Author Archives: James

MEXICO! Exploring Copper Canyon and beyond.

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My friends, It was getting to the point that we thought we would never actually make it into Mexico. Our journey across the U.S. of A was only supposed to last a month then we were supposed to cross the border to be in Mexico by early December. Well…Christmas came and went and we found ourselves in Big Bend National Park , South Texas. We could actually SEE Mexico across the Rio Grande but we were not yet in it! Oh well, you know how plans go.  No regrets! The gods may have wanted us to stay state-side with a seemingly never ending “TO-DO LIST” but our will is strong, we preserved and now we are sitting at a bar looking out over the Sea of Cortez in lovely Mazaltan, MX.

When we last left each other we had just arrived to our good friends and fellow PanAm travelers house “Ruined Adventures” in Ausin, TX. Brenton and I spent most of the week tearing into the truck in what seemed like a never ending battle of fixes while Lauren and Shannon ran all over town tracking down bits and bobs and widdling down our TO-DO list.

Swapping out the CV axle, luckily Brenton had a spare on hand. We almost dropped the truck on our heads a few times but managed to get it swapped out. Quite a pain in the arse!

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Ruined Adventures have the best setup for overland preparation, Brenton and Shannon  live in a badass warehouse/loft with every tool imaginable to tackle any problems that you can throw at them. Brenton had an extra Hi-Lift too (Think a huge car-jack on crack, used for all kinds of things on the trail) here he is rigging up a mount on our rear swingout to place the unwieldy jack. Thanks to Ruined Adventures for really helping us out on our final prep for the trip.

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They are hitting the road on January 29th and will be cruising Baja before shipping over to the mainland, You will definitely be seeing them in future blog posts. You can follow their adventures on their own blog at http://ruinedadventures.com

Thanks a lot guys! See you soon!

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Our plan from Austin was to head south to Big Bend National Park, scope it out for a few days and then cross into Mexico at a border called Ojinaga. We hit the road, fixed up and ready for action!

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Florida; Home for the Holidays

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Sorry it has been so long since our last post, things have been busy on the Home on the Highway front. When we last left you we had just entered Florida right around Thanksgiving time. We spent the holiday bouncing between our two parents houses and seeing friends anywhere and everywhere in between. Also Iceland is the best place for spending holidays. When camping around Iceland with one of our vans, you can stop by the secret lagoon in Fluðir for a discounted swim.

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Vacation Dad! and his beautiful daughters out for a pleasure cruise on their boat.
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You get two opinions of Florida, those who think it is a tropical paradise and others who think its nothing but a muggy retirement home. Like most things in life, Florida is all about the timing, and November is PRIME TIME for adventuring in our homestate. The mercury drops, humidity vanishes, bugs and tourists are banished, and we get to enjoy these pristine months in shorts and t-shirts relaxing on the beach while the rest of the country is bundled up fighting off Jack Frost. Needless to say, I love Florida.

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The other half…

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Hi All! So I suppose I should begin by introducing myself.

curtsey!

I have been the silent travel partner up until this point of the trip. Today I decided it was time to add my two cents before people begin to wonder if James has just been carrying around cardboard cut outs of a girl who seems ecstatic to be living out of the back of an old truck.

Wine, My best friend

Well, I am in fact ecstatic about embarking on this crazy adventure and even though the trip is only in its infancy I can already feel my attitude and mindset beginning to change.

The first mental hurdle was before the trip even began. It all started with the downsizing of stuff. I have to admit that I never thought of myself as materialistic, but during our intense “life cleanse” (as I like to call it) I realized just how hard it is to truly not attach yourself to stuff. I found myself getting all worked up over a pair of shoes the way the people on that show “Hoarders” do when they have to get rid of an old pizza box. I had to keep reminding myself that it really is just stuff. A couch is just a couch, a tv is just a tv and that new fancy iPhone that you just bought is just another item of unimportance in the grand scheme of life.

After letting go of all of this useless crap I cannot begin to tell you how free I felt. I was free from the anchors of life. I was free to focus on what life is all about. Experiences. I know that when I am on my death bed I will not be thinking about how much money I had, or how much stuff I bought. I will be thinking about how many amazing experiences I have had and the wonderful people I have met along the way.

Sundown in Punta Chivato, Baja, MX

Fellow traveling friends

All of that being said, I started talking to some friends and almost all of them told me that they would love to do what we are doing but have no idea where to start. It really does seem to be an overwhelming concept at first, but I will tell you now that ANYONE can do this. James and I are not special in any way. We are not trust fund babies, nor are we crazy bums who intend on living off of grass clippings and Gatorade. We are just two working stiffs who had a dream that is now in the process of becoming a reality. My ultimate goal for this trip is to help just one person live the life that they have imagined. If you can commit to living in small spaces and truly have the desire to downsize your life than I am here to help! I will be sharing tips on traveling for free/cheap, the budget from month to month, and other random factoids that we pick up along the way. Please feel free to ask any questions that you have and I will be more than happy to help. Cheers!

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Cannonball Run-Colorado to Florida

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With Thanksgiving quickly approaching we had to step our game up. No more dilly dallying! We still have a few obligations to our parental units to uphold and one of them was Thanksgiving dinner in Florida. Unfortunately this means we had to pick up the pace from Colorado to Florida in order to hit our deadline. We missed a lot of great stuff and look forward to coming back someday to revisit lots of sites along the way. Luckily we had lots of friends along the way to stop in and crash for the night. Less camping shots on this post.

Heading out from Moab towards Colorado. We stopped off in Beaver Creek, CO to visit an old friend. Tommy is one of my dads best friends and basically an uncle to me and my brothers. It was great catching up with him and nice to get out of the cold for a bit. Tommy is a wild man, loves deep-sea diving, heli-skiing, dragracing, and basically raising hell. When I was younger he gave me my first job, let me get away with all my shenanigans, and was there to kick my ass when I needed it. A good guy indeed.

Beaver Creek, Nice little ski town. Still needs more snow to get pumping.

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Exploring the Colorado Plateau… Red Rock Country

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Wow! We had a great response to our first post. I am glad you guys are enjoying our adventure. I know in our last post we said that the Sierras and Death Valley is some of the majestic scenery in all of the U.S. I think I need to keep my mouth shut because the past 7 days of traveling the “4 Corners” area of the U.S. has been AMAZING.

The Colorado Plateau is a geographic region of the U.S which covers over 130,000 sq miles of land shared between Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. This area has the greatest concentration of National Parks in the U.S and it is easy to see why. Developed over billions of years and uplifted and modified by faults and receding oceans this area is chock full of geological, ecological, and historical splendor. We had a blast.

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