10,000 miles in 10 weeks

Dates: September 16, 2022 - December 7, 2022
Distance: 10,064 mi / 16,196 km
Route: White Horse > Jasper/Banff > Vancouver > Seattle > Boulder/Denver > Indianapolis > Ohio > Pennsylvania > Virginia > Ohio > Corpus Christi > Houston > Chambers

Three long months ago, we blew a kiss to Alaska and watched as she steadily slipped away in our rearview mirror. In the time since, we journeyed over ten thousand miles in ten weeks reconnecting and spending precious time with loved ones all over the country. We drove long days and posted up with friends and family, sometimes for weeks at a time. Knowing we’ll soon be heading south for a few years, with no set plans for when we’ll visit home, this quality time with friends and family carried an even greater weight than usual.

Our families have always been supportive of the unconventional choices we tend to make, but that doesn’t mean they don’t worry. Most of our time in Pennsylvania and Ohio was spent reassuring our families that traveling the Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Argentina was something that many people have done already, successfully and safely. Knowing they wouldn’t be able to change our minds, they hugged us a little tighter than usual, and then sent us on our way.

Enjoy the photos below which are an incomplete summation of the events from the ten weeks following our departure from Alaska.

Canada | Yukon

*Adorable little family on the side of the road.*

*Camped at an RV park in Whitehorse with our friends* *@tsavo_touring* *who are also beginning their journey on the Pan American Highway.*

*We added our old license plate to the esteemed ranks of travelers at the Sign Post Forest* *in Watson Lake.*

Canada | Jasper & Banff

*Mike and Granger hiked out to this view of Peyto Lake.*

*One of the most glorious cold plunges I’ve ever done.*

Canada | Vancouver

*We camped several nights with nearly one hundred other rigs at this city park on the water in Vancouver. It was an excellent spot as far as city camping goes.*

While in Vancouver, we participated remotely in a 5K walk/run supporting research for Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) and other forms of dysautonomia. I have covid-induced POTS, which plays a huge role in my long covid issues (learn more *here). Granger and Mike ran and I rode my e-bike. Together with a few of our generous friends, we raised $233 for the cause and got to enjoy exploring around Vancouver.*

Birthday Celebrations in Washington State

For my birthday in October, a few of our dear friends flew out to Seattle for a fun and relaxing airbnb weekend on a river in the mountains. The smoke from a nearby forest fire cast a mystical haze over the land, and we spent the days puzzling, snacking on an endless supply of treats, and dipping ourselves into both hot and cold water.

Passing Through Utah

*Stopping off at the* *Land Cruiser Heritage Museum* *in Salt Lake City was a great way break up a long day of driving. Unlike Mike, I am not a vehicle-enthusiast. Even so, I really enjoyed checking out this place.*

Fall & Friends in Colorado

Colorado was the last place we called home. When we sold our house in February of 2022, we left an entire life there—full with friends, careers*, and the first home we’ve ever owned.

On this particular visit, we were lucky to catch the tail-end of fall as we crossed the state from west to east on a route we’ve never traveled before (Co Rd 8 from Meeker to Yampa). After indulging in our favorite season out in the woods for a few days, we headed for Boulder and Denver to see our people.

*I had already left my job at this point, but Mike’s was still in full swing.

Quality Time Back Home

Dividing our time between our two families, we spent about two weeks in both Ohio and Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, we stayed with Mike’s parents, he and his dad worked on some camper upgrades (as they always do), we enjoyed many delicious meals with the family and hung out with our nieces and nephews.

Similarly in Ohio, lots of tasty food was eaten and fun was had with all the nephews, but we also got to celebrate Thanksgiving with my extended family (for the first time in many years) and watch a lot of football—not all of which ended in complete devastation.

Implausibly, there are both too many and also not enough photos from these precious weeks spent with family and friends to adequately represent our time there. And to prevent this blog post from turning into a family yearbook, I’m only going to include only a few photos below.

Ok, so that was a lie. Here are 28 photos of some people* who we kinda like and had the pleasure of seeing while we were home for a month.

*Not everyone we saw is included, nor did we get to see everyone we had hoped to see.

Adventures with a Bus

Our friends and fellow members of our beloved nomadic and chronic illness communities needed some help transporting a school bus from Houston, Texas to Chambers, Arizona.

Have Mike or I ever driven a bus? No.
Did that stop me from volunteering us (i.e. Mike) from lending a helping hand? Not at all. We were heading that way anyway.

It wasn’t until seeing the bus in person that I realized what a challenge it might be for Mike to drive this thing a whopping 1,000 miles to its new owner. I tend to assume that no challenge is too great for Mike to tackle, because well, it’s true. But the first few hours of following behind him in the bus, I worried about whether or not this was a good idea.

Within minutes of starting the drive, we were forced to turn right from a stop onto a highway with busy traffic. No onramp, no designated turning lane to help us get up to speed before merging, nothing. We sat there for ten minutes waiting anxiously, until finally, we got a break in traffic and slowly pulled ourselves out onto the highway—this was not a good start.

Next came a windy, narrow, single-lane road where we annoyingly held up a line of cars and Texas drivers who are accustomed to their typical 70mph speed limits on country roads, and who were visibly irritated by our lack of assimilation to the local customs.

At the first rest area where we stopped for a break, Mike told me he was stressed, which is something he rarely feels, or at least rarely admits to feeling. Racked with guilt, I began to imagine that the next few days would pass quite miserably.

Fortunately for us, Mike morphed into a bus-driving wizard overnight and tackled the next two days seamlessly. The highway-only route played a part in easing our troubles, but I think that most of the credit goes to Mike who drove two and a half very long days behind the giant wheel of the bus to ensure its safe delivery to its very excited new owner.

In the end, he was a bit sore and exhausted but appreciated the experience of learning how to drive a bus and most importantly, the opportunity to help out some good folks.