Author Archives: alyssa

After a 3-Month Hiatus, Here’s a Glimpse of Life in New Mexico & Spain

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Long time no see, eh?

Since full-time RV life ended with we former nomads buying a house in New Mexico at the end of August, I’ve been at the crossroads of an identity crisis. Traveling around the country in a camper defined much of my existence for over three years. With that suddenly gone, I’ve been getting used to new routines and not entirely sure what’s blog-worthy. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve been sitting around twiddling my thumbs and bored out of my wits. A ton of stuff has been going down over the past three months, including…

Filling an entire house with furniture (much assembly required)

Muddling our way through never-ending DIY renovation projects

Getting in my outside time doing yard work (I always thought my mom was crazy for saying she enjoyed pulling weeds, but I totally get it now)

Running (and winning a medal!) a local trail race with Monkey

Getting to know our local area with fun events

Finding out I’m pregnant with a baby boy!

Experiencing our first snow, which turned our property into a winter wonderland over Thanksgiving

Hosting three sets of visitors in our Placitas casita

Attending Albuquerque’s big hot air balloon festival for the second time

Celebrating holidays in our own weird ways

Getting back into crafting with some new artsy projects

All of this (especially this whole crazy-awesome pregnancy thing) has been a big learning experience and a welcome change of pace for me. But there are definitely some things that I am missing and feeling nostalgic for about our old RV life days.

It’s sad but true that our beloved home on wheels hasn’t moved (except for a trip the DMV to get it registered in our new state) since we pulled up to our home on closing day. I really expected that we would take it out for a camping trip or two by now, but it just sits in the driveway unused as we continue to make monthly payments on it. We do want to sell the RV and downgrade to a smaller size trailer in the near future, but that’s just one of many things on a long list of things we can’t seem to get to.

Easy access to ever-changing outdoor recreation was one of my favorite things about full-time camper life, but that has been lacking somewhat since plopping down in one place. The good thing is that we are just a couple minutes from an awesome national forest trail system with lots of rugged trails. We’ve been there lots over the past few months for short hikes and runs. But our weekends lately have been more filled with DIY house projects than epic long-distance hikes and exploring new places. I must say though that I do love getting in my outside time while working around my property on nice days. Meanwhile, our long-time, full-time jobs have been the great constant in all of this transition and keeping us on a pretty similar routine as we were living during camper life.

We have yet to explore too many new areas of New Mexico or the greater southwest region, but we did recently “go big” with a super-memorable travel excursion. Before moving into the house, we toyed around with the idea of taking an international trip in the fall but tabled the idea because it seemed like too much to plan (and possibly afford) with everything else going on.

Three days after our house closing, I found out I was pregnant, and as my checkups revealed that everything was looking good and healthy, the idea resurfaced in the form of a babymoon. After weighing a few options, we decided upon Spain for eight days during my early second trimester.

Baby boy has been very chill so far, so I was excited to take him on his first international trip. Although someday he’ll probably be so pissed to learn that he went to Spain and never got to see a damn thing! Meanwhile, Monkey was having a blast at her favorite local dog sitter’s house while we were gone, playing with an adorable 11-week-old puppy and getting cuddles from a family who adores her.

These were my favorite parts about the overseas adventure!

Madrid, Spain

  • Beautiful Christmas light displays in all the plazas
  • Our accommodating and affordable private room in a quiet, conveniently located hostel
  • Finding random free museums on our own
  • Artwork at the Reina Sofia museum
  • The impressive Royal Palace self-guided audio tour
  • Delicious paella
  • Finding a vegetarian/vegan restaurant in this very meat-heavy and not-pregnancy-friendly food country
  • Buying myself a cool new ring from a street vendor

Granada, Spain

  • Lively plazas with music, outdoor dining, and endless activity
  • Ease of public transportation to get around
  • Getting outdoors to hike in a huge public park filled with olive trees
  • Tile work and food in the Arab Quarter
  • Wandering around the hilly, stone streets
  • Architecture inside the Granada Cathedral

Bubión/Capileira, Spain 

  • Crazy-scenic bus ride through the mountains to get to the Sierra Nevada region
  • Adorable villages tucked into the mountainside
  • Peaceful vibe away from city life
  • Still able to get by in small mountain towns with our mediocre Spanish language skills
  • The hostel we booked turned out to be an awesome villa with a separate living room and private patio
  • Hiking from one village to the next at sunset
  • Finding a restaurant that served alcohol-free wine, a safe-for-baby treat after being surrounded by Spanish wine every day and not being able to drink it
  • Being able to catch our bus out and flight home despite getting insanely cold/flu sick here

So, while I’m still not entirely sure what to make of this blog in these days after RV life, I finally felt inspired to create an update. BAM – THIS IS IT! In the interim between the Spain trip and Christmas, I’m basically just catching up with work, fighting the tail end of this cold, and soaking up the comforts of my New Mexico home – which I’m still totally into and so happy that we made our own.

Until inspiration strikes again, happy all the holidays and thanks for reading, my dear friends!

RV Life to House Life Transition: Final Month #38

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I’d like to start off this post by thanking my supportive friends for following along and sporadically commenting on my full-time RV life journey for the past three years and two months. Only half of month #38 (the last of the months I’ll be numbering, don’t worry) was spent on the road, but I wanted to write one final post in this series to chat about those final two weeks and the transition to house life in New Mexico.

If RV life does anything, it makes you super-adaptable to whatever comes your way. This is probably why making such a dramatic move hasn’t been an insane shock to my system like I once worried it might be.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on (and off) the road.

California Summer Road Trip: Home on the Road #126 (continued)

We wrapped up our time in the Bay Area of California with a few more visits with friends and family and then started the journey back to New Mexico – by way of Yuma, Arizona to clear out the random five-foot by five-foot storage unit we’d been keeping there. Storage unit clean-out day was a stifling 113 degrees, as it often is in Yuma. But finally for the first time in several years, all of our worldly possessions were in one place: fully contained in our RV and Jeep.

I also had the pleasure (?) of turning 36 on this return journey, which I can’t say was exactly the most fun way to spend a birthday. However, we made up for it with a refreshing hike and fun night out in Flagstaff, Arizona. Then we spent our last night of full-time RV life at a campground in Bernalillo, New Mexico that was only about 10 minutes from our future house that we would get keys to at the real estate closing in the morning.

  • Highlights: Lovely Bay Area weather for bike rides and outdoor lap swimming, buying myself an early birthday present of new cowgirl boots, campground pool on a 113-degree day, squeezing in a national forest hike after 6+ hours of driving on my birthday, vegan Thai restaurant for birthday dinner followed by a visit to our favorite Flagstaff beer hub (Dark Sky Brewing)
  • Lowlights: Long days of driving the RV and Jeep separately due to the heavy weight of carrying all of our worldly possessions, insane hotness, feeling guilty about not feeling more emotional about these last RV days but eh whatever because there’s plenty of adventure that lies ahead

Placitas, New Mexico: Home OFF the Road 

We’ve now been in our New Mexico house for a couple weeks, and it’s been a whirlwind of logistical hassles, cleaning tasks, furniture delivery and assembly, and early-stage DIY projects. But beyond all that practical crap, I must say, I’m really loving this house so far. The layout makes perfect sense in my mind, there’s plenty of space but it still feels cozy, and everything’s in good condition but just in need of some aesthetic updating.

It’s been a lot of upfront costs to get started with house life since we moved out of an RV and previously had zero furniture to our names. However, the previous owner of the house left behind some of her old furniture, which has been a great starting point. Besides, we saved a ton of money by RVing for 3+ years, so dropping a sizable amount of cash all at once hasn’t really felt like a bit hit.

  • Highlights: Introducing Monkey to her new home and seeing her run around and play in all the big rooms, picking out furniture that we actually like rather than settling for hand-me-downs, becoming a master at furniture assembly, getting New Mexico driver’s licenses and registrations at a DMV that was actually not miserable, eating dinner outside every day while watching the sunset, starting to learn how to keep fish and plants alive in my very own backyard pond, going for a little hike around my property and realizing that I am HIKING around MY property, starting to get my very own office set up with a minimalism/Japanese theme equipped with a tatami mat and mini tea table, checking out local events like a garden tour and jazz concert, first pizza delivering to the house by my new favorite nearby eatery, scenic runs and hikes on the national forest trails just a few minutes away, so much sunshine, so peaceful going outside my home and not being surrounded by people (no neighbors in sight!)
  • Lowlights: Lots of drama trying to get trash and recycling set up, exhausted all the time, paying for and accumulating lot of stuff and slowly losing my minimalist lifestyle, many gnomes still in boxes, having to call and talk to people to get house things set up and feeling like an idiot all the while

Random impressions about the RV-to-house transition so far:

  • Everything is just easier and more comfortable now
  • I’m obsessed with taking showers in my new bathroom vs. the RV bathroom or public facilities
  • I have more personal time now that I’m not constantly running around
  • I feel more relaxed and less anxious and irritable in general now
  • I’m doing all the same things I did during RV life plus a few new hobbies (for example, the husband got me an electric piano as a birthday gift so I’ve been reteaching myself to play and pick up where I left off with my 10 years of childhood lessons)
  • Transitioning is really easy when you busy yourself with a ton of new distractions
  • I don’t feel a void from constant change yet, but that may come later
  • Interactions with people aren’t just temporary like they were with life on the road, so I’m trying to be chatty(ish) and friendly(ish) with local folks – you never know when they’re gonna pop up unexpectedly again, right?

