Heading down stream of Lake Tahoe we are left with a finality. This is it. We are finally on the road.
Leaving for five month long trip isn’t easy. Building a Sprinter camper van from an empty Sprinter cargo van in 2 months was not an easy feat. However, with that said, David had been researching building the van prior to executing the build. Then, as always, he was all in. Working on it everyday through many challenges, setbacks, and successes. We rolled out with a few unfinished tweaks that we knew we could finish on the road.
Trying to wrangle two dogs and two humans to look at the camera at the same time is something that we aspire to on this trip. A family photo where we are all smiling and looking directly at the camera.
This photo represents the culmination of lots of work, big changes in our lives, and a desire to live now while we still have the stamina for high adventure. We may be older now but we aren’t dead…yet.
Whenever I embark on a big adventure there is so many feelings that pass through my mind as I pack, contemplate, repack, and then add a few minute things that I probably don’t need just because. By the time we finally leave I feel mostly a sense of exhaustion from getting ready. Finally on the day of, I’m just ready to get on with it. The sense of elation comes later, after some road miles are behind us and the future is in focus and the past is in the rear view mirror.
After the photo we all jumped into the van and began our journey. The first leg of our journey will be a round trip five months long to Florida and back. We’ve had to change our plans as David’s mother had a fall the week before we left so we are making a quicker journey down to Florida then we planned but we’ll spend our time adventuring at a more leisurely pace on our return home. For now our plan is to spend our first night in Alabama Hills outside of Lone Pine California in a “free” campsite on BLM land. (You can follow our route on our map with photos)
Our route took us through Hope Valley to the Carson Valley and down hwy 395. We drove over 2 passes near Mono Lake and Mammoth. As we descended down to Mono Lake the wind was whipping up white caps. The lake was a teal green color. Absolutely stunning with white capped mountains in the back ground.
Our van parked in the free camping area next to granite rock outcrop under the stars. We arrived at dark but as our eyes adjusted we realized that we couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful place to spend our first night out on the road.
Next..Morning brings a surprise...