Part Time Wanderlust
"You're sick of hangin' around and you'd like to travel. Get tired of travelin' you want to settle down. I guess they can't revoke your soul for tryin', get out of the door and light out and look all around." Truckin - The Grateful Dead
As I sit here at home in Encinitas, California, I drink my coffee and look around and think "Has it really been almost 7 years since we've lived here?! This is the longest I've ever lived in one house...like, EVER!!" As happy and grateful that I get to call this charming Boho beach town home, I'm a little bit surprised that I've managed to stay in one place for so long. Looking back, I see how I was predisposed to the wanderer's life. My parents moved us around constantly when I was a kid (my Dad and Stepmom have been settled for awhile now but it happened long after I flew the nest) and we've been taking road trips for as long as I can remember. Not to mention the constant flying back and forth between New England and California! It's easy to see how I got bit by the travel bug! When I was 22/23, I went on a month long road trip with a friend and my sister. We drove all around the United States, visiting family and friends, camping, or driving all through the night and pulling over to sleep in the car if we got tired. We got tattoos, went to a Phish concert in California, a gay dance club in Montreal (yes, we took a detour into Canada), and snuck into the dorms at UC Berkeley just so we could take a shower! We were young and carefree and for a long time that trip fueled me as a reminder that life could be filled with so much fun and freedom!
Have kids: Will travel!
Fast forward many years and my husband (at the time...now ex-husband) and I were traveling...he was a traveling X-Ray Technician and I had recently graduated massage school. We lived a few months in Oakland, CA and then 3 months in Eureka, CA. We probably could've kept right on going as he was getting traveling job assignments in different places with all expenses paid! But then a couple things happened...we bought a house in Maui and I found out I was pregnant. I guess if we were going to settle down, Hawaii was as good a place to do it as any! We ended up living in Maui for 4 years (which is the 2nd longest amount of time I've ever lived in one house) and I birthed both my babies there. When my kids were only 3 years old and 10 months old, we moved to Portland, Maine where I became a single Mom. I lived there for 2 years before moving back to San Diego county (which is technically home since I've lived here longer than anywhere else...albeit different homes and communities within San Diego). I've now lived back in San Diego County for almost 9 years, with my fiance and my kids. I love it here and wouldn't change it for anything! But that doesn't mean my nomadic tendencies have been erased! When my son was in the 2nd grade, we decided to pull him out of public school and start homeschooling. I had recently been turned onto the concepts of Unschooling and Worldschooling. Worldschooling, in particular, fascinated me because it was all about families who lived the nomadic lifestyle, traveling around the world and living and learning in that context. I wanted that! And yet, I love my home that is complete with my fiance, our cat, and community. Besides, I tend to get wary after too much time on the road (see Grateful Dead quote above). It became my mission to live the worldschooling lifestyle anyway...at least part time. We even got featured in an article on the Ditching Suburbia website: (see #23 in linked article)
ditchingsuburbia.com/blog/on-the-move-homeschooling-examples
We already had an excuse for part time travel as my kids' father lives in Northern California while we live in the southern part of the state. Driving them to Humboldt county for visits might not seem ideal for many people but I love these trips!! Sometimes we drive straight there (not often) but we mostly turn it into a little adventure, staying in places like Santa Cruz or San Francisco along the way! Or sometimes these places become our meeting point for visits when neither one of us feels like (or is able to) travel the length of the state! However, it's safe to say, we've seen A LOT of California!
I’ve always been a tree hugger!
As much as I love road tripping around my home state of California, it's just not enough! For the longest time, I had a dream of doing another cross country road trip like the one in 1997 (ok...maybe not EXACTLY like that one). Since we wanted to visit my family in Maine, I thought "why not drive there?". In the summer of 2019, I packed up car and kids (fiance, who is not a road tripper, stayed behind) and went on an adventure that I hope they will remember for a long time! We visited many places along the way to Maine and on our return drive home (yes, we road tripped the whole way). Some of our favorites were Sedona AZ, Asheville NC, Woodstock NY, Boulder CO, and the Grand Canyon. Oh and of course Maine, which will always be part home to me!
My kids looking out over the Grand Canyon
That was definitely the longest we've been gone from home but I still consider us part time wanderlusters. Even when we aren't taking the kids to visit with their Dad, we often try to fit in as many other adventures as we can. We take many road trips...camping in Sedona, exploring Joshua Tree, visting our pig (we adopted a pig!)at the Farm Sanctuary outside of Los Angeles, or driving to Santa Barbara, Ojai, or Las Vegas for a little getaway. I even have a little bucket list of random places that I "just want to check out". For example, we always pass the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo on our travels north. One time I said, "we need to stay there one of these days". And so we did (and we're doing it again next month!) For those that don't know about this quaint and quirky Inn where all the rooms are different themes, here is the link:
There was another time when I did a solo mission to Portland Oregon just because I had never been there and really wanted to check it out! I dropped the kids off at their Dad's house in Northern California and then just kept on driving to Oregon. Aside from meeting up with some friends who came down from Seattle, I was completely by myself and loving it! I stayed in a room in this old victorian house that used to be a hippie commune type house. I explored all around Portland and felt so empowered by this trip! As much as I love road trips with the kids, these solo missions are some of my favorite. They really give me time to connect with myself on a deeper level. In fact, aside from dancing, road trips are the thing that I consider my "active meditation". Not only does seeing new places and having new experiences open and expand the mind to new possibilities, but driving in itself gives me so much time to reflect and ponder about life!
Woodstock, New York
Eventually, I would love to take the kids back to Maui for a visit and also explore other countries. In the meantime, when we aren't traveling, we are living the homeschool boho life at home. My kids attend a few classes at a homeschool charter and we have course outlines that we follow (otherwise our schedule is very flexible). We spend a lot of time having local adventures....there are so many different towns and communities to explore just within a 75 mile radius! And then there is the matter of work...yes, I do work! However, I have also designed my work life to allow for freedom...freedom to put my kids first and to live a life that we don't need a vacation from! We're not wealthy (not by monetary standards anyway), we just prioritize what we spend our money on. Our values might look different and maybe even undesirable to many, but we are happy. And that's what matters.
Sedona, AZ