When our dear friends Jamie and Evan told us they were moving to Santa Cruz from Portland, not only were we super sad, we didn’t quite get it. How could anyone leave Portland, an amazing city with so many fantastic people, forward-thinking projects, great food, not to mention bike jousting or guys riding unicycles wearing […]
Happy New Year! Onward we go into a fresh twelve months of new horizons and challenges, fun adventures and who knows what. After a crush of activity for a few months, we took it easy over the holidays. No better time to disappear and kick back for awhile than the end of the year. We […]
Yesterday, someone I haven’t spoken to for years contacted me out of the blue. They’d recently lost a spouse to a terrible battle with cancer, their kids are in college, and are in a major period of transition. Their dilemma: Whether to rebuild a business, or sell it all and head out for travel and […]
Now that we’re on the road, I don’t want to just talk about the good stuff. After all, the best travel stories are tales of misadventure and discomfort. I can draw a dozen arrows of pain from my memory quiver that still stick in my mind: 14 hours into a packed night train ride in […]
The last five days have been a whirlwind of visiting friends and exploring the Bay Area. A shift from the empty Northern California coast, and I was surprised by our reaction to the frenetic energy of the big city. I always am, but seem to forget! Portland doesn’t have that giant city feel that San […]
This trip, like most, is comprised of snippets of awesome, wide swaths of normal life logistics and work, periods of discomfort, and peaks of hilarity and loving life. I’ve found it hard to fit in writing, photography, working, adventuring, and spending more time with Chelsea – all priorities for this trip – and so the […]
For a long time, I struggled with jealously and resented the success of others. I wanted the easy route to wealth, admiration and fulfillment. This colored many things in my life, rarely in a positive way. The shift from jealously to inspiration began in early 2009. I had left my engineering job the summer prior […]
People ask why we moved out of our home to hit the road in a van. A reverse American Dream in many ways, right? Stability traded in for the unknown, with all the headaches that traveling daily bring with it. And all the adventures, good or bad. Millennials, through and through! I don’t have a clear […]
Ten years ago, there is no way I could travel so often. I’d be a stationary desk jockey, working from the same location every day. LUCKILY, it’s the 21st century and technology is on my side. I’m an early adopter of new tech, and I’m frequently testing new systems, devices, and online services attempting to streamline […]
I spend my days consuming a lot of information. In the work zone, it’s emails and phone calls. In my business, creativity is often rewarded with frustrated clients, so I have a ton of systems to keep things the same for every person. Which works well, and keeps everyone happy since there are few surprises. […]
This post covers the DIY buildout I did for our Mercedes Sprinter to turn it into a bike-hauling adventure mobile. The goal was simple: create a functional, comfortable travel rig…without spending half my life creating it. (I’d rather mountain bike.) Our build took about three months of occasional effort, plus one big three-week push. The […]
Traveling is a rush. It’s easy to get wrapped up in “go go go.” I’ve done it, both internationally and in the U.S., almost every time I journey somewhere. Places to see, people to visit – onward! That doesn’t leave much room for clarity and introspection to occur, just a constant rush of food, new friends, […]
I suspect this trip, like all journeys away from the comforts of home, will be about trade-offs. No shower, just a room with a view. A small stove, but breakfast in the sun. No comfortable couch, just a sandy beach to walk on in the early morning. At least for now, that sounds divine! Ask […]
We’re going on a road trip! Our house is rented out, our van buildout is done (the neighbors are still rejoicing), and the wireless hotspot for my work needs is blinking green. In fact, I’m typing this from sunny Bandon, Oregon in the Mobile Office Rig while overlooking the ocean. This post almost was entitled Boomeranging […]