I'm pretty certain very few of you reading this have been waiting on pins and needles to hear about where we are now and what we're doing. And I don't blame you considering that it took us a whole month after finishing up in the South to actually publish a post (1 and 2) of our travels. In all honesty though, we experience quite a bit out here on the road, and deciding what to write about and how can be a time consuming process, especially when we're still moving along our intinerary. We rarely get time to digest what we've experienced before we're moving on to the next stop, which makes writing about it in a timely fashion sometimes quite difficult.
That being said, for those of you who are wondering, this is what we've been up to since departing the South:
We got back to Colorado the first week of March and quickly hit Craigslist in search of income. We saved quite a bit of money to make this dream a reality, but eventually, the savings start to run out. We'd rather not be completely poor like we were when we first moved to Colorado, so keeping some semblance of an income was a priority for us on this little "break". Corbin quickly was able to find work as a laborer with a tree trimming company while I was struggling with ads for porn shoots and nude maids and not getting much luck as a day laborer. Stupid boobs.
We stayed in Boulder for a few days, catching up with friends, writing, looking for work, training our new-found dog, and preparing. Perparing for what you ask? While in Ohio visiting my grandpa Pops, we had decided that this was the year for the much talked about and never attempted Appalachian Trail hike. My Pops and I had been talking about doing this for years, but never had we actually made any moves to make it a reality until last year. However, I was rather sick and we had to postpone until this year. Much of my preparation revolved around dehydrating food, as I like to eat well on the trail and those freezedried meals you buy at REI just don't compare to a homecooked meal (also they're stupid expensive).
With the food situation for the Appalation trail set up, Corbin and I busied ourselves, now in Fort Collins, with doctor appointments, income tax filing, and continuing the search for work. Corbin's day laboring job didn't come to much fruition with high winds keeping them out of the trees daily, and my applications weren't turning much up in the way of actual work. We both got on with a temp agency doing some on call work for New Belgium, which was fun and awesome to be a part of, but didn't bring us too many hours. It was probably best that neither of us was too busy with actual work as Corbin's knee was injured enough that he made the call he wouldn't be able to join us on the trail and I was busy prepping for the trail.
Its pretty crazy how when we're driving around the country each day feels like a whole day. Rarely did any part of it slip away unnoticed or disappear without us having something to show for it or at least feel aware of its passing. But miraculously, when we come back to some semblance of a real life, the hours just vanished out from under us. I'd be working on the blog and next thing I knew it was 4 hours later, I still wasn't done, and now it was evening and I had to stop in order to take care of other responsibilities. It was really strange.
We also cemented the idea that when we're way more stressed out when we're sitting still than when we're on the move. For example, when we're on the move every little thing has it's place in the truck and when it is out being used it is done so near or in the truck. But, when we're chilling for a while at a friend or family member's house, our actions are all in the house and so our things come in with us. Keeping track of those things becomes a bit of a struggle when it's not your house and you don't have a routine that would help you guess where you may have misplaced something.
Another point of stress when we're stationary is that we're never in our own space. And while we're immensely grateful to the people who open their homes and lives up to us, especially for long periods of time, it can be exhausting. Imgaine being a perpetual guest, trying to do nice things for the people who host you, trying to be as little of an intrusion as possible, but also trying to do everyday stuff and taking care of responsibilites. You know how when you come home from work and throw your keys on any flat surface, and sometimes fall asleep on the couch with your shoes still on and unopened beer in your hand? Or you just wake up and you decide to make breakfast naked while answering emails and making some phone calls to the pharmacy? Yeah, you can't really do that in someone elses house. Your keys clutter their counters, your nudity baffles them, and your schedule may not match theirs. It's not unexpected, but minimizing ones self and possessions is a constant struggle.
Anyway, after a few weeks catching up with our beloved friends, pulling in a couple extra dollars, prepping food, and trading out gear from the storage unit, we made for Ohio where we met with my Pops for a shake down of gear.
Coming soon:
You can read about my adventure with my Pops on the Appalachian Trail here.
You can read what Corbin did while we were gone here.
