…where were we?

Ah yes, we were in California… 4+ years ago. So what happened was…

August 3rd, 2020

Our last post on the RV trip. We were in Lovell, WY listening to a bunch of girls tripping balls in Bighorn Lake and probably drowning. I don’t know if they drowned, they may have, maybe not, but I do know they definitely did in fact drown, probably. Maybe though, who knows. (They did.)

Rest of August 2020

The rest of the month we hauled ass through the Northwest, we hit:

• Great Falls, MT
• Glacier National Park, MT
• Coeur d’Alene, ID
• Seattle, WA
• Portland, OR
• Lake Tahoe, CA

We were in Lake Tahoe for a few days, did a few hikes, it was great. Oh wait, except for one thing THE STATE WAS ON FUCKING FIRE. So we decided that sitting in the middle of the woods in a cardboard box inhaling a bunch of smoke was maybe not the greatest life decision. Plus, Jenny’s cousin was having a… wedding? baby?… shower. Bath?…

Jenny’s cousin was having a thing so we decided to wrap up the trip and head back to New York. Trip over, bye, thanks, the end.

September 2020

After the thing, we camped out in New Jersey to be near Jenny’s family and baby nephew while we figured out what the next plan would be. Within a month or two she got a three month museum gig in Connecticut. Since it was logistically unrealistic to be up there in the RV in the winter, she got a short term place and I brought the RV and cats down to Florida and stayed in my parents backyard.

Winter 2020-2021

I eventually moved over to a campground in Jacksonville, FL to do some work at an office for the company I worked for at the time, and then went down to Naples, FL. Jenny eventually finished up and came back down to, once again, yes, figure out what the hell we wanted to do next. The next opportunity presented itself as Jenny’s new job in Amarillo, TX. Yep. PANHANDLE.

2021-2022

Honestly, Amarillo is mostly a blur.

They say that when you do the same thing over and over and over again for year after year one’s perception of time seems to speed up. Things kinda just all mesh together into one giant memory, and one memory couldn’t actually be 20-30 years long could it? Yes! Yes it could, Bill, you’ve sat at the same fucking desk your entire adult life staring at the same goddamn panel of cubicle wall, GO TOUCH SOME FUCKING GRASS BILL!

I was curious if there was a scientific term for it, best I got was an answer from Google AI searching for “why does a boring life seem to go faster?”:

Yes, a boring life can make time seem to go faster because when you’re doing repetitive, routine activities, your brain doesn’t process as much new information, leading to fewer memorable moments and the perception that time is passing quickly; essentially, your mind “smooths over” the experience of time when there’s little variation or novelty.

Key points about why boredom makes time seem faster:

Less information processing:
When you’re bored, your brain isn’t actively engaged in processing new details, so it has less to store as memories, making time feel like it’s passing quickly.

Lack of distinct markers:
Memorable events act as “markers” on the timeline of our lives. When your days are filled with similar, unremarkable activities, there are fewer of these markers, making time seem to blur together.

Mind wandering:
Boredom often leads to mind wandering, where your thoughts drift to the future or past, further disconnecting you from the present moment and making time feel faster.

That’s what Amarillo was for me. Just brown and lacking “markers”. And needless to say going from a six month RV trip whirlwind adventure around the country to… Amarillo… was… jarring. Like Interstellar, stepping out of the spaceship and blowing through decades because we had to run away from… bears. Space bears. It was bears, right?

(I didn’t see the movie.)

What I can also most definitely say about living in Amarillo for two years:

1. It is endlessly and infuriatingly windy. ALL THE TIME.
2. It smells. Like cow shit. Thankfully not all the time. But enough.
3. There are like three decent restaurants, and one of them is a fast food place.
4. You forget what trees and grass look like.
5. People have a weird thing where they don’t drive in the lanes of the parking lots. And I know, I know, if you’re in an empty parking lot everyone cuts across here and there to get where they need to go. But these people fucking YOLO across like they have a death wish. Where there are a bunch of cars currently driving. You know, properly, in actual traffic lanes. Like they don’t know there are actual traffic lanes. Oh shit, maybe they don’t know there are actual traffic lanes in parking lots? Do they not know that over there?
6. Things are super cheap. Yay.

The one awesome thing from Amarillo, we got our boy Goose.

He was abandoned at a dog park in 100+ degree heat with no shade or drinking water. They found him splashing around a lake over there chasing geese, so when the rescue that took care of him (Gracie’s Project) went for a name, they went with Goose. Once we fostered and inevitably adopted him because, obviously, come on, look at that face… we tried to come up with a better name, but it took long enough that Goose just stuck.

