Good evening Internet. First post by me… I think I do better here than in video, I’m not nearly as cute as the two ladies I’m lucky enough to travel with.
First, I’d like to say how admirable I am of Autumn. The ability to stay productive on the road is an achievement of note. I am also grateful of her drive to connect with (and stay connected to) Family and friends, and to document all the cool things we see and do.
When I first started traveling, it was suggested to me to keep a journal. Which is a wonderful suggestion! It is an excellent tool if you can find a way to keep a log of not only the physical pictures but to record your emotions as well. A chance to capture not only the image but the way you felt, your inner dialogue and interpretations of the things you have experienced. I naturally indulged this desire, as do most, but I started to notice a pattern with my logs after the first handful. I eventually had to let it go because it was a hilarious tragedy that plays out over the pages until I just stopped and this was some years before I got into this van life adventure.
They had started pretty complex, describing the various buildings or parts of town or village I would see, or a park and how it made me feel. Or perhaps a social interaction, but inevitably mixed in was an entry about needing to retrace my steps to find a lost item, usually quite vital to the continuation of my travels. It was this exact reason I never made solo videos or blogs about any of the things I had done by myself. As they all would have seemingly had the same frustrating (for me only), absurd ending. You can see it at work in our second YouTube video.
Eventually all my posts would be the same with a slightly different location, and I can even make a chart randomizer to help visualize what kind of fun game my life is sometimes and what trippin’ on my own would consist of:
“Greetings friends! It’s Jay again; here I am in the great State/Country/Province of Random! I spent (1d6+1) hours today backtracking to find my misplaced (roll 1d4) Keys/wallet/passport/phone. I think I have it narrowed down to the last (1d4+1, min. 2) locations; Parking-lot/Restaurant/Mountain-top/Body-of-water/5-acre-open-field. If I can find the thing and make it back by sunset, I can prob make it (roll %) miles, due (roll d8 for direction; N,NW,NE,E,SE,S,SW,W) I sure do hope I make it somewhere comfy before I (evens/odds) Heat-Exhaustion/Freeze-to-Death.”
It doesn’t help that I take pretty garbage pictures. Like, I get photography and I used to love taking pictures of different Flora and Fauna, but like… with people. And myself? My enthusiasm deflates pretty quick. So, I’m very grateful to have a productive and m o s t l y organized travel partner to keep me from doing silly shit like seeing how sea-worthy this van is.
Has van life been perfect so far? No, I go outside often (and with dog, obv) so there’s sometimes leaves, sand and other fun debris where we sleep. Showers come when we can get lucky enough to get them and you are kind of up in each other’s personal space. Stinky shoes and changing emotions can be sour at times, but my respect, love and appreciation for a good and enthusiastic travel partner has grown more from the combined good and not-as-good experiences.
As far as navigation/geography is concerned, we cracked the 2k miles mark just outside of Washington, PA. We had spent a week in the hills of Appalachia, near my grandparents hometown of Salisbury, and near the cemetery of the 8 generations of Blocher dudes that came before me. After having driven up through Virginia > West Virginia, the area sits in a tri-state region, as it’s the northern part of western Maryland and southern PA. West Virginia sticks its weird little spike in and comes within a pretty close reach as well. It is beautiful country, rolling hills, small towns, farms and weather that is just perfect when it’s not winter. It is never seemingly too hot, which coming from FL, was a much-needed reprieve. Also, the pitcher Lefty Grove is a great uncle of mine, it was cool to see he had a statue and a park!
We’ve now gone down into the Ohio valley, an area I called home for the first 20 years or so. It seems our next move will be back east and then north up to Maine, just got a couple of things I need to find before we leave…
