Adventure . Blog Post . Camping . Travel
Nomadiversary – The First Year
On June 30, 2018 by Jay McCormickno·mad /nōˌmad/ a person who does not stay long in the same place; a wanderer. Synonyms: itinerant, traveler, migrant, wanderer, roamer, rover Today marks a year since we ditched suburbia and started our “not normal” nomadic life. In the past 12 months we’ve towed our house 11,356 miles, called 53 RV resorts, campgrounds, state parks,
Adventure . Travel
Our Great Escape
On July 20, 2017 by Jay McCormickNormal we are not…
“I want to make my life less ordinary.” – David Miller, AWOL on the Appalachian Trail
“It’s not normal”. This was a statement made to my wife by a skeptical family member while Reim was discussing our plans to sell our house and live in an RV fulltime for a few years (or longer). “It’s not normal”. When Reim told me this my response was “well, that’s the point isn’t it?” We laughed. “Yep”.
How we got here…
“You’re so worked up about work you never play with us or tickle us anymore.” – Ireland McCormick, 2014
I don’t think it’s necessary to rehash the loathing I have for the two years of hell when I decided to get a real job. Ireland’s quote above summarizes it perfectly and was a significant trigger to our quest for a less ordinary life. So, I will move on to why we decided to get the hell out of Dodge (or Houston).
Travel
Our 2016 Recap
On January 1, 2017 by Jay McCormickFollowing is a brief recap of our Epic 2016 adventures that included 111 nights in the RV covering over 10,000 miles visiting 13 states, 13 national parks and monuments, 7 state parks, a national park in Canada, and many other awesome places. During the summer of 2016 we did our first Workamper job at Devils
Adventure . Hiking . Travel
Big Bend Area – Texas
On January 9, 2016 by Jay McCormickIn October, after a rapid fire exchange of texts between Reim and me, we decided to do a post Christmas RV trip to the Big Bend area and the Davis Mountains. We originally targeted to launch our latest adventure on December 27th giving the kids a couple of days to reach boredom with their new toys. Leaving any earlier we were afraid of a mutiny. However, as we approached the Christmas holiday scratching the adventure itch became too great and we elected to take our lives into our on hands and leave the morning after Christmas. Surprisingly the kiddos were all over an earlier departure.
So, we headed out mid-morning on December 26th thinking worst case we would make it to San Antonio and best case we would make it to Del Rio. After hooking up the RV, securing the bikes, we were on our way. We made it to Luling before making the “necessary” stop at Buc-ee’s for the cleanest bathrooms in Texas. We also loaded up on petroleum and caloric fuel and we were back on the road.
After calling ahead to make sure there was a spot available we we decided to push through to Del Rio so that we could get to Big Bend a day earlier. That was the plan anyway.
After pulling into Broke Mill RV Park, setting up and making a groceries run we settled in for the evening.
We knew there was some bad weather on the way and in the middle of the night the wind started blowing. Really blowing.
By 10 AM the next morning the wind had picked up and it began to snow. Keep in mind that we are only a few miles from the Mexico border. It was pretty cool and the kids were loving it. Reim and felt it was too dangerous to pull the trailer and decided to stay an additional night in Del Rio. I love my RV, but after spending most of the previous day in the car and being basically restricted to the RV this day the kids and I were getting cabin fever. Reim had a good book and was loving the downtime. The snow stopped and by mid-afternoon the wind’s ferocity had diminished. The kids and I decided to drive the 37 miles to Seminole Canyon State Park in Comstock. We had planned to stop at the visitor center then drive through park. Luckily we arrived at the visitor center to learn that the pictograph tour had just departed. We paid the small fee and ran out the door to catch up with the tour. Several sets of pictographs can be viewed in the canyon, but to preserve these amazing historical murals the canyon and pictographs can only be visited through the tour. The guide explained that some of the pictographs date back as far as 4,000 years. Some of the animals that are depicted in art are likely extinct.
After returning to the visitor center we thawed out and toured the center. It contains an impressive display of prehistoric life. We drove through the rest of the park then headed back to Del Rio.
On Monday, December 28th we made the approximately 5 hour trip from Del Rio to Lajitas. To avoid the 45 mph speed limits in Big Ben NP we decided to take a slightly longer route by continuing west through Marathon to Alpine. Marathon is home to the Gage Hotel and the Marathon2Marthon…uh…marathon.