We’re keeping the RV for now, and it’s parked right out front of the house. That was a big factor in choosing a house because we didn’t want to be inundated with overbearing HOA rules about camper parking or simply not have the physical space to store it. It’s too big for our camping needs now since we aren’t living in it full-time, so we’ll be looking to downsize to something smaller after a while once things calm down a bit and we can wrap our heads around that. We’ll take it out for a least another trip or two before that as well, possibly for a RV trip around Thanksgiving.

It’s not “settling” if you consciously choose your path. It’s not “settling down” if you find it impossible to stay still for very long.

As you might expect, this is my last monthly post about “homes on the road” since my home is now firmly stuck on the ground and down a winding, gravel road where the desert meets the forest. I’m thinking that occasional future posts I write here will be about “becoming New Mexican,” exploring awesome new places in my new state and the greater Southwest region, and also about trying to wrangle a wild property and grow things that are pretty to look at and delicious to eat.

Until then, thanks for reading along. It’s the end of an era but a new beginning that feels like right where I’m supposed to be. And what more can you ask for than that?

Relive the journey one last time:

Our Last Full Month of Full-Time RVing: Winding Down Life on the Road (Month 37)

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Did you just do a double-take when you read “our last full month in the title? Well, it’s not a click-bait gimmick or an April fool’s joke. That would be weird and totally unnecessary. But it is totally true because…

WE’RE BUYING A HOUSE IN NEW MEXICO!!!

My days of full-time RV life are numbered (literally 12 left), and I’m a messy mix of emotions over it. We’re beyond ready for a next phase, a new adventure, and something totally different to throw ourselves into. At the same time, it’s pretty terrifying for a lifelong renter and RVer to make as big of a commitment as her first real adult house and transition away from something that has come to define her for over three years now.

More on the house situation in a bit, but before I get ahead of myself, here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Bernalillo, New Mexico: Home on the Road #124

After the Great Summer Midwest Road Trip, we made a plan to stay in Bernalillo for really one reason: to house shop in Placitas nearby. We stayed at a historic site campground 10 minutes away from where we had focused our real estate search so that we could really start diving into our post-RV life phase. Ironically, we actually put a bid on our house the very day we rolled into town, which was our three-year anniversary of RV life. So, with that out of the way, we used the next two weeks to pretend like we were locals and scope out the things we’d do regularly in our future home region.

  • Highlights: Swimming laps at the Rio Rancho Aquatic Center, Climbing at Stone Age Climbing Gym (which we learned is opening up a second location even closer to our house!), beautiful storms for monsoon season, painted kiva at the Coronado Historic Site, Bosque Trail for biking in ABQ, Indian vegan food at Annapurna, finding dog-friendly indoor things to do (antique store, book store), mountain biking and hiking in the forest that’s practically in our new backyard, comedy shows and bowling at the nearby Santa Ana Casino, frequenting our new local brewery (Bosque Brewing)
  • Lowlights: Multiple trips to the laundromat (but I’ll have my own washer & dryer soon!), super hot and steamy days, public showers, second-guessing the whole house commitment thing and being all wishy-washy

Winslow, Arizona: Home on the Road #125

*Well I’m standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona*

Yep, I did that. And I also learned to crappily play the song on guitar and even more crappily sing along to get into the local vibe. We camped nearby at Homolovi State Park, which was all 100-degree days but had peaceful desert scenery that made up for it, for me at least.

  • Highlights: Walking around ancient Hopi structures, local history museum in Winslow, playing guitar outside where no one could hear/judge me, checking out the famous Meteor Crater landmark
  • Lowlights: Over 100 degrees every day, public bathrooms full of crickets, only safe time of day to go running was insanely early in the morning

California Summer Road Trip: Home on the Road #126

As one last big hoorah, we’re in the midst of our second summer road trip to see family and friends – this time to the Bay Area of California. From Winslow, we embarked upon three days of grueling RV driving in the hottest temperatures I’ve ever experience in my life, with overnight stays in Needles and Bakersfield.

  • Highlights: Bragging rights of being in one of the three hottest places in the world at that time (others were Saudi Arabia and Algeria), oddly feeling like I was on another planet when it was pitch dark and still 107 degrees for Monkey’s bedtime walk, having 2 working air conditioners in the RV, takeout pizza in Needles, Temblor Brewing and sushi night out in Bakersfield
  • Lowlights: 117 degrees actual temperature – enough said (went down a degree before I could capture the pic below), Camper rattles and shakes so much that I’m pretty sure it’s going to collapse in on itself before we close on this house, not being able to really work in the RV because of how insane it drives, Jeep air conditioning that still doesn’t work well, how shaking and miserable Monkey is while riding in the RV so long

Bay Area Days (so far)

The Bay Area is a pretty terrible place to try to go camping; there’s really no way around it. You’re either paying insanely high prices, packed in like sardines into a parking lot, or sitting through traffic no matter what. In the past while visiting the husband’s family, we’ve stayed at two different campgrounds in Napa and a state park near Oakland. To try something different this time just for the heck of it, we’re giving the Alameda County Fairgrounds a try in Pleasanton. It’s cheap for the area but little more than a parking lot with sewer hookups and about 10 inches between you and your neighbor. It’s the kind of place that makes me ready to be done with camper life, which I guess is a good thing since it is almost done. No complaints about the food or friendly company though 🙂

  • Highlights: Golf driving range nearby, temperatures in the 60s that feel downright cold in the evenings, fast and free Wi-Fi, meeting up with a few local friends, learning the art of acrylic paint pouring with the sis-in-law, easy routes so I could rock 5.10ds at the Diablo Rock Climbing Gym, biking across the Bay Bridge
  • Lowlights: How dumbly sore my right bicep and left rib get after hitting just a couple golf balls, back into the 100s again, lots of not dog-friendly activities to work around, always traffic

Paintings, not food

Looking Ahead to Next Month

Okay, so back to the house.

Where in New Mexico, you ask? Well, I’m glad you did, hypothetical question-asker.

Our soon-to-be home is in a magical land called Placitas, an incorporated village of less than 5,000 people between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. It’s in the mountains and where the desert meets the forest, with a couple acres of our very own land and plenty of wide-open spaces all around. It feels rugged and remote, while still being within 30 minutes of the ABQ airport and 45 minutes from all the quirky artsy stuff in Santa Fe.

Sneak peek at my soon-to-be, very own backyard

The house itself is in great condition but a bit older, so we’ve already started a long list of YouTube-fueled DIY upgrades to make it our own and help fill the void of not traveling full-time. I’ve gotten mixed reactions from people I’ve told so far about the house news, but mostly positive and encouraging.

Folks who know me well aren’t surprised by my choice to try living in New Mexico out of all the places we’ve temporarily lived in over the last few years. Yet others are disappointed that I didn’t pick a place closer to them or that I’ll be giving up a lifestyle I’ve been so “lucky” to pursue for something more ordinary. First of all, luck has nothing to do with it since I’ve busted my ass to build a profitable career from the ground up that I can do anywhere. While I wouldn’t trade my full-time RV experiences for anything, the RV lifestyle is over-rated and over-romanticized by sexy Instagrammers and delusional types with their heads in the clouds. I’ve tried to provide balanced coverage of what it’s really like out here on the road, but honestly, it’s mostly just working at a makeshift desk in the passenger seat of the RV while staring at the back of other campers, with a few fun things squeezed in between that are photo-worthy. I’m sure that shifting to a lifestyle with a stable home base will be a shock to my system, but it’s not the end of adventure – it’s the start of a new one – one of getting to know the Southwest like a local, traveling internationally, and having a more well-balanced life with hobbies and learning new skills.