And he was not in great shape when we took him home. He was covered in ticks and had CRAZY separation anxiety, so we’re pretty sure whoever had him just kept him chained up outside all the time. This was pretty much confirmed when much later on a camping trip I had to tie him up for a second to handle something back at the truck. I started walking away and he freaked out so hard I thought he was going to hurt himself.

Our good boy Goose. Happy and healthy now.

2023 to April 2024

Towards the end of our time in Amarillo, Jenny moved on from her job there and pretty quickly landed her next gig with a company outside of Washington, DC. However, the first month or two was at a client site in Manhattan Beach, CA. So as she was chilling on a beach in Cali, I packed up the apartment, and once she finished up that job we hauled our life across the country. Again. We’re pretty good at it at this point to be honest.

So yes, we moved from one of the reddest areas of the country to one of the bluest. I mean fuck it at this point, right? Nothing means anything anymore anyways. Pretend that’s even remotely close to the most abnormal thing we’ve done. And talk about a punch in the wallet, we went from an area with super low cost of living and no state income tax to one of the most expensive areas and high state income tax.

I mean, presumably most punches in the wallet come at you from behind, like, boom, hit the wallet in my back right pocket and run. This was a punch straight head on right in the nuts. Boom. Wallet grab while I’m down on the ground.

No, fuck that, straight THROUGH THE TESTICLES to wallet grab. Just rip the whole goddamn thing out. One shot, won’t feel a thing.

But it’s cool, we still have some money left. No balls, but slight remnants of a paycheck.

Then back in April we got a second dog, Charlie!

To be honest, second dog was supposed to be another male named Maverick. But he showed up with a uterus, so we went with Charlie instead. She was found by my sister-in-law in Augusta, GA just roaming the streets, presumably dumped as well. Now she lives in Maryland with her brothers.

There’s no other way to put this… she is NUTS. Absolutely amazing dog, not a mean bone in her body, super sweet, affectionate, cuddly, a lot of great things that Goose just isn’t. Don’t get me wrong, Goose rules, I’m just saying, pit bull attitude vs husky attitude. You get it.

But holy fucking hell, she NEVER stops. Ever. I thought Goose was a high energy dog. Yeah, no. No no no, no. No. Luckily she loses her mind over tennis balls (also unlike Goose) so take her to dog park with a tennis ball and one of those Chuckit! things and you maybe, JUST MAYBE, have an afternoon of peace and quiet afterwards.

Again, she’s a great dog and once she calms down she’ll be absolutely amazing. Just, oh my God, she better calm down when she gets older. Sooner rather than later, please.

Present

So why are we here? Why am I resurrecting a blog from 4 years ago?

Back in September 2023 I ended up selling the RV and downsizing to a camper van.

It was originally just supposed to be for little getaways, quell this wanderlust that seems to build up in me more and more quickly these days. It was also supposed to be just me and Goose, and the layout was enough to get the job done. Then Charlie showed up, and it only took a few trips to realize a redesign was in order.

So for the past month or two I’ve been remodeling the van, essentially ripping it apart and putting it back together exactly how we need it to function properly. And this last weekend was the first sign of life, the faintest of light that the end of the tunnel is within sight. The pile of electrical wires was finally parted and I was actually able to get the water heater secured in its new spot.

But once the project is complete, the dogs and I will be getting in and hitting the road again. Unfortunately, Jenny will be stuck holding down the fort in Maryland with the kitties. I’m pretty sure the only reason I got her into the last RV was because it was 30′ long and basically a studio apartment on wheels. Well, that, and the chloroform. But an 18′ camper van with no slideouts, two dogs and no shower or AC… probably a no-go.

Because of that, this space will probably be decidedly different than the 2020 blog. How? No fucking clue. Well, okay, I know I’m not gonna asterisk out my F-bombs because who fucking cares anymore. I’ll be about 99.9% boondocking, complete opposite from the last trip of all booked campsites with hookups. Most importantly, I also won’t be quite so concerned with getting photos and “the shot.” It was weirdly exhausting to be enjoying the moment and then “oh shit, we have to make sure we get a picture for the blog.” Nah.

Basically stripping down the whole thing. Simpler website, simpler trip logistics, etc. Minimalist, if you like. And God bless all these bloggers and social media entrepreneurs getting the lighting and audio just right, and editing the photos and videos and… and, and, and. And I’ve used a countless number of those videos to learn all this stuff and get to this point, but it is not for me to put the time in to create. Especially me by myself. I’d rather just get drunk and take a shit on my keyboard.

SO STAY TUNED FOR THAT.