Tag: travel

Heading Out West in 2014

It’s been nine months since we’ve traveled out West. Last May we went out to Phoenix, San Diego, and the Sacramento area. We were able to visit lots of friends and family. We’ve been feeling the itch to travel some again and see our very good friends in Phoenix and my married daughter in Sacramento.

Alex Zabala's websiteSo we’re heading out West in March. And we’re making it a business trip to meet with other authors, a couple of clients, and possibly do a couple of presentations for writers.

We’ll be visiting Alex Zabala and his wife in Phoenix. Alex is author of Treasure of the Mayan King and The Golden Scepter. Last May when we were there he was celebrating 5 hundred copies sold of Treasure of the Mayan King. Last month, January 2014, he celebrated 5 thousand copies sold!

Then we’ll visit with our very good friends, Terry & Virgie. Terry is a musician and Joel always loves playing with him and his band.

While in Phoenix, at some point, we’ll also have an opportunity to meet Larry Brooks, author of Story Engineering, a book Joel recommends to authors. Yet another contact in Albuquerque may be able to set up something for Joel to present to a book club.

On our way to see Rachelle in the Sacramento area, we’ll have a night in Santa Barbara, California to meet up with another author, Lynelle Paulick.

And if we can convince Tom Bentley – editor extraordinaire – not to do an overseas house sitting gig, maybe we’ll stop by and see him while we’re in California.

It should be a lot of fun! Join us on another adventure!

It’s Not a Vacation! We’re Working When We Travel

So we took this whole month of May to travel from our home in Wisconsin down to Phoenix, out to San Diego, up to Northern California, and end up back up June 1. The main purpose is so we can pick up more of our stuff from storage in Roseville, California. However, since we know so many people, friends and family, in Phoenix, San Diego, and Roseville, we are taking time to visit with them as we travel.

But it’s not a vacation! No, we are working while we travel. We are still doing all our usual stuff. I work as a Virtual Assistant managing client’s social media marketing, newsletters, and blogs and am continuing to do so. We have a web design business we are continuing to run and in fact have received new work as we’ve been traveling.

And Joel’s book coaching and publishing business, Someday Box, has continued. We have one client in the final stages of editing her book, another in the U.K. that we’re working on formatting the interior of his book (in fact we had an international call with him yesterday), and yet another that signed up for the Pathfinding Session and Road Map. We had an hour call with her last Monday while here in Arizona and have scheduled another one this next Tuesday while we’re in San Diego.

So for us it’s business as usual – we did spend 18 months living as nomads with no fixed place of residence traveling and working. It’s no different now except we do have a fixed place of residence and travel less than we did.

When we do take a vacation, we’ll let you know. We do take the last two weeks of the year off from work. This year we may just end up in Arizona for most of that time. Perhaps visiting our friends and family here and taking time to see Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, and Jerome. We did spend out honeymoon in Oak Creek Canyon and this December will be our 10th wedding anniversary!

And this trip we are getting to connect with lots of friends and family – in Phoenix it’s been Terry & Virgie, Dan & Annete, Rod on Saturday, and Sunday Sue’s Uncle Phil. In San Diego we’ll see Sue’s mom, Joel’s brother Brett and his family and Joel’s sister Lynn and her family. Also our good friend Ken. Then it’s up to Northern California to see Tom Bentley, Dave Reffkin, Pam & Phil, the Stephens family, and of course Fiona’s big sister Rachelle!

The final four days of our trip heading home Fiona and Sue will get to drive through Idaho, Montana, and North Dakota – all states they’ve never been in before. Oh, and we’re driving through Yosemite. So that will feel like a vacation – though Sue does have a big transcription project she needs to get finished that week as well. That’s when having a colleague comes in handy. Sue is very grateful to Amy in New Jersey for all the assistance she’s providing in that area.

So, don’t ask how our vacation was! We weren’t on vacation! We were traveling and working and having the time of our lives! Don’t you wish you could do this?

It’s About Time for Something New Here!

Since moving to Rice Lake, Wisconsin in April 2012, we haven’t done a whole lot of traveling that we’ve written about. I’m going to try to make sure and write about our travels this month though in May 2013.

This month’s trip will take us out of the snow we just had on May 2 to a nice hot 100 in Arizona.

Goodbye snow!