My post next month will be all about this transition since about half of it will be on the road and the other part moving into a non-wheeled home. So, Month #38 will be my last “home on the road” series post, a monthly tradition of sorts I’ve managed to keep up with since July 2016 for some reason. But don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll come up with something else to endlessly blabber on about to fill the void!

Have a wonderful month, my dear blog-reader, wherever you are.

Catch up with the journey:

Anniversary Edition: Three Years of Full-Time RV Life!

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Today officially marks three full years being a nomad! After this long on the road, I barely remember what it’s like to not live in a camper. I’m not sure what people are supposed do with their time if they aren’t in a constant state of figuring out where to sleep, looking up what to do in a new temporary home, or driving a glorious monstrosity down the highway. It’s been a wild ride of ups and downs, and while I wouldn’t trade the last three years for anything, we’re also looking at this milestone as turning point.

To round out year #3, it’s been a long, weird month that has been lots of fun at times and downright miserable at others. Month #36 featured our annual summer jaunt to the Midwest and back, without the RV and just with the Jeep and tent. With a gas-guzzler that gets less than 7mpg, you don’t jet across the country and back for just a few weeks – you just don’t do it.

This past month, I got to bridesmaid in a good friend’s wedding, see a bunch of old friends that I love, and spend time with my family for an “early birthday” visit. Meanwhile, I’ve also been sweating, itching, and wondering what the hell I’m doing with my life while being stuck in a 95-degree tent where sleeping is impossible, menaced by biting insects, feeling nastier after using campground bathrooms than before using them, and complaining a lot. As you can tell 🙂

More on that in a bit, but first, here’s a little three-year RV life reflection to kick things off:

SOME FAVORITE HOMES ON THE ROAD THAT COME TO MIND

  • Boise, Idaho
  • San Luis Obispo, California
  • Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Salt Lake City, Utah
  • Revelstoke, British Columbia, Canada
  • Wenatchee, Washington
  • New River Gorge, West Virginia
  • Santa Barbara, California
  • Glacier National Park, Montana
  • June Lake, California
  • Cedar City, Utah
  • Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • Virginia Beach, Virginia
  • Cortez, Colorado
  • June Lake, California
  • Marfa, Texas
  • Asheville, North Carolina
  • Bend, Oregon
  • San Diego, California

THE THINGS I’M SO OVER WITH ABOUT RV LIFE

  • Calling incompetent old-timers to make campground reservations every week in the most inefficient way possible
  • Campground pit bull discrimination
  • Hauling laundry across campgrounds, only to pay for laundry machines that don’t work
  • The lack of personal space, privacy, peace, and quiet
  • Other campers – whoever says that meeting people in campgrounds is the best thing about RVing either hasn’t been full-timing very long or is way more extroverted than me
  • Trying to drown out the husband’s work phone calls to focus on my own work in a tiny space when noise-cancelling headphones just don’t cut it
  • Loose dogs in campgrounds despite supposedly enforced leash rules
  • No room to work on crafts or do hobbies
  • Being unable to wash my hair and shave my legs in the same shower due to the lack of hot water in an RV shower
  • Hassles of trying to find RV storage and dog boarding in a new place every time we want to catch an international flight
  • Researching new places every week so that travel planning feels like a burden instead of an adventure
  • Questionable internet reception = questionable work productivity
  • Being generally cranky because my heart just isn’t into this like it was in the beginning

THE THINGS I’LL TOTALLY MISS ABOUT RV LIFE WHEN IT’S OVER

  • Waking up to new scenes and landscapes each week
  • Having access to new trails and outdoor experiences on a regular basis
  • How much money I’ve been able to save over the past 3 years by doing RV life instead of paying rent or a mortgage
  • The general concept of living a non-standard, un-boring life
  • Following the good weather with the seasons
  • How easy it is to live a minimalist lifestyle in an RV with very little stuff to weigh me down

And now, here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Durango, Colorado: Home on the Road #121

Before hitting the road for the Midwest, we stayed in Durango for a week. We’d visited this outdoorsy Colorado town once before a couple years ago and knew we’d like it here. It was beyond easy to get active here, and it’s a place we’d probably look to plop down at for a while if it weren’t so expensive and far away from an airport for international trips.

  • Highlights: Animas City Mountain hike, biking the Animas River Trail, beers at Animas Brewing, probably many more things that have the name Animas, getting back on the rock wall for some climbing 
  • Lowlights: Crappy cell reception AND campground Wi-Fi for working, more campground laundry machines that don’t work, long hours working in advance of the Midwest road trip

Journey to the Midwest: Part of Home on the Road #122

After a week in Durango, we set out for the Midwest on a day that started off all bundled up at 35 degrees. Little did we know (well, we really did know because we obsessively check weather) that we’d soon be living in 100-degree temperatures with high humidity with no easy access to cool off for the foreseeable future. The Jeep’s air conditioning has been on the fritz and tends to completely die on the absolute hottest days after you’ve been driving for 8+ hours.

The idea of camping every night along the way and knocking out a few new states to camp in sounded good in theory. But in reality, some of these days were especially rough for trying to get work done, keeping Monkey from overheating and burning her paws, dodging mosquitoes, and basically not strangling each other.

  • Highlights: Colorado sand dunes, dinner meet-up with our good friend in the Denver area, Grateful Gnome Brewery in Denver, exploring the cute Colorado town of Golden, saying I’ve camped in Nebraska for the first time ever, walking up and down the Indiana sand dunes
  • Lowlights: Insane heat and humidity, insane bugs, trying to sleep in a tent next to a train, disgusting bathrooms that even challenge my low standards, trying to work on a laptop in the passenger seat without puking

Chicago and Arthur, Illinois: Part of Home on the Road #122

Chicago was a whirlwind visit filled with good beer, great friends, and a cozy place to stay with some awesome buddies who set us up with an actual bed and the best shower ever. There was lots of eating and drinking while catching up with old friends and my sixth bridesmaiding experience in a suburban wedding. From there, we headed a few hours south to spend time with my family for an early birthday trip. I can’t claim another year around the sun for another month and a half, but isn’t making what’s supposed to be a single celebratory day into an entire season of celebration what being an only child is all about?!

  • Highlights: Staying with good friends that are dog parents to Monkey’s favorite friend, brewery meet-up with favorite folks at Great Central Brewing, experiencing the chaos of the Montrose Dog Beach with Monkey, catching up with my girls from freshman year of college over dinner, not falling off an electric scooter and busting my head open, getting to be an indoor bridesmaid in the A/C instead of sweating and getting soaked at an outdoor wedding, wedding reception open bar (enough said), having my parents take care of me like I’m 15 years old again (they’re the best), spending time with my grandma
  • Lowlights: Chicago traffic, non-stop heat and humidity, freak (Monkey-caused) rope burn accident that ripped apart my ankles, trying to hike in Illinois and remembering why people don’t hike in Illinois  

Journey Back from the Midwest: Part of Home on the Road #122

After a few days staying at my parents’ house, we hit the road for the westward journey back to our home on wheels, but not before making a bunch of tent-camping stops along the way. To knock a few more states off our list, our route back to Colorado included campgrounds in Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas. Some of these overnight adventures surprisingly sucked (hey there, Tennessee!), while others were surprisingly pleasant (oh hi, Kansas!).

  • Highlights: Saying I’ve now camped in Missouri/Arkansas/Kansas for the first time, surprisingly fun mini-golf and good Indian food in Branson, sunsets, a little magical time to read a book, swimming in a lake, second visit to the Hopping Gnome Brewery in Wichita, Boot Hill Museum with a dinner show and gunfight in Dodge City, reaffirming that I oddly now enjoy water parks in my mid-30s
  • Lowlights: Not being able to work in the passenger seat due to a busted cable and having to frantically find a new power adaptor on the road, insane bugs, insane heat and humidity, tough working conditions, stupidly being surprised by the tough working conditions even though we’ve done this sort of thing countless times before

Bloomfield/Aztec, New Mexico: Home on the Road #123

Our original plan was to camp for two more nights in Colorado, but we’d had enough of the tent life and decided to power through nearly 13 hours of driving instead to get back to our comfy, cozy RV back in Durango. It was a grueling day, but after it, my RV bed and memory foam pillow had never felt better. We found a campground near Aztec Ruins National Monument that could take us in at the last minute and finally settled back into that New Mexico life.

