Being able to travel the world for an entire summer in a tiny house on wheels has been a boon for which I am eternally grateful. Having an incredible co-pilot to help plot the course, research destinations, and to share in the experiences has also been something for which I am exceptionally thankful. In life it is not often the case where we find ourselves "having the cake and eating it to." (Which is a weird saying because if I have cake, trust me, I'm eating it.)
Yet this journey across the continent has been exactly that. I have always wanted to travel and see the world. My first thoughts as a growing man were to be an educator, because let's face it, having summers off is awesome! When I left teaching though, I didn't know how else I would ever be able to enjoy a seasonal lifestyle again. It was by chance that I came upon the seasonal gig by which I am now employed, and though it is not a glamorous endeavor and I have little love for the actual work, I do love the lifestyle it provides. Who else has the freedom and the means to travel as though they are retired for several months a year. Most folks at best are given a few holidays and 2 weeks of paid vacation if they earn it. Maybe they have a few sick days, but if they use them they get chastised for it, and if they don't, those sick days never seem to have any value at all and just keep piling up, year after year. This past summer's adventure was not the first of its kind, and I am hopeful that it won't be the last.
After driving over 14,000 miles in 81 days, having the opportunity to bask in the desert sun in southern Utah (with a man-made lake by our side)
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| Wilson enjoying the Utah sun at Ken's Lake |
and "swim" in the Pacific ocean off the coast of northern California;
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| Freezing in the Pacific Ocean |
after swimming in mirrored glacial lakes in Jasper NP in Alberta Canada,
and hiking among the beauty and serenity of vast mountain ranges and incredible natural beauty in 18 National Parks in our hemisphere,
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| Yosemite |
being high above the clouds on the tallest mountains and walking through giant chasms 200 feet below the surface of the earth;
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| Mammoth Cave KY |
after hours spent watching boiling water spew forth from deep chambers in the Earth's crust,
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| Castle Geyser |
and several nights staring up at the uncountable stars in deep and dark skies including one watching the Perseid meteor shower while snuggled under a blanket;
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| Wilson wearing his pajamas, Coastal Oregon |
after having floated in some of the saltiest water found on earth, after scorching the skin off of our feet on the sand and wafting thousands of bugs away in order to get there;
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| Trekking to the Great Salt Lake |
after having been able to float serenely in the (then) gentle and surprisingly temperate water of the largest freshwater lake in the world (by surface area),
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| Lake Superior |
and after soaking in several natural hot springs in 2 different countries;
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| Spencer Hot Springs in Nevada |
after having visited with friends and family from all over the place, and after having braved an entire night in the humidity of southern Louisiana inside a tiny space with two tiny oscillating fans with sweat dripping from our entire bodies; after having our faithful machine blow a hose (which we were somehow able to MacGyver and get safely back to town) at the base of a majestic mountain known as Edith Cavell,
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| Mt Edith Cavell, Jasper NP |
after playing on mirrored beaches with waves crashing while the sky exploded with colors,
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| Neptune Beach on the Oregon Coast |
and after countless stories being written in the sands of time;
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| Scorching heat and hot sand at Pine Tree Arch (Arches NP) |
after all of this, I feel pretty confident in saying that though there is a cost, it is always worth it.
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| Half Dome at Sunset with Vernal and Nevada Falls (Yosemite NP) |
We've heard the eerie sound of loons calling out in the darkness, we've heard the sound of ocean waves crashing on the shores while we napped happily in the back of the bus,
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| Northern California Beach |
we've felt the intense heat of the desert sun, we've seen the Milky Way smeared across the darkest skies,
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| Milky Way Galaxy as seen from Canyonlands NP, Utah |
we've seen the sun set 3 times in one night, (behind different mountains as we drove west) and we've heard eagles screaming, owls hooting, and wolves howling.
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| Golden Eagle in Flight (Colorado) |
We've heard the rain on our roof and the roaring and thundering of a variety of North American waterfalls.
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| Bridal Veil Falls Yosemite NP |
We've listened to streams that splash and brooks that babble and we've washed out the sound of idling trucks with a sound machine app to get some much needed sleep in truck stops and parking lots. We saw things that were living and those that have died, mostly they were all on the roadside. We saw bison and elk, pronghorns and eagles, bears (both black and brown) and a fox.
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| Momma Grizzly Bear and Baby playing in the stream. (Waterton Lakes NP) |
We saw free range domestics like horses and cows, donkeys and llamas, but we also saw mule deer and even a coyote too. We've laughed and we've cried. We got angry and mad, made up and felt sad. We dealt with road rage and stared out of the windows and dreamed. We listened to music and debated politics as well as religion, became frustrated and screamed, but at the end of the day it was love that kept us moving forward. We had goals and deadlines and we surpassed them both. An adventure of this magnitude can only be described as epic, or "once in a lifetime". It was incredible.
So what does an adventure like this really cost? I'll tell you plainly; limited social life, limited spending, increased winter earnings, and a couple of broken hearts. Living the dream is not all sunshine and rainbows. It is often cheap dinners and oatmeal breakfast. It is winters spent working long hours including weekends, Friday nights asleep on the couch by 9 and living with your parents. It is heart ache. It is crying out in emotional pain. Tears dripping down our faces. My heart aches today because many miles away, sleeps a beautiful young lady; my copilot, my navigator, my love. We sleep alone at night not knowing when or if we'll see each other again. And even so I say this, dare to dream. Dare to go. Adventure is waiting and it is worth the cost.
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| Wilson watching the sunset and waiting for Great Fountain to erupt. |
