Today marks 82 days on the road! Our vanlife journey began on April 7th, 2024. Since then, we have driven over 7,000 miles, traveled to 8 states, explored 8 national parks, hiked 163 miles, and created more memories than we can count! We are thankful every day for this incredible journey and feel extremely blessed to call the road our home. We've had highs, we've had lows, we've learned, we've grown, and we've become better versions of ourselves because of this journey.
Today's blog will recap our route, answer frequently asked questions, and highlight our biggest takeaway since transitioning to a nomadic lifestyle.
LETS RECAP
When we left in April, we drove straight through Iowa and Nebraska. We were determined to get right to the mountains. We spent 4 days in Colorado before calling Utah home for 2 weeks. Utah was busy. We explored 4 national parks (Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, and Zion) and hiked lots of mileage. A little over two years ago, we got engaged at Zion. So it was a memorable experience going back in the van and revisiting some of our favorite spots!
After leaving Utah, we headed for Las Vegas! It was a great pit stop to see family and break up our drive to California. Kyle and I learned early on that while the van is capable of big cities we do not prefer it. We stayed away from the Vegas strip and instead, focused on quality time with family!
By mid/late April, we made it to California! We spent a week exploring Yosemite and Sequoia National Park! Yosemite is our favorite park so far! It has it all–flowing rivers, mountains, lakes, waterfalls, and more. The natural beauty and diverse terrain make it spectacular!
Next, we took a break from the National Park scene and headed to the coast! Our first stop was in the LA area! Our travels had been planned up until this point because we knew we had to be in Hermosa Beach for a wedding on April 26th! This was our first time seeing family on the road and it was a perfect long weekend at the beach! After saying our goodbyes we headed north on Highway 1! We planned to explore coastal towns and make trips inland as needed until reaching Oregon.
However, we had to adjust our route when we found out Kyles's new job was sending him equipment. This is when we started to panic! Where would we ship and store this equipment? We no longer have a physical address so shipping things to us gets complicated. Thankfully, through the beautiful power of networking, we were able to meet up with friends of friends and stay in a guest house on their ranch in Chualar, California. It was beautiful, peaceful, and reminded me of home! We spent 5 days here and enjoyed every second! While calling Chualar home base, we made side trips to coastal towns. One of our favorites was Carmel, CA. It has a charming European feel!
Once we received the packages, we continued our journey north! By early May we made it to Oregon and traded our sunglasses for winter hats. We visited Crater Lake National Park (keyword "visited" because we didn’t get to see it…the lake was covered in 5 feet of snow)! Not what we were expecting for May! We headed North quicker than we anticipated in hopes of reaching warmer weather.
Our next big stop was in Bend, Oregon. Bend is a small city on the Deschutes River. It is home to endless outdoor activities! We spent a week here and loved it! Kyle began his new remote job on May 6th!
May 7th marked one month on the road! The first month we covered a lot of ground! The second month we spent more time in each spot and did fewer far drives midweek! May 12-20th we traveled back to the midwest for 2 weddings.
Once we returned to Portland, we spent the remainder of May in Oregon. We visited Multnomah Falls, Mt. Hood, Silver Falls State Park, and coastal towns (Rockaway Beach, Manzanita, and Cannon Beach). Oregon was incredible. From mountains to flowing rivers to endless waterfalls to a stunning coastline, we were in constant awe of this state's beauty.
By June we made it to Washington and our first order of business was Olympic National Park! It is located on the Olympic Peninsula in the Pacific Northwest. The park sprawls across several different ecosystems, making it very diverse. After checking off another park we headed to Seattle. On June 5th we flew back to Michigan for my brother's graduation party. I was excited to have a long weekend back home. Nothing beats a Michigan summer!
This goodbye was harder than the first because it was full of unknowns. I don’t know when we’ll be back in Michigan or when I’ll see my parents/siblings next. While being on the road has been everything I could have dreamed of...I'd be lying if I said it wasn’t hard. I am a people person. My love language is quality time. Being away from my family and friends has been incredibly difficult for me. But I know that this is where God placed me and sometimes change comes with sacrifices. I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world.
