe two, but then it just gets old and frankly makes us feel lazy.
When we left, our plan was to try and chase 70 degree weather but once we started pet sitting and finding some great spots in the Pacific North West, we realized how hard it is to camp when it gets cold and dark so early. We truly enjoyed November and December in Washington in the homes people welcomed us into. We wouldn’t change it for anything. Not only did we make some good friends and got to love on some really great pets, we were able to fly my mom out for Christmas and enjoy a great time with her too.
We continue to deal with the Covid stuff like everybody else. It’s frustrating to see some things open but other things still shut down. I know everyone is sick of it and trying to make sense of the decisions being made. We just roll with the flow, complaining to each other but just doing what we have to do and just thankful that we can continue to be on the road through it all.
People ask us what our favorite part so far as been. That’s such a hard thing to answer. There are so many places that we love for different reasons. Some places stick out just because of the people we were with, others because of the scenery, others because of how different it was from anything else we’ve ever seen. I don’t think we’ll ever say with absolute certainty that one place is our favorite. We’ve said in the past that Alaska is one of our favorite states, but that too is such a vast huge area that to narrow it down to one spot is impossible. The lower 48 has so much beauty. Staying off the highways and seeing it from the back roads, off road trails and paths less traveled has truly been eye opening. Having a rig that can go to further places has been so much fun.
So our favorite things have been visits with friends & family, beautiful sunsets and sunrises, mountain passes, rock filled rivers, beautiful hikes, wildlife, awesome beaches, elephant seals, bridges, water crossings, Joshua trees, fields of flowers, salt flats, and meeting new people.
So what’s next? We will be spending the next two months in Arizona meandering on trails that Craig finds and hopefully getting to enjoy warmer weather, free camping and more campfires. We are excited that my mom will be spending all of March in Arizona as well and we plan on staying with her for most of that time. After that our plan got a little derailed. We were going to head back to Alaska but with the border still closed with no projected opening for nonessential travel, we won’t be able to go ahead with that plan. Right now we will just enjoy ourselves and will decide where to go when we need to move again.
