For the first time in five years, I’m going to share our travel plans for spring/summer/fall only broadly here. No detailed map with circles and arrows, no list with dates. Here’s: 1) why not, 2) our plan in broad strokes, 3) my new blog structure for presenting our travels. Seems like a jumble, but stick with me.
The Trouble with Sharing
This is going to sound nuts, but I’m terrible at crowd-sourcing travel advice, despite the fact that friends are my #1 favorite source of info for everything in my life. The deal with travel advice is something like 95% of it just isn’t practical for us. There’s a whole different dynamic to sight-seeing when you’re bringing your home along with you, with different benefits but also different limitations. When I start to list the things we can’t do, I sound like I’m nit-picking, so suffice it to say: we know best.
Now that I’ve insulted everyone I know, I’ll insult myself. The other big factor in sharing travel routes is the way Tracy makes plans and I complicate them. Months and months ahead of each summer, Tracy picks a few destinations he knows we’ll enjoy, and then he painstakingly researches every stop to and around and away from each place. He repeatedly tries to check with me about this, but I’m always like, “I can’t even imagine Alaska right now—that’s months and a kazillion miles away—so you just go with what you think.” When it’s time to leave, I finally look at a map and our shared calendars and I start asking questions and sharing routes with friends and, uniformly, making suggestions that he then has to debunk in detail or that’s it’s simply too late for. Clearly, Tracy hasn’t left me in a ditch somewhere, but there’s still time.
About sharing our plans here on the blog, there’s also the jinx factor. Or, call it the psychological factor. One year, I was struggling with whether I wanted to keep on with this lifestyle, so Tracy waited to make plans, and he missed the reservation window on a bunch of places. Last year, he made a full three seasons of reservations—and we scrapped every single one when I thought I had a brain tumor. (It was the doctor who thought it, to my defense there.) This year, again, Tracy held off on some plans because I was waiting on a biopsy. Outcome: good health news, but missed travel reservations. I have one more routine procedure coming up in Houston before we take off. So, I’m keeping the details to myself until we’re underway.
2025 Travel
Here’s what I will say. After Houston, we’re headed to parts of this country we’ve never been to with the Airstream, many that I’ve never been to at all.
The plan is to hit a bunch of national parks and national monuments in West Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado, a few in Utah and Oregon, then visit friends in Northern California. Somewhere in there we hope to meet up with Tom and Amy, whom we met at the Airstream rally; Melanie and Doug, who bought a homebase in New Mexico; Marcus and Shana, at their new caretaking location; and Melissa and Conrad at their sticks and bricks.
Our travel plans are ambitious. Lots of popular destinations, lots of national park campgrounds with tight reservation windows, lots of driving around the west to try to cross paths with friends. We shall see. We take off on Monday to Houston, and that’s got a lot of trickery involved, so first things first!
Visit the Country with Me
While Tracy’s been researching and getting in front of his computer early for reservations windows, I’ve been thinking about how to conceptualize where we’ve been for the last four years—and how where we’re going fits into that.
My old travel map with pins on where we’ve stayed is now too full to be useful to anyone but me. So, I’ve started categorizing places we’ve been. Sounds pedantic, but hear me out. Here’s a screen of my page on national parks—each one we’ve been to with a few posts under each.
If I can design the page right (and omit the posts that aren’t germane), looking through it will be like taking a tour of our country’s most amazing places. With me as your guide, which I realize is a very particular lens.
If I can swing that parks page, I’ll try for a states’ page: one representative post and photo per state. Wouldn’t that be cool as pop-up points on a map? That’s getting ahead of myself, though.
Looking back on this post, it seems that Tracy works to make our near-future life interesting, and I work to make it interesting afterwards. Well, not exactly, but that is a way to see us.
Per that theme, I’ve redesigned my homepage, again. Although I’m not taking any travel advice right now, I’ll take all the feedback I can get on the website. Or, just this post! I know leaving a comment is tricky for you who aren’t logged in to WordPress, but keep sending me emails and texts because I love hearing from you.
Banjo appreciates the attention, too.
I would imagine you have to be super organized in your planning with a mobile lifestyle. I’m good for 2 week vacations but three years in advance? That’s impressive.
Truthfully, Tracy plans several months out, not really years out. But, he is a super organized type of person for sure.
Okay Shelly, I know I’m the worse.
But if you look at all the places you’ve been to, … where is home?
I know I live in Stockholm in an apartment, which I very much like and is registered to with adress and all, but that’s not my spiritual ‘soul home’ sort to say.
I know were my soul home is and can straight pin point it out on a map. It’s a very remote location, but even so, I have been able to pass through a couple of times in the summer when I was able to, … like 30 years ago.
But even so, I still carry that feeling having experienced it. It’s a good and ‘home recognition’ feeling Shelly, which I always can rely on independently where I am.
Do you have find yours yet Shelly? And why not ask your followers on your blog too? If you and your followers share yours, I promise to share mine.
Love and Hugs,
-Li
You are the worst, Li! And, figuring out where “home” is for me was so 2023. Ha!! I hear you though, and I’ll think on this. As usual, you challenge me in unexpected ways.
First off, I love the homepage redesign. It’s cleaner and more visually appealing.
Secondly, looks like you should really loop Nebraska in if possible. The poor lil’ Cornhusker State must be feeling pretty left out!
Thirdly, this looks like a fun travel year. The Desert Southwest has a lot to offer. (Including heat, but at least it shouldn’t be humid, monsoon season notwithstanding.)
That’s for looking at the new design and saying something – glad to know this iteration passes the muster.
Oh, poor Nebraska. We won’t forget it because it’s a gaping whole in the map for sure.
I think we’re going to be in lower elevations during shoulder seasons (so, cold) and higher over the summer (so, cool). That’s the idea, at least. I’m trying not to get excited yet but for sure it’s gonna be fantastic!
I have to say, we spent a weekend in Omaha once and were pleasantly surprised. Not that you’d be hitching up the Airstream in the middle of the city!
No, we don’t do city stuff, generally. I’ve lived the city life before (kind of) and I’ve enjoyed visiting cities, but that’s not our jam right now. In another chapter!
You at least have to go to Alliance to see Carhenge!
I’m not excited to see that, but I won’t go by and miss it, promise!
It looks like you are going to have a great year! You have marked some truly awesome places to see. Enjoy!
Thanks so much!
You are most welcome to stop in Taos. I’ll be here for most of March, then again July-September. I love it here!
Mark, very cool – thank you! I’m gonna look at the calendar and tell Tracy, and we’ll do our best! I’m guessing I have your email address since you received this.
Glad to find your blog. I don’t Airstream, but I am closing in on visiting all 50 states, well, 48. So, I’ll be interested to read about your travels.
I’m glad to have found you, as well! My write-up of my travels is not gonna be helpful; I get basic facts wrong and basically complain a bunch about campgrounds. But, you never know what you might find interesting!