R-Pod Diaries

Before arriving to Northern California neither Brad or I knew Weed existed on a map. A quick google search sparked endless excitement for all the outdoor exploring, hiking and fun to be had in the areas surrounding this small town. We were also thrilled to get to know Mount Shasta, a potentially active volcano that peaks at an elevation of 14,179 feet and in view all over from the College of the Siskiyous track to walking out of Ray’s grocery store to pumping gas at the Pilot truck stop.  Weed is an easy exit off the I-5, which runs up and down the west coast, and a popular stop for truckers and road travelers. Also known as "Windy Weed" by the locals, it was initially driven by a lumber mill because the strong winds that drove Brad and I insane for 6 months were helpful in drying lumber. During my time working in the area I even met a few patients employed there decades ago! This town once fueled by logging now relies mostly on tourism for survival and it’s not uncommon to s

A common question I’m asked is how I make money while on the road. We’re always packing up and heading to a new location around the country so I decided to write a little bit about how it all goes down. If you’re a therapist (like me!) or nurse this post may be helpful if you’re thinking of taking the travel plunge, especially in an RV. Or if you’re curious about what I do then hopefully it will be informative!   So we’ll start with my job title which is a Speech-Language Pathologist (aka speech therapist). What does that mean? What do I actually do? The best way to sum it all up is I work to prevent, assess, diagnose and treat speech, language, social communication, cognitive-communication and swallowing disorders. I can work with children or adults, but I prefer adults which is where most of my experience comes from. I can work in home health, hospitals, outpatient clinics, inpatient rehab centers and nursing homes. I prefer working in nursing homes or with home health, again due t

When Brad and I set out to travel full time we definitely talked about what we would do if one of us became ill, but never in a million years did we take into consideration a pandemic - who would?! With the coronavirus impacting the United States more and more each day we are all feeling the effects and I wanted to share some of our personal experiences.  I’m going to rewind a few months first…Back in December I was finishing my first travel assignment in New Mexico. With 4 weeks to go I started to feel pretty terrible. I went to work on a Friday, lasted 3 hours and was in Urgent Care that evening. I tested negative for the flu and went home. We had visitors in town and my sister-in-law was staying with us in the camper, but luckily she and Brad were able to crash in a hotel with our other guest that night while I wrestled a fever, aches, chills and all the symptoms you get with the flu. The next day everyone was on a day trip and I felt wrecked but mustered the energy to lug our sheet

This post is dedicated to a dry, hot and dusty place in Arizona called Monument Valley. Why? It’s that cool. I wasn’t aware of Monument Valley until Brad stumbled upon it scrolling through social media and requested we stop along our travels. I can speak for us both that we don’t regret it one bit.   We found a KOA (Kampground Of America) within a couple of miles of the park surrounded by the most outrageous rock formations in every direction. Actually, Monument Valley is right on the border of Utah and Arizona so we camped in Utah with perfect views of the monuments. Incredible silhouettes greeted us in the mornings and illuminating sunsets ended our evenings.    (view from our kitchen window of the monuments)   (this was taken while walking to the bathroom one morning!)   Our first day included traveling from Colorado to the KOA which resulted in an easy 3 hour drive. One of the greatest parts about road travel is sometimes you stumble upon things you didn’t even know exist

Now that I’ve shown you our renovated R-Pod and thoughts on the transition to tiny living, lets get to the fun stuff…road life! I haven’t found a single word to describe the adventure we’ve embarked on but with Brad’s help we've come up with a few to describe our first few weeks of travel in this post:   * ALLURING * We’ve traveled to 6 different states by now: Indiana, Nebraska, South Dakota, Colorado, Utah and Arizona with each one presenting a unique and different landscape that has left our jaws on the ground and the overused “wow” spilling from our lips. Imagine Dan Aykroyd in the movie The Great Outdoors repeating that word when they are trying to exterminate the bat invading their cabin - that’s us on a daily basis. One of the reasons we decided to forgo international travel (for now) was because we realized after our honeymoon that the United States offers the most grandest of lands that would keep us busy for years to come.    We both agree that Custer State Park in S