We left Redondo Beach, California, at the end of January 2018 — this after a year of living near the beach, which was preceded by a year-and-a-half on the road in the tiny RV. We needed space to spread out, create, and stop hitching and unhitching. Enter the beginning of really slow travel. Our nomadic style.

Staying in California would have been challenging. It’s expensive. It’s crowded. Traveling for a while longer in California could have been a fun, but traveling in an RV and finding space to land consistently is really challenging; so many of the RV parks and campgrounds are booked way in advance, or for the snowbirds. And for us to continue traveling into and around the Pacific Northwest would have required new rigs — a heftier tow vehicle, as well as an RV that offered more space for all of us. With that, it was time to regroup in the Midwest.

But not before we made one more stop at Zion National Park. We navigated our way in the dark, arriving at our cabin nestled in a barely-visible, towering canyon and billions of stars overhead. We hiked through and under more canyon walls and cliffs, meandered the various watering holes and falls, crossed bridges, breathed in the cold, fresh air. It was exhilarating.

En route to Zion, we waved a drive-by hello to the Wynn, where we were married years ago. And after Zion, we were stranded in a hotel in Sterling, Colorado, as a blizzard descended on the area. Thank goodness for that pleasant hotel, lots of food from our roadtrip, devices and books to pass the time, and the makings of a good story.

We arrived in Michigan to our still-packed little Uhaul, things shifting just a bit. All told, it took us ten days to travel from Redondo Beach, California, to Southwest Michigan, and the continuation of our very slow travels.

Zion was fantastic. Beautiful. Certainly we consider spending a year just in the canyonlands of the West, from south to north, hiking and sleeping under the stars. Hopefully someday …