Snow Rice Lake May 2, 2013
Snow Rice Lake May 2, 2013

We’re taking the month to eventually get the rest of our stuff out of storage in California. That will be near the end of the month. Here’s our basic itinerary:

  • May 6 – Leave Rice Lake, WI and drive to Kansas City, MO; stay overnight at a hotel we’ve already booked.
  • May 7 – Drive from Kansas City to probably Delhart, TX where we’ll stay at a hotel we stayed in last time we were through that part of Texas.
  • May 8 – From Delhart drive to Phoenix, Arizona and be warmly welcomed by our very good friend Terry Wilson and his lovely wife Virgie. Go swimming in their pool in 100 degree weather! :)
  • May 9 – Visit with Terry & Virgie and that night Joel will get to play music with Terry and his band.
  • May 10-12 – Stay with our friend Dan and his family in another section of Phoenix.
  • May 13-18 – Back to Terry & Virgie’s to visit more, play music, swim, swim, swim.
  • May 19 – Visit with Sue’s Uncle Phil & family in Glendale, Arizona. Sue hasn’t seen her Uncle in about 30 years.
  • May 20 – Drive from Phoenix to San Diego, California. Stay at a hotel in Chula Vista that has a pool.
  • May 21 – Visit with Joel’s brother and family
  • May 22 – Visit with Sue’s mom; possibly go to Balboa Park.
  • May 23 – Visit with Joel’s sister and family (read about their recent road trip); stay overnight with friends Ken & Kelly in San Diego
  • May 24 – Drive up to Northern California and visit with Tom Bentley.
  • May 25 – Drive to San Francisco and visit with David Reffkin.
  • May 26-28 Stay with good friends Pam & Phil in Roseville, California. Pick up stuff still in storage. Fiona spends two days with her sister Rachelle.
  • May 29 – Leave California for Idaho
  • May 30 – Drive through Montana
  • May 31 – Drive through Wyoming, North Dakota
  • June 1 – Arrive back in Rice Lake, Wisconsin

Of course it’s all subject to change. I plan to take pictures and keep a written journal and hopefully post often here. Fiona may post at her website as well.

We plan on having a blast!

Are We There Yet?

Are we there yet? Have we reached our final destination? What is up with us you all wonder?

When we left California in 2010 to live a nomadic life, we had no idea how long it would last. Have we landed to put roots down, never to move again? I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter.

Life changes. Sometimes we can control the changes; most often we can’t. It’s a journey – one we are continuing to take.

Even though we have a ‘home’ now here in Rice Lake, Wisconsin – we will continue to explore new places. In fact, this coming week we’ll be spending three days in a city we’ve never visited before – Rochester, Minnesota.

I think our life is kind of like this fallen tree.

fallen tree

This evergreen in our front yard fell over in a storm a week or so ago. A tall tree that once fallen extended from the front yard to almost the back of the house. But the roots are still there – the core.

We sort of knocked our tree of life over on purpose back in 2010. But the roots – the core – are still there. They will grow again – though the tree may look different now.

So, what’s life like now here in Rice Lake?

Every day from my kitchen window I’m reminded of Ireland. What?! That’s right. The house next door has this moss growing on the roof and it reminds me of Ireland.

view from my kitchen window

I get up every morning to here my little girl respond to my “How are you?” with “Happy!” just like she always has. Joel and I get to work together in our little office in the dining room with a view of trees, squirrels, birds and sometimes bunnies. My son, James, is with us. We have good friends and are able to do things for Joel’s mom who lives nearby.

Are we there yet? Where we’re supposed to be? For now, yes! Of course, that may change. So stay tuned…

What Is Your Source of Income?

Families who want to travel or are traveling often get asked this question. We have multiple streams of income and the one that’s been around the longest is Spinhead Web Design.

In paradoxical leap worthy of Dr. Who, the Spinhead website has reverted to our design from September of 2002, based on Joel’s favorite Dr. Seuss book I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew.

Spinhead website with theme based on Dr. Seuss book

Paradoxical, because Joel has completely updated the 10-year-old code, and converted it to a WordPress theme, making it about as up-to-date as you can get.

Maybe you don’t want to go back to the future—but is it time your website at least joined us in the present?

A Year Ago Today We Left Roseville California

A year ago today we left Roseville California to head to Montreal. It’s been quite a year. We’ve driven through a lot of states and stayed with lots of interesting people.

