On the Road

For those of you who have been in touch since we finished the Appalachian Trail, you might have caught wind of a (tail)pipe dream we’ve had. Colby and I took a vacation out to the West Coast what seems like ages ago, and we were immediately enamored with the mountains, coastlines, and plethora of charming towns.  We had discussed moving out to the Pacific Northwest, but that plan was postponed once we decided to hike the A.T.

As it goes, you plan one thing but sometimes you get waylaid or need to take a different path for a while. The thru-hike became a two year LASH hike (long- @$$ section hike for new readers…). Post-trail we had some amazing opportunities to travel, both on dive trips with family and friends, and on exploratory adventures where we made new friends and saw old ones. Traveling was amazing, but didn’t do much for saving up for a cross country move! I laid some roots in central Florida by volunteering at a big cat sanctuary with the most phenomenal people, we spent time with my family, and we were otherwise tethered to the Sunshine State for a while.

In the back of our minds we still hoped to make it out to Oregon or Washington to explore more and see how we would enjoy a change of scenery.  A few years ago a guest on our manatee tour mentioned her work, offering educational whale watching tours in Oregon!  While intriguing, we didn’t have the means to make it out there at the time, and we were still a bit hesitant to commit to becoming boat captains (the FL Keys mantra is: Once you drive, you don’t dive!).  However, this past winter we saw her again… and decided to give it a go.

The RV is something that Colby has been researching ever since I first lobbed this whale watching idea at him. Rather than try and find a short term residence and figure out the best way to move possessions and the cats cross country, we downsized and found a home with wheels! This way we can travel at our leisure with all the comforts of home, and have the brat cats along for the adventure! (Many thanks to grand-meow and grand-paw for looking after them during our hikes and other adventures!)

I figured this blog would be a way for us to share stories and photos of our travels (new and old) with anyone who was curious what we were up to. I may also post about the transition to living in a RV (especially with the cats!) and about the interesting challenges that are associated with it.

We are currently in Albuquerque, New Mexico after spending time in various parts of Texas visiting with some of Colby’s family and friends.  There is plenty to say about the RV so that can be it’s own post! Apollo and Sheba seem to have the routine down, especially Apollo who seems to be getting his “sea legs” and who went on a spelunking style adventure… They find the closet to be the comfiest place to hang out while we are underway, and they enjoy having the windows open so they can check out the scenery and neighbors when we are camped out.

Thanks to everyone who has offered their well wishes to us on this new adventure!  We are thinking of you, and we should have room for some guests once we settle down for a while!