A high level of what we got up to in January!
(More detailed daily sharing usually happens on our Instagram stories, but I’ve still been less active online than usual. Focusing on other things is nice especially as we step into the New Year — and as we allocate more resources to humanitarian crises in our larger, non-dog-centric world.)
TLDR: Top January highlights
- We escaped the worst of midwest winter by heading south to Florida.
- We celebrated one full year of living in Hermes!
Van life: Officially one year on the road!!
I’m convinced that 2023 was a hyperspeed time warp. I suppose part of that is because we were on the move so much — turns out time actually does sprout falcon wings when you’re having fun? And also when you’re a little stressed about your battery safety and where you’ll sleep and if your pee jug is going to overflow before you find an appropriate location to dump it? 🤪
On January 26th we celebrated an entire 365 days of living full time in our bright yellow camper van. Hermes is the best place I’ve ever called home, and we aren’t stopping this ongoing adventure any time soon. (Though we are slowing down in the sunshine state for the next couple months. Call me a soft snowbird. See if I care.)
Some favorite January destinations included:
- Spending a final week in our college town to wrap up this season’s trip to Wisconsin. We cafe crawled, hiked old favorite trails, laughed with friends, and leaned into the nostalgia.
- Getting to see some real snow at our parents’ houses right before we left the midwest!
- Sneaking in a few visits with dog friends in Illinois and Kentucky on our way to warmer weather
- Visiting the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute on Martin Luther King Junior Day and spending some time taking in the city. The institute hosted a free event that so many people came out for, and I was moved seeing everyone all together.
- Reliving our wedding week once more (almost two years later!) at a beautiful campsite in Destin, Florida where I got to say hello to the ocean for the first time in months
- Settling into the Space Coast, where we used to live before hitting the road, for a combination of sentimental memories and new adventures. Unbeknownst to us, our old hometown was actually hosting a van life meetup from the 26th to the 28th. We avoided it — that type of crowded environment sounds like a nightmare for our personalities — but it was fun to drive by and catch a glimpse from afar! I don’t think I saw any other yellow vans, so I still get to feel special 😉
A full roundup of where we slept:
- 19 nights in parking lots (rest areas, other spots without overnight restrictions) or street parking
- 4 nights on private property visiting family and friends
- 4 nights on public land (national forests in Alabama and Florida)
- 4 nights at campgrounds in Florida (two state park loops)
Van logistics in January:
- Drove about 1,900 miles in total between Wisconsin and our trip south
- Went through our freshwater tank less than three times (thanks to being able to rinse off at family and friends’ places, swim in the ocean, and simply accept our sweaty humid fate here in Florida)
- Dumped our gray tank 6 times (it wasn’t always completely full when we emptied it)
- Dumped our pee jug 13 times (again, not always completely full, and largely thanks to using friends’ facilities and taking advantage of public park setups)
- Did laundry twice (washed everything for a deep clean before leaving Wisconsin, then mooched off of a friends’ machine on the space coast for a load of clothes)
- Almost replaced our water pump thinking it was broken… turns out it just froze overnight when we were in Indiana and took almost 24 hours to thaw (we’ll be opening the water cabinet on particularly cold nights from here on out to make sure the interior heat can reach it)
What’s new with Scout specifically this past month
We recovered quickly from a surprise situation with my family’s husky
You can read more about this “scuffle” (still not sure what word best sums up what happened) here.
We celebrated her fifth gotcha day!
January has become a month of anniversaries in our family. The 13th marked five years with Scout. A half decade. It feels surreal.
I feel a bit like I’ve said it all before… so here’s the most important thing. We love this dog so much that I barely remember what things looked like before her and hope we have ages until I have to contend with what things will look like after.
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[…] Replaced our water pump when it did finally break (and short, and blow a fuse, and all-in-all cause great stress) after freezing & thawing out last month […]