Welcome to Notes From The Road, a monthly recap of where we’ve been and what we’ve been up to over the last 30 days.
This edition of Notes From The Road is coming to you from an unlikely place, given that it’s December. After spending five weeks in Arizona, yesterday we returned to Colorado. As many of you know, December is typically when we head south of the border for several months of exploration around Mexico. While this year we had planned to do the same, life threw us not just one but multiple curveballs.
Why we’re not in Mexico
After several years of chronic pain and fatigue I decided (many months ago) to move forward with a major surgery that would hopefully improve my quality of life. Traveling full-time slowly but surely lost its luster for me this year as I started to have more and more difficult days health-wise. But the logistics of planning a surgery, and all the doctor’s appointments that come with it, is difficult to do when living on the road full-time. To my utter delight, I was able to schedule my surgery for the end of October in our home state of Colorado. This meant I could wrap up our contracted wedding photography gigs for the year, have surgery, and be ready to head to Mexico by December.
Twenty-four hours before my surgery date I received a call from the hospital notifying me that there was a “sterilization issue” affecting the hospital’s operating rooms and my surgery would need to be postponed. It took nearly three weeks of waiting and wondering before I received a call with a new surgery date – December 30th. This meant Mexico would have to wait.
What we did in December instead
We weren’t about to wait around in Colorado until December 30th. Instead, we packed up the truck and did what we always do in November…we headed to Arizona where our preferred climate of 75 degrees and sunny skies awaited us. For five straight weeks we were gifted with some of the best weather we could ask for. Arizona (where we used to spend our winters before we started going to Mexico) reminded us that it’s a damn fine runner-up to Mexico. With abundant BLM camping opportunities in addition to a reliably mild climate, living the nomad life in the Grand Canyon state is easy to do.
Then came the next curveball
Two weeks into our time in Arizona we got news that my dad was facing a health crisis. At the time we were only a few hours away from my hometown of Lake Havasu City so we packed up and headed west to offer our support. The rest of our month was spent navigating this unexpected turn of events.
Why we fell even more in love with our truck camper and nomadic lifestyle this month
The freedom and flexibility that our nomadic lifestyle offers is something I could never put a price on. A health crisis can never be planned for. We were able to show up in my hometown with our little home-on-wheels and have everything we needed. No hotels or rental cars needed. When we needed respite from the stress, we were able to drive out to the desert on the outskirts of town and live in the same way we always do while being close to where we needed to be to offer support. I am forever grateful for the endless gifts we garner from living this unique and unconventional life of ours.
We may have dealt with some unexpected challenges in December but we were also gifted with some gorgeous days, as well as time spent with dear friends. While I didn’t get the camera out often in December, I did capture some of the month’s beauty. Here’s a little photo recap of December in Arizona.
Shoutout to our incredible friends Heather & Adam who met us in Havasu so that we could spend our third nomad Christmas together. The love and support they gave us during a difficult week is something I’ll forever be grateful for.
If you’re new here
If you’re new to our blog, first and foremost, welcome! We’re excited you’re here. Since our travels are a little slower at the moment, we recommend checking out one of our “Day in the Life” series for a closer look at life on the road.
2024 : 82 Days in Baja
2024: 4,000 miles to Alaska
2025: 135 Days in Mexico
One last thing
Every month Mark and I sit down and candidly discuss all the highs and lows of life on the road in a members-only podcast that you can find over on our Patreon page. Your membership motivates us to keep documenting and sharing our lives here on the blog. And, we love having a tight-knit community where we can speak more intimately about the ins and outs of our unconventional lifestyle. We would love to see you there.
As you can see, it’s a different kind of winter for us and we’re learning to pivot and adapt. Things may be quiet here on the blog for the next month but we’ll be sure to check in when time and circumstances warrant it.
Thank you for being here. Wishing you and yours health and happiness in the new year.
Cheers,
Michele & Mark
So sorry to hear about your and your dad’s health problems. May you soon recover and keep on trucking!
Glad to hear from you but sad and sorry to hear of your delay and reasons for deferral of south of the border trip. Bless you and all of yours. Thank you again for sharing your life with us. As always, beautiful photos and fine story-telling. That distant burro reminds me I am writing stories about a few of them myself in the 100s AD.
Hope both your dad and you are feeling much better. Thanks for the update and the amazing photos! I loved the burro and the colorful clouds!!
That was a great post! I loved the beautiful pictures especially the one with the burro!