It has been a long time since we have called any one area home. During our first two years of full-time travel, we were moving every few weeks. Crossing over 25 states, 10 National Parks, and even more National Forests and Recreation Areas. We were hungry for adventure and wanted to scoop up as much of it as we could. Our experiences checked off some of the biggest bucket list items we had been dreaming of. We rafted the Colorado River, visited Disney World, and indulged for over two weeks on the Last Vegas strip. We were mostly living off of what savings we had from selling everything we owned in our before-RV-life. We started building our business, Wander Free and Queer, alongside hiking epic trails, kayaking in glacial lakes, and driving some of the most breathtaking scenic roads we have ever seen.
In our third year of RV life, we began to slow down. We enjoyed staying at each camp spot for a month (or months) at a time. We signed up for more in-person markets to sell our handmade items, learned how to navigate a place by memory and not Google Maps, and even repeatedly went to the same restaurants to have our favorite meals more than once. We found that staying in one place a little longer let us enjoy smaller day trips, walks and drives through neighborhoods, and become more familiar with what the area had to offer beyond the major tourist attractions. We liked getting to settle in more and become part of the local culture, but after several weeks, we got antsy. We were ready to go to the next place. To plan and prepare to haul ourselves over a mountain pass or across a desert highway with nothing but truck stops every 100 miles.
In early 2020, we decided that California would be our next big push. An adventure that took weeks to coordinate, plan and make reservations for. We were days from taking off when the news of COVID-19 closures began flooding our email. Campgrounds closing, activities canceling, and cautious warnings to stay home. We struggled to understand what that meant for us as full-time travelers without a home base. Fortunately, the campground we were staying at was allowing people to stay on if they were there pre-shutdown. So Sedona, Arizona is where we were permanently parked for three months, leaving spring behind and entering into the sweltering heat of summer. We got up before sunrise to walk laps around the perimeter of the campground since all trails had closed in the area. We ordered grocery pick-up since restaurants all had to shut their doors. We began exploring indoor hobbies like yoga and reading to pass the time. We worked extra hours as online tutors since many kids were picking up more study times due to a lack of structured school hours…and we waited.
When we were finally able to take off in June of 2020, we planned to go as directly as possible to a long-term site we grabbed in western Washington state. Our route took us straight through Mt. Hood National Forest on our trek north, and we managed a one-night stay at a rural Thousand Trails RV Park along Route 26. Both of us knew right away we were coming back here. We walked every single loop of this campground, examined the different sites and amenities, and talked with long-term residents. After our one-night stay, we moved on to our Washington site and waited for restrictions to be lifted. We walked along the Hoquiam River, went to the Aberdeen Farmers Market, and drove around the small towns surrounding us while we were, making our way toward the coast whenever possible. We didn’t plan any epic hikes or buy tickets for any extreme adventures, but we realized we were happy exploring just outside of our doorstep.
As soon as we were allowed, we returned to the foothills of Mt. Hood, where we have been ever since. Even though we have a home base for our home on wheels, we have not stopped adventuring. In our time here, we have traveled to Arizona to enjoy the colder winter months, taken a several-month road trip without our RV to the East Coast and back, and even enjoyed more time in Colorado where we got engaged. We deemed these trips macro adventures. Alongside these few bigger trips, we are soaking up the local life here in the PNW. We find ourselves less and less called to grand city getaways and expensive activities, and drawn more to experiences that pull us towards nature and solitude. There is no shortage of either outside of our very RV door, but also endless opportunities five minutes away, or even just a few hours’ drive from home. We are constantly saying that we really have everything we love about adventure at our fingertips here.
We call our close-to-home hikes and day trips micro-adventures. They still fulfill our passion and drive towards experiences, but keep us close to home. We often find new trails to try on All Trails, check out local outfitters for equipment rentals (such as Mt. Hood Outfitters), and stop at visitor centers, ranger stations, or local museums for tips on where to go. Just this past weekend, we hiked at Eagle Creek County Park, visited Estacada’s quaint main street, and took a scenic drive along the Upper Clackamas River. All within one hour from our campsite. These micro adventures give us the same opportunity to connect with each other and with nature as the more notorious ones do. We find that we like the same things no matter where we go and we choose to engage with what is around us. We read the tourist information signs, contemplate the geological forces that shape our natural landscapes, and revel in some delicious coffee from a local small coffeehouse no matter what size the planned adventure is.
Planning microadventures doesn’t mean we don’t have big plans. A several-month trip to Alaska is in its early stages as well as a future honeymoon plan that is in motion for Iceland. We will never stop wanting to get out there to experience more macro adventures, but we now understand that we are just as happy to stay home and jump in our truck for a day trip to Bend, Astoria, or Hood River. If you are wanting to get out, there is something for you in your own home area. Even a neighborhood walk can give you a feeling of excitement, and that walk might even ignite a passion in you to plan something else, which will lead you to dream up another something after that until you have a bucket list of your own micro and macro adventures.
