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...

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 sometime...

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 kee...