We are now in LA and will be bording soon and realized that we will be without internet for the next week. Our plane is getting ready to leave so I better get going.
John
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27Sep
Categories: Uncategorized Comments: 4
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27Sep
Categories: Thoughts Comments: 4
What inspired and motivates this world travel? It’s hard to put into words. Seeking adventure, a time for change, the fire in your gut that knows this is what we are supposed to be doing, the excitement of the unknown, a desire to take a risk, simplify, shake things up, and break out of the patterns of life as we know it. It’s somehow a combination of all of these things.
While we were on our first leg of the journey, we read Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller, a favorite author of ours and a local from our neck of the world. Have you ever had the words of a song grab your insides and shake out unplanned emotion? We hadn’t even made it to the first chapter when his words did just that. It was as if he was speaking to us through his author’s note and putting into words things we hadn’t yet been fully able to express. Here are a few excerpts that especially caught us and that we felt defined a bit of our reasoning:
I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently.
It’s a living book, this life; it folds out in a million settings cast with a billion beautiful characters…
We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn’t it? It might be time for you to go. It might be time to change, to shine out. I want to repeat one word for you: Leave.
Even in reading the last sentences again, the emotion springs up. It just strikes a chord that is so true for us. We know that the way we feel led to turn the page of our story is not how others are or will be led in their own lives and we are so glad we don’t all have to do it the same way! We hope that we are able to inspire others–not necessarily to travel, but to truly engage in the stories they are part of and not just read the same page over and over again. Perhaps that does mean leaving for some, but it may very well mean staying.
We are sitting at the Portland Airport, gate C5, ready for our very first flight of the trip and ready to turn the page.
Waiting for Fiji
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26Sep
Categories: Thoughts Comments: 1
Many people have asked how we are making this trip happen financially. Others, I’m sure, wonder and don’t feel comfortable asking. Well, we will reveal all in this post.
We estimate our nine months of travel, including airfare, will cost us approximately $25,000 (we also know that most people go over budget on a trip like this so we do have a little flex in there just in case). That may sound like quite a bit and it does take awhile to save that much, but if you think about two people living on $25,000 for nine months, it’s really not bad. It’s certainly much less than we would live on in a year of our “normal” life in the States. Of course, we also had to consider the costs on the front end and back end of the trip. We have saved enough so we can return and live simply for several months, in the event neither of us are able to secure employment immediately. Budgeted in as well had to be the cost of the things we needed before we even leave the country–immunizations, travelers insurance, home warranty, good hiking boots, odor resistant t-shirts, etc.
So, how were we able to save this much money and devote it entirely to travel? No car payments for the past four years of marriage, minimal debt (home and school loans only), a trim budget, and good saving habits all help. We have been saving for travel for the past four years so it’s not like we just dreamed this up over night–those tax refund checks, Christmas money from the grandparents, and pop can collecting add up over time (just kidding about the pop cans). There were also a few nice bonuses that came this year. The Oregon kicker check and the federal stimulus check. They both helped to contribute to the total in savings.
Of course, none of this would have been possible if our house hadn’t been rented out and if we didn’t have family and friends reading our mail, taking care of our house, housing our cars, storing our crap, trimming our roses, and mowing our lawn. It really is a miracle all of these puzzle pieces came together in combination with our diligent saving helping us move ahead with our dream of traveling for an extended period of time.
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21Sep
Categories: Around The World, On the Road Comments: 4
This was our first time to Yosemite but certainly not our last. If you haven’t been you must go and if you have I am sure you don’t need any encouragement. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I am going to keep this short and let our pictures do the talking. Here are a few to whet your appetite but click here if you still want to see more.
This is from the half way up the cables to the top of Half Dome.
Little perspective. Yes it is a steep as it looks!
Cathedral Lakes. This view is from what we liked to call our living room. We were able to stay here for 2 days and were glad to say this was our home.
I got nothing
Also here is a link to show what having too much time on your hands can lead to.
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21Sep
Categories: Around The World, On the Road Comments: 0I don’t know how many of you have been camping or backpacking for any length of time, but having just spent our 14th consecutive day in a tent, we have discovered that being dirty (or being clean) is relative. There is even a difference between car camping dirty and backpacking dirty. Pete, John’s brother, has said before that dirt in the woods somehow seems cleaner and we would agree. Every day we are out in the woods we seem to care less and less about the dirt on our hands, feet, faces, and legs. Though I seem to care about it a bit more than John does. One day I watched as he washed a peach and rather than becoming cleaner, the peach was actually getting dirtier with each pass of his dirt covered hands. He didn’t seem to mind. I, on the other hand, although tolerant of the dirt in this setting still find John’s tolerance is higher.
Dirt from head to toe.
We just came off a four night backpacking trip in Yosemite National Park where we were coated in the dust of the trail. Each day we would wash off in a lake or creek, use the 8 inch cathole as our toilet, and slide the same pair of dirty socks on to keep our toes warm through the evening. Over those days we became accustomed to the dirt that found a home in the dry cracks of our hands, to the smell of our stinky feet, and to the feel of sweat-dried t-shirts. Hopefully some of the relativity will wash off today after a hot shower and a night’s sleep on a real bed.
