After I returned from Australia, I took two weeks to hang out with my parents and friends in my little town of San Miguel, CA. At that point, I had already packed everything up for the most part, so I worked on deciding next steps in my crazy little adventure.
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| December gardening with friends in Cali! |
Winter on the Road...
I decided I'd first make my way down to visit family for the holidays in Prescott and Prescott Valley, AZ where I was born and raised. This was a perfect maiden voyage, as I followed my parents from San Miguel to there. We were able to address bugs with the van as a small group, as life on my own for the first time was quite intimidating. I didn't really want to let on...but being a single lady on the road by myself was a big change from my 17 years of marriage in a house or RV. I knew I could do it, and was excited for it, but I welcomed not doing the first leg of my new life on the road alone.
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| Jazz Hands! (Thanks, Dad!) |
The van did well overall, and I even spent a few nights sleeping in the cold AZ nights in the van to see how it might be. At that point it was not insulated, and, while I found out that I could do it if I had to, the cold outside and the heat from my body created condensation on the metal that was pretty significant. That would have to be addressed for future comfort for sure.
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| Following mom and dad to SLC |
After a great week or so in AZ, my parents followed me as far as Salt Lake City. There we parted ways after (another) tearful goodbye and I decided to head to Colorado for a bit. I had heard that there may be some shearing work over that way, and I wanted to check it out.
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| Wyoming in late Dec. |
It worked out that I could help out with some bison shearing while I was there, which was a total trip. During my time in Colorado, I generally stayed in AirBnB's rather than the van. I did stay in the van one night and woke to this...
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| Meh...what's a little snow and negative degree weather...? |
Needless to say, without the van being converted yet, it was not super nice to stay in it in the winter months.
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| Try and make the best of it! |
Springtime Travels...
After Colorado, I got the super cool chance to go on the road with
Shorn Shearing again, this time getting to go first to the Southern Loop (FL, GA and AL). I've always wanted to go to Savannah, not only did I get that opportunity, I got to do it during a tornado warning. I felt like this was so much more authentic! As Audrey Hepburn says in Sabrina (my fav!), "You get yourself, not a drizzle, but some honest-to-goodness rain..." That's what Savannah gave me! It did not disappoint me one bit.
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| I <3 Savannah! |
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| Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is one of my very fav books and set in Savannah! |
During shearing I got to see a lot of the country that I had not seen... mountains and valleys, rock formations and rivers, animals and much, much more. It just reinforced my love for the road and getting to travel and experience as much as I can. Van life was looking more and more up my alley.
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| I got to practice some llama shearing at Ranch of the Oaks in AZ |
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| Prescott, AZ |
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| Navajo Monument in AZ |
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| Moab, UT area |
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| Pretty river in Utah. |
So now what....?
Upon my return to Montana in early June (where I had left my van to go on my shearing adventures) I jumped straight into truly converting the van. And that, folks, is where I pick up next post!
Ash
PS - In future posts I will cover some of the places I camped that were super cool, like the Navajo National Monument! Stay tuned!
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