  • Highlights: Exploring the Native American ruins and kivas with low crowds, getting caught up with post-trip laundry/groceries/cleaning, checking out a new part of New Mexico we hadn’t been in before
  • Lowlights: Super hot but it’s okay because we’re back in the RV with A/C, meh pizza takeout for dinner, dead Jeep battery (Chief was clearly exhausted and needed a break after this road trip)

Looking Ahead to Next Month

As you might assess from my current lists of “loves” and “hates” about RV life at the top of this post, this three-year milestone is making me more and more ready for a next phase as the days go by. Full-time camping has been an adventure for sure, but there are lots of ways to have adventures, and I’m curious to explore what those are all about too.

Just today, we got back into the Placitas, New Mexico area, where we are interested in scoping out houses that are not on wheels. We have a couple weeks here to dive back into the local real estate scene before hitting the road again – this time westward to California to put in a friends and family visit on the husband’s side of things. Staying put never seems easy for us, but honestly, that will never change whether we are full-time RVers or just occasional RVers in the future.

Thanks for following along for the past three years, my friends! Life on the road can get a bit isolating at times, so having people to share my journey with, even if it’s just through the internet, has helped me feel more connected to the rest of the world at times. Three years is a milestone, but it’s also a turning point towards something that may be entirely different, and hopefully just as exciting.

Catch up with the journey:

From the Islands to the Desert: Hawaii, New Mexico & Colorado for RV Life Month #35

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Unlike every other month over the last couple years, this one didn’t start out in an RV. Instead I woke up in a tent on a beach in Hawaii. I won’ lie…it was a pretty awesome way to kick off month #35 of life on the road, as well as our anniversary and the husband’s birthday.

However, we did Hawaii a bit differently than the average tourist. Instead of going the insanely priced, all-inclusive resort on Waikiki Beach route, which really isn’t out style, we camped in a tent for five nights and treated ourselves to a cabin for two nights. Then after a refreshing non-working vacation, we checked into Santa Fe, New Mexico for a whole three weeks, an area we’ve really enjoyed in the past and may be enjoying even more of in the future.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Oahu Hawaii: Home on the Road #118 (part 1)

Our few days in Oahu were filled with a mix of touristy things and trying to get off-the beaten path as much as possible. We hit a couple of the famous must-dos, but ditched the super-popular hikes for more chill ones that were just as scenic. Definitely one of the best parts was falling asleep and waking up to the sounds of ocean waves just a short distance from our little blue tent on the beach.

  • Highlights: Successful beach camping (it’s not easy to find good camping on Oahu!), learning how to use outdoor showers, poke bowls, having scenic Ka’Ena Point  all to ourselves, non-stop entertainment at the Polynesian Cultural Center, surprising the husband with a birthday luau, delicious chikoo boba tea in Honolulu’s Chinatown, random Hawaiian diner food, all the beautiful plants, wonderfully warm weather, Dole Pineapple Plantation for touristy indulgence, getting daily updates about Monkey from our dog sitter back in Albuquerque 
  • Lowlights: Other people’s loud late-night parties at the campground because we’re old and tired, remembering how awful air travel is and wondering why the hell one of my post-RV life goals is to travel more internationally, rain and humidity, the trafficky and stressful Waikiki Beach area, missing Monkey and knowing how much she’d love these sandy beaches

Big Island, Hawaii: Home on the Road #118 (part 2)

While Oahu was definitely nice to visit, the Big Island was more our style. It was a bit more laid-back, less-touristy, more outdoorsy, and had plenty of wide-open spaces. To go “all out” for our anniversary, we booked a stay in a cabin at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and let the tent dry out from the recent rain showers.

  • Highlights: Rainbow Falls and checking out Hilo, a real bed after all those tent nights, anniversary dinner with a view of volcanoes at the national park’s Rim Restaurant, tasty Korean and Thai food, black sand beaches, checking out a real estate open house and legitimately considering buying it, the self-guided tour at Pu’uhouna o Honaunau National Historic Park, swimming in the warm ocean water, snagging a free trial day at a Planet Fitness to do some yoga and get a much-needed shower, free coffee samples from Kona coffee farms, that got me through the jet lag phase, delicious honey and macadamia nuts from Paradise Meadows farm, public beach camping that wasn’t as loud as I expected, lava rocks galore, shave ice with ice cream underneath, the mostly-outdoor Kona airport that puts all other airports to shame, seeing a rainbow just before we flew home, getting updates that Monkey is doing amazing at the dog sitter and playing well with as many as 8 (!) dogs at a time in a backyard 
  • Lowlights: Bummer there’s no lava flowing, lots of national park trails closed after the 2018 earthquake and volcano damage, struggling to find a shower when you need one (thanks for the free trial day, Planet Fitness!), never could find rental snorkel equipment when we wanted it (should have brought our own, I guess), more getting rained on, disappointing service at the Kona Brewing Company

Santa Fe, New Mexico: Home on the Road #119

After flying back to Albuquerque (with a brief layover in Phoenix), we collected our little Monkey from the dog sitter’s place, headed straight to a self-serve dog wash to scrub away all that stranger-dog grime, and collected our RV from the storage lot. That same arrival day, we made the short journey up to Santa Fe, a destination we’d settled on plopping down at for three straight weeks. Not only were we feeling exhausted with all the moving around, but the corridor between ABQ and Santa Fe has emerged as real possibility for post-RV life.

  • Highlights: Meeting up with awesome fellow full-time RVers Jamie and Ross for African fusion dinner, experiencing the bizarre world of Meow Wolf, drinking at a couple local breweries, house shopping in nearby Placitas and Eldorado at Santa Fe, checking out some remote national historic sites, dry and warm weather for the most part, super-chill vibe over Memorial Day, hikes and trail runs nearby, Shakespeare performance in the botanical garden, quirky Currents New Media art show, best community center I’ve ever been to (Lap pool swimming and ice skating in one afternoon? Sign me up!), hanging out with alpacas at Blue Mesa Alpaca Ranch
  • Lowlights: Literally having snow here the day after getting home from Hawaii, waking up to 34 degrees in a tin box with no insulation in late-May, crazy winds for biking, trying to navigate the strange world of real estate and having our first-ever offer rejected, post-vacation laundry chaos, ran out of time to mountain bike and rock climb

Pagosa Springs, Colorado: Home on the Road #120

It’s been a long time since we’ve set up camp in Colorado, and there are still lots of this state I’m dying to see. We’ve somewhat put off Colorado because we’re pretty confident that we’ll plop down in the Mountain West eventually, which means that Colorado destinations will be right in our backyard. But for now, we’re checking out the small resort town of Pagosa Springs, which is beautiful, peaceful, and has just enough to see and do without being overwhelming for a week-long stay.

  • Highlights: Easy access to hiking and mountain biking trails in the San Juan National Forest, hopping back on the mountain bike again, cute downtown area to walk around, hot springs even though our days here topped 85 degrees, lots of sunshine, snow-capped mountains in June, cutting out of Friday work early here soon to go for a long mountain hike followed by hot springs and dinner as rewards
  • Lowlights: Having to pay for electric meter usage at a weekly RV site for the first time ever (WTF?), the exhausting annoyance of trying to communicate with inept campground workers to make future reservation, lots and lots of hours working ahead in advance of the upcoming Illinois trip, crappy Verizon reception, lugging huge laundry bags across a campground only to pay high prices for machines that don’t work

Looking Ahead to Next Month

From here, we’re heading to Durango…a Colorado spot we’ve day-tripped to in the past but never spent a whole week in before. Then, this upcoming month will be our annual RV-free summer road trip to Illinois and back for a friend’s wedding that I’m bridesmaiding in, to squeeze in some Chicago meetups with old buds, and to put in an early birthday visit with my family. Like last summer, we’ll be tent-camping between Colorado and Illinois to check out some new parts of states we never spend much time in across Middle America.

When we get back to the West, property-hunting mode starts all over again. I’m perpetually torn about the concept of buying land and a house, because on one hand, commitment freaks me out, it’s all a big money suck, and I don’t want to lose this grasp I have on the minimalism lifestyle. Then on the other hand, I’m beyond ready for a next life phase after nearly three years of RVing, I don’t have much more energy for more full-time travel right now, and I despise the idea of settling for a crowded apartment environment as our next move. Full-time RV life has somewhat come to define me at this point, but I can only do the same thing for so long before becoming restless and wanting to experience something else, and that time has come.

We’ve put an insane amount of time, thought, debate, and conversation into where this next phase should begin, and at least right now, the stars are aligning over Placitas, New Mexico. The St. George, Utah area, the previously-agreed-upon promised land, proved to be far less affordable than expected for the type of property we’d be happy in, and somehow, we’ve gotten pretty picky with what we’re looking for.

