Dear Vanlife,
Just over a year ago, we parted ways, and it had been coming for years. You saw it coming and so did I. Heck were were together full-time for 8 years! Yet, the off-and-on nature this year has been, well, complicated. With a little a spring tease wandering the secluded roads of Idaho looking for hot springs to soak in under the milky way to the month long summer fling to the mountains of Colorado, I’d say I am a bit… confused. Yes, we said it would be a casual, but I don’t really think this is casual.
For the next few months, we don’t have any plans, which is disappointing, but the distance will help diminish the lust I have to explore the open roads and fall colors with you. Gosh, those were the days! Do you remember when we were in Utah for the spring? We did everything together! Off-roading the best we can to reach remote crags to go rock climbing, chasing the aspens changing colors, and, oh, that freak snow storm that covered the Utah desert towers in a blanket of white.
Those were good times!
I’m sorry that I couldn’t make living together, full-time work for my lifestyle work any longer. I really am!
I know I should have just gotten rid of some stuff, my main baggage, and the cause of many fights for us, but I do think the house is a better place to keep things that aren’t really needed all the time. 72 square feet is tight and hard to figure out where to put things when you were bursting at the seams, litterally! I mean, do you remember when your factory seals on your room all popped in Sedona, AZ and then it rained and snowed, INSIDE OF YOU! That was a wet and miserable experience.
I’m sorry for filling you so full, I could have come up with better solutions. A prime example, the surfboards. I mean, having three surfbaords while climbing mountain passes in Wyoming was kinda crazy!
Like, it worked, we worked, but gosh those surfboards and kayaks and rock climbing gear and camera gear and clothing and ski gear and fire pit and backpacking gear and not to mention the normal living stuff like food, pots & pans, spices, jackets, etc. all made the space so cramped and built up an anxiety at the thought of opening the back doors, or cabinet drawers, because something was surely going to plummet out onto my feet.
Now that I think about it, a storage unit would have work just fine for all the stuff, but what about Chestnut or Kristin? I couldn’t really just kick them to the curb so we could be together all of the time. Maybe that is what you wanted, but I think the Idaho trip was a perfect example of how we can all travel together. Yes, yes, yes, the Colorado trip was a bit hard because we were back to the cramped life with to much stuff, but we are learning.
Yeah, we probably should have figured it out when we road tripped together for three months through Alaska, but we didn’t. Before this dives into a full fledge arguement of what should have happened, can we just think about some of the highlights from that Alaska trip?
starting a rock climb at 9, or was it 10 pm, and climbing under the midnight sun
surfing the boretide, you looked over me from the shore, thank you :-)
camping on the beach of Kenai Lake for a few days, just playing around in the water
I know you didn’t get to see them, but taking that wildlife cruise and getting to see Orcas, whales, puffins, and so many other creatures… wow! It was so much fun getting back from that and sharing all those images with you while I editing those images.
staring out at eagles soaring over head
the bears that would look-both-ways before crossing the highway
What special times we have made together.
I know right now it is all complicated, especially since I just bought a condo, but I truly look forward to our next adventure together. I mean, six to eight weeks in Baja, exploring dirt roads, looking for surf spots, keeping our eyes peeled for whales breaching on the horizon. The trip this winter is going to be well worth the long wait this fall.
I still love you,
Dalton
P.S. We will see how this winter goes, but I am hopeful it’s the perfect teaser to re-energize our long-standing dream of driving the Pan-American highway together!