On June 10th we made it back to Seattle and spent a few days near Mountain Loop Highway! From there we started our trek east on Highway 2! We stopped in Leavenworth, WA (a must-visit Bavarian-styled mountain town) to break up our travels. We also met up with family-friends in Kettle Falls, WA! Being on the road has given us many opportunities to connect with family and friends that we wouldn’t have had otherwise! We used this pit stop as a chance to drop off some of our belongings (we learned early that less is more)! Then the adventures continued!
We planned to pass through Northern Idaho and get right to Montana. However, we stumbled across a town called Sandpoint, Idaho, and fell in LOVE! Selfishly, I want to gatekeep this town and not share anything about it! But it's 100% worth the conversation. This town stole our hearts! It is home to the largest lake in Idaho (Lake Pend Oreille) and a stunning backdrop (Selkirk, Cabinet and Bitterroot mountain ranges). There are endless outdoor activities (fly fishing, mountain biking, hiking, trail running, pickleball, boating, etc.). They even have a ski resort 20 minutes away called Schweitzer Mountain (we will definitely be coming back during ski season)! The views from here are unbeatable. What we thought was a simple gas and grocery stop turned into a 5-night stay! One of the best parts of living nomadic is moments like these. Coming across towns and having the ability to move around plans and spend time exploring new places!
We made it to Kalispell, Montana on Sunday, June 23rd, and have since spent the week working in Whitefish and exploring this adorable mountain town in our afternoons/evenings!
If you made it this far, thank you! I hope that the recap gave you a glimpse into what our travels have been like thus far! We are so appreciative of the family and friends who have supported us on this adventure and invested in our travels. Be sure to follow our journey on Instagram (@thomptravel) for more up-to-date posts!
LETS CHAT
Answering some of our most FAQs!
How long do you plan to do vanlife?
Minimum one year! We are committing to one full calendar year, but likely expanding this. We are thinking a year and a half as of now!
Do you have it all mapped out?
What do you both do for work?
Where do you shower?
Where do you use the bathroom?
Where do you sleep?
What is your favorite place that you've been?
Coolest thing you’ve seen?
Do you cook in the van?
What are your summer travel plans?
The hardest thing about vanlife?
LETS REFLECT
Our biggest takeaway so far is realizing the power of LESS is MORE. Sadly, our world has become accustomed to the never-ending cycle of "needing" more. The materials/things we have never seem like enough. Our world has become a constant one-up game! The worst part Is, most of us struggle to know the differences between needs and wants. We all have been guilty of this at some point In our lives!
Kyle and I left a basement full of belongings in Michigan when we decided to start vanlife. We have lived 6 months without those belongings serving us any purpose! It's crazy thinking about having MORE stuff back home after thriving on far LESS here. All we have with us right now Is all we need.
Van life has opened our eyes and shown us that our world priortizes materialistic things far too much.
This lifestyle has taught us that we can live off less than we think. We have very limited space for our belongings. We can’t have 8 pairs of jeans, 10 bowls, 4 cooking pans, or 6 sneakers to choose from. We had to be strategic about what we brought. Everything in the van needs to serve a purpose and have a space. We have gratitude for each item in the van. We have downsized our belongings three times already- because it became a necessity for us to live off less. Every purchase we make now takes consideration. Do we need this? Do we have space for this? Will this help our everyday life? These questions are vital to our everyday lives now and have helped us gain perspective moving forward. A perspective that can impact our lives far beyond just vanlife.
Vanlife is a constant reminder to us that less is more. There is power in simplicity.
Someday vanlife will be over and we will be living in a house larger than this 22 ft van. Our prayer is that we can translate the lessons we've learned on the road into our home and the next stage of life. To hopefully raise children who understand the difference between needs and wants. Children who value moments and people over things. Children who care more about exploring this beautiful world we live in than how many nice toys they have.
We can't take our belongings into heaven, but I'd like to think we can take our experiences!
Comments