Our idea of a bath
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13Sep
Categories: Uncategorized Comments: 4It is no suprise if you have seen any of our pictures from previous trips, we like to eat. Yesterday was no exception. We finally made our way off the windy Highway 1 into San Francisco. Downtown we stopped at the Fishermans Wharf for a crab sandwich (only enjoyed by me), up to Chinatown for some authentic orange chicken, through the Italian district for gelato, and finished with good old California In and Out Burger (animal style, again only me). Suprisingly after all of that we felt great which was probably due 3.5 mile ride across the Golden Gate Bridge and back followed by a 4 hr walking tour of the city.
John with crab sandwichOrange chicken lunch in Chinatown
Gelato in the Italian neighborhood
In and Out burgers, fries, and chocolate shake. Yum!
Biking across the GG Bridge was a fun experience. The blue blur is Erin.
We are starting to understand the potential problems that come with not planning. Last night we called Yosemite to see if the had any camp spots on Saturday or Sunday (yes, we realize the weekend is not exactly the best time to roll into a national park, but…) and came up with a big NO. We’re adjusting accordingly. Also, we showed up a little later than expected to our hopeful campground last night (due to all the eating we were doing in SF) and were greeted with the FULL CAMPGROUND sign. Thankfully, we pulled over to see what our next move was going to be and the park host came up and asked us if we wanted to camp there tonight. We instantly said Yes! He had one site left and we took it, even though he called it a “bastard site”. We really didn’t care.We are not sure when our next post will be or where our next bed will be but are looking forward to both.**also we fixed the link to the pictures in the Uncharted Territory post. Here it is as well. -
11Sep
Categories: Around The World, On the Road Comments: 3The last five days have been spent driving down Hwy 101, which today as we left the Redwood Forest turned into Hwy 1. Let us tell you something–did it ever turn… and turn… and turn… We were both a bit green in the face after all the turning. We figure it’s nothing compared to some of the roads we will be on in our upcoming travels.A few highlights from these days on the road…
We hiked in the Jedidiah Smith State Park to this HUGE tree. More than 15 boy scouts wide, according to legend!
Erin spent this hike in a self proclaimed “Technology Timeout”. After battling wireless internet at a Crescant City cafe and then getting frustrated with our new point and shoot camera, she determined a break from technology was in order.
We have yet to get tired of seeing really big trees. These were from a hike we took in Prarie Creek State Park.
We spent two nights at the Elk Prarie Campground, part of Prarie Creek State Park campground. Having two consecutive nights in one place was really great and gave us all of Wednesday to explore. We took full advantage spending the morning mountain biking on a single track trail that led us down to the beach and left us with a steep climb back to 101. The afternoon was spent hiking our favorite hike of the trip so far. We wandered through giant redwoods, climbing up so that we were able to actually feel like we were looking down at the forest floor. Of course, these trees grow to be up to 300 feet tall and we were probably 150 feet up so they still towered above us. The hike led us to a fern canyon. I know, real exciting, right? For any Jurassic Park 2 junkies, you may remember this fern canyon from one of the scenes when a guy is getting eaten by little dinos (at least we’re pretty sure that’s what happens). Despite it’s Hollywood fame, it was worth the 5 mile hike in, which we learned once we got to the end we could have driven to. We were pretty spent afterwards.
Wall of ferns 50 feet high that keep going for about a .3 miles.
Today we hit the road early wanting to make it just north of San Francisco. We were driving out of the park, having not yet seen any elk despite camping in the ELK PRARIE campground (the ranger made some smart comment about the elk not giving her their schedule when we asked if there was a time of day they were usually in the meadow), when Erin starts hitting the window (she was driving) exclaiming “ELK, ELK, ELK!” I hadn’t noticed a thing but promptly requested we turn the car around back to the elk. It was worth it! There were about 50 elk, at least 5 of which were bull elk (the ones with the antlers). It was very cool! We decided it was time to leave our viewing spot when the 10 cars and tour bus pulled up behind us and 50 people were on the side of the road, cameras in hand. (As much fun as it would have been to see one of the get charged.)
A bull elk overseeing the herd.
The rest of the day was spent on the windy roads of Hwy 1. We finally made it to our campground at which we were plesantly greeted by Wi-Fi and tetherball!!! We are sitting right by the fire, blogging. How crazy is that?
A look out at the N. California coastline.
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09Sep
Categories: Uncategorized Comments: 1
We just (9:30am) crossed the border from Oregon into California, listening to Phantom Planet’s “California Here We Come” as we rolled across. We have been enjoying our first few days of costal driving/exploring. Here are a few selected photos to give you an idea of what we have been up to. Now we are off into the Redwoods.
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02Sep
Categories: On Our Way Out Comments: 3
I can’t count the number of times we have said “it’s really happening” (meaning, we were really going to be taking this trip) in the past year. Let’s see…
- When we decided in September that we were actually going to put a plan into action
- When I told my boss in November that I would not return in the fall
- When I told my office at a staff meeting at the end of February that my last day was August 29
- When we had a signed rental agreement in April
- When we purchased our plane tickets in June
- When John told his office in July he would be leaving in a month and a half
- When we booked our first week in Fiji in July
- When we packed up the house mid-August
- When I said goodbye to George Fox on Friday
- When my parents flew in Sunday
- When John called two hours ago to say he was officially done with work and on his way to Manzanita
My guess is that we will continue to use this exclamation. How long it will take to sink in that, yes, it IS really happening, I’m not sure. I just want to make certain, as much as is in my control, that each day I am thankful for whatever it is we get to do and wherever it is we get to be that day.