What have we learned? For one thing, I don’t want to live in a big city ever again. I don’t want to move back to California. I am drawn to small towns and a slower pace of life. We can do just about anything, anywhere!

Are we ready to settle? I think some sort of travel will always be in our plans. Maybe house sit for a month here, 3 weeks there, several months in another place. But for a year or so I think we may just settle in a little town somewhere. Not sure where yet or exactly when.

We’ve been talking a lot about what comes next. We have a few months in New Jersey where we’re going to be staying. The book release party is coming up in November in Philadelphia. There are places and people we want to see while we’re out on the East coast for the winter. Then….

We’ll let you know!

 

Morning Tea Routine – A Little Taste of Home

Joel and I are not coffee drinkers usually. We do have a morning cup of tea – every morning. It’s our daily morning routine. It was reinforced in 2005 when we went to Ireland and had Irish breakfast tea every morning. Actually throughout the day. Since we’ve come to Minnesota I’m finding I want tea throughout the day as well. It doesn’t seem to keep me up at night; so why not?

When we started traveling, we kept a few things to travel with. Included was our small blue teapot and our two favorite mugs for tea. The teapot is just the right size to make our two mugs of tea every morning. So wherever we go, we hope to find a tea kettle. Or at least a saucepan to heat water in. Then we find our tea. We used to have a favorite India store back in California where we could get bulk tea fairly inexpensively. Not only is that not convenient any more, we did get a bit tired of it.

Currently we’re drinking Tazo Awake tea. It’s a bit more expensive though. We’re always looking for a good robust tea to drink that’s not too expensive.

So no matter where we are, we have a little taste of home. We can feel right at home every morning drinking our mugs of tea and having our morning chat as is our routine.

What morning routine do you have? When you travel is there something you bring along to make you feel at home and in a routine?

Morning tea routine

Leaving Colorado and Heading Back to California for a Short Visit

We’ve enjoyed house sitting again for Rita in Colorado. They are coming back one day early so we’re leaving a day early. That’s okay. Nomads must be flexible! We’re so flexible that a week or so ago we changed our plans entirely and decided to head back to California for a short visit.

Fiona hasn’t seen her big sister Rachelle since she got married in March. And since we need to be in Wisconsin the first part of September for a short visit and to pick up school stuff for Fiona, then have a three-week house sitting gig in Minnesota and have just made arrangements to spend several months this winter in New Jersey, we thought we’d better go see some family in California before it’s a year since we saw any of them.

So tomorrow we leave Colorado, stay one night in the Salt Lake City, Utah area (we still need a place to stay there for one night by the way), another night in Reno Nevada with Couch Surfers, and we’ll be in Roseville California Saturday. Fiona gets to spend several days with Rachelle. After a few days there, we’ll head down to San Diego to visit with Joel’s brother and family.

Then there’s that Route 66 trip…

The Long Haul: In Retrospect

A year ago I wrote about the beginnings of our adventure. Then I wasn’t sure exactly where we’d be in a year or if we’d even decide to leave behind a home and travel. I did know I wanted to do something different.

So we packed up, drove up to Vancouver and spent a glorious three weeks there. The trip made me realize the need for big change in our lives. I had gotten into a rut and the daily grind of getting up and sitting in our dark little home office wouldn’t cut it anymore. I needed to be outside, feeling the sun shine on my face, the wind blowing through my hair. I needed to spend time teaching Fiona about the great big outdoors.

It’s great to be able to go anywhere we want and to maintain our work and keep our clients happy. When our official “one year without a home” time comes at the end of September, I’ll write even more about all this has meant and how I feel. For today I want to thank all the wonderful clients we have who have worked with us even when we are so far apart. Below is just one testimonial from a satisfied client:

“I have been truly amazed that with all of Sue’s travels, I haven’t experienced any interruptions in service whatsoever. She has consistently delivered her services to the same great level I’ve come to expect, all since becoming a road warrior! I’m not sure I’d be so resilient, but she and Joel really know how to operate mobile businesses. Well done!” ~ Stephanie Chandler, Author, Speaker, Publisher,

P.S. Stephanie later emailed to say, “It really is remarkable how you’ve managed to go mobile with your businesses. That should be your next book!!” Guess we’ve got more work to do and another book to publish! :)