December is in full swing, and that means the Bracken-Hagler crew is about six months out from leaving Alaska and embarking on what promises to be a memorable, if not epic, cross-country adventure. We have actually booked our first camp site at Birch Bay State Park in Washington, just over the Canadian border, to avoid the campground battles around 4th of July. In January, the Olympic Peninsula sites will open for July reservations; we'll get online early in the morning and cross our fingers
What's so amazing about this adventure is that we are pretty sure we can pull off roaming around the United States for up to a year, and we don't feel like we have to have too many plans (if any) set in stone.
Why are we doing this, you might ask? I guess the simple answer is "because we can". If I had to break that answer down a little bit, I would tell you that Derek is retiring, I work part-time remotely, and Isaac won't start kindergarten until September 2024. The stars seem to be aligning for our little family who loves to camp and travel. And we just keep thinking, if we don't do something like this now, when will we ever have the chance again?
We have been getting a lot of questions from friends and family about the trip, so I thought I'd write a post about what we're thinking so far, but again...all of this can change!
As I said before, our departure date is sometime in the week after June 3, Derek's last official day of work. My job will continue, but as I work remotely I'll be able to keep things going on the road. We will leave Alaska with our car and the truck pulling the travel trailer. We're giving ourselves plenty of time to get to Birch Bay by the end of June, with some ideas about stopping at various hot springs and in Whitehorse on our way through Canada.
We imagine mostly camping in our travel trailer (the Apex Nano 194bhs), with time in a rental house every once in a while to get a good shower and some separate sleeping spaces. Derek had a great idea to set up a tent outside the camper whenever we can to create another space where an adult and kid could sleep at night.
Our big idea is to settle in Maine by May 1 where we hope to buy some land and (eek!) build a house. Maine seems like a good fit for our family - work in refugee education & resettlement for Sarah, land and building projects for Derek, east coast proximity to family, water, mountains, room to spread out...some even call it "little Alaska" which would suit us just fine. We don't want to lose winter, but we're ready for a shorter winter, you know?
Our other big idea is to stay west of the Rockies through the end of 2023.
After that, we have some vaguer notions of what could be.
The American West (June - December 2023)
We're hoping to camp on the Olympic Peninsula/Western WA for most of July. Wish us luck in getting spots at Mora and Sol Duc! We're also going to spend some time with friends and family in Olympia and Seattle.
We're hoping to spend the end of summer and early fall in Oregon for a number of reasons. Neither Derek nor I has spent a lot of time there; it's full of beautiful, accessible, and kid-friendly parks with stunning rivers, mountains, beaches, & forests; and the temps will stay (mostly) above freezing in places like Eugene through October (and probably even November if we decide to stay longer, although the rain will probably push us south sooner).
We'd like to explore the southwest U.S. for at least a month - so many beautiful places to spend time outside with kids! High on my (Sarah's) list are several national parks - Grand Canyon, Canyonlands, Zion, Death Valley, Saguaro - and visiting friends in California. Okay, maybe that's two months. :)
The East Coast (January - April/May 2024)
We'd like to spend at least a month in Florida since Derek grew up there and has so much he wants to share with the kids and me. We have our sights set on camping in Mexico Beach, St. Augustine, and the Everglades, visiting family all over, and checking out Derek's old haunts at his alma mater, the University of Florida, in Gainesville. Go Gators!
Might a month in Puerto Rico happen in early 2024? That would be pretty sweet if we could pull it off.
As we move up the east coast and into the spring, we'd like to camp in the Outer Banks, Shenandoah NP, Chincoteague NWR, & West Virginia high country, as well as visit with family and friends in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. A stop in Charlottesville, VA to see where Sarah went to school (UVA) is also on the list.
As I'm re-reading what I've just written, I can't help but laugh thinking about everything that I'm imagining versus what might really happen. I think the motto for this trip will be to go with the flow. Looking at things six months out, we can have all these dreams because it seems like the sky's the limit (within a budget, of course), so it feels like we can do anything. But of course so much can change between now and June. So much can change while we're on the road. And even if nothing major changes, we want to leave space for random side trips and country roads, for meeting up with old friends and honoring the kids' choices, for outdoor concerts and roadside attractions. We don't want to plan any more than we have to so that we can make the most of this incredible opportunity.
Sometimes I think we're crazy to try to pull this off. I have my own questions - Will we be able to afford it? Will we drive each other nuts before we're even out of Canada? Will our camper stay intact? What if someone gets really hurt or sick? What if we need to abandon the trip to help with extended family? What if one of us gets an amazing job opportunity three months in? And a big question...Will we still want to go to Maine, or will we fall in love with some place along the way and settle there for a little while? So many questions, so much uncertainty, so much opportunity.
What do you think? What is your advice for this kind of travel? How would you pull it off with little kids? If you were heading down the west coast in the fall, across the south in the winter, or up the east coast in the spring...where would you stop? What would you see? What would you eat? Where would you sleep? Please comment below or send an email anytime.
We'll be sharing our adventures on this blog and hopefully some videos on our youtube channel, as well as continuing to post on our family instagram account. Please subscribe/follow us if you want to come along for the adventure! Maybe you'll see where we are and let us know about that perfect campsite or restaurant, come say hello if you're nearby, or even drive/fly out to join us for a spell.
In six months the adventure begins (probably, haha). See you out there.
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