Closed on the house, now what?
After wrapping up everything with our house sale, selling off our possessions, regrouping, and storing away odds and ends we finally find ourselves on our way to our first destination, Portland, OR! We have been here for about 1 ½ weeks so far. Being family-centric, we love that we got to meet up with our cousins in the area. Our kids haven’t seen each other in 10 years (from toddlers to teenagers)!
Nomadic Lifestyle
We have started settling into the lifestyle and have a bit of a routine, but open to possibilities as they arise. There are always opportunities to see sites, visit towns, try the local fare, and meet people.
One of our goals is to live like locals even though we are seeing the world. The beauty of the Pacific Northwest is there is so much nature you can just get out of the car and see something amazing, take a hike, or walk a town. We still work and “do school,” but it’s more of a when and where we like.
It helps we like to cook, so about 95% of our meals are made at home or packed to go. We keep a small cooler in our trunk so we just carry food around wherever we go and we have a small bag with disposal plates and utensils if we need them.
Anthony has a slightly more challenging situation for work, as he needs to be stable for a bit so he can line up his clients and get some solid workdays in. That part is a work in progress and will start settling in once we find our groove.
The most ambitious part of this whole journey really was just getting out the door and doing it. But once you are actually living it things start to really work themselves out and opportunities start falling into place. It is easy to start getting cold feet, or to doubt the process, even small stuff like how you are going to get rid of all your “treasures” and hit the road with a single carry-on. Believe me, when you put your energy into it you make it happen.
The fun part so far is all the connections we are making on the way and the possibilities of so many interesting destinations.
Neighboring Cities & The Road Ahead
We are now on the Washington state side of things. It has been easy going back and forth to Oregon, as we are just on the other side of the Columbian River.
This week we have been at a lovely Air B&B in between pet/house sits. The next sit starts in Washington and I am really looking forward to it. The home is beautiful, with spectacular views, and is only a 30-minute ride from our current location. After that, we will start our Canada tour. We will spend the next 3 months house and pet sitting for two homes for about 1 ½ months each.
For now, that is all we’ve got. Stay tuned for what comes next in the months ahead. We will see where the wind takes us (hopefully somewhere warm-that is me talking)! Follow us on Facebook. There I’ll be posting links to my latest posts, videos, and life’s little follies that make us laugh every day! Lots of love, peace.