First post-hiatus attempt
Not gonna lie, it’s a little intimidating.
Getting back to writing the blog has been both “at the top of my to do list” and the bane of my existence. For reasons that aren’t completely clear to me, I haven’t found it in me to sit and write. It’s not like there’s huge anticipation for new Amators material. Our readership is small, a modest band of adventure-loving family and friends who all enjoy a good laugh at my expense. Nevertheless, since I stopped I’ve found it hard to get going again.
Scott asked me to look up one of my posts on Bryce Canyon because he wanted to send it to someone to use as a guest post (just the thought made me laugh out loud). I found the post. As I read through it, I slowly started chuckling until I was at quite a solid belly hurt by the end.
I’m totally and completely biased. But when I read some of the ridiculousness that we’ve gotten ourselves into, I still find it really funny.
More importantly, I know that some day the kids will think it’s funny. The blog has always been my love letter to the kids…. an incomplete, often inaccurate accounting of how we spent our weird nomad days when they were young.
So just because I missed some pretty epic stuff (2 months in Barbados when I accidentally lightly kicked Gus the famous turtle and Grandmom felt compelled to let everyone on our tour know it, discovering that there’s actually a Gruyere, Switzerland where the cheese comes from, an epic day in Paris which culminated in us finding ourselves unexpectedly a mere 3 feet from the Mona Lisa), that’s ok. Not gonna sweat it. Those stories will remain purely oral legend for us (until I get paid to write a book). I’m giving myself permission to start fresh, as of today.
Where do stand? Recap
We sold the Chief. We lived in Maine for awhile. At first it was on purpose. Then little by little, it was less than on purpose. The rolling stones collected moss. We put the kids in preschool. Then we thought we’d give backpacking around the world on a shoestring budget with the kids a shot. We trialed it. Thailand taught us that we’re slightly more yuppie than hippie. No amount of pretty pictures is worth sleeping in $10/night hotels. We can’t afford an Airb-n-b every night, so that option is off the table.
We pivoted and seriously looked into buying a sail boat and heading out. However, while boondocking in a boat seems easy and free, you can’t kick the kids out the door once you’re on the hook. They can both swim. But they can’t ocean swim and Jack Jack really needs space to run. The Amators aren’t ready for the boat yet (but some day….).
We returned to the idea of doing the RV thing again
We bought Winslow, a reasonably priced 2017 Chevy 3500 van. He’s currently 2WD until $12k comes our way to upgrade him to 4WD. Scott picked out a 23 ft Outdoors RV travel trailer. It’s a 2016. In my opinion, it is devoid of any character (which I define as being unique characteristics that are at 25+ years old). But it’s 4-season and built for off-grid. She gets the job done.
If we don’t have issues for Scott to fix while we’re on the road, I’m gonna get really cranky. (Just kidding…. we share problem solving responsibilities, Scott doesn’t fix everything). I don’t love owning vehicles from this century but… we’ll give it a shot.
