Boldly Go!

When we picked out the new SUV that would be our main transportation for the foreseeable future, the salesman sent us this photo when it arrived at the dealership. It seemed like a sign of the things to come. I know - it’s literally a sign, but the figurative “signs” are more important to me right now (don’t get me started on my rant about the bastardization of “literally”).

First - it’s just a hilarious coincidence that the truck was the first important piece of our plan, which could definitely be called bold.

Second - Captain Kirk is our favorite Star Trek captain. And there he was, ordering us to proceed with all the boldness in our hearts.

I dunno - it was an awesome moment. Then, as we were driving away from getting coffee on our last morning in LA, hitting the road from a different part of the valley, I looked up and there it was - the same image on a different billboard! It was an auspicious start.

Anyway, here’s the bold plan, which I’ve alluded to a lot in previous posts:

When we decided to retire early, what we really wanted to enjoy was a significant amount of travel. After a LOT of discussion we realized that meant that we actually wanted to travel as our primary endeavor. And, that would work a lot better if we sold our house, shed ourselves of most of what we owned and hit the road. I’m not an RV/trailer kind of person (no shade, I just want to live out of a building not a vehicle), but with the advent of all the Airbnb types of services, it’s really easy to live in temporary housing. And if you plan it properly, you can do it affordably.

Our original thought was to travel internationally, but then we decided a long US road trip would be fun - we’d get to stop and see all those things that sound good, but who has the time? We’ve been lucky enough to have already experienced a lot of the other countries that would be on our list - and we do still plan to switch over at some point to experience the rest.

Thus, the Great American Road Trip (GART) was born. We tested it out with slowish travel the second half of last year and were able to work out some of the logistical kinks. As mentioned above, we launched GART this quarter, after successfully selling our house and donating, etc our non-road trip stuff and obeying Captain Kirk.

One of the logistical kinks was figuring out how little we could take with us and still be comfortable. I took on the challenge of figuring out how we would pack what we needed to have in a way that (1) fit in the back of the SUV without impairing our sight lines, since we’d be driving a lot, (2) what containers/suitcases we would need and (3) accomplish all of that while still being able to find what we needed. It took me 2-3 months, but I think we’ve mostly got it. Here’s what one of the test packings looked like (there’s a couple more things actually in there right now, but it’s still below the back seat line - winner!):

I will say, there are some super weird consequences of not having a home base. I won’t bore you with many of them, but the funniest is - how do you answer the question “where are you from?” Especially, if you are not in the mood for a long conversation.

Well, that question spawned one hilarious text conversation (hat tip - R & K):

Proposed options for responses to the question, “where are you from”?

• We used to be dwellers, and now we are roamers

• I’m a resident of planet Earth

• Wherever you go, there you are

• Where is anyone really from

• Just finished a nickel in Folsom

• Nowhere and everywhere

• We ramble about like birds of passage

• We set up shop with a caravan and now sell our wares

Anyway, I’ll be reporting back from hither and yon.