As we prepare to head up to Humbolt County in California for our 3rd annual Tour of the Unknown Coast (TUC), it seems appropriate to post this piece that I wrote after last year’s journey. At the end of this blog I set a goal of riding the 100 mile course in 2017, and, at this moment, the ride is 4 days away and I’m still not sure which route I will choose.

About 6 months ago, when we were in New England or on the east coast somewhere, our dear friend Iain Whitaker, of Aspen Cycling Tours, offered Jon a job as in-house chef for his next client trip to Mallorca, Spain.

Today marks 365 days on the road living the #VanLife dream. Today marks “Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes” of truly feeling grateful for this journey. Therefore, please indulge me for a moment while I reflect and paraphrase one of the greatest songs from one of the greatest musicals/movements of all time: “Seasons of Love” from “RENT”:

It’s taken almost 12 months, but I have finally perfected the art of making cookies in the van. Van life goals are simple. Admittedly there was about a 10-month hiatus, but after 4 failed batches, I have recently made two successful batches of Skratch Labs cookies.

When we last left off we were somewhere around month 9 of traveling and trying to decide what was next for the Roaming Robos. Here we are just a few weeks shy of 12 months on the road and we’ve arrived at a decision. We were, and perhaps still are, totally torn about returning to our house in Boulder (our renters’ lease is up June 1) or continuing to live in the van. We decided that, in order to help us decide, we had to roll the proverbial dice. So we did. In summary:

Well, it was bound to happen. After endless awesomeness on the roaming front, we hit a flat spell.

SPOILER ALERT: We don’t know.

Many people have been asking us what we are doing when the trip is over. These questions started around month 7 and at the time our response was, simply, we don’t have to know. However, as we are now almost in month 10, the question isn’t going away and we are beginning to admit that we should probably tackle it.

Once again, I’ve tried to stop writing these annual reflection pieces, but, once again, I can’t. I realized that the anniversary of Nicholas’ accident is, coincidently, at the start of the year. I’m not one for resolutions, but I am one for reflection. Perhaps it’s appropriate to look at the timing of Nicholas’ accident and these annual musings as a “reset” or “intention” for the coming year. Regardless, here goes:

Hi, my name is Pamela and I love turquoise. Now you say, “Hi Pamela”

As some may have noticed, the accent color in our van is turquoise. Ok, maybe it’s not an accent color so much as the pop of color that is impossible not to see. I could simply say that I like the color, which I clearly do, but there’s a reason I’m so deeply connected to turquoise and why it is everywhere in my life.

I decided to write this piece about what we eat and cook in the van because people are curious. There’s nothing earth-shattering here. It’s just one more glimpse into our version of van life.

I wrote the following piece back in April. We were a handful of weeks into our trip, riding in Santa Rosa, California. While the recount of the day’s ride is a bit dated, the theme is something that is recurring. As I type this intro it’s following a fun ride around Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in Canada. It was primarily a road ride, but we did some off-road exploring on a fairly technical trail and it was windy! The wind was a steady 30 mph, there was a rutted out trail under my tires and a wild ocean full of white caps in the periphery. It was this highly disorienting combination that made me realize I had never done anything with this piece from April. So…here it is Dizzying Dirt Roads.

I don’t really believe in Murphy’s Law because, ultimately, I’m an optimist; however, I do find it interesting that as soon as I posted about how smooth the waters have been, I got hurt. And it’s not that the waters have been rough ever since, it’s just that they have not been as awesome.

Now that we’ve been on the road for a few months, this very strange thing is happening. People keep asking me to stop with the façade that all is well in #VanLife and tell me how things are really going. The other day a friend said, “Ok enough with how everything looks on social media, give me the real dirt.”

In my normal cycling life, i.e. in the Lower 48, I prefer to stay away from cars. I search out dirt roads and workarounds to avoid traffic. One of the reasons I’ve fallen in love with riding dirt roads is that, by nature, the traffic frequency is generally less, and, therefore, I get to enjoy the ride a little more. I live in a world where I assume that everyone is texting and no one is looking and, sadly, I don’t think I’m that far off.

It’s a ferry, not a cruise. After an interesting 3 days of interacting with the Alaska Marine Highway System, I find it prudent to write a proper synopsis in hopes of informing other travelers of our experience.

Humans often gravitate towards routine, some of us more than others. I thrive off routine, mostly because I’m a fairly anxious person who finds comfort when expectations are managed, hence my love of routine. I was worried that lack of routine would increase my anxiety on the road. Not true.

Apparently, The Sea Otter Classic is about bike racing, but not for me. I don’t race bikes, I don’t want to race bikes, I just want to ride bikes. In fact, I don’t particularly care about bike racing, is that wrong? With the exception of a few friends I have who happen to be professional cyclists, because I live in Boulder after all and it comes with the territory, I really don’t care much about race results.

Approximately 10 years ago one of my oldest and closest friends was getting married. She asked all of her guests to participate in the wedding ceremony by sharing their answers to the statement “Love is…”. Easy! Love is … friends so close you call them family.  

Recently Jon & I were invited to participate in a brain injury podcast by our friend George Thomas from Over The Top Media. Not only is George going to follow us during our journey in Ellie, but he’s highlighting a special part/reason for our journey which focuses on the concussion Jon sustained from being hit by a car in July of 2013.

Nine years ago I moved to Colorado and assumed that alpine skiing, a sport that consumed quite a bit of my time growing up in New England, would take over my winter months. Gone were the hours spend sliding over ice, crossing your fingers you’d make it and be able to stop…eventually.