In January 2023 we returned home from a 4 ½ month, 23,000-mile road trip, covering 27 states and two Canadian provinces. We had such a great time that before we even pulled into our driveway we were saying “let’s do this again!”
While on the road, we decided to sell our house in Florida and move to an area with a lower cost of living. So, upon our return, we immediately set to work getting the house ready for the market. Much to our surprise, it sold in just 8 days, and we were officially “house-less” by early May.
We booked an Airbnb in Pensacola for three months and began house-hunting in the Panhandle and southern Alabama. By mid-June, we had found something that checked all the boxes: a tiny house sitting on just under an acre of land; a place we could easily button up while on the long road trips we planned to take, but comfy and cozy enough to retire in place once that time came.
We spent the last six months of 2023 making “Casa-Bama” our own, including planting 37 trees, creating a butterfly garden, and building a 10×10 gazebo on our deck.
By Christmas, our project list was complete, and we were ready to start planning 2024. My friend Jessie gave me a “junk journal” for Christmas and I decided to fill the pages with all the things we’ll do and places we’ll go this year. Included in upcoming “On the Road” blogs you can expect to see pages of the “junk” we’ll collect along the way.
Over the two decades we lived in Florida, we traveled to Crystal River every year to swim with the manatees. We timed this annual pilgrimage around my birthday as nose-bumping with these gentle giants is (for me) a heart-warming treat. My 65th birthday is in January, so it’s only appropriate that our first trip of 2024 is a week-long stay in Crystal River, where we’ll be joined by some dear friends from Florida.
Since moving to Southern Alabama, we’ve learned that Mobile, not New Orleans, is the birthplace of Mardi Gras. There are krewes dating back to the 1800’s! We’ve booked an Airbnb close to the festivities in hopes of capturing a little of the excitement of the season. As an added bonus, the Airbnb is called “The Owl’s Nest” because there is an active barred owl’s nest on the property!
April puts us back in Pensacola for a short stay: a chance to catch the Blue Angels practice plus an oil change and new tires for the Jetta before embarking on Westward Ho II.
We’ve always wanted to visit Yellowstone in the spring when the park is full of babies, including bear cubs. So, we’re spending a month at Domenick’s condo in Big Sky, Montana, located approximately 50 minutes from the park’s west entrance.
But the timing is perfect for a brief detour through Houston to catch the opening night of the Rolling Stones Hackney Diamonds Tour. Which, if you didn’t already know, is sponsored by AARP!
Once we leave Domenick’s we’re toying with a few nights outside of Grand Teton National Park on our way to Lemitar, New Mexico. We’ve been to Pam’s casita twice before but always in the cold, winter months. Summer is the time to see the beautiful snakes, lizards, and toads that inhabit the desert and our buddy, Bob, at the Rattlesnake Museum in Albuquerque has promised to take us out for a day.
We’ll return home in enough time to spend most of the summer at Casa-Bama and give us a chance to enjoy the warm, emerald waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
But come October we are on the road again. All reports indicate that 2024 will be a banner year for the aurora borealis. Solar activity has picked up and it appears will peak in the next 12-15 months. Although seeing the northern lights in Canora over Christmas last year was a thrill, we both long to see and photograph more of the beautiful Lady dancing. We’ve booked two months at an Airbnb in Ninga, Manitoba.
During that time, we’ve also embedded two flights up to Churchill. Polar bears in the wild are high on our “Before I Die” bucket lists but traveling with two pups complicates the logistics. So, we’ve booked two consecutive five-night/six-day “Lords of the Arctic” learning vacations at the Churchill Northern Studies Center. A chance to see polar bears right outside our window, tundra buggy rides through the WMA, lectures every evening, dogsledding, and a 45-minute helicopter ride!
Finally, we’re heading back to Hibbing, Minnesota for one more visit to the Sax-Zim Bog and the great gray owls. Quite honestly, we’re getting too old for these wintry weather destinations and want to get them in while we still have the fortitude to do so!
Before we left on Westward Ho I back in September 2022, I wrote “Buckle your seatbelts, you’re in for quite the ride.”
We’ll still fine-tuning some of the details, but as we turn our calendars to 2024, I’ll say it again “Buckle your seatbelts, you’re in for quite the ride!”
On The Road with Tall Guy & JET 