Twelve Months Later
Well, we did it. We made it a year on the road! October 1st, 2011 is when this all started.
Honestly, it has been pretty wonderful. The first month was tough bouncing around between New York and Wisconsin, but once we got going, once we started to head west, it all came together. We spent those next 10 months camping nearly every night. Yes, we stopped at a few houses, retreated to a few motels, flew home for a couple of holidays, but we spent nearly every night in the van, in a campground, cooking on the Coleman, drinking cheap wine. We rolled back east at the end of August, then spent our last month abroad in London. As you read this, we’re either in-transit to Wisconsin or already there … or, well, let’s not mention the third option.
We drove a lot more than we thought — about 35,000 miles. We covered less ground than we thought — most notably missing Alaska. But we had a lot more fun that we could have expected. We don’t want to stop.
But some things will stop. We’re going to have an address shortly, as soon as we find a place in Ithaca — no more truly nomadic life for us, for now. We’re going to sell the van (it’s expensive), but we’re going to keep traveling as much as we can. We’re already planning trips into Boston and New York City and Upstate New York. We’ll get some lighter, cheaper, more efficient wheels. We want to keep seeing more of our friends.
One thing we know: we’re not going to rejoin corporate life … yet. We’re going to avoid that as long as possible, forever, if possible. We’re going to work on some books, compiling ideas and photos from our journey. Lisa’s going to try to find a job at a winery. I’m going to keep freelancing and playing the lottery.
This week, we’ll be moving from a Chicago storage closet to an Ithaca storage closet, then we’ll start apartment hunting. Posts will become less frequent. We’ve got more to write about London, so you’ll see that this week. Then, who knows? We’re still figuring out what will become of our blog.
The future is exciting and unknown, just how we like it.
