Dharma

       We are officially homeless. No more cozy bed, or movie nights on the couch. We have stripped ourselves of common luxuries, and material comforts. We now live out of a Jeep, we are nomads. These were words I wrote right after we took off. The reality of it all really started to sink in and hit deep as we watched the last of our extraneous belongings leave with strangers for pennies on the dollar at our second yard sale while meanwhile mounds of camping gear piled up around my dad's house seeming to exceed our Jeep's cargo capacity ten fold. This dream we had been nurturing for the last year was finally coming to fruition right before our eyes. I thought I would be more afraid, leaving the security of our home, but it was all happening so fast and there was so much work to do we all kind of just went through the motions in a bit of a shocked stupor. The fear and sadness came not from leaving belongings behind, but from leaving my dad in a house void of family and companionship, from abandoning my cats with strangers in an unfamiliar place. That was the painful part, scared by my own selfish desire for freedom, I became engulfed in guilt and despair. Honestly I hadn't experienced emotion like that in several years. However, the decision to travel did not come without logic evaluation of loss and gain, and even my father, though lonely without us, would not want us to sacrifice this opportunity.

     
       Our first overnight stop was up in the Jemez mountains, just north of Albuquerque. We wanted to hike to San Antonio hot springs the next day. It seemed like a long drive up there, although it is really only 6 hrs or so. Our Jeep did great, even weighed down like she was. We finally gave her a name,  it seemed called for considering her crucial role in this epic journey, that she had a profound name; so we decided on Dharma. I think it's perfect. Right at dark Dharma pulled us into a campsite we found off a short dirt road. There was a fire ring and tons of dead wood gathered already with a perfect flat spot for the tent. We set up camp and started a good fire for warmth and to cook dinner. We busted out the grill and cast iron dutch oven and cooked our first meal over the fire. We fried up potatoes, sausage and jalapenos and melted cheese over the top it was perfect. We felt we succeeded at the first night and that was encouraging. After dinner we cracked open a bottle of Kraken black spiced rum that had been gifted to us before our trip by my friend Skyler. Thanks man! It was idealic actually, small snowflakes fell around the fire for a short time and the whole experience was almost surreal. We talked about how excited we were to wake up with the sun shining through the forest canopy and planned to hike to the hot springs first thing and then come back and relax in our hammocks. After some time we finally retired to the tent, perfectly content. When we woke up the whole scene had changed, the tent walls were about two inches from our faces and it took me a moment to even comprehend what was going on, I felt claustrophobic and disorientated. Then I realized our tent was covered in snow and had collapsed on us in the night. We shook off all the snow and the tent popped right back up. Ty and Denton literally went right back to sleep and I ventured out into the whitewashed landscape. It was freezing! and there was about 6 inches of snow on the ground. I wanted to laugh, we failed to check the weather before coming up into the high elevations of New Mexico in early spring and we had been coldly reminded that we are now at the whim of mother nature. It was still snowing like crazy so we just hunkered down for the day. Everything was a chore in the cold and snow, but overall it was pretty fun. We finally decided we would have to visit the hot springs a different time when the trail didn't require snow shoes, so we packed up and left the next day since there had been no break in the weather. Dharma went in 4 wheel drive for the first time and she climbed right out of there like a champ. On the way back down the mountain we stopped at Spence Hot Springs, there was snow everywhere, but not nearly as much as our campsite and the trail was easily followed. After 2 days in the snow the hot springs were a welcome respite. We were barely able to pull ourselves out of there, but since there was no camping allowed in the area we didn't have much of a choice. Eventually we hiked back down and drove out of the beautiful Jemez mountains.

      We are in Stigler Oklahoma now, we drove straight here only stopping for a few uncomfortable hours of sleep in the Jeep at a Love's truck stop. We are staying with Ty's Aunt Terry who has just been spoiling us like crazy. We have just been awestruck by the beauty of Oklahoma, I always thought of it as a giant midwest dust bowl and was quite surprised to find quite the opposite. There are rolling fields of green and lakes and rivers and forest, it's incredibly lush. We've gone fishing and hiking, and had an epic bonfire at Ty's cousin Tammy's house. But, best of all we have spent peaceful nights and sunny days with Aunt Terry talking and singing and painting and eating together. It has been so nice getting to know her and just being surrounded by her good energy.

      We will be leaving here in a couple of days and heading west towards SoCal. It will be hard to leave here, but we're all excited for the adventures to come. Well, dinner is ready so I must end this post. Good night and farewell for now.

Peace Love & Road Dust
-Shawna

"May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of His hand."

Traditional Gaelic Blessing

New Horizons

      Spring is right around the corner, the signs are everywhere. The rose bush has new green buds appearing, the birds are singing louder, and the trees are finally showing signs of life on their skeleton branches. Spring has always been my favorite season. It's a time for change, for birth and rebirth; the earth is coming alive again after the cold dormant winter. It feels like the right time for a new chapter, it's time to get this show on the road.
      We have taken the Jeep to our mechanic and and had it checked over for any potential problems that could hinder our explorations. One of the mechanics at the shop is a Jeep aficionado and was very impressed with the condition of our Jeep. He was quite jealous that we were able to find an all manual Cherokee in such good condition, especially being a 96. He assured us that if we ever want to sell it, he would love to take it off our hands. Like we told him, we don't plan on selling it for a long time. This vehicle is going to be our home and the vessel that will carry us on this soul journey. So, a grand later our Jeep has a clean bill of health and we have some peace of mind. Currently our Jeep is at a welding shop getting a custom built roof rack installed, so that we can maximize our cargo capacity; the finishing touch.
     Everything is being pushed into motion, we just gave our landlord our 30 day notice and that really finalized everything. We have to get everything moved out of our house by the 5th of April. We have decided to leave sooner rather than later and will be hitting the road around the beginning of April instead of the end. I just have to give my official notice at work, which I will be doing next week. There will be no turning back, at least not easily. Which we would have no desire to do anyways, everything's in forward motion now. We are jumping into the flow instead of sitting here as the river of life passes us by.
      Ty has been mastering his balloon artistry so that he can use this as a busking tool on the road and I have been making soap like a mad scientist, also to help fund our trip along the way, and cause we love our hobbies. We plan to be resourceful as we are leaving with only about $4, 000 in the bank account, aside from designated bill money and will be gone a very long time. Also we will not be returning, so we will be starting from scratch wherever we decide to plant our roots again. We  plan to master the art of living for less, but fuel will be a constant monetary burden that we must address if we want to maintain our nomadic freedom in the back country. I would like to learn to find free food, by asking or even scavenging, living off the perfectly good waste of America's glutenous society, at least when in the city's. When in the back country we will be using the awesome camp kitchen set up my dad got us, complete with grill, dutch oven, and spit to create some creative meals through foraging, fishing, and hunting small game. We will buy basic staple ingredients as well such as rice, pasta, potatoes, onions, garlic, etc. and cook it all over  a good old fashion fire. We will also be busking and even gas canning it if necessary. I am starting an Etsy shop for my soaps and plan on taking my soap stash with me on the road, in case you would like to contribute to our journey by purchasing a bar of my homemade natural soap. I also plan to sell what I can as opportunity arises along the way.

       So many last minute responsibilities to take care of and details to plan for. When really I know everything will fall into place, we just have to maintain an open mind and be proactive. Laziness and complacency will not get us by. We are thoroughly excited about the adventures that will unravel themselves as we venture into the unknown.