This will be the last blog post with the 1990 Ford Falcon camper van. 

I sold it to my little cousin yesterday and watched him try to suppress the same exploding excitement I felt when I bought the van three years ago. I didn’t even choke up watching him drive away. I’m sure if I would have sold the van to a stranger it would have been more emotional, but I am truly just so happy to hear about his travel plans and to know that the van is still going to be roaming the country in all of it’s glory. 

It feels like there is so much that should be said in this post, but truly, the words are written in all of these blog posts. Every adventure and every challenge. Proof of how much I have grown in confidence, in independence, and in love. I am not the same woman that I was before this journey and so much of that has to do with these four wheels.

I wrote this when I woke up in the van for the last time:

It’s my last morning in the van. The last time I will wake up in this van in a parking lot somewhere on the side of the expressway. I can’t help but lay here and remember my first morning waking up in here alone. The night before I was filled with anxiety. With a very long road trip ahead of me, having no idea what was in store. 

I was a young woman by myself sleeping at a truck stop in Kentucky. I woke up to the morning sunshine pouring in the windows. Opening my eyes feeling all of the anxiety from the night prior be overcome by triumph. I could do this. Nearly three years later waking up to that same sunshine bursting through I reflect on all of the mornings I’ve woken to peer out the windows and look at the fresh horizon that the prior day’s miles would reward me with. 

40,000 total miles to be exact across 45 states. This van was my sanctuary. More than just a vessel it has been safe and familiar and comfortable and allowed me to overcome fear and follow my dreams. So much love and gratitude for this space.

And the adventure continues. 

My cousin, Austin, with his new van. I wish you all of the experiences and more. Chase your stars!

Alli’s my little sister. Our parents got married last year, and our family grew quite a bit. She’s currently a junior in high school and when given the option to go on Spring Break with all of her cool friends in Florida, or drive cross country in a van with her older stepsister, she choose me and it made me feel SO hip. I’m not going to lie, I was pretty nervous about having her on the road with me. It’s one thing for me to sleep on the side of the road or shower at truck stops, but even though Alli is seventeen, she’s barely five feet tall. It was also a lot of driving, and potentially lack of cell service and I really, really wanted it to be a positive memorable experience for her. 

She flew into San Francisco and in eleven days we made our way down the coast, through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, stopped for a few days in New Orleans, and then down to Miami for some true Spring Break feels. Coast to coast we traveled. In the beginning Alli put her feet in the Pacific Ocean, and before heading back home went for some swims in the Atlantic. My mom went on a cross country road trip with her older sister when she was a teen, and she still talks about that trip 40 years later, so I have this vision that this experience will be something Alli takes with her for a few decades. Even with the generation’s magical disappearing SnapChat obsession, I’m hoping it stays stored in a happy memory compartment in her young sponge brain. 

I’m actually not an easy person to travel with, anyone who has spent a few days in the van with me knows this. I’m a bit of a neat freak, and everything has its perfect place and the bows on the curtains need to be tied a certain way (which no one ever manages on the first try). I can get overwhelmed with people in the space and I’m genuinely content sitting in my own silence for long periods of time. But Alli was an amazing travel companion, even for me. I’m not sure if its because she’s so physically small, or because we are similar in the way that we really value our alone time, but I was pretty bummed when her trip ended and I had to send her back to MI.

I look forward to future adventures with her and our other siblings as we continue to grow stronger bonds and solidify these new family ties. Thanks Alli for a great time, lots of laughs, sleeping in, and singing to me. Couple more weeks left in this van and we are filling it with all the love and good vibes.

It’s hard to believe that months ago we were actually going to try and not fly Corbin out while I was in California. Because he is taking so much time off for the Alaska trip this summer it just felt like a lot to take off more time for these little trips while I am out of state. But thankfully I found a really cheap flight out west and we made the last minute decision for him to join me for a weekend. Currently, it’s been almost a month since I’ve last seen him and my heart aches BAD, so even trying to imagine not having these few days together makes me crazy. 

It was his first trip to the Redwoods, so I was really excited to share my favorite spot in the country with him. Especially knowing his connection the earth, I knew he would feel the magic of the trees. It was a brief visit, so we crammed a lot into a short amount of time, but hit all of the best spots, Avenue of the Giants, Hawaiian BBQ in Eureka and then a hike out to Hidden Beach in Klamath (just across the street from where I was staying. 

It wasn’t an easy departure, and I am aware how much of a strain this distance can put on a partnership, but I am forever grateful for the support and encouragement I receive from loved one’s back home. And for anyone who actually reads and scrolls through this stuff other than my parents, I couldn't pass up that good light in the bathroom and clearly we're close. 

PS. He cooks.