These are my top priorities:

  • Over an acre for good neighbor distance
  • Scenic landscapes and views
  • Separate offices for work
  • Tons of windows and natural light
  • Solar panels if possible
  • Backyard with a fence for Monkey to play in
  • Outdoor space for growing plants and food
  • A place for my gnomes to come out of storage
  • Deck or patio to hang outside in my very own space
  • Laundry machines that actually work
  • Separate area for crafts and hobbies
  • No HOA or overbearing rules
  • Onsite camper parking
  • Able to put a little hiking trail in/around the property
  • Remote location but not totally inaccessible
  • Decent airport distance for international travel
  • Not insanely priced

That’s not too much to ask, right?! 🙂

I’ve learned that I care more about the outside than the inside of a house, and the husband’s list looks a bit different than mine, but we’re mostly on the same page. We went out on a limb and actually put a low-ball offer on a house and it fell through…live and learn. When it comes to “adulting” with things like real estate, I still feel like I’m 15 years old. But I’m learning along the way slowly and in no huge rush until this magical “home off the road” decides to emerge from the universe and present itself.

Until then, you can find me feeding alpacas in my dreams.

Next month will be my “three-year anniversary (eeek!) of full-time camper life” post, so tune back in on the 14th for some more rambling if you’re game. Thanks for reading along!

Catch up with the journey:

One Last Sweep Through the South: Month #34 of RV Life

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We sought out springtime in the South in hopes of less rain than last spring in the Pacific Northwest. It’s kind of crazy how much more the weather impacts life in a camper compared to being in an apartment somewhere. The number of rainy days has been fewer in the South, but the storms have been bigger. We’ve escaped the tornadoes and hail you may have heard about in the news, but we’ve still had our fair share of thunderstorms knocking out power and scaring the daylights out of poor Monkey.

Month #34 kicked off with a Gulf Coast bike trip and then moved at record speed through northern Texas and Oklahoma. We’ve since made it back to our familiar home base of Albuquerque, New Mexico, with an island vacation just around the corner.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Biloxi, Pensacola, Orange Beach & New Orleans: Home on the Road #113

We called it our “MissFloBamaIana bike trip,” but unfortunately, not a whole lot of biking actually happened. The goal was 100 miles over the course of a long weekend, but we didn’t even reach half of that goal. This was because of the high 20+ mph winds, time-consuming bike repairs, thunderstorms, and the time constraints of scheduling in a social visit. But we still managed to tent-camp in four states in four days, thereby checking a few more places off our “full-time RV life map.”

  • Highlights: White sand Biloxi beaches, visiting my aunt and her husband in Orange Beach, delicious seafood, not getting sick after tent-camping, Gulf Island forts, walking around Pensacola
  • Lowlights: Consoling a dog terrified of storms, broken spoke, rain and mud, insane winds, no time to party in New Orleans, so much driving

Shreveport, Louisiana Area: Home on the Road # 114

Our stay in the Shreveport area was a short one – just a couple days for the purpose of visiting our favorite nonprofit sanctuary, Chimp Haven. It wasn’t a scheduled tour day at Chimp Haven, but as occasional donors, the staff let us drop by anyway to bring in some donation items and see a few chimps.

  • Highlights: Seeing some fun research-retired chimps being well cared for, mountain biking trails around the sanctuary where you could hear the chimps hootin’ & hollerin’, a surprisingly decent campground in Greenwood at a TA travel center, being invited by the campground long-termers to their Easter lunch
  • Lowlights: No time to actually check out anything in Shreveport, terribly maintained roads to get here in an RV that’s already insanely bumpy on the smoothest of roads

Tyler, Texas: Home on the Road #115

Tyler State Park was a lot like our stay in Huntsville State Park, and Texas’ state parks are by far the best things about Texas. Right from our spacious campsite, it was easy to get to mountain biking trails, trail runs, quiet paths for long dog walks, and a lake for boating. Lately I find myself much happier staying out in the boonies in a place like this and only going to town about once a week.

  • Highlights: Continuing to get a little better at mountain biking, peaceful campsite, magical time to hang out outdoors, eating dinner on a stand-up paddleboard without toppling over, working on a craft project for Mother’s/Father’s Day, the beautiful rose garden in town, True Vine Brewing’s super-sweet outdoor space
  • Lowlights: More thunderstorms, lots of mud

Roadside Stop: Argyle Texas

With the take-down, setup, gas/propane stops, slow driving speed, etc., RV driving days always take more time than you’d think. Finding a place to park this monstrosity often prevents us from making too many stops along the way on moving days, but we made an exception in Argyle, Texas.

I first heard about Gnome Cones in 2017, an all-natural snow cone stand in a Texas town of 4,000+ people. I finally got to experience the world’s only gnome-shaped snow cones for myself along this drive, and it was nothing short of incredible.

The shack is super-cute, the flavors are creative (I chose Troll’s Blood, which was a mix of cherry, strawberry, and coconut), the onsite gnome collection is pretty impressive, and they’re damn delicious too. I bought a keychain and t-shirt as souvenirs and arbitrarily joined their Gnome Cones club in hopes of making it back here someday for round two.

Transition Week Stop 1: Lake Murray, Oklahoma

Transition week, collectively Home on the Road #116, was a whirlwind week of state park stays in three states. This was an intentional plan to break up the long drive from Tyler, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The first stop was Lake Murray State Park, which was our first-ever time camping in Oklahoma.

  • Highlights: Peaceful site with no neighbors, nice weather to work outside, adding the Oklahoma sticker to our RV life map, getting in a good run
  • Lowlights: Not enough time to take the boats out on the nice lake, not much in the way of hiking trails

Transition Week Stop 2: Copper Breaks State Park, Texas

Our second stop for transition week was Copper Breaks for a three-night stay to get substantial work done and spend some time on the trails. This was an awesome place to mountain bike and also see colorful wildflowers, with some landscapes that surprised me that they were in Texas.

  • Highlights: Nice hiking and mountain biking trails at the park, red rock landscapes, quiet campsite, amazingly colorful wildflowers
  • Lowlights: More storms to scare Monkey, Jeep tire issue that actually required a service from Quanah to come out to us, mounting fuel costs

Transition Week Stop 3: Caprocks Canyons State Park, Texas

The third stop on this very mobile week was Caprock Canyons, which was our last stay in Texas for probably a long while. I loved the scenery here for this one-night stay but never ended seeing any of the resident buffalo that are supposed to be roaming around the park.

  • Highlights: Red rock landscapes along a nearly 7-mile hike on the rim trail, watching the resident prairie dogs peek their heads up from dirt mounts and confuse the heck out of Monkey, sweet potato pancakes for breakfast
  • Lowlights: Where are the buffalo?!

Transition Week Stop 4: Sumner Lake State Park, New Mexico

To round out this multi-stop journey, we camped in a new part of a familiar state. New Mexico is certainly not known for its abundant water sources, but there are a surprising number of nice lakes here for chill boating activities. Sumner Lake State Park took me by surprise with how nice the campsites here, how blue the lake was, and the stunning lightning show under the desert stars.

  • Highlights: Cute outdoor casitas at each campsite that were perfect for working, campsite views of the lake, chill vibe, feeling at home back in the desert, fun lightning in the distance
  • Lowlights: Not enough time to get the boats out, not much in the way of hiking trails

Albuquerque, New Mexico: Home on the Road # 117

Albuquerque has become a familiar home base for us. This was our first destination for the 5-week camper life trial in 2016, it’s where we set out from for last year’s Christmas trip, and it’s now where we plopped down to fly out to Hawaii for an anniversary vacation. We’ve stayed at a different campground each time – this time north of the city more in the Rio Rancho/Bernalillo area.

  • Highlights: Discovering our new favorite “promised land” of Placitas between ABQ and Santa Fe that is more like where we would want to find a future house than anywhere else we’ve seen lately, a great mix of sunshine and storms, finding a local at-home dog sitter nearby via Rover to take care of Monkey while we’re in Hawaii, securing RV storage during our trip, chill hike in the Cibola National Forest, good times at the casino bowling alley, authentic New Mexican cuisine of sopapillas with green chile 
  • Lowlights: Almost getting screwed out of an RV storage space because campground owners are unreliable, hassles with campground mail delivery, not enough time to do more city things in ABQ with work and packing

Looking Ahead to Next Month

I’m sharing this monthly update a little early because TOMORROW, we fly out to Hawaii! It’ll be my first time in the islands, and we’re taking our tent gear for a more rugged and local experience vs. the going the popular all-inclusive resort route that’s not so much our style.

We’ll be spending a week on Oahu and the Big Island and renting a car on each one so we can check out whatever island life has to offer at our own pace. It’ll be a much-needed week of not working and celebrating our anniversary and the husband’s birthday in the mid-May beach tradition that we’ve kept up with over the last four years.

