About the Scenic Route - Salt Sugar Sea

There is fun and adventure to be had anywhere, if you seek it.

You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. – Jeremiah 29:13

We seek the essence of being on the edge of discovering something new, living for the experience of life, rather that the collection of things.

Being a part of the elements that are found on the scenic route (surf, snow, rain, mountains, water), seems to show us, over and over, how little we actually need to be happy.

Not so long ago, our life was in a much different direction…….

We each held long hour sales jobs. In freshly pressed appropriate clothing, we sat in traffic morning and night, like responsible adults, and waited for the weekend. Our days were filled with very little physical activity. I cooked less, and we went out to eat a lot, to avoid the whirlwind of dishes. Beer, coffee, coffee, beer, beer AND coffee. The stress was high, the pay off was low. This couldn’t be what we were made to do. We wanted more. And then an opportunity presented itself, as an amazing thing happened. The Husband’s corporate-Bob-job gave him the “ok” to work remote.

…4 days later, we decided to trade in the luxuries and stability of suburbia for a touch more adventure… truck packed with a backpack each, tent, 3 ton car jack, 5 gallons of water, and the dog… check engine light on, and a new continual ting-tang-ting sounded from under the hood…we slipped out of our suburban neighborhood with no exact plan in mind…

The Story: Adventure

…tired and dirty, we had been driving practically from daybreak, and it was nearing dark again… I opened the extra cab door to grab my soaps from the side door compartments, stripped down, and let the water bottle empty on my head…parking in the furthest corner underneath the trees, the creek babbling below, we fell fast asleep…..Tap! Taap! Tap! Flash lights pounded on our windows….

Portland Urban Camping

A red camper shell with our $50 diy carpet kit, housed us for most of fall, as we traveled from Texas, through California, and up towards northern Oregon.

The warm weather disappeared, and a real bed, kitchen, and our own shower started to sound pretty good, so we made our route back home. Within a few weeks, the excitement dwindled. These things we missed, no longer seemed to hold the same sparkle that we remembered. We had tasted life on the scenic route, and it was calling us back.

Together, we made a unanimous decision to dump our savings into a 19ft Heartland Edge travel trailer. We rented a room out to a friend, to help cover the home expenses, and planned to hit the road before Christmas. A few days before hitting the road, we learned that an additional traveler would be traveling with us. The news of ‘baby on the way’, did add a new element of excitement to this journey. However, we couldn’t find any reasons why it should change our plans. We spent the next 5 months on the road.

Life in the Edge

Unsure of how this baby thing would go, we sold the trailer, and waited for what this new adventure would bring.

Our little bundle arrived, and a month later, The Husband declared we would now need a nice family van. A nice large, responsible family van. A nice blacked out, windowless, unmarked family van. The next morning he was on a plane to Arkansas, with a stack full of cash to make a craigslist deal on a 158 WB Mercedes Sprinter Van.

The world told us we would need 1000 things to do this baby thing, instead we moved into a van. All our thoughts hopeful, nearly tasting the adventure to come, and wanting out of this suburban lifestyle, we had fallen back into. We refused to stay in that comfort zone of 8-5, responsible car driving, garage full of stuff we don’t use, average lifestyle. It was not us.

Our Self Converted Sprinter Van

After 259 days on the road, we parked for a redesign. Hiatus from Van life

It’s surprising, and somewhat amazing, how adaptable we became to our tiny space. The power of exploration is not to be underestimated, as it was a major part of what fueled the inspiration that moved this adventure onward.

The bulk of our van conversion was built while we traveled, stopping at Home Depot’s, campsites, friend’s houses, and family’s side yards. Our build came to reasonable functionality around month 6 of the trip, but there is still much to complete.