Good Enough.

One year and a month. And she’s still not quite ready to get those 8,000 Instagram likes I was shooting for. But she does make cold water hot, make warm drinks cold, keep the rain off our heads and drive. And we are about to do a lot of the later. Our time in Florida is nearly up and its time to start the next chapter of our lives and hit the road.

Our lease is up on our condo, my work as a boat captain is really slow and both of our enthusiam for steamy North Florida is waining. We still have a little bit more work to do to make the bus “perfect” but we are definitely at the very tail end of “Phase One” -Make it liveable. All of our systems are complete and work: propane, freshwater, hot water, grey water, solar, 12 volt, 120 volt and starting and house battery automatic charging relay. Our wood stove and propane heater both work great. The house fans come on if it gets too hot and we just had an oil change. Sarah’s been ready to leave for months now and I finally feel like its time too.

So where are we going?

West. Then North. Then probably East again. Then maybe more North and East. Or maybe West.

We really only have a vague idea of where we’re headed over the next three months. We (mainly me) are trying hard to not plan out every single stop or lock in any particular route. As we have learned in our road trips across the US, Alaska and Canada, my type A/stressed out/super neurotic side really comes out strong if I’m given the opportunity to plan long legs of trips and I try to keep a strict timetable. SO, for the sake of my wife’s sanity, my blood pressure and the sheer sake of adventure, we’re going to take a page from Gavin Longworth’s playbook https://instagram.com/gavinlongworth?igshid=f6agblaqqeje and “try not to plan more than a day in advance”.

With all that being said, our plan is to split early next week, caravan to Texas via the Gulf Coast to spend a few days with my Dad and Step-Mom at their new home near Ft. Worth and then up to Idaho to see friends and family, sell our unused piano and our second car (counting the bus we have three vehicles now) and also lay naked in a snow bank for as long as it takes to forget about just how much I’ve sweat this past year working under the hot Florida sun. After recovering from my ensuing case of pneumonia, we’re planning on making our way to the outskirts of Chicago for a stay with more family and to allow me adequate time to wish I was back under the hot Florida Sun. From there, maybe Maine? Maybe Alaska? Let’s see what 2021 brings our way.