When our time in Hawaii sadly comes to an end, the almost the entire rest of month #35 will be spent in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The corridor between Albuquerque and Santa Fe has quickly jumped to the top of our potential plop-down list after discovering a disappointing lack of good housing options in Southwestern Utah. Post-vacation, we’ll be slowing down the pace of camper life to scope out the scene and take a breath of fresh air.

Until then, aloha!

Catch up with the journey:

Beach & Bayou Life: Nomads Along the Gulf Coast in Month #33

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I sometimes forget how peaceful it is to walk along the ocean. It’s been a while since we’ve been to a beach, so we spent the bulk of Month #33 of camper life along the Gulf Coast of Texas on Galveston Island. This served as a vacation destination for my parents, who survived yet another miserable Illinois winter and flew out to see us. It was also a welcome change of scenery for us.

To continue on with this spring’s Gulf Coast theme, we’re taking the next few days off for a long-distance bike trip along the Gulf with stops in FOUR states along the way!

But first, here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Huntsville State Park, Texas: Home on the Road #110

Before we hit the beach and the bayou, we settled into the pine forests of Huntsville State Park in Texas. This was one of my favorite campgrounds in a VERY long time because of the spacious site that felt like having our own little backyard. It was also insanely easy to access pretty much every type of outdoor recreation. Finally being rewarded with the perfect 70s and sunny weather that we came to Texas for didn’t hurt either!

  • Highlights: Getting a little better at mountain biking, getting out on the lake twice to kayak and SUP, close-by hikes and trail runs, sitting in a hammock, painting with acrylic on canvas, few distractions meant getting lots of work done in advance of some exciting trips coming up.
  • Lowlights: Some party-hardy campers nearby who can still manage to stay up until 4am (how? why?! I’m old.), kinda sucking at getting a campfire started on two different evenings.

Galveston Island, Texas: Home on the Road #111

Although we’ve camped on beaches in our tent, this was the closest we’ve ever camped to a beach in the RV. We literally just had to walk across a parking lot to be greeted by sand and surf, and of course a few off-leash dogs. After getting settled in, my parents flew into Houston and we brought them down to Galveston for a little slice of island life as well.

The weather was rainy but not nearly as bad as last year in Oregon. Top sightseeing stops included an Amazon distribution center tour, a dolphin cruise in the bay, murder mystery show at a local theater, offshore drilling rig museum (because…Texas), beach time, and hanging out at our camper by the lagoon.

  • Highlights: A view of the ocean from our RV, great campground Wi-Fi, decent laundry facilities to catch up after recent state park stays, a successful parents’ visit with lots of solid quality time, spending time at the beach, staying active with biking/boating/lifting, feeling really on top of my work.
  • Lowlights: First sunburn of the season (you think I’d have learned by now), trying to hike and only finding mud pits instead, doing taxes and paying an insane amount to the government as usual.

Lake Charles, Louisiana: Home on the Road #112

Now it’s time to take a break from Texas and explore a bit further along the Gulf Coast! We’re staying at Intracoastal Park south of Lake Charles, under a bridge and among the huge barges passing by. It feels like we’re officially bayou people.

  • Highlights: Watching the huge barges pass by our camper (but what’s ON them?!), kayaking among the barges and swamps too, chill place with few distractions so pretty work productive despite getting slammed with every new project all at once, warm weather in the 70s-90s, winning $34 playing video roulette at the nearby Golden Nugget Lake Charles casino, finally buying new running shoes (bright pink!) to replace the ones my toes are sticking though. 
  • Lowlights: The insanely loud noises of camping pretty much under a metal bridge, no electricity for a day after 2 transformers blew out during a thunderstorm, mosquitoes galore, nothing ever dries in this humidity, camper leaks from ongoing rain.

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

  • I finally painted something! Working on my trees and landscape scenes here while enjoying some awesome weather and a big campsite at Huntsville State Park.

  • Wildflowers are in bloom in Texas! It’s nothing like the photos I’ve been seeing come out of California lately, but it’s still nice. These are some of my favorites. They’re called confetti lantana. They’re also reminding me that I want a garden.

  • I always enjoy a good game of mini golf and can get a bit competitive (i.e. belligerent) with it. This was a course near our beach campground in Galveston. Although the husband and I tend to be evenly matched at most games, I won this game by 2 putts…just for the record.

Looking Ahead to Next Month

I’m posting this a couple days early because tomorrow we’re setting out on an epic Gulf Coast biking adventure. We’ll be tent-camping in four states in four nights (Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana) between bike rides with Monkey in tow via dog trailer. There’s are heavy chances of rain and storms, so I have no doubt that this will be quite the adventure.

Afterwards, we’ll be coming back to our home base near Lake Charles, visiting our favorite chimpanzee nonprofit sanctuary (Chimp Haven) near Shreveport, quickly moving back through Texas, and then reaching Albuquerque, New Mexico. The pace quickens from here on out because literally days after returning from Japan, we caught the overseas travel bug and, on a whim, booked a week-long trip from ABQ to Hawaii! Neither of us has been to the islands before, and it sounded like a solid way to celebrate the husband’s birthday and our marriage anniversary.

But first, on with this bayou bike adventure. Wish us luck, sunny skies, and no flat tires!

Catch up with the journey:

Japan & Vegas: Pretty Much the Exact Opposite of RV Life (Month 32)

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For nearly three years now, pretty much all of my blog posts have been about camper life and full-time RVing. However, month #32 of camper life was largely spent outside of this tiny home on wheels and in a random collection of hotels, hostels, and ryokans. It was just the kind of break I needed to feel like a traveler and not just an RV traveler.

To kick off the month, the husband and I flew to Japan for an international vacation. We’d grown frustrated with putting off international travel until camper life was over and honestly a bit America-ed out. So, we stashed Monkey in an awesome at-home dog boarding situation and hopped on a plane for my very first trip to Asia. From there, the randomness continued with a girls’ trip to Vegas with my college roommates and stays in some familiar Texas cities as well.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

San Antonio, Texas: Home on the Road #106 (continued)

Our stay in San Antonio was a bit of a weird one. Our camper stayed put in one place for a full month (a record for us!) but we really weren’t in it all that much. It ended up being cheaper and easier just to pay a monthly campground rate and leave it sit empty than deal with an RV storage facility. For most of the time we actually spent in town, I was sick or it was raining. I’ve been to San Antonio a couple times before though, so fortunately I didn’t develop a case of FOMO.

  • Highlights: Finding an awesome dog sitter to take in Monkey for 8 days who sent us daily pics and videos (she and her new best bud, Radley, are pictured below!), finally getting to do a few touristy things by biking the missions and taking down some tasty veggie quesadillas on the Riverwalk.
  • Lowlights: Being sick much of the time we were actually in the city, another urgent care visit, campground was about 30 minutes from everything in town, non-stop working to make up for taking vacation days off, rain and more rain.

Tokyo/Yamanouchi/Kyoto/Nara, Japan: Home on the Road # 107

Japan was amazing, and I can’t say enough good things about my first experience in Asia. We flew into Tokyo and quickly mastered the train system to travel to Yamanouchi, Kyoto, and Nara. It was surprisingly easy to get around as a dumb American tourist, thanks to so many signs and menus with English translations and also because of how many people there could speak a little English. I had learned some basics (please, thank you, etc.), but I felt that most people were friendly and patient with me, especially compared to other places (I’m looking at you, France).

  • Highlights: Seeing snow monkeys in the wild, embracing the crowded streets of Tokyo, feeling comfortable among locals who are polite/non-intrusive and keep to themselves (unlike pretty much everywhere I go in the U.S.), amazing food everywhere we went (okonomiyaki is my new favorite), temples and shrines (Fushimi Inari was my favorite), roaming deer and the national museum in Nara, staying in a traditional ryokan with an onsen, giving public nude bathing a try, animal cafes with hedgehogs and cats, flashy show at Tokyo’s Robot Restaurant, not as expensive of a trip overall as expected.
  • Lowlights: Airline lost our luggage so we had to wear the same clothes for three days and buy new toiletries/underthings, insane jet lag that had me totally loopy and talking out of my head like an emotional rollercoaster, being sick on the trip and getting sicker when we got back, a few frigid/rainy days but not too bad honestly.

Ladies-Only Trip to Vegas! 

Just one week after getting back from Japan, I was back on a plane for a much-needed girls’ trip to Las Vegas. My senior year college roommates and I hadn’t taken a trip together since just after graduation, so we were definitely overdue for some ladies’ nights out and husband breaks.

