Travel

When people find out about my current or past travels of living on the road, a lot of the time their response is, "you're living my dream!"  I am always flattered that someone would want to choose the lifestyle of traveling like I do.  Lately, I have been responding with, "you can do it too and live your OWN dream."  Most often, that is followed by, "I would if only..." If only. Those, "if only's" are choices. Choices we made in our life that we want to, or need to keep.  Maybe you bought a home that you feel you can't leave, or kids, or a marriage, or your job, or your pet... Those are all great reasons to stay put and not do anything different in your life (not that there is anything wrong with that life) except be envious by posts of other people living a life that is YOUR dream.  The question is, "do you really want to live your dream?"  If you do, what is preventing you from making the choices needed to pursue that drea...

One of my favorite drives in this country is along the Oregon coast. For some reason, it puts you in a good mood and for a moment, everything seems right in the world. Ok, that might be a bit dramatic but it truly is a sight to see. I've done this drive a few times and each time I do, I find something new. I took a few days and stopped for the night in some nice camping spots along the way. A drive on the coast isn't complete without a stop at the tillamook cheese factory to taste samples and get a huge scoop of ice cream. Max loves the beach and he gets a bit crazy when we play in the sand. Sometimes, he even lets me bury him! We had such a good time on the coast. If you're looking for a scenic drive on the ocean, Oregon has it! Here are a few iPhone pics from our Oregon drive plus a few near the border of California in the redwoods.

When someone learns of my plans to live in my van and travel around the USA, the first question I get is, "where are you going to go?"  My answer is "I don't know" or "everywhere!"  I wish I could be more specific but I really never know.  I tend to have a general direction on where I will go and depending on the weather and circumstances, it determines the next day and so on. I admit that it's not the best way to travel, but it's worked for me so far.  I would like to see Marfa, TX and perhaps make it out to the salt flats but other than that, it's a blank canvas.  I am assuming I will travel with the weather so that usually means I will head North during the hot months and South in the Fall.  I always enjoy being on the East coast in late summer. I will be making goals along the way and sharing photographs, including portraits of people I meet on the road.  If you know of a place I shouldn't miss, please let me know. You can always fo...

As I was wandering around the streets of El Paso, it hit me.  It was time to go home.  I felt a little like the Forrest Gump in the scene where he stops running and says, "I'm pretty tired.  I think I'll go home now." So that was it.  I decided that home is where I wanted to be at that moment.  I drove from El Paso back to Southern California in one shot.  I knew I was getting close when the Waffle House disappeared and Starbucks appeared more and more.  Also, people drove faster and everyone seemed to have blinker light problems since I didn't see any on merges right in front of me.  Ahhh...close to home. As you might know, this is my third year traveling the country in a car with my dog.  I put together a little map with arrows to the places I've been in those three years.  Arrows in Red are from this year, purple is 2009 and Blue represents 2008. It's been quite the journey.  As much as I would say that I am staying put, that is ...