DUN DUN DUN! THE TRAILER!!!!!!

Yes, that's right. After long awaiting, scouring craigslist, having trailers sold out from under us -- we have finally found the one. And it is even better than we had both hoped. It has everything we need and even included something we had never expected to find in the Pacific Northwest: an air conditioner.

Okay, enough talk! We would like to introduce our 1968 Aladdin Trailer! YEAH BABY!

The EXCELLENT:

• A pristine kitchen that looks like it has hardly been used. The original propane stove unit WORKS and the whole look is fabulous. It's also in a lovely green which I'm quite fond of in its retro-charm way.

• LOTS of windows and light! It's hard to see in the picture because the trailer is in the shade, but the trailer is actually very bright inside. All the windows also have curtains in excellent condition.

• Has a double bed. This may not sound like much but MOST of the tiny trailers we looked at featured twin size bunks. This one boasts TWO full size bunk beds (the top one we will convert into shelving and storage space because its really meant for kids or very small adults.)

• An air conditioner. Pshaw! You might say, but a big concern of mine is our love child, Spike. There are some places that we may not wish to take him or are unable to for whatever reason which means leaving him in the trailer. Now, we plan on traveling some hot locations especially in the summer so I have long fretted about how to do this without suffocating Spike in a hot tin can of a trailer. Voila! This trailer has an after market air conditioner installed by the original owner.

• Speaking of owners, we bought this from the second owner who had lived in it for 3 weeks. The original owner was diagnosed with throat cancer and upgraded to a luxurious model to travel with in his remaining days. This trailer has not seen a lot of hands and there has been obvious care taken in its lifetime.

• Came with two spare tires in good condition and the jacks.

• We bought it for less than my tax return was and for the price we had capped ourselves at!

The LESS EXCELLENT:

• There is a small corner on the bottom bunk where it appears something was spilled. It doesn't appear to be an external water leak but it has rippled some of the paneling in the corner and stained the bottom bunk upholstery.

• The upholstery is original and old. The bottom bunk has a rip in the fabric and a stain. The rest of the upholstery is in good condition but we think we are going to reupholster all the cushions inside so they are matching and will have better wear on the trip.

• The vintage nature of this trailer has made finding an owner's manual online VERY DIFFICULT! If anyone knows where I can find one, let me know! All of the appliances come with their original owner's manuals but there isn't one for the trailer itself. As they are no longer made and the manufacturer has long since gone under, it's been a difficult search.

And there you have it! The dream is beginning. Everything feels a little more real now that we have our future home sitting in our driveway. It makes it difficult not to just get in and take off tomorrow, leaving our cares behind. But hey, we got things to do --

WE HAVE A WEDDING TO PLAN!

Tentative trip plans

June 27th, 2011
DEPARTURE! YAY! Spend a week or two traveling the Olympia peninsula. There are so many beautiful places to visit and see right in our own backyard! This will also give us time to have last-minute visits with friends and family before we embark on a more extended leave.

Some places to cover here are:
The Hoh Rainforest
Port Townsend and surrounding
Crescent Lake
La Push Reservation
Victoria Island


Mid July, 2011
Here’s where we start to venture out of our comfort zone, though not too far since there are still some things to check out in the greater Washington state. Part of this will just be on-our-way visitation so I don’t think longer than a week will be spent doing this particular exploring.

We’re going to check out:
Leavenworth
Eastern Washington in general (I’ve never been there!)


End of July, 2011
Now we’re really getting interesting. We’re going to break into Idaho at this point and timelines are going to get fuzzy. After all, we have no end goal in sight so we can play most of this by ear and eye. We might just pass through the handle of Idaho, making our way into Montana for summer fun. We’ll make a pass back through the rest of Idaho later.

Here we’ll see:
Priest Lake
Silverwood Theme Park
Kanatsu National Park


Early August, 2011
So one of our first stops once we’re in Montana is going to be Missoula. We have talked at length about this being a potential place for permanent relocation after our traveling so I hope to spend some time checking out all it has to offer. There’s several National Forests and we’ll resist the urge to go straight to Yellowstone. It’d be best to get to the Dakotas before their cold weather starts.

Places to see:
Missoula
Lolo National Forest
Deerlodge National Forest
Helena National Forest
Lewis and Clark National Forest
Bozeman
Billings


Mid-August, 2011
I think we’ll press on through the Dakotas for the next two or three weeks. First traveling through North Dakota and then looping through South Dakota before swinging back around to finish off the summer at Yellowstone.

North Dakota will have:
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
Red Hills
Devil’s Lake
Dakota Dinosaur Museum
Scandinavian Heritage Park

In South Dakota we’ll see:
The Badlands
Mount Rushmore
The Corn Exchange restaurant
Crazy Horse Memorial
Custer State Park


Late August, 2011
It’s time for Yellowstone! There are many awesome places to see and stay in the park. Plenty of places to spend a lot of time in. We wanted to budget at least 2 weeks to see the entire park. We will also explore some other places in Wyoming as well.

Places to check out:
Grand Teton National Park
Yellowstone National Park


Mid September - February, 2012
Here we’ll have to start making a dive south in preparation for the winter months. We will of course take the scenic route. Not sure if we’ll be swinging through Southern Idaho and Oregon or go further south through Utah and Nevada. Driving down California, we’ll take the opportunity to visit my family which is scattered throughout. The winter will be a good time to travel through the southern states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico itself.

Eating on the road...

So I've been giving a lot of thought as to what kind of "diet" or foodies Whitney and I will be dedicating to for our trip. As we are not going to be getting a fancy ZOMG trailer, our cooking means will be modest and there will be a definite simplification in our culinary journeys (at least inside our trailer.)

I have become very interested in something called the "Primal Blueprint" which is an diet based upon the "hunter/gatherer" lifestyle that many of our ancestors lived. At first glimpse the website looked like a hella gimmicky "melt fat away TODAY!" kind of thing but upon reading, I became very interested in the philosophy. Plus, tons of the info is available for free and his e-book AND user-compiled recipe book being free is a big plus. The thing I like most about it is it embraces a more holistic approach to diet, exercise, and life in general. Talks a lot about how busting your ass in the gym is not the way to health. Plus he wears vibrams in his how-to videos and has a whole section on sprinting bare foot! When someone tells me that running across grass barefoot is part of excellent health, that makes me happy. Anyway, I won't wax eternal here but if you're interested check it out. (www.marksdailyapple.com) The food choices would also be really good for on-the-road living and incorporates all my favorite foods.

The year I lost my mind....

So I have used the phrase "the year I lost my mind" but what does that really mean? It has been a very difficult, challenging, and trying year for me even though it has been filled with some good things. I have had to grapple with what my life means now that I am out of school. It was a sad realization that I had no other real concrete goals for myself, that I really didn't even know myself. The five years I spent pursuing my Undergraduate education had given me tools, experiences, and exposure to many amazing things but I had really never taken the time to piece it all together -- to figure out who I really was and what kind of person I wanted to be. More often than not I found myself diving into one project and then another, stuffing my brain with as much activity as possible so I would never be forced to think about the more difficult questions at hand. And in between, if I DID somehow end up with some down time, I drank. I drank a lot and I smoked a lot of cigarettes and I partied. Anything to distract myself from the hollow emptiness I felt growing the closer I got to graduating.

Post graduation and life took a huge "reality crap" on me. I met the person my best friend REALLY was and in essence lost her, struggled with finances, and dealt with the declining mental health of my mother and being a sole caregiver. This all in the midst of the most crippling depression I have felt in a really long time. I smiled at my graduation because I knew I was supposed to -- but I have never felt LESS accomplished than I did in that moment. My life was now a blur shadowed with feelings of inadequacy and unhappiness. I had reached the peak of ultimate burn out.

But I have managed to do some productive things this year in spite of all the challenges.
- I quit smoking, for good this time
- I quit drinking
- I started going to a therapist
- I got a job with good benefits
- I'm working on improving my physical health
- I'm making plans and setting goals
- I'm planning our wedding and future travels

All the positive and negative things that have happened in this year I feel are stepping stones in the direction of self-improvement and the development of the person I ultimately want to be. All my life I have lived in the shadow of my own turbulent emotions and this year and the next are the times I learn to face my demons and best of all, overcome them.

GREENing the RV Industry!

Great article from the NY Times on how people are tackling the challenge of "green"ing the RV industry -- an industry that is notorious for 8 mpg rigs and wasteful practices.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/travel/escapes/07RV.html

A look at "Green RV of the Year"! I love this thing! How svelte is THAT? Of course -- I do have some questions about how sustainable replacing wood products with plastic is. Maybe if all the plastic was recycled composites and the like... Hmm. More research is clearly required. But it does look preety spiffy!

http://green.autoblog.com/2010/04/09/roaming-times-names-earthbound-rv-the-green-rv-of-the-year/

Leave it to eHow to tell you how you can green up your existing RV!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2269205_green-rv.html

Full time traveling articles

Great little article on preparing to travel full-time and some of the more heavy hitting mental preparations one has to make (or should make) before the transition.

http://matadornetwork.com/notebook/how-to/how-to-bag-your-9-to-5-and-write-travel-full-time/

This is an awesome list by Transitions Abroad or profiles of real people really traveling and living the full time life. I love looking through and reading about people who have actually done it. It's inspiring and also reassuring to know that it can be done!!

http://www.transitionsabroad.com/listings/travel/articles/motivation-for-long-term-travel.shtml

I THINK THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST AWESOME WEBSITES EVAR! She lists some great resources including something called WhichBudget, a website that plots airline tickets through budget airlines that don't always contract with "major" search engines. I found a ticket from Seattle to New York for less than $250!

http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/cheap-travel/

ZOMG! Our route map for across the US travels!

So I discovered Google Maps! We will begin mapping out our adventures so that everyone can have an interactive look at our plans. I'm super excited to be able to share this with everyone! We'll be updating as we do more research in different regions.



View Travel Across the USA in a larger map