  • Highlights: Finally having a place to wear going-out dresses, getting 34K+ steps in walking up and down the Strip, fun Gwen Stefani concert, cheering on scantily clad men at Thunder Down Under, nice hotel room at NYNY, catching up with awesome long-time friends, doing a little bachelorette party celebrating with festive sashes.
  • Lowlights: Our fourth partner in crime’s flight was cancelled so we were a group of 3 instead of 4 (love you, Nicole!), mediocre/overpriced food options, not nice enough weather for pool time, clueless/unhelpful hotel staff, not being able to wear bachelorette party tattoos because we didn’t have a mini scissors to cut them out (first world problems).

Austin, Texas: Home on the Road #108

I’m sure the SXSW music festival is awesome and all, but it really threw a wrench in our Austin camping plans. Campsites were either totally booked out or insanely priced during the event, which means we had to cut our Austin stay short to just six days. We were staying in McKinney Falls State Park though, which meant easy access to outdoor recreation and being a safe distance away from the crowds and chaos.

  • Highlights: Getting on the wall at Crux Climbing gym, hikes and trail runs at McKinney Falls, the dog-friendly Uncle Billy’s Brewhouse & Smokehouse that had vegetarian options and a live band, pretty much everything being dog-friendly in Austin, seeing a live improv comedy show (it was just okay though) at The Hideout, randomly holding a baby goat, biking along the river downtown.
  • Lowlights: Only getting to spend a few hours really in downtown Austin, crowded trails with loose (“he’s friendly!”) dogs everywhere, cold days below freezing, remembering what a sticky mess cotton candy is and how truly terrifying crawfish are at the Austin Crawfish Festival.

Somerville, Texas: Home on the Road #109

With our Austin plans cut short, we fled further into Texas to camp near Lake Somerville in hopes of squeezing in some water recreation. It’s been a bit rainy and windy so far, so we have yet to get out on the boats (but maybe today!). But this has still been a super peaceful and low-key place to stay with pretty much nothing to do besides get outside at the state park every day and get work done. It’s pretty much exactly what I needed after Japan, Vegas, and Austin.

  • Highlights: Slower pace to relax and not be overwhelmed by options of things to do, camped about a mile from the state park for hikes and trail runs, board games and smoothies on a rare lazy Sunday, windowsill gardening.
  • Lowlights: The great laundry debacle of 2019 with a broken dryer and unexpected trip with dripping clothes to the nearest laundromat 20 miles away, rain and mugginess, mud everywhere, loud barking neighbor dogs that wake me up at night (makes me appreciate my mostly bark-free Monkey though!)

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

I’m now the proud owner of a Ninja mini blender! I’ve definitely missed making smoothies and protein shakes over the last couples years, but my old blender got tossed out in the downsizing efforts before we set out for full-time camper life. It’s been fun experimenting with tossing random combinations of things in these single-serving cups and feeling damn healthy about it.

Nobody likes to have lost luggage, but it’s particularly stressful after 15 hours of flying and upon arriving in a country where you’re too dumb to communicate in the local language. Somehow, we were reunited with our bags within a day and a half though, and I’ve never been so happy to see a silly backpack.

When I’m done with RV life and have my own house, I’m going to have the most amazing washer and dryer that money can buy. Doing laundry in nasty public facilities and with chronically broken machines has scarred me for life. I pretty much get the shakes every time another sock gets dirty these days.

Looking Ahead to Next Month

Month 33 might not be as random or international Month 32, but it’s still set up to be an interesting one. This is somewhat because we’re having visitors in just a couple weeks! My parents are flying down to Houston for an extended weekend, so we’ll be checking out Houston and Galveston with them. After that, we’ve planned a brief, yet epic, bike ride/tent camping adventure along the Gulf Coast that will pass through the southern parts of Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and Florida.

Texas has been a bit rainy for us lately, but it’s still nothing compared to Oregon last spring with the steady rain and crazy mold growth in the windowsills of the RV. So, I’ll keep reminding myself of that and hoping it clears up to get out on Lake Somerville at least once before we move things along to the magical land of Huntsville State Park to see yet another new part of Texas. Being back in Texas makes me miss Japan a lot though, and we’ve already started talking about the other places in Japan we want to visit on our next trip overseas.

Until next month, sayonara.

Catch up with the journey:

Living Large in Texas: Month #31 of Camper Life in the Lone Star State

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There’s been a whole lot of Texas going on over the past month, and I’m happy to report that we finally found the magical warmth that we’ve been seeking in the south. Sorry to rub it in, Midwesterners who recently survived the polar vortex 😉

Month #31 on the road began with our second full week in Marfa, Texas, followed by a couple weeks further south and east in Del Rio near the Mexican border. Now we’ve plopped down in San Antonio for a month as our home base for non-RV travels to Japan and Las Vegas. While Month #30 encompassed the Christmas trip back east with lots of driving and rushing around, the pace of camper life slowed down in Month #31, which was exactly what I needed.

Here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Marfa, Texas: Home on the Road #104 (continued)

Since the government was still shut down during our time around Big Bend National Park, we opted to visit Big Bend State Ranch Park instead, which was an awesome decision. This is a remote and rugged park with disbursed camping, some interesting hiking trails, and plenty of solitude. We left the RV behind to tent-camp here and then rounded things out with stops in the small random towns of Lajitas, Terlingua, and Alpine. There was also a nice desert botanical garden we checked out (I do love my cacti) outside the little town of Fort Davis.

  • Highlights: Camping out in a tent with a beautiful sunset and no one around, seeing a javelina up-close for the first time (surprisingly cute!), scenery at Big Bend Ranch State Park, sipping post-hike margaritas in the random resort town of Lajitas, driving through the bizarre encampments and pseudo-roads of Terlingua, super chill driving range to hit a few golf balls in Marfa, hiking around Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center & Botanical Garden
  • Lowlights: The relentless winds of West Texas, getting sick after the tent-camping adventure and being out-of-commission for a few days (is my body getting too old to tent camp?!), still not getting to visit Big Bend National Park, yet another campground that can’t figure out how to enforce dog leash rules, drinking tequila for the first time in ages and remembering why I don’t drink tequila anymore 

Del Rio, Texas: Home on the Road #105

Like Marfa, Del Rio was a place I’d never been before in Texas. Although there wasn’t a ton to do here, that was actually a really good thing because it helped me minimize distractions and get a ton of work done in advance of our upcoming trip to Japan. Also, the weather here was pretty perfect and got up to 70 degrees on several days. This was such a relief after having our RV pipes continually freeze and struggle through other winter-RV-related drama over the past couple months.

  • Highlights: Perfect boating conditions to take out the kayak and SUP at Amistad National Recreation Area, having access to a campground gym that actually didn’t suck and toning up some muscles by lifting weights, the surprisingly impressive frontier village of the Whitehead Memorial Museum, online ordering and campground delivery success so I don’t have to buy new clothes/shoes in an actual store, being super active with trail running and lifting to the point of actually seeing results, impressive campground Wi-Fi, another round of tent camping and a 15+ mile hike at Devil’s River State Natural Area
  • Lowlights: Taco trucks with no meat-free options, getting sick yet again and having to go to a shady urgent care clinic, popping a tire while mountain biking

San Antonio, Texas: Home on the Road #106

I booked us a campground for an entire month here in San Antonio so we have a stable place for home base during the upcoming non-RV travels. Unlike Marfa and Del Rio, I’ve been to San Antonio a couple times before but have always enjoyed the place. So, far, we haven’t really been able to do anything very fun or touristy here though, due to constant rain, working ahead, and being pretty far away from downtown.

  • Highlights: Warmish weather with no freezing nights, few distractions = more time to work ahead before our Japan trip, finding a local, cage-free home stay for Monkey during our vacation, finally breaking out the sewing machine again, boba tea and fro-yo
  • Lowlights: Crowded campground with lots of barking dogs tied outside, no fitness center or other campground amenities, crappy Wi-Fi, rainy and dreary weather, mud everywhere, surrounded by suburban sprawl, being 30+ minutes from all things to do in the city and from hiking too, a second trip to an urgent care clinic

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

I saw my first javelina at Big Bend Ranch State Park! They’re kind of cute and dopey, but apparently people try to hunt them for some reason.

We always try to find self-serve dog washes to give Monkey a bath every month or so, but in some places, that’s easier said than done. This little lady hadn’t had a bath since before Christmas and was starting to stink, well, like a dog. This campground actually had a dog washing sink and enclosed area, but the water was ice cold with no adjustment options. So, this happened: a bucket bath in the middle of a dead grass/gravel pit!

