Our Travel Blog
Round 2 of our shots are done and they still haven’t given me a lollipop for being a good patient. I didn’t even bite anyone:)
To make up for it, we stopped at the candy store on our way home and treated ourselves!
Everyone get out there and have a great day!
Say hi to someone you don’t know or hold the door open for a total stranger.
Something that has come to light during our journey of living differently is the State of Fear that surrounds us. From the nightly news to friends, family and even strangers, we are constantly told to be afraid.
From the simple mom statement: If you go out with wet hair you’ll catch your death.
To the medical prescription ads: If your left pinky twinges at 10am every day, you might have…or if you have taken medicine x you might be able to sue because…
To the nightly news: The war on terror….The extreme weather…The government is going to take away your health care…You get the idea.
Some fear is legitimate: The fact that half the cars you pass show the tops of drivers heads because they are staring down at their cell phone or their navel for all I know.
Some fear is absurd: Read above about the pinky twinging at 10am every day:)
The bottom line is that we are surrounded by fear.
That brings us to a crossroad. Let the fear paralyze us or take a deep breath and live.
We are choosing to live, despite the fear. We chose to ride motorcycles when half the people we met told us how dangerous they were. We chose to rock climb when people told us they could never do that because it was way to scary and weren’t we afraid of falling? And, we are choosing to travel even when people tell us all the “bad” things we are going to encounter.
We are choosing to embrace the fear and live, to find the good, meet new people, see new places and maybe, just maybe, make a crack or a tiny fissure in the state of fear that surrounds us.
We were warned about all the shots one needs to travel, but holy crap.
With all the stuff out there that can get you, how in the hell is the world population exploding!
1 set of shots done. 2 more to go.
Then we`ll l be invincible!
Today, Darrin installed our cook counter and new gas range.
On the inside of the back door of the Land Rover he added a drop down shelf. This will be our counter and our stove.
Just inside of the back door will be the fridge (big empty spot) and drawers (far left)for pots, dishes, food, etc. And they double as steps up into the roof top tent. I’ll post better pictures of those later.
The cool thing about our new counter is the laminate is a leftover piece from when we redid our kitchen.
A little piece of home traveling with us
The Land Rover is finally back from the shop with new Alcan springs. We were quite anxious having it away since Darrin has always done all the work on the vehicle. Without a lift and winter in full swing, we turned to Performance Unlimited in Bridgewater, VT to do the work. After a few scheduling hiccups and miscommunications, they did great work and we are very pleased.
With our vehicle fully loaded with 2 fuel tanks, extra fuel cans, water tank, extra water cans, the homemade roof top tent and us, the Land Rover’s full weight came in at 5,000 pounds. Standard Land Rover specs say 4,250 is the max load on their standard springs. Since we were over, we turned to Alcan for custom springs designed to carry the increased weight.
We never thought leaf springs could provide such a pleasant ride for a Land Rover…even on our frost heave roads!
Thank you Alcan and Performance Unlimited!
As we started to think about life on the Road we went where everyone goes to get information, the worldwide web. What we found was a vibrant community of people who actually spend a lot of time living on the road. From Susan and Grant at Horizons Unlimited (our original plan was to travel on our motorcycles) to Dan at The Road Chose Me, who is currently traveling in Africa, the web is overflowing with people willing to share their knowledge and experiences. We are extremely grateful for everyone who has helped us, knowingly or unknowingly, that we want to devote some time on our blog to sharing what we have learned, not a whole lot yet, and what we have done to our old Land Rover to get it ready to head out, and the many modifications we will continue to make as we go.
Some of you following our blog may not be interested in these sections so feel free to skip them and get on to the actual travel bits, which if all goes well should be coming soon.
Darrin just reminded me I forgot to mention Expedition Portal. Another website with a wealth of information.
I’m sure there are others I have forgotten. I’ll add them as Darrin reminds me.
Thanks Everyone!!!
Where are you going?
What do you want to see?
These are questions I am continually asked.
When I answer:
I don’t know. We haven’t made any real plans. We are just going to see where the road takes us.
I usually get a look of puzzlement followed by:
What do you mean you don’t know?
I think people are so used to planning. Where to take a trip . What to do. How to get the most out of their 2 week vacation.
For us, this isn’t a trip but a change in life style, at least for a little while. The destination isn’t really important. Of course it would be cool to see something like Machu Picchu, but that is just an added bonus.
Our time on the road will evolve just the way it is supposed to.
When you tell people you are going to quit your job, pack up all your stuff, and live on the road for a while in a vehicle the size of a shoe box, you normally get 2 reactions:
1. Oh my God! That is awesome! You guys are going to have an amazing time!
2. Are you nuts!
The reality is both and a lot of shades of gray in between. And all of those emotions come and go at such a rapid rate most of the time you don`t quite know what to feel. For us the bottom line is Why Not? We could stay home, keep working, buy some new toys or redo a room in the house, or we can meet new people, see new places and accumulate life instead of stuff. The reality is, we want to live and for us that means quitting the job, and living on a shoe string in a shoe box. Perhaps in the words of the brilliant Robert Frost; we are “Taking the Road Less Traveled”.
Today we are working on the small details. How are we going to pack spices? How are we going to carry a bar of soap without it turning into a gooey mess? Who knew thinking about such small details would be so exciting!
After months and months and months, ok maybe years, of large details like deciding if the old rover needed a new transmissoon and what to do about house insurance it is very exciting to be down to small bits.
Should we pack a small chess set? What about backgammon?
What about battery operated toothbrushes?
How exciting!
Afternoon one and all. I just spent an hour swearing at the blog while trying to set up a way for friends to sign-up via email to follow the blog. What a frustrating experience. But, I think it is now working. Give it a try and shoot me, I mean shoot me an email to let me know if it works, all of you 3 followers:)
While I’m on the topic of swearing. Have you ever tried to sign up for insurance to rent your house? Don’t do it.
I know, just breath. It will all work out. Arghhh!