December '23

Musings

December was a test piece for us as the formal launch of a year long journey. First time we had stayed in the trailer for more than a night, first time without a home base, and first time we really had no responsibilities other than keep ourselves and Woodford breathing. The whole exercise in intermittent retirement had been our goal for almost 4 years, and yet there is no way to really prepare yourself for the realities of life on the road. Our departure was marked with nervous excitement, but also with a tinge of hesitation and melancholy. We love the people and town of Palisade, which has been our home for almost 3 years, and while we knew this wasn't an "end" so much as an intermission, it was still tough to leave.

After a rough first few days (see Trip Report below), these feelings were quickly replaced with wonder and a fervent drive to explore—along with lots of literal driving. Looking back at our first month of our journey, we see numerous validations that this was the right path. From spending more time with friends and family, to sleeping more and drinking less (both caffeine and alcohol), to more adventures, we are both happier and healthier than ever before.

We also dove right into learning, beta testing a new climate education course taught by Symbiosis Education. This was a great dive into opportunities in climate change, and started to make us think about options for returning to the professional workforce.

 A little after the 2 week mark, we realized that we were already 5% of the way through the year and had barely left Colorado! These are good signs of the year to come. All in all, we found ourselves markedly more recharged and already making progress on our KPIs.

Trip Report

We hit the ground running right out of the gates, with day one including driving over Vail Pass in a blizzard and getting down into the low single digits. It was great to kickoff the trip visiting some good friends in Breckenridge and brushing the dust off our cross country skis, but this first leg of the trip was also a wakeup call on what to expect. Faulty water heater, false propane alarm, inadequate clothing for 2am Woodford walks, and a broken trailer window had us questioning if this whole "home built" trailer thing was a good idea.

Thankfully, it was nothing good times with friends, some fresh pow, and Outer Range beer couldn't fix, and we were soon back on our way with some new gear and lessons learned. After a weekend in Breck, we headed up to Steamboat Springs, where we rope dropped a few new runs and explored the Strawberry Point Hot Springs. We also swung by Kremmling for the best fried pickles in the world, originally discovered in 2019 when we visited for an adventure race.

From Steamboat, it was on Salt Lake City to shred some pow. This was our first trip to any of the Utah ski resorts, so it was fun just exploring Deer Valley, Solitude, Brighton, Alta, Snowbird, and Snow Basin. Unfortunately, the snow pack in December was well below average (as is most of the U.S. snow pack), but we did get a few more rope drops and a sweet powder day at Alta and Snowbird—some of the best snow and hardest chutes we've seen!

We split up for the first part of "Christmas Break", with Chloe heading to New York to visit her family, and Woodford and Ben starting the long, long drive to Iowa. Everyone was reunited in Des Moines for a week of festivities with the Clemen and Murphy clans, as well as some minor repair work on the trailer (looking at you, water heater flow sensor).

Rounding out the month was the start of the classic Old Highway 16 roadtrip, complete with the classic Corn Palace and Wall Drug roadside attractions as well as Bad Lands National Park. We also explored Wind Cave National Park, which is seriously underrated!

This was also our first two experiences with boondocking: first just outside of the badlands and second in a questionable Forest Service parking lot for a chill NYE. No issues those first two nights, but the start of January was a doozy—more to come in next months summary.

All in all, December lived up to our motto of "Chutes not ladders!"