We recently celebrated Monkey’s 5th birthday here in San Antonio! We adopted her three years ago and threw a little camper party and wen on a rainy hike to celebrate.

In an effort to be a little healthier, I’m doing my best to drink more tea instead of booze. To make tea more of a “thing,” I’ve been experimenting with loose leaf tea and a tea infuser. I’m pretty into it, but it’s still a challenge.

Today is my 6-year freelanceaversary! I’m been full-time freelance writing for 6 years now as of today, which is kind of crazy. To kick off year #7, I’m in talks with a publisher about writing a book about gnomes. In other gnome-related news, I’ve also recently taken over the leadership position of the International Gnome Club.

Looking Ahead to Next Month

Month #32 is set up to be one of the most exciting months EVER! Literally tomorrow, we jet off to Japan for a week of Asian adventures. It’ll be my first trip to Asia, and I’m pretty much all packed and ready to hit the mean streets of Tokyo, Nagano, Yamanouchi, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and wherever else we happen to land instead because of mishaps in complex train navigation. Sadly, my flashcard and Duolingo app efforts to learn basic Japanese have been in vain, and I’m exhausted with constant travel planning. We’ve figured out a few things, but have left quite a bit unplanned in an attempt at spontaneity.

Within a few days of getting back, I’m back on a plane again but this time to Las Vegas for a girls’ weekend. And in between all of this madness, I’m hoping to see bits and pieces of San Antonio too.

Until next time…sayōnara!

Catch up with the journey:

The Cross-Country Christmas Journey from the Southwest & Back: 2.5 Years of Nomad Life

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Although I grew up in the Midwest, I have little desire to be back there except for visits to family and friends. This means that every Christmas involves a cross-country journey and doing my best to avoid snow, ice, traffic, and delays.

These days, we opt to drive instead of fly for this particular journey so that Monkey can join us for Christmas and because well, air travel just sucks. It’s a Jeep-only endeavor since the RV is a gas-guzzler, but fortunately, we found a departure campground with onsite storage to simplify the logistics. This year’s Christmas journey began in Albuquerque, New Mexico, made a stop in Atlanta, Georgia and then finally onto the town I grew up in, Arthur, Illinois.

On the eastbound journey, we broke up the drives with overnight hotel stays in Henryetta, Oklahoma and Tupelo, Mississippi, visits to Fort Smith National Historic Site and Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site in Arkansas, visits to Civil War battlefields in Mississippi, and breweries in Little Rock and Birmingham. Our stay in Georgia revolved around the husband’s business meetings, a company Christmas dinner, and getting an emissions test done in the Jeep so we don’t have to worry about that nonsense until August 2020.

It was Christmas traditions as usual at my parents’ place, with way too many amazing gifts and delicious things to eat. We tried to offset the impending fatness by running on their treadmill in the garage every morning. We spent a full week here in the house where I went to high school from and were able to get some much-needed downtime. I squeezed in work with every spare moment that didn’t feel like it was infringing upon the festive spirit.

I typically feel like I’m usually the one who makes the effort to visit people, but as an added bonus this year, everyone seemed to come to us! We had two sets of friends passing through Arthur who were awesome enough to stop by and say hello to break up their drives through the frigid corn fields. A few days later, a friend from high school came over to see us as well and scarf down some Mexican food to break up all the meals filled with casseroles and pies.

After spending a full week in Arthur, it was time to head back; however, all of the national monuments we’d planned to visit on the return journey were closed due to this idiotic government shutdown. So, we powered through Missouri and Oklahoma and stayed overnight in hotels in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Tucumcari, New Mexico along the way.

Central and southern New Mexico don’t typically get much snow, but the universe wasn’t smiling in our favor this year. The final leg of our return journey was riddled with icy roads and traffic accidents, and we were greeted by a busted pipe system and no running water when we got back to our home on wheels.

Now that we’re 2.5 years into this lifestyle and back at it again, here’s a quick recap of this past month’s batch of homes on the road.

Christmas Trip (Albuquerque, New Mexico > Atlanta, Georgia > Arthur, Illinois): Home on the Road #102

  • Highlights:
    • Being able to keep up with my work and even get ahead a bit over the holidays.
    • Good times with my parents, grandma, extended family, friends traveling through, an old high school friend, and my epic collection of Cabbage Patches that live at my parents’ house.
    • Pretending like I’m a teenager again by having all of my meals cooked for me and laundry done for me
    • Seeing tidbits of random towns in random states
  • Lowlights:
    • So many long hours in the Jeep
    • Treacherous roads in New Mexico to get back
    • Frozen pipe parts = no running water
    • The government shutdown = no visits to national parks/monuments

Las Cruces, New Mexico: Home on the Road #103

Tired of all the camper drama that comes with cold and snow, we booked a campsite in Las Cruces in search of warmth and sunshine. But wouldn’t you know it, it snowed right here barely north of the Mexico border. Regardless, this was a fun place to ring in the new year and transition back into camper life after the holidays.

  • Highlights:
    • New Year’s Eve Chili Drop festival downtown – we made it out until midnight!
    • A healthy Monkey report from her annual vet appointment and dental cleaning
    • Still the best campground bathrooms/showers I’ve ever experienced at Sunny Acres RV Park
  • Lowlights:
    • Why is everything in the RV breaking?!
    • Not nearly as warm or snow-free as it’s supposed to be here
    • Back to the grind with all work and not-so-much play

Marfa, Texas: Home on the Road #104

In 2.5 years of full-time RV life, would you believe that we’ve never camped in Texas? Sure, we’ve camped in Texas pre-camper-life in a tent and stayed in Texas hotels while making cross-country Christmas road trips. But our stay in Marfa finally warranted the adding of the Texas sticker to our RV travel map. I’d heard of Marfa’s mysterious lights and weird artist community, and I watched the one and only season of I Love Dick. This was our first time experiencing Marfa for ourselves though.

  • Highlights:
    • Checking out minimalist, abstract, modern, and just plain random art in the middle of the desert (a Prada store that never opens?!)
    • Scenic and secluded hike at Davis Mountains State Park nearby
    • Warmer days in the 50s and 60s
    • Slow pace of life and some rare downtime
    • Looking through telescopes at a “star party” at the McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis
    • Tent camping for the weekend at Big Bend Ranch State Park, an excellent Big Bend National Park alternative (I’ll kick off with this in next month’s post)
  • Lowlights:
    • Never-ending camper repairs, especially the plumbing system
    • The “donations suggested” campground washer/dryer machines that took 4+ hours to do one load of laundry
    • Strong and never-ending West Texas winds
    • Shops, galleries, and restaurants often closed and only seem to open when they want to
    • Not a good time to visit Big Bend National Park with the shutdown so skipped it

This Month’s Ramblings from the Road

  • Working in certain hotels on the Christmas journey really made me miss having a real desk and chair to put in my 8+ hours per day. Pictured here: LaQuinta in Dunwoody, Georgia.

  • For a while there, winter camping was further driving me towards calling this lifestyle quits in 2019. Winter or not, we’re working towards a plan to plop down by the end of summer in the Southwest. Therefore, 2 1/2 years of camper life = six months left of camper life (approximately). There is an end on the horizon, which is pretty unsettling but also pretty exciting to enter a new phase in a new place.

Looking Ahead to Next Month

Month #31 is looking like a whole lot of Texas, including some new parts of Texas that I have yet to see. From Marfa, we’re heading to the Del Rio and plopping down there for a couple weeks. After that, it’s on to San Antonio, which will be our home base for a full month. We’ve never actually reserved a campsite for an entire month before! It’s usually cheaper to do that, but we typically have a harder time staying in one place than paying weekly rates. However, we won’t exactly be IN San Antonio all that time.

Not a campsite. This is a Dan Flavin art exhibit in Marfa.

I’ve been frustrated with putting off international travel just because of the logistics of camper life, so just before Christmas, we did something spontaneous and booked a flight to Japan! It seems like all we ever do is travel plan, so our Japan itinerary is still wide open. However, we’ll be there for a week, flying into and out of Tokyo, and looking to take trains to other places like Osaka, Kyoto, snow monkeys, etc. Please send any tips or suggestions my way. Thanks to my friends who have already offered great tips!

Custom Jeep decals with our silhouettes and favorite landscapes!

Then the non-camper living continues even after Japan for me. Towards the end of the month, I’ll be heading to Vegas for a weekend girls trip with some favorite ladies from college. So while month #31 is going to be all about Texas and trip preparations, month #32 is going entirely out of my normal routine. Bring it.

Catch up with the journey: