The Journey Begins!! For most of my life, I felt like I was on a perpetual non-journey journey. Moving, but going nowhere. I have a fantastic Aunt that always says to step out on the way, and the way will appear.
Well…. Back in January, I met this really great guy at a mutual friends house.
He had come to stay in his Skoolie before an event .
We ended up going to the event together, and the way appeared 🛣
The Journey Begins … officially
We left on our Journey to Michigan on March 28th, 2022. Him in his bus, and me following in my SUV. I had to fit everything I was taking completely in that vehicle! That was a challenge, but in the end I donated a LOT, purged through boxes that had been boxed for years, and in the end it felt amazing to do!
⇓⇓ It all had to fit in THIS !! ⇓⇓
Our first stop was in Jessup, Georgia. We intended to stay a few days, but it turned into a week after we had to do a little cat rescue. We had to make the trek back to Florida (350+ miles 😕 ) to get my cat, who was left behind by another nomad.
Our next stop was Columbus, Georgia. During this time, we realized that me driving behind him wasn’t working. We were traveling together, yet apart, and it was costing us extra in gas at a time when gas prices suck!!! So Again, another “few day stop” that turned into a week+ to get a seat in the bus for me! But in Zach’s defense, he built me this amazing seat for the bus (along with the help of another member of the Skoolie community) .
Now earlier I joked about downsizing all I had into my SUV. Now I had to downsize into his already full bus! I challenged myself to one drawer in a medium sized dresser. And I absolutely succeeded. ALL of my clothes got packed in that drawer and the rest were donated. All of my kitchen items got donated since he has a fully equipped kitchen and a full size range. I have one under the bed storage tote for sentimental items.
Soooo much stuff!!
In the last 3 years I’ve gone from a 2800+ square foot house to sharing 200 square foot of living space. Was it easy? Heck no! I was sooooo attached to my junk at first. Storage unit after storage unit just to keep it. For no purpose. Because it’s all just stuff. So I packed my SUV and headed to the local Goodwill and brought in bins of stuff to them! It felt liberating! And to this day, there is not one thing that I said, “shoot, I wish I kept that!”
Okay, Maybe my lemon zester!! 😆
Finally headed out and made our way to Faulkville, Alabama. And yet again, a few days turned into a week. Bus upgrade to the rear end gearing took a little longer than anticipated, but in order to actually make it up the hills in Michigan, a change was definitely needed!
The next month sucked. Simply put, it sucked. Our stays were rough, our cats weren’t always safe outside the bus, noise levels were insane. We were bummed, because we made it to Michigan, but it was a complete letdown up until this point.
And it’s at that point that I realize “the journey begins” has taken on a whole new meaning! 😶 We were trying to morph two individual journeys into one tiny living environment!
It needed to be merged to become “Our Journey Begins”
We finally made it to what we thought was a safe haven, and it had been mostly good. Quiet, on the lake (kinda), and our animals were safe. We just stayed longer than we should have, got a little comfortable, and planned on heading out on the road after 3 months of being parked.
There were some amazing trails to hike and ride through, cute shops, and we met some great people! Did we learn a lot during this stay? YES!!! … so in the end, worth the stop.
Gardening Journey Begins ?
We have an ENTIRE freaking garden, greenhouse included. So, now I’m going to have to work on keeping flowers, herbs and vegetables alive on the road. We stop for a while at most locations, but there are stretches of driving that take days.
We are heading to an event in the UP in Michigan. With about a month to get there, we plan on putting our adventure into high gear and hitting some trails. Either on foot, or on our electric toys.
With each new day, the journey begins again!! See where ours takes us. Including a Skoolie Event and an EUC (Electric Unicycle) Event! Should be interesting to see what we